On This Day: December 10 - The New York Times
- ️Wed Dec 10 1851
Updated December 10, 2013, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 10, 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
On Dec. 10, 1851, Melvil Dewey, the American librarian famous for creating the Dewey Decimal Classification system , was born. Following his death on Dec. 26, 1931, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On Dec. 10, 1964, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize during ceremonies in Oslo, Norway.
| 1520 | Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication. |
|---|---|
| 1817 | Mississippi was admitted to the union as the 20th state. |
| 1948 | The U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights. |
| 1965 | The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. |
| 1967 | Singer Otis Redding died at age 26 in the crash of his private plane in Wisconsin. |
| 1980 | Rep. John W. Jenrette, D-S.C., resigned to avoid being expelled from the House following his conviction on charges related to the FBI's Abscam investigation. |
| 1984 | South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1994 | Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1998 | Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station. |
| 1998 | The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses rejecting Israel's right to exist. |
| 2001 | "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," the first in a three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy, premiered in London. |
| 2002 | Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in the Middle East in the 1970s. |
| 2007 | Former Vice President Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a call for humanity to rise up against a looming climate crisis. |
| 2007 | NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation and killing dogs that underperformed. |
| 2007 | Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president. |
| 2009 | President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a humble acknowledgment of his scant accomplishments and a robust defense of the U.S. at war. |
| 2009 | James Cameron's 3-D film epic "Avatar" had its world premiere in London. |
Historic Birthdays
Melvil Dewey
12/10/1851 - 12/26/1931
American librarian and inventor of the Dewey Decimal classification system.
Go to obituary »
| 73 |
(Giovanni) Battista Guarini 12/10/1538 - 10/7/1612 Italian poet and dramatist |
|---|---|
| ? |
Adriaen von Ostade 12/10/1610 - ?/2/1685 Dutch painter and printmaker |
| 63 |
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet 12/10/1787 - 9/10/1851 American philanthropist |
| 67 |
Cesar Franck 12/10/1822 - 11/8/1890 Belgian-French Romantic composer |
| 80 |
George Macdonald 12/10/1824 - 9/18/1905 Scottish novelist |
| 55 |
Emily Dickinson 12/10/1830 - 5/15/1886 American poet |
| 62 |
Adolf Loos 12/10/1870 - 8/23/1933 Austrian architect |
| 78 |
Nelly Sachs 12/10/1891 - 5/12/1970 German poet and dramatist |
| 88 |
Mary Norton 12/10/1903 - 8/29/1992 English children's author |
| 82 |
Morton Gould 12/10/1913 - 2/21/1996 American composer and pianist |