Historical Events on December 10
- 1817: Mississippi is admitted into the Union as the 20th state in the U.S.
- 1864: Major General William Sherman’s Union forces reach the outer perimeter of the Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.
- 1868: Outside the Palace of Westminster in the city of London, England, the first traffic lights are installed.
- 1884: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published on this day.
- 1901: The 1st Nobel Prizes are given out.
- 1941: Near British Malaya, Imperial Japanese torpedo bombers attack and sing the Royal Navy ships the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales during World War II.
- 1941: General Masaharu Homma leads Imperial Japanese troops onto Luzon at the Battle of the Philippines during WWII.
- 1984: The Convention against the use of torture is officially recognized by the U.N General Assembly on this day.
- 1993: The final shift working at the Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland leave. This not only closes a pit that’s been in use for over 150 years, but it also closes a coalfield which has been used since the Middle Ages.
Famous Birthdays on December 10
- English mathematician and first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace is born in 1815.
- American poet Emily Dickinson is born in 1830.
- American librarian and inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, Melvil Dewey is born in 1851.
- German-Swedish poet, playwright and Nobel Prize laureate, Nelly Sachs is born in 1891.
- American actress Una Merkel is born in 1903.
- English actor Harry Locke is born in 1913.
- American actress Susan Hallock Dey is born in 1952.
- American actor Michael Clarke Duncan is born in 1957.
- German-American author Cornelia Funke is born in 1958.
- American chef, TV personality and author, Bobby Flay is born in 1964.
- English actor Stephen Billington is born in 1969.
- American actress Summer Phoenix is born in 1978.
- Japanese singer and actress, Sakiko Matsui is born in 1990.
- American football player Terrell Sinkfield is born in 1990.