On this day...

1612 Simon Marius is first to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1791 Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval
1792 First life insurance policy issued in US, Philadelphia
1794 Revolutionary Tribunal abolished in France
1810 First Irish magazine in US, the Shamrock, is published
1836 Patent Office burns in Washington, DC
1854 First street-cleaning machine in US First used in Philadelphia
1859 G. R. Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun
1874 First reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by President Grant
1891 James Naismith invents basketball (Canada)
1909 Thomas J. Lynch becomes President of baseball's National League
1916 French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun
1917 Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia
1925 First road with a depressed trough (Texas) opened to traffic
1927 Ed Hickman kidnaps child he later beheads
1938 Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC
1939 First commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware
1939 World premiere of "Gone With The Wind" in Atlanta
1941 USS Swordfish becomes first US sub to sink a Japanese ship
1942 Massachusetts issues first US vehicular license plate tabs
1944 Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel
1945 John J. O'Connor ordained as a priest
1948 Former state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NY for perjury
1950 Ezzard Charles KOs Nick Barone to retain heavyweight boxing title
1954 Fordham University scraps football team for financial reasons
1954 Netherlands Antilles becomes co-equal part of Kingdom of Netherlands
1961 Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel
1964 American Radio Relay League (organization for hams) founded
1964 Canada adopts maple leaf flag
1965 Gemini 6 launched; makes first rendezvous in space (with Gemini 7)
1965 William Eckert replaces Ford Frick as 4th commissioner of baseball
1966 Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn, Janus
1966 John W. Mecom, Jr,. becomes first owner of the New Orleans Saints
1967 Joe Garagiola joins the Today Show panel
1967 Silver Bay Bridge (Oh-WV) collapses during afternoon rush hour, 34 die
1970 Ferryboat capsized in Korean Strait drowning 261
1970 Soviet Venera 7 is first spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
1973 Sandy Hawley becomes first jockey to win 500 races in one year
1973 Tennessee beats Temple 11-6 in lowest-scoring NCAA basketball game
1974 A's Catfish Hunter is ruled a free agent (later signs with Yankees)
1976 Argo Merchant tanker off Massachusetts' SE coast, spills 7.6 million gallons of crude
1979 Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
1979 World Court in Hague rules Iran should release all US hostages
1980 Free agent Dave Winfield signs with Yankees
1981 NASA launches Intelsat V
1982 Roy Williams, Teamsters president, & 4 others convicted of bribery
1982 Spain reopens border with Gibraltar
1984 USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet
1985 Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielson wed
1986 CIA director William Casey suffers a cerebral seizure
1988 Lori Davis of Long Island sues Mike Tyson for grabbing her buttocks
1990 Rocker Rod Stewart marries super model Rachel Hunter
1993 GATT Uruguay Round completed
1993 Downing Street Declaration on Northern Ireland issued

Birthdays which occurred on December 15th:

37 Nero, 5th Roman emperor (54-68)
1787 Charles Cowden Clarke, English editor/Shakespearean critic
1793 Henry Charles Carey, Philadelphia, economist
1832 Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, built a small tower in Paris
1848 Edwin Howland Blashfield, decorated the dome of Library of Congress
1852 Henri Becquerel, discovered radioactivity (Nobel 1903)
1859 Ludwik L Zamenhof, Russian Poland, created Esperanto
1861 Charles Edgar Duryea, inventor (first auto built & operated in US)
1863 Arthur D. Little, US, chemist (patented rayon)
1892 J. Paul Getty, Minneapolis, oil magnate (Getty Oil)
1904 Kermit Bloomgarden, producer (Diary of Anne Frank, Music Man)
1906 Betty Smith, novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
1913 Muriel Rukeyser, US, poet (1977 Shelley Memorial Award)
1916 Maurice Wilkins, England, physicist, worked with DNA (Nobel 1962)
1918 Jeff Chandler [Ira Grossel], actor (Broken Arrow, Away All Boats)
1919 Ake Seyffarth, 10K speed skater (Olympic gold-1948)
1922 Alan Freed, Pennsylvania, disc jockey, introduced term "rock-n-roll"
1933 Tim Conway, Willoughby OH, comic (McHale's Navy, Carol Burnett Show)
1937 Karen Morrow, Chicago, actress (Aunt Minerva-Tabitha, Jim Nabors Hour)
1939 Cindy Birdsong, singer (The Supremes)
1940 Nick Buoniconti, NFL linebacker (Miami Dolphins)/sportscaster
1942 Dave Clark, England, rocker (Dave Clark 5-Glad All Over)
1946 Carmine Appice, musician (Have You Heard, Keep on Rolling)
1949 Don Johnson, Flatt Creek MO, actor (Miami Vice)
1959 Heidi Bohay, Somerset NJ, actress (Megan-Hotel)
1963 Helen Slater, NY, actress (Supergirl, Billie Jean, Ruthless People)

Deaths which occurred on December 15th:

1890 Chief Sitting Bull, of the Sioux Nation, killed by US Army
1934 Maggis Lena Wlaker, first black woman to head a bank, dies at 69
1943 Thomas W. "Fats" Waller, dies at 39, in KC Missouri
1961 William "Dummy" Hoy, professional baseball player, dies at 99
1966 Walt Disney, animator, dies at 65
1974 Harry Hershfield, cartoonist (Can You Top This?), dies at 89
1978 Chill Wills, actor (Fronteir Circus, Rounders), dies at 75
1979 Bern Hoffman, actor (Major Dell Conway), dies at 66
1984 Avon Long, actor (Roots: Next Generation), dies at 74
1984 Jan Peerce, operatic tenor dies at 80 following a stroke