December 15: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 16 days remaining.

Events

• 533 - The Battle of Ticameron takes place between the armies of the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer and the eastern Roman Empire under the command of General Belisarius.
• 687 - St. Sergius I becomes Pope.
• 1256 - Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
• 1791 - The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia legislature.
• 1891 - James Naismith introduces the first version of basketball, with thirteen rules, a peach basket nailed to either end of his school's gymnasium, and two teams of nine players.
• 1913 - Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1939 - Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1945 - Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as state religion of Japan.
• 1960 - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Fabiola Fernanda María de las Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón in Brussels.
• 1961 - In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.
• 1965 - Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
• 1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
• 1993 - History of Northern Ireland:The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
• 1994 - The web browser Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released.
• 1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
• 1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice passes the "Bosman ruling", giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
• 1997 - A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
• 2002 - The digital radio station BBC7 is launched by the comedian Paul Merton.
• 2005 - The 43rd known Mersenne prime is discovered by Dr. Curtis Cooper & Dr. Steven Boone of USA, participants of the GIMPS distributed computing project. The prime number is the largest known Mersenne prime at the time of its discovery, and is more than nine million digits long.
• 2005 - Ten million Iraqis participate in their first democratic election.
• 2005 - Latvia edits its constitution to ban equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
• 2005 - Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the cancellation of the external debt to the IMF.

• 37 - Nero, Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (d. 68)
• 1859 - L. L. Zamenhof, Russian initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
• 1860 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1904)
• 1861 - Charles Duryea, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
• 1878 - Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
• 1888 - Maxwell Anderson, American writer (d. 1959)
• 1892 - J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
• 1899 - Harold Abrahams, British sprinter and Olympic gold medalist (d. 1978)
• 1907 - Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect
• 1910 - John H. Hammond, American musician and record producer (d. 1987)
• 1912 - Ray Eames, American designer (d. 1988)
• 1912 - Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
• 1913 - Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (d. 1980)
• 1916 - Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)
• 1916 - Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• 1918 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)
• 1922 - Alan Freed, American disc jockey (d. 1965)
• 1923 - Freeman Dyson, English-born American physicist
• 1928 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
• 1933 - Tim Conway, American actor and comedian
• 1938 - Billy Shaw, American football player
• 1939 - Cindy Birdsong, American singer (The Supremes)
• 1942 - Dave Clark, British drummer (The Dave Clark Five)
• 1949 - Don Johnson, American actor
• 1952 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)
• 1952 - Julie Taymor, American theater, opera, and film director
• 1955 - Paul Simonon, British bassist (The Clash)
• 1961 - Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician
• 1967 - Mo Vaughn, American baseball player
• 1968 - Javid Hussain, Indian film producer
• 1968 - Garrett Wang, American actor
• 1970 - Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
• 1972 - Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
• 1973 - Surya Bonaly, French-born American figure skater
• 1976 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
• 1979 - Adam Brody, American actor
• 1981 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)

• 1025 - Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
• 1072 - Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan in Persia (b. 1029)
• 1263 - King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
• 1598 - Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
• 1621 - Charles de Luynes, Constable of France (b. 1578)
• 1673 - Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
• 1675 - Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
• 1683 - Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
• 1688 - Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)
• 1715 - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
• 1753 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
• 1792 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
• 1890 - Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader (b. circa 1831)
• 1943 - Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
• 1947 - Arthur Machen, British author (b. 1863)
• 1958 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
• 1966 - Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
• 1968 - Jess Willard, American boxer and World Heavyweight Champion (b. 1881)
• 1975 - Anatole Litvak, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1902)
• 1984 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
• 1984 - Lennard Pearce, British actor (b. 1915)
• 1989 - Arnold Moss, American character actor (b. 1910)
• 1991 - Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, Russian-born Soviet sniper (b. 1915)
• 2001 - Russ Haas, American professional wrestler (b. 1974)
• 2001 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
• 2003 - George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
• 2005 - William Proxmire, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1911)
• 2005 - Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)

• Roman festivals - Consualia in honor of Consus is held.
• R.C. Saints - St. Valerian; Saint Wunibald of Heidenheim.
• United States - Bill of Rights Day, in honor of the ratification of the United States Bill of Rights in 1791.
• Zamenhof Day celebrated in the Esperanto movement in honor of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto.

December 14 - December 16 - November 15 - January 15 -- listing of all days