December 10 - Cocoa

Cocoa

This Day In History

1520

Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

1684

Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.

1868

The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.

1884

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

1906

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.

1911

The first transcontinental flight across the United States is completed. Calbraith Perry Rodgers began the flight on 17 September 1911, taking off from Sheepshead Bay NY in the Wright EX Vin Fiz.

1955

The Mighty Mouse Playhouse premieres on television.

1978

Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Famous Birthdays

1394

King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)

1452

Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, priest, maker of astronomical instruments and professor at the University of Tübingen (d. 1531)

1787

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)

1815

Ada Lovelace, English mathematician (d. 1852)

1830

Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)

1907

Rumer Godden, English writer (d. 1998)

1914

Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)

1919

Alexander Courage, American orchestrator, arranger, and composer (d. 2008)

1933

Philip R. Craig, American mystery author

1957

Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)

1960

Sir Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director

1964

Bobby Flay, American chef and restaurateur