December 14
1799
George Washington died at age 67.
1819
Alabama became the 22nd state in the United States.
1911
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, beating an expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
1939
The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.
1967
DNA synthesized for the first time.
1981
Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights.
1985
Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
1989
Nobel Peace laureate Andrei D. Sakharov died in Moscow at age 68.
2012
Adam Lanza, age 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 26 people. The victims included 20 children between the ages of six and seven.
Birthdays
Nostradamus
1503–1566, French astrologer and physician.
Tycho Brahe
astronomer (1546)
John Mercer Langston
public official, diplomat, educator (1829)
James Doolittle
aviator, military leader (1896)
Shirley Jackson
writer (1919)
Patty Duke
actress (1946)
Michael Owen
soccer player (1979)
Vanessa Anne Hudgens
actor (1988)