25 Days of History: December 10th

Jordan Spriggs
Dec 10, 2019
2 min read

The longest list of interesting historical events yet; 10 moments in history on the 10th day of December!

Tuesday, December 10th, 2019 @ 14:55 (2:55pm)

1. The Protestant Reformation

1520 - Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant. He'd then post his famous 95 tenets on the doors of the church and begin the Protestant Reformation.

Left: 1517 copy of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the publication of which began the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Right: Martin Luther (1529) by Lucas Cranach the Elder

2. The Root of All Evil

1690 - Massachusetts Bay becomes first American colonial government to issue paper money.

3. Women's suffrage in Wyoming

1869 - Women's suffrage granted in Wyoming Territory, becoming the first place in the entire world to give women the right to vote. A U.S. territory in 1869, Wyoming's first territorial legislature voted to give women the right to vote and to hold public office. More amazingly though, a legislature consisting of entirely men voted within that same year of 1869 to pass a women's suffrage bill. The territory retained its woman suffrage law even when that law jeopardized Wyoming Territory's application for statehood, claiming, that "we won't vote to join the Union unless our women get to as well."

4. First American to Receive Nobel Peace Prize

1906 - 26th US President (and really cool guy, check out his story) Theodore Roosevelt is the 1st American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

5. One A Day...

1929 - Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine jointly awarded to Christiaan Eijkman and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins for the discovery of vitamins. Vitamin is a word that comes from the Latin word 'vita' meaning 'life'. It was originally thought that vitamins contained the essential building blocks of life and in the early 1900's the word was 'vitamine'.

6. First African-American Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

1950 - Ralph Bunche becomes the 1st black American to be presented the Nobel Peace Prize, thanks to his concerted efforts for mediating peace and non-violence in Israel.

7. The Reverend Doctor Awarded for Progressing Civil Rights

1964 - The Nobel Peace Prize is presented to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo, Norway. This is one of but many accomplishments this great man did in service of not just African-Americans, but for all people everywhere fighting for justice and racial equality.

8. The Infamous 300 Million Yen Robbery

1968 - Japan's biggest heist in history at the time, the "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo. More than half a century later, the case remains unsolved.

9. A Grandmaster Becomes More Grand

2012 - Norwegian Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov’s 13-year Elo rating record at the age of 22. His peak classical rating of 2882 is the highest in history.