History for December 14

History for December 14 - On-This-Day.com:
Nostradamus 1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant, James Doolittle 1896 - Aviater, World War II hero, Margaret Chase Smith 1897 - Politician, first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress


Morey Amsterdam 1908 - Actor, Lee Remick 1935 - Actress, Patty Duke 1946 - Actress


1799 - The first president of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67.


1900 - Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory.


1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott.


1945 - Josef Kramer, known as "the beast of Belsen," and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps.


1962 - The U.S. space probe Mariner II approached Venus. It transmitted information about the planet's atmosphere and surface temperature.


1986 - The experimental aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The trip took nine days to complete.


1988 - The first transatlantic underwater fiber-optic cable went into service.














1993 - A judge in Colorado struck down the state's voter-approved Amendment Two prohibiting gay rights laws, calling it unconstitutional.