23rd December

1672 Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn
1912 In Delhi, India, terrorist agitation continues as British Viceroy Lord Hardinge is wounded by a bomb explosion

24th December

1936 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California
1966 Soviet spacecraft Luna 13 lands on Moon

25th December

1642 Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, and astronomer, born, England (d. 1727)
1760 Jupiter Hammon, an African American slave, composes poetry broadside “An Evening Thought” (1st poetry published by an African American 1761)

26th December

1606 First known performance of William Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” before the court of King James I at Whitehall, London

2004 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people

27th December

1916 Nicolai Soloviev, Russian music critic and composer, dies at 70
1945 The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.

28th December

1860 Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
1926 Imperial Airways begins England-India mail & passenger service

29th December

1887 Kiyoshi Nobutoki, Japanese cellist and composer, born in Osaka (d. 1965)
1983 Gavaskar makes the highest Test Cricket score by an Indian, 236* v WI

30th December

1906 The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan
1943 Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair

31st December

1861 22,990mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in India in 1861, a world record
1969 Salvatore Baccaloni, Italian opera singer and actor (Merry Andrew, Rock-a-Bye Baby), dies at 69