History for December 15

History for December 15 - On-This-Day.com:
Nero (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus) 37 AD - Fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Gustave Eiffel 1832 - Engineer: designed Paris’ Eiffel Tower and helped design Statue of Liberty, J. Paul Getty 1892 - Oil magnate: Getty Oil 


Alan Freed 1922 - Disc jockey in Cleveland, Dave Clark 1942 - Singer (The Dave Clark Five), TV producer, actor , Don Johnson (Donnie Wayne Johnson) 1949 - Actor (Nash Bridges, Miami Vice) 


1654 - A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings. 


1791 - In the U.S., the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, went into effect following ratification by the state of Virginia. 


1877 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. 


1890 - American Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, SD, during an incident with Indian police working for the U.S.government. 


1939 - "Gone With the Wind," produced by David O. Selznick based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. The movie starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. 


1944 - A single-engine plane carrying U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappeared in thick fog over the English Channel while en route to Paris. 


1970 - The Soviet probe Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land softly on the surface of Venus. The probe only survived the extreme heat and pressure for about 23 minutes and transmitted the first data received on Earth from the surface of another planet. 


1978 - U.S. President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan. 


1993 - In Geneva, 117 countries completed the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The countries agreed on a reform package.