On this day in History - Dec. 5

0749 - Saint John of Damascus dies. Theologian
1377 - Jianwen Emperor of China was born (d. 1402)
1443 - Pope Julius II was born (d. 1513)
1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witchhunts in European history.
1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
1495 - Nicolas Cleynaerts was born (d. 1542). Flemish grammarian.
1537 - Ashikaga Yoshiaki was born (d. 1597). Japanese shogun.
1539 - Fausto Paolo Sozzini was born (d. 1604). Italian theologian.
1547 - Ubbo Emmius was born (d. 1625). Dutch historian and geographer.
1560 - Francis II of France dies and is succeeded by Charles IX of France.
1590 - Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.
1595 - Henry Lawes was born (d. 1662). English composer.
1654 - Jean François Sarrazin dies. French writer
1661 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer was born (d. 1724). English statesman
1687 - Francesco Geminiani was born (d. 1762). Italian violinist and composer.
1757 - In his greatest victory, Prussian King Frederick II (the Great) defeated the Austrians at Leuthen during the Seven Years' War.
1766 - In London, James Christie holds his first sale.
1776 - A group of undergraduates at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia organize an honor society called Phi Beta Kappa. The first of the "Greek letter" societies formed in the US, members met regularly to write, debate, and socialize. They adopted an oath of secrecy, a code of laws, Latin and Greek mottoes, and an elaborate initiation rite.
1782 - Martin Van Buren was born (d. 1862). 8th President of the United States
1784 - Phillis Wheatley dies in Boston. She was the first African American woman poet of note in the United States1791 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies in Vienna, Austria (b. 1756). Austrian composer
1792 - George Washington was re-elected president; John Adams was re-elected vice president.
1815 - Maceió Brazilian city is founded.
1820 - Afanasy Fet was born (d. 1892). Russian poet.
1822 - Elizabeth Cary Agassiz was born (d. 1907). American president of Radcliffe College
1830 - Christina Rossetti was born (d. 1894). British poet.
1831 - Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1839 - George Armstrong Custer was born (d. 1876). American general
1841 - Marcus Daly was born (d. 1900). American mining tycoon.
1848 - California gold rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
1855 - Clinton Hart Merriam was born (d. 1942). American ornithologist.
1868 - Arnold Sommerfeld was born (d. 1951). German physicist.
1870 - Alexandre Dumas (père) dies. Writer
1870 - Vítězslav Novák was born (d. 1949). American composer
1871 - Bill Pickett was born (d. 1932). American rodeo performer
1872 - Harry Nelson Pillsbury was born (d. 1906). American chess player.
1872 - Having left New York on Nov. 5, the brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift off Portugal with everyone aboard mysteriously missing.
1875 - Sir Arthur Currie was born (d. 1933). Canadian soldier.
1879 - Clyde Cessna was born (d. 1954). American airplane manufacturer.
1886 - Rose Wilder Lane was born (d. 1968). American writer and reporter.
1890 - David Bomberg was born (d. 1957). British painter.
1890 - Fritz Lang, film director (d. 1976)
1891 - Emperor Pedro II of Brazil dies (b. 1825)
1892 - Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
1896 - Carl Ferdinand Cori was born (d. 1984). Austria-Hungarian-born American biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1898 - Grace Moore was born (d. 1947). American soprano.
1899 - Henry Tate dies. English industrialist and philanthrope.
1901 - Walt Disney was born in Chicago, [d. 1966] American cartoonist and film producer, started an entertainment empire with his creation of animated movies and world-renowned amusement parks.
1901 - Milton H. Erickson was born (d. 1980). American psychiatrist
1901 - Werner Heisenberg was born in Würzburg, Bavaria (d. 1976). German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1902 - Strom Thurmond was born (d. 2003). American politician
1903 - Johannes Heesters was born. Dutch singer and actor
1903 - Cecil Frank Powell was born (d. 1969). British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate.
1906 - Otto Preminger was born. American producer, director, and actor (He directed is first film The Great Love, in 1931 and a highly acclaimed play, Libel, in 1935; Anatomy of a Murder in 1959 and Exodus in 1960 ...)
1911 - Turks defeated by Italian forces at Tripoli.
1911 - Władysław Szpilman was born. Polish pianist .
1914 - Hans Hellmut Kirst was born (d. 1989). German author.
1917 - Sidónio Pais, embaixador de Portugal em Berlim de 1912 a 1916, na altura professor da escola de Guerra (Academia Militar), e major, chefiou uma revolução que o levará ao poder três dias depois. O movimento e a situação política que criou será conhecido pelo «Dezembrismo».
1925 - Władysław Reymont dies (b. 1867). Polish writer and Nobel Prize laureate
1926 - Claude Monet dies. Impressionist painter
1926 - Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin is premiered.
1927 - Bhumibol Adulyadej was born. King of Thailand
1930 - Raul Brandão dies. Portuguese writer.
1931 - Vachel Lindsay dies (b. 1879). American poet.
1932 - Sheldon Lee Glashow was born. American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1932 - Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) was born. American singer and pianist
1932 - German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
1932 - The first Ford Model C and V-8 automobile was introduced on this day
1933 - The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America
1934 - Joan Didion was born. American novelist
1934 - Humberto de Campos dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 25 Oct 1886 in Miritiba, today Humberto de Campos). Brazilian poet and writer.
1934 - Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
1935 - Calvin Trillin was born. American writer
1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution.
1938 - J. J. Cale was born in Tusla, Oklahoma. American musician
1940 - Peter Pohl was born. Swedish writer
1940 - Jan Kubelik dies. Tcheck violinist.
1941 - The nonfiction book Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck is published (Steinbeck used knowledge gained writing this book to develop the marine biologist character Doc in Cannery Row).
1943 - Eva Joly was born. Norwegian-born French magistrate
1944 - Jeroen Krabbé was born. Dutch actor
1945 - Flight 19, a United States Navy training flight was lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
1946 - José Carreras was born. Spanish tenor
1947 - American boxer Joe Louis defended his heavyweight title against challenger Jersey Joe Walcott in New York City.
1947 - Egberto Gismonti was born. Brazilian composer and musician
1947 - Jim Messina was born. American musician (Buffalo Springfield)
1947 - Jim Plunkett was born. American football player.
1949 - Ângela Rô Rô was born. Brazilian singer.
1951 - Abanindranath Tagore dies (b. 1871). Indian writer.
1952 - The Abbott and Costello Show debuts.Comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello launch their TV show. They made only 52 episodes, but the show appeared in reruns for decades
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of autonomous trade unions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is formed.
1956 - Brian Backer was born. American actor
1956 - Krystian Zimerman was born. Polish pianist
1962 - José Cura was born. Argentine tenor.
1963 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann dies (b. 1905). German composer
1963 - Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji dies. Indian Hindu mystic
1964 - Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
1965 - Johnny Rzeznik was born. American singer (Goo Goo Dolls)
1968 - Margaret Cho was born. American comedian and actress
1969 - Writer-director Morgan J. Freeman born, writer - director
1973 - Lubos Motl was born. Czech physicist
1974 - The last new episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is broadcast on the BBC.
1975 - Ronnie O'Sullivan was born. British snooker player
1977 - Egypt severs ties with Arab hardliners President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt breaks all relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen.
1978 - USSR and Afghanistan sign "friendship treaty"; In an effort to prop up an unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Afghan government agreeing to provide economic and military assistance.
1978 - European Monetary System is created
1979 - Feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
1979 - Sonia Delaunay dies. French artist.
1979 - Matteo Ferrari was born. Italian international footballer .
1983 - Robert Aldrich dies (b. 9 Aug 1918). American film director.
1992 - Aid agencies are stripped by gunmen in Somalia on eve of US troop arrival.
1995 - Javier Salana, Spanish monister of Foreign Offices is elected UN general-secretary
2001 - Franco Rasetti dies (b. 1901). Italian physicist
2002 - Roone Arledge dies (b. 1931). American sports broadcasting pioneer.
2002 - At Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott praised Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid. Lott subsequently resigned his leadership position.
2005 - The 2005 Southeast Asian Games end in Manila.
International Volunteer Day