Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
619 - Boniface V becomes Pope
1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins
1823 - A Visit From St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, is first published
1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King
1913 - The Federal Reserve Act becomes law
1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
1954 - The first human organ transplant, of a kidney, was performed by Doctors Murray and Harrison at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston
1972 - Terry Bradshaw throws the Immaculate Reception pass “to” Franco Harris
1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination
1986 - The Scaled Composites Voyager aircraft completes the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling.
1990 - Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end (may also be December 21). This day was predicted by the Mayans to be when life on Earth is going to end

Births
1582 - Severo Bonini, composer (d. 1663)
1732 - Richard Arkwright, industrialist, and inventor of the Water Frame (d. 1792)
1790 - Jean François Champollion, egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone (d. 1832)
1943 - Silvia, Queen of Sweden
1944 - Wesley Clark, US General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater

Deaths
910 - Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar
1973 - Charles Atlas, bodybuilder
1982 - Jack Webb, actor, producer, director (b. 1920)
2000 - Victor Borge, Danish/American humorist and pianist (b. 1909)
2000 - Billy Barty, actor

Holidays & observances
Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day