Today In History, 10 December: What Happened On This Day

What happened today in history (10 December): C. Rajagopalachari and Ada Lovelace were born, Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics, Augusto Pinochet passed away, Lawrence of Arabia premiered, and more.

Mudit Chhikara Updated: Dec 10, 2022 07:00 IST

This day in history (10 Dec): Martin Luther King Jr. Was Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Today in History: Less than a month is left before 2022 ends and another wonderful year arrives. Today is 10 December. It appears to be another ordinary winter day at first glance, but it holds a major place in world history. Many pivotal events took place on this day (10 Dec).

From the birth of the world’s first computer programmer and the demise of the founder of the Nobel Prize to the premiere of one of the greatest epic movies of all time, December 10 is a defining day in history.

Read on to find out what happened on this day (Dec. 10) in the fields of sports, politics, art, famous birthdays, and deaths.

Historical Events on This day

In 1582, France began using the Gregorian calendar.
In 1898, representatives of the governments of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War.
In 1768, the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published.
In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1993, the groundbreaking first-person shooter video game Doom was uploaded onto the internet by ID Software.

Nobel Prize Awarded on this Day

In 1901, the first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen for his discovery of X-rays.
In 1909, Swedish author Selma Lagerlof became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1913, Indian author and poet Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his work Gitanjali.
In 1922, Danish physicist Neils Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his experiment on the structure of atoms.
In 1930, Indian scientist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on light-scattering. He became the first Asian and non-white person to win a science Nobel.
In 1935, James Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the neutron.
In 1938, Italian-American scientist Enrico Fermi received the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on reduced radioactivity.
In 1947, American physiologists Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Gasser were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology for research into nerve function.
In 1950, Ralph Bunche became the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In 1954, American chemist Linus Pauling won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on chemical bonds and their applications.
In 1960, American chemist Willard Libby won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the radiocarbon dating which revolutionized the fields of archaeology and palaeontology.
In 1964, the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Manachem Begin and Egypt President Anwar Sadat accepted their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
In 1998, Indian professor Amartya Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in the domain of welfare economics.
In 2009, US President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions towards strengthening international diplomacy and harmony.
In 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in a ceremony he didn’t attend.

Sports Events Today

In 1968, American boxer Joe Frazier beat Oscar Bonavena to win the heavyweight boxing title.
In 2012, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen broke Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov’s 13-year Elo rating record.

Music and Cinema Events Today

In 1884, acclaimed American author Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published.
In 1962, the British historical epic Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole, premiered.
In 1978, Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, and Gene Hackman, premiered in the US.

Important Days

International Human Rights Day - Theme: Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All

Notable Deaths On This Day

Sr No	Death Year	Personality
1	1896	Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and industrialist who invented the dynamite and is known for founding the Nobel Prizes.
2	1967	Otis Redding, American soul singer
3	2001	Ashok Kumar, veteran Bollywood actor known for films Howrah Bridge and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi
4	2005	Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor who revolutionized stand up comedy in the 1970s with his racially motivated and improvisational comedy
5	2006	Augusto Pinochet, Chilean military general who ruled Chile as a dictator for two decades and committed numerous atrocities.

Famous Birthdays On This Day

Sr No	Birth Year	Personality
1	1815	Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and an accomplice of Charles Babbage, the creator of computer. Ada Lovelace has gained recognition as the first computer programmer of the world
2	1830	Emily Dickinson, American poet known for her free spirited and haunting poetry
3	1851	Melvil Dewey, American librarian who devised the Dewey Decimal Classification for cataloging and laying the foundation of library science
4	1878	Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Indian statesman, writer, lawyer and freedom fighter who served as the first Indian-born and the last Governor-General of India and later became the Chief Minister of Madras state.
5	1960	Kenneth Branagh, Irish-British actor and filmmaker known for his films Belfast and Hamlet