December 14 facts for kids

This article is about the date December 14.

Events

Early History

• 557 – A big earthquake shakes Constantinople, causing damage to the famous Hagia Sophia church.
• 835 – In China, Emperor Wenzong of Tang tries to remove powerful officials called eunuchs, but his plan doesn't work out.
• 1287 – The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands breaks. This terrible flood kills more than 50,000 people.
• 1542 – Just one week after she was born, Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scots when her father, James V of Scotland, passes away.

1600s to 1900s

• 1751 – The Theresian Military Academy, a military school, is started in Austria.
• 1780 – Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, marries Elizabeth Schuyler at the Schuyler Mansion in New York.
• 1782 – The Montgolfier brothers in France successfully test fly an unmanned hot air balloon for the first time. It travels almost 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles)!
• 1812 – The French invasion of Russia ends as the last of Napoleon's army leaves Russia.
• 1819 – Alabama officially becomes the 22nd state in the United States.
• 1863 – During the American Civil War, Confederate forces win the Battle of Bean's Station in Tennessee.
• 1896 – The Glasgow Subway, an underground railway system, opens in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1900 – Max Planck shares his important ideas about quantum mechanics in Berlin. This helps us understand how tiny particles work.

1900s to Today

• 1902 – The first telegraph cable is laid across the Pacific Ocean, connecting San Francisco to Honolulu.
• 1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly their Wright Flyer airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 1907 – The Thomas W. Lawson, a very large sailing ship, gets caught in a storm and sinks near the Isles of Scilly. Many sailors lose their lives.
• 1909 – Land is officially transferred to create the Australian Capital Territory, where Australia's capital city, Canberra, is located.
• 1911 – Roald Amundsen and his team become the first people to reach the South Pole. This was a huge achievement in exploration!
• 1918 – A very important election happens in the United Kingdom. It's the first time women are allowed to vote.
• 1939 – The Soviet Union is removed from the League of Nations (an early version of the United Nations) because they invaded Finland.
• 1940 – The element Plutonium is first separated in California.
• 1948 – A patent is given for the "cathode-ray tube amusement device," which is considered the earliest known interactive electronic game.
• 1955 – Many countries, including Albania, Austria, and Italy, join the United Nations.
• 1958 – A Soviet expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility in Antarctica.
• 1962 – NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly past the planet Venus.
• 1964 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution to fight against discrimination. This was a big step for the Civil Rights Movement.
• 1971 – During the Bangladesh Liberation War, many of Bangladesh's smart thinkers and writers are killed. This day is now remembered as Martyred Intellectuals Day.
• 1972 – Gene Cernan becomes the most recent person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission.
• 1985 – Wilma Mankiller becomes the first woman to be elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
• 1994 – Construction begins on the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China.
• 1995 – The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris, helping to end the Yugoslav Wars in the Balkans.
• 1999 – Heavy rains cause terrible flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela. Thousands of people die, and many homes are destroyed.
• 2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is officially opened in France.
• 2017 – The Walt Disney Company announces it will buy 21st Century Fox, including the famous 20th Century Fox movie studio.
• 2020 – A total solar eclipse can be seen from parts of South America and the South Pacific Ocean.

Births

Born Before 1600

• 1009 – Emperor Go-Suzaku, an emperor of Japan.
• 1546 – Tycho Brahe, a famous Danish astronomer and chemist.
• 1599 – Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge, an English politician.

Born 1601 to 1900

• 1640 – Aphra Behn, an English playwright and author.
• 1789 – Maria Szymanowska, a Polish composer and pianist.
• 1824 – Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, a French painter.
• 1866 – Roger Fry, an English painter and art critic.
• 1870 – Karl Renner, who became the 4th President of Austria.
• 1883 – Morihei Ueshiba, a Japanese martial artist who created aikido.
• 1895 – George VI, who became the King of the United Kingdom.
• 1896 – Jimmy Doolittle, an American general and pilot, famous for his bravery.

Born 1901 to Present

• 1901 – Paul of Greece, who became the King of Greece.
• 1908 – Morey Amsterdam, an American actor and singer.
• 1909 – Edward Lawrie Tatum, an American geneticist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1911 – Spike Jones, an American singer and bandleader.
• 1914 – Karl Carstens, who became the 5th President of Germany.
• 1916 – Shirley Jackson, an American novelist known for her short stories.
• 1918 – B. K. S. Iyengar, an Indian yoga teacher who created Iyengar Yoga.
• 1922 – Nikolay Basov, a Russian physicist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1924 – Raj Kapoor, a famous Indian actor and director.
• 1932 – Charlie Rich, an American country music singer.
• 1935 – Lee Remick, an American actress.
• 1946 – Jane Birkin, an English-French actress and singer.
• 1946 – Patty Duke, an American actress.
• 1947 – Dilma Rousseff, who became the 36th President of Brazil.
• 1960 – James Comey, an American lawyer who was the 7th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• 1965 – Craig Biggio, a famous American baseball player.
• 1966 – Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who became the 41st Prime Minister of Denmark.
• 1969 – Natascha McElhone, an English-Irish actress.
• 1972 – Miranda Hart, an English actress and comedian.
• 1979 – Michael Owen, a famous English footballer.
• 1988 – Vanessa Hudgens, an American actress and singer.

Deaths

Died Before 1600

• 872 – Pope Adrian II, a leader of the Catholic Church.
• 1417 – John Oldcastle, an English religious leader.
• 1542 – James V of Scotland, the King of Scotland.
• 1591 – John of the Cross, a Spanish priest and saint.

Died 1601 to 1900

• 1788 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a German composer and musician.
• 1799 – George Washington, the first President of the United States.
• 1861 – Albert, Prince Consort, the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
• 1873 – Louis Agassiz, a Swiss-American zoologist and geologist.

Died 1901 to Present

• 1943 – John Harvey Kellogg, an American physician who helped invent corn flakes.
• 1947 – Stanley Baldwin, who was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1956 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who was the 7th President of Finland.
• 1963 – Dinah Washington, a famous American singer.
• 1974 – Walter Lippmann, an American journalist and author.
• 1989 – Andrei Sakharov, a Russian physicist and activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1993 – Myrna Loy, a well-known American actress.
• 2006 – Ahmet Ertegun, a Turkish-American music producer who co-founded Atlantic Records.
• 2013 – Peter O'Toole, a famous British-Irish actor.
• 2020 – Gérard Houllier, a French football manager.

Holidays and observances

• Alabama Day (Alabama)
• Forty-seven Ronin Remembrance Day (Sengaku-ji, Tokyo)
• Martyred Intellectuals Day (Bangladesh)
• Monkey Day

See also

In Spanish: 14 de diciembre para niños