December 27
There are
4 days remaining in 2016.
Events
537 The
Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople, is completed.
1521 The
Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse. Philip Melanchthon cannot silence them. Martin Luther is being held in protective custody at the Wartburg castle at this time. He is later released and is able, by his preaching, to regain the peace.
1814 War of 1812: The American schooner
USS Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore
Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the
Battle of New Orleans.
1831
Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the
HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
1845
Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by
Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1922
Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
1927
Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the
Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.
1932
Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.
1966 The
Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is "
discovered" in Aquismσn, San Luis Potosν, Mexico.
1979 The
Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1997 Protestant paramilitary leader
Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
2004 Radiation from an explosion on the
magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet. SGR 1806-20's magnetic field is 1-2
quadrillion times stronger than Earth's. It is the most highly magnetized object ever observed.
Births
1571 Johannes Kepler; 1822 Louis Pasteur ("Nevermind that shit, here comes Mongo!"); 1879 Sydney Greenstreet; 1901 Marlene Dietrich; 1915 William Masters (of
Masters and Johnson); 1931 Scotty Moore♪ ♫; 1939 John Amos; 1943 Cokie Roberts; 1944 Mick Jones; 1948 Gιrard Depardieu; 1950 Terry Bozzio; 1952 David Knopfler; 1957 Greg Mortenson; 1960 Maryam d'Abo; 1966 Bill Goldberg; 1970 Chyna; 1975 Heather O'Rourke
Deaths
1834 Charles Lamb; 1836 Stephen F. Austin; 1923 Gustave Eiffel; 1958 Harry Warner; 1981 Hoagy Carmichael; 1997 Billy Wright; 2007 Benazir Bhutto; 2012 Harry Carey, Jr.; 2012 Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.; 2015 Meadowlark Lemon