Aurora Borealis
On December 11, 1719 – The first recorded sighting of the Aurora Borealis was in New England.
On December 11, 1816 – Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th American state.
On December 11, 1844 – Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic.
On December 11, 1872 – Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became America’s first black governor when he took office as acting governor of Louisiana.
On December 11, 1928 – In Buenos Aires, police thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.
On December 11, 1941 – Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries.
On December 11, 1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war.
On December 11, 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law legislation creating $1.6 billion environmental “superfund” that would be used to pay for cleaning up chemical spills and toxic waste dumps.
On December 11, 1981 – Muhammad Ali fought his last fight. He lost his 61st fight to Trevor Berbick.
On December 11, 1997 – More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth’s “greenhouse gases.”
On December 11, 1998 – Scientists announced that they had deciphered the entire genetic blueprint of a tiny worm.
On December 11, 2001 – It was announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would withdraw the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
Born on December 11:
Fiorello LaGuardia 1882
Jermaine Jackson 1954
Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) 1958
Today in Alaskan history:
December 11, 1938 – The M/V Patterson ran ashore 8 miles west of Cape Fairweather, a total loss.
Really? In New England? Cool. I guess that the magnetic field has shrunk enough that that doesn’t happen any longer. Seeing the Northern Lights is on my must-do-sometime list.