One of the aims of the Institute of World Culture is "to honour through appropriate observance the contributions of men and women of all ages to world culture."  This calendar offers just a taste of the rich diversity of those contributions.  We attempt to substantiate the dates but dates can vary depending on the calendar in use when the date was determined or if the date is based on the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Certain dates are the best estimate of scholars as the original dates are lost in history. The intention of this calendar is to show the great diversity and excellence in the contributions of men and women of world culture and in this case the dates are secondary.  You can click on a particular month, listed in the column on the left, or scroll down to see listings for the entire year.  This calendar is a work in progress so please let us know if you have contributions or corrections by contacting donna@worldculture.org

"Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Undated

3rd  Cicero, Roman statesman, constitutionalist, orator b. 106 B.C.E.
2nd/3rd  Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister from 1945-1951 b. 1883
4th  Isaac Newton, English scientist, theologian (quote) b. 1642

4th  Louis Braille, French inventor, teacher of the blind (quote) b. 1809
5th  George Washington Carver, African-American inventor, scientist,
       educator (quote) d. 1943
6th  Joan of Arc, French heroine, Catholic saint b. 1412

6th  Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American artist, poet, writer b. 1883
7th  Charles Peguy, French poet, essayist, philosopher b. 1873
11th  William James, American philosopher, psychologist b. 1842
12th  Edmund Burke, Irish statesman, author (quote) b. 1729

14th  Albert Schweitzer, German physician, Nobel laureate b. 1875
15th  Moliere, French playwright, actor b. 1622
15th  Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American civil rights leader b. 1929
17th  Benjamin Franklin, American printer, statesman b. 1706
17th  Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright, author, doctor b. 1860
18th  Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, French
         political philosopher (quotes) b. 1689
18th  Claude de St. Martin, French philosopher, mystic b. 1743
19th  James Watt, Scottish inventor, engineer b. 1736
19th  Robert E. Lee, American soldier, general (quote) b. 1807
19th  Edgar Allan Poe, American poet, writer, editor b. 1809
22th  André-Marie Ampre, French physicist, mathematician b. 1775
22nd  Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, author b. 1561
22nd  George Gordon, Lord Byron, British poet b. 1788
23rd  David Hilbert, German mathematician b. 1862
25th  Robert Boyle, Irish-born chemist, inventor b. 1627
25th  Robert Burns, Scottish poet b. 1759
27th  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer b. 1756
27th  Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), English author b. 1832
29th  Thomas Paine, British pamphleteer, revolutionary, inventor b. 1737
29th  Romain Rolland, French dramatist, Nobel laureate b. 1866
30th  Franklin D. Roosevelt, American 32nd U.S. President b. 1882
30th  Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader d. 1948
31st  Franz Schubert, Austrian composer b. 1797

1st  New Year's Day observed in the U.S.

1st  Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 committed the U.S. to ending slavery 1st  Ceres, smallest identified dwarf planet in the Solar System, discovered
       by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801
5th Twelfth Night, a Christian holiday concluding the Twelve Days of
      Christmas

7th Christmas celebrated in the Coptic community and Orthodox churches
7th  (2010) Muharram, first month of the Islamic calendar, celebrated as one
        of the four sacred months identified in the Quran
7th Three of Jupiter's moons first observed by Galileo in 1610

8th  Thomas Paines’ Common Sense published in 1776
10th  League of Nations founded in 1920 to preserve international peace
10th  Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 B.C. starting a civil war that
         led to the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire
17th (2010) World Religion Day celebrated, initiated by the Baha'is
         of the U.S. in 1950

18th (2010)  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observed
26th  Republic Day of India marks the adoption of the Indian Constitution
         in 1950
27th  British government formally abolished the death penalty in the
         United Kingdom in 1999
Undated:
•   Announcement of the creation of artificial radioactivity by Nobel laureates
    Irene Curie and Fréderic Joliot
•   Edict of Saint-Germain in 1562, an edict of limited toleration which
    sought to end persecution of non-Catholics in France
 •  British Broadcasting Company (BBC) began radio broadcasts to the British
    Empire and the world in the 1930s
•   News of the splitting of the Uranium atom published in 1938
•   First boat specialized as a lifeboat tested on the River Tyne in
    England in 1790

12th  (2010) Maha Shivaratri, Vigil Night of Shiva, celebrated in India
14th  (2010) Chinese New Year observed, Year of the Tiger.
14th  (2010) Tibetian New Year (Losar) celebration begins
15th  (2010) Presidents' Day celebrated in the U.S.
17th  (2010) Ash Wednesday, Christian holiday celebrating first day of Lent
19th  Emancipation Manifesto legally granted full rights of citizenship
         to Russian serfs in1861

20th  American astronaut John H. Glenn orbited the earth three times in 1962

28th  John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress published in 1678
28th  (2010) Chinese Lantern (Yuan-Xiao) Festival marks the last day of
         the Chinese New Year
28th  (2010) Purim, Jewish festival celebrating victory over oppression

3rd  Georg Cantor, German mathematician b. 1845
3rd  Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish scientist, inventor (quote) b. 1847
4th  Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer, priest, violinist b. 1678
6th  Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter, sculptor b. 1475
6th  Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet b. 1806
7th  Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter b. 1872
7th  Maurice Ravel, French composer b. 1875
8th  Oliver Wendell Holmes, American jurist, U.S. Supreme
       Court Justice b. 1841
12th  George Berkeley, Irish philosopher, metaphysician b. 1685
14th  Johann Strauss, Austrian composer b. 1804
14th  Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist b. 1879
15th  Julius Caesar, Roman political leader d. 44 B.C.E.
18th  Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet, critic b. 1842
18th  Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer b. 1844
19th  David Livingstone, Scottish explorer, medical missionary b. 1813
20th  Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso), Roman poet b. 43 B.C.E.
20th  Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright b. 1828
21st  Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer, organist b. 1685
23rd  Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace, French astronomer,
         mathematician b. 1749
24th  William Morris, English designer, artist, b. 1834
26th  Edward Bellamy, American author b. 1850
26th  Robert Frost, American poet b. 1874
27th  Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, German physicist b. 1845
28th  Teresa of Avila, Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun b. 1515
30th  Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), Spanish rabbi, physician,
         philosopher b. 1135
30th  Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter, printmaker b. 1746
30th  Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Post-Impressionist artist b. 1853
31st  René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician b. 1596
31st  Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer b. 1732
31st  César Chávez, Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader,
         civil rights activist b. 1927

1st  (2010) Holi, Hindu Festival of Colors, celebrates the beginning of spring

8th  International Women’s Day sponsored by the U.N. honors the
       social achievements of women
8th  (2010) Commonwealth Day celebrating the Commonwealth of Nations

10th  Tibetian uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet began in 1959
16th  (2010) Gudhi Padwa, Hindu festival celebrating the new year
         and the arrival of spring in the Marathi culture of northern India, one
         of a number of such celebrations held throughout the Hindu world on
         different days and months
20th  (2010) Vernal Equinox (17:32 UTC: 1:32 p.m. EDT)

20th/21st  (2010) Nowruz, ancient Persian festival marking the new year
24th  (2010) Ram Navami commerates the birth of the Hindu deity Rama,
         celebrated throughout India on and around the 24th
28th  (2010) Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Christian Holy Week and
         the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
28th/29th  (2010) Mahavir Jayanti celebrated to honor the birth of
                 Lord Mahavir, founder of the Jain religion
29th/30th  (2010) Pesach or Jewish Passover celebration begins

1st  William Harvey, English physician b. 1578
1st  Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, conductor b. 1873
2nd  Charlemagne, German King of the Franks and Emperor
        of the Holy Roman Empire b. 742
2nd  Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author, poet b. 1805
3rd  Washington Irving, American author, essayist, historian b. 1783
4th  Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American clergyman, civil rights
       leader d. 1968
5th  Joseph Lister, English surgeon b. 1827
5th  Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, orator,
       author b. 1856
6th  Raphael, Italian High Renaissance painter, architect b. 1483
7th  William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet b. 1770
8th  Hugo von Mohl, German botanist b. 1805
9th  Charles Baudelaire, French poet, critic, translator b. 1821
9th  Paul Robeson, African-American singer, actor, activist, lawyer b. 1898
10th  Hugo Grotius, Dutch jurist, playwright, poet b. 1583
10th  George William Russell, Irish nationalist, writer, editor b. 1867
13th  Thomas Jefferson, American political philosopher, Founding Father
         and 3rd President of the U.S. b. 1743
14th  Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist,
         horologist b. 1629
14th  Arnold J. Toynbee, British historian, author b. 1889
15th  Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist, scientist, inventor b. 1452
15th  Guru Nanak, Indian founder of the Sikh religion 1469
15th  Matthew Arnold, English poet, cultural critic d. 1888
15th  Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician, physicist b. 1707
16th  Anatole France, French poet, journalist, novelist, Nobel laureate
         b. 1844
16th  Charles Chaplin, English actor, filmmaker, musician b. 1889
17th  Thornton Wilder, American playwright, novelist b. 1897
18/19th  David Ricardo, British economist, member of Parliament b. 1772
21st  Peter Abelard, French philosopher, theologian, logician d. 1142
21st  John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, author,
         conservationist b. 1838
21st  Max Weber, German political economist, sociologist b. 1864
22nd  Immanuel Kant, German philosopher b. 1724
22nd  Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, politician b. 1870
23rd  William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright b. 1564 & d. 1616
23rd  Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel laureate b. 1858
23rd  Serge Prokofiev, Russian composer b. 1891
23rd  Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author, playwright d. 1616
24th  Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman, inventor b. 1743
25th  Oliver Cromwell, English soldier, statesman b. 1599
26th  Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, philosopher b. 121
26th  David Hume, Scottish philosopher, economist, historian b. 1711
26th  John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist, naturalist,
         painter b. 1785
27th  Edward Gibbon, English historian, member of Parliament b. 1737
27th  Samuel F. B. Morse, American painter, inventor b. 1791
27th  Herbert Spencer, English philosopher, political theorist b. 1820
28th  Kurt Gödel, Austrian-American logician, mathematician,
         philosopher b. 1906
29th  C. P. Cavafy, Greek poet, journalist b, 1863 & d. 1933
30th  Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, scientist b. 1777

4th  (2010) Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus (Western and Eastern
                  Christians celebrate on the same day in 2010, a rare occurance
                  which happens on only a few years each century)
5th  British Museum founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding
6th  Expedition lead by American explorer Robert Perry reached the
       geographical North Pole in 1909
7th  U.N. World Health Day celebrated
12th  Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, first human in space and 
         first to orbit the earth, both in 1961

20th  Radium isolated as an element by Marie Curie in 1902 for which
         she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911

22nd  Earth Day official date, celebrated worldwide on various days
          (40th anniversary in 2010)

24th  Library of Congress established in the U.S. in 1800

25th  Discovery of DNA structure by Watson & Crick in 1953
28th  (2010) Theravadin Buddhist new year celebration
29th  Discovery of the electron by J. J. Thompson in 1897

1st  May Day celebrates the ancient Druid new year

1st  International Workers' Day (Labor Day) celebrated in many countries
9th  (2010) Mother’s Day celebrated in the U.S.

11th  Diamond Sutra, world's oldest known printed book, printed
         in 868
15th  International Day of Families observed annually worldwide
16th  Mexican Independence Day commemorates the day Mexico declared
         its independence from Spain in 1810
17th  Brown vs Board of Education, landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme
         Court regarding segregation, first announced in 1954
20th  David Livingstone crossed Africa coast to coast in1856

21st  Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo, non-stop, transalantic
         flight from New York to Paris in 1927
21st/27th  (2010) Buddha Purnima observed in India and worldwide to
         honor the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha
24th  First telegraph message sent by Samuel Morse in 1844    
27th  (2010) New Year celebrated in the Theravada Buddhist tradition
29th  Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks in 1453
31st  (2010) Memorial Day in the U.S. honors men and women who
         died in military service  

2nd  Ascent of Mt. Everest by Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay
        announced in 1953
5th  World Environment Day established by the U. N. in 1972
15th  Magna Carta signed in 1215, one of the world's most significant
         legal documents, leading to the rule of constitutional law in the English
         speaking world
16th  International Day of the African Child sponsored by UNICEF
16th  International Court of Justice (World Court) established by the
         U.N. in The Hague, Netherlands in 1945
16th  Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in
          space in 1963

20th  Great Seal of the United States adopted in 1782
20th  (2010) Fathers' Day celebrated in many countries
21st  (2010) Summer Solstice (11:28 UTC; 7:28 a.m. EDT)

24th  Inti Raymi Incan Sun Festival celebrated in Peru
26th  United Nations (U.N.) formally founded in 1945
30th  Special Theory of Relativity propounded in 1905 by Albert Einstein

1st  Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, German philosopher,
       mathematician b. 1646
2nd  Hermann Hesse, German-Swiss poet, novelist, painter,
         Nobel laureate b. 1877
3rd  Franz Kafka, Austro-Hungarian novelist b. 1883
4th  Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist, short story writer b. 1804
6th  John (Jan) Huss, Czech religious thinker, philosopher,
       reformer d. 1415

6th  Tenzin Gyatso, Tibetan spiritual and political leader, XIVth Dalai
       Lama of Tibet b. 1935
9th  Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter b. 1577
10th  William the Silent, Prince of Orange, Dutch statesman,
         founder of the Dutch Republic d. 1584
10th  Sir William Blackstone, English jurist, professor b. 1723
11th  John Quincy Adams, American diplomat, 6th U.S. President b. 1767
12th  Henry David Thoreau, American author, poet,
         transcendentalist b. 1817
13th  Julius Caesar, Roman military and political leader
         and ruler b. 102/100 B.C.E.
14th/24th  Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born American author, Nobel
                 laureate b. 1904
15th  Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter, printmaker b. 1606
15th  Thomas Bulfinch, American writer, mythologist b. 1796
16th/17th  Jean Baptiste Corot, French landscape painter,
                 printmaker b. 1796
18th  Robert Hooke, English natural philosopher, polymath b. 1635
18th  Nelson Mandela, South African activist, former President of
         South Africa b. 1918
19th  Edgar Degas, French painter, sculpture, printmaker b. 1834
20th  Francesco Petrarch, Italian scholar, poet,
         Father of Humanism b. 1304
20th/22nd  Gregor Mendel, Austrian Augustinian priest, scientist b. 1822
24th  Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan military general, political leader b. 1783
25th  Thomas å Kempis, German Catholic monk, mystic, author d. 1471
26th  George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, Nobel laureate b. 1856
26th  Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist b. 1875
26th  Aldous Huxley, English writer, essayist b. 1894
28th  Jean de la Fontaine, French poet, fabulist b. 1621

29th  Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, Secretary-General
         of the U.N. (quote) b. 1905

4th  Independence Day in the U.S. celebrates the adoption in 1776 of the
       Declaration of Independence
5th  Discovery of radio waves coming from the Milky Way galaxy
       announced in 1933
11th  Breakthough in the understanding of infinitesimal calculus by
         Leibniz in 1675

14th  Storming of the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution
         in 1789, is celebrated annually as Bastille Day
15th  Spanish Inquisition abolished in Spain by royal decree in 1834
16th  First atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S. in 1945
16th/17th  First photograph of a star taken by William Bond in 1850

20th  Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the
         first human beings to step onto the moon's surface in 1969
20th  First successful landing of a space vehicle on Mars in 1972

30th  Society of Freemasons opened an American lodge in Boston in 1733

Undated
•  Breakthrough in the foundation of quantum mechanics theory by Werner
   Heisenberg in 1925

•  First world atlas, attributed to Claudius Ptolemy, was printed in 1477

1st  Herman Melville, American author, poet b. 1819
4th  Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic poet b. 1792
4th  Knut Hamsun (Pedersen), Norwegian author, Nobel laureate b. 1859

4th  Louis Armstrong, African-American jazz trumpeter, singer b. 1901
5th or 6th  Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English Poet Laureate of the United
       Kingdom b. 1809
6th  Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist,
       Nobel laureate b. 1881
9th  Amedeo Avogadro, Italian physicist, mathematician,
       educator b. 1776
12th  H.P. Blavatsky, Russian author, co-founder of the Theosoophical
         Society b. 1831
12th  Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian theoretical physicist, Nobel
         laureate b. 1887
15th  Shri Aurobindo Ghose, Indian nationalist, poet, philosopher
         spiritual teacher b. 1872
17th  Pierre de Fermat, French lawyer, mathematician b. 1601
23rd  Georges Cuvier, French naturalist, zoologist b. 1769
24th  Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist, physician d. 1541
24th  William Wilberforce, British politician, philanthropist,
         abolitionist b. 1759
26th  Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, French chemist, biologist, father
         of modern chemistry b. 1743
27th  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher b. 1770
27th  Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician b. 1858
28th  Johann Wolfgang von Goëthe, German writer, playwright b. 1749
29th  John Locke, British philosopher b. 1632
29th  Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian playwright, poet, essayist, Nobel
         laureate b. 1862
30th  Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand chemist, Nobel laureate b. 1871
30th  Mary Shelley, British novelist, writer b. 1797

31st  Maria Montessori, Italian educator, physician, first woman in Italy
         to receive a medical degree b. 1870
31st  John Bunyan, English Christian writer, preacher d. 1688
31st  Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician, physicist b. 1821

2nd  Ratification of the U.S. Declaration of Independence begins in 1776

2nd First underground subway opens in London in 1870
6th  Atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945

8th  Gandhi launched his "Quit India" movement in 1942 to gain independence
       from British rule
11th/12th  Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting begins
12th  International Youth Day declared by the United Nations in 1999
15th  India's Independence Day celebrated commemorating independence
         from British rule and birth as a sovereign nation, both in 1947

12th/18th  Discovery of the two moons of Mars by Asaph Hall in 1877
26th  Women's Equality Day commorates the day women in the U.S.
         gained the right to vote in 1920
27th  The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen adopted
         by France's National Assembly in 1789
28th  William Herschel first used his newly completed astronomical reflecting
         telescope in 1789
28th  First commercial radio broadcast initiated from New York in 1922

29th  Discovery of electromagnetic induction by Michael Faraday in 1831

2nd  Adoption of the Gregorian calendar by England in 1752
3rd  French Civil Code renamed Code Napoléon in 1807
6th  (2010)  Labor Day celebrated in the U.S., established in 1882 to honor
       workers
8th  International Literacy Day established by the U.N. in 1965 and
       celebrated annually

9th  (2010) Rosh Hashanah, Jewish new year and beginning of
         High Holy Days
16th  Mexican Independence Day celebrates Mexico's independence
         from Spain
16th  Mayflower sailed from England carrying English Separatists to
         America in 1620
17th  Constitution Day: the final draft of the U.S. Constitution was approved
         for submission to the states by the Constitutional Congress in 1787
18th  (2010) Yom Kippur, Jewish Day of Atonement and end of
         High Holy Days

21st  International Day of Peace established by the U.N. in 1981
22nd  Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862
          declaring the freedom of American slaves in the Confederate states

22nd  (2010) Autumnal Equinox (11:09 p.m. EDT)
23rd  (2010) Autumnal Equinox (03:09 UTC)
23rd  Planet Neptune discovered by the German astronomer
         Galle in 1846
23rd  (2010) Sukkot, Jewish harvest festival, begins
25th  Sandra Day O'Conner became the first women appointed to the
         U.S. Supreme Court in 1981
30th  First astrophotograph of the Orion Nebula taken in 1880

2nd  Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader b. 1869
3rd  St. Francis of Assisi, Italian Christian saint, founder of the
        Franciscan Order d. 1226
5th  Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher, writer b. 1713
6th  Richard Dedekind, German mathematician b. 1831

6th  Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris), Swiss-French
       architect, designer, urban planner b. 1887
7th  Neils Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate b. 1885
9th  Camille Saint-Saens, French composer, conductor, musician b. 1835
9th  John Lennon, British musician, singer-songwriter b. 1940
10th  Henry Cavendish, British scientist b. 1731

11th  Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of 32nd U.S. President Franklin D.
         Roosevelt b. 1884
14th  William Penn, British Quaker community leader, founder of
         the Province of Pennsylvania b. 1644
15th  Virgil, Roman classical poet b. 70 BCE
15th  Friedrich Nietzche, German philosopher b. 1844
15th  Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist, mathematician b. 1608
16th  Noah Webster, American lexicographer, author b. 1758
17th  Frederic Chopin, Polish composer, pianist d. 1849
18th  Henri Bergson, French philosopher, Nobel laureate b. 1859
19th  Marsilio Ficino, Italian humanist philosopher, physician b. 1433
20th  Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, urban planner b. 1632
21st  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet b. 1772
24th  Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist, tradesman b. 1632
25th  Johann Strauss, Austrian musician, composer b. 1825
26th  Alfred the Great, English king, reformer d. 899
27th  Nicolo Paganini, Italian violinist, composer b. 1782
27/28th  Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch theologian, humanist b. 1466/1469
30th  Paul Valery, French poet, essayist, philosopher b. 1871
29th/31st  John Keats, English Romantic poet b. 1795

1st  Yosemite National Park formed in the U.S. in 1890 and later designated
       a World Heritage Site
4th  Sputnik 1, first Earth-orbiting satellite, entered into orbit around
        the Earth in 1957
11th  (2010) Columbus Day observes the first landing of Columbus in the
         "New World" in 1492
16th  World Food Day first celebrated in 1981 to increase awareness and
         take action to alleviate worldwide hunger

21st  Table of Atomic Weights first presented by John Dalton in 1803
21st  Speed of light officially included in the International System
         of Units in 1983

22nd  Electric light bulb successfully tested by Thomas Edison in 1879
31st  Reformation Day observed, a religious holiday celebrated by some
         Protestant Christian traditions in rememberance of the the work of
         Martin Luther in the 16th c. to reform the Roman Catholic Church
31st  All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) celebrated as an evening of revelry the
         night before All Saints' Day; an ancient Celtic observance

2nd  George Boole, British mathematician, logician (quote) b. 1815
3rd  Vilhjálmur Stefánsson, Icelandic explorer b. 1879
4th  Will Rogers, Cherokee-American humorist, actor (quote) b. 1879
7th  Marie Curie, Polish physicist, chemist, twice Nobel laureate b. 1867
8th  John D. Scotus, Irish theologian, philosopher d. 1308
8th  Edmond Halley, English astronomer, mathematician,
       discoverer of Halley's Comet b. 1656
10th  Martin Luther, German monk, theologian, reformer b. 1483
10th  Johann Schiller, German poet, dramatist, philosopher b. 1759
11th  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (quote) b. 1821
11th  Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Muslim scholar, political activist,
         co-worker with Gandhi in the movement for Indian
         independence b. 1888
12th  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American social activist b. 1815

12th  August Rodin, French sculptor b. 1840
14th  Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist b. 1797
14th  Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman, first Prime Minister
         of India b. 1889
15th  William Herschel, German-born British astronomer b. 1738
17th  Catherine the Great, Russian, Empress of Russia d. 1796
17th  Jacob Boehme, German Christian mystic, theologian d. 1624
24th  Benedict Spinoza, Dutch philosopher b. 1632

28th  William Blake, English poet, painter, mystic b. 1757
28th  Friedrich Engels, German social scientist, philosopher b. 1820

30th  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American humorist, author b. 1835
30th  Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish author, cleric b. 1667

1st  First Nobel Prize given to an American was for Peace and went to
      Theodore Roosevelt in 1906

2nd  (2010) Chanukah, Jewish Festival of Lights, begins
2nd  First controlled nuclear chain reaction begun by Enrico Fermi at the
        University of Chicago in 1942
3rd  Planet Uranus discovered by John Flamsteed in 1714

6th  Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery
       ratified by U.S. Congress in 1865
10th  Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the U.N.
         Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948

14th  Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached South Pole 1911
15th  Bill of Rights becomes part of the United States Constitution in 1791
          providing protection for the basic rights of the individual to free
          expression and justice

17th  First airplane flight by Wilbur and Orville Wright 1903
18th  House of Lords in England confirmed abolition of capital punishment for
         murder 1969
21st  English Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620
21st  (2010) Winter Solstice (23:38 UTC; 6:38 p.m. EST)
24th  First extended radio audio broadcast of the human voice was
         transmitted through the air in 1906

25th  Christmas Day traditionally celebrated as the day of the birth of Christ

Discovery of insulin announced by Banting and Best in 1921
Cherokee Indians forcibly moved from their homelands to
       reservations in 1838 in what was to become known as the Trail of Tears
Finnish epic poem, Kalevala, published in English in 1888
Cosmic rays dscovered by Victor Hess in 1912
Restoration of the Abu Simbel Temples in Egypt began in the 1960s
First observation of micro-organisims made by Antony van Leeuwenhoek
       in Delft, Holland in 1676

First ancient Olympic Games held in ancient Greece in 776 B.C.E.
First printed almanac published by Gutenberg in 1457
Gutenberg Bible printed in Germany in the 1450's