Today:
558 – The dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapses and is immediately rebuilt under the order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.
962 – Byzantine Emperor Otto I’s forces recapture Capua, an important city in southern Italy.
1672 – Giovanni Cassini discovers Saturn’s moon Rhea.
1783 – George Washington resigns his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, symbolizing the nation’s transition from war to peace.
1805 – Joseph Fouché, the French Minister of Police, issues a decree effectively banning Sunday schools throughout France.
1823 – “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”) is published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel, later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore.
1893 – The opera “Hansel and Gretel” by Engelbert Humperdinck premieres in Weimar, Germany.
1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.
1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley.
1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completes the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling, landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
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