December 16

Tuesday 16, 2003:

Deborah Jin induces the formation of a fermionic condensate among fermionic atoms.

Saturday 16, 2000:

NASA announces that there is an ocean beneath Jupiter moon Ganymede's icy surface.

Thursday 16, 1999:

Mud streams kill thousands in Venezuela.

Wednesday 16, 1998:

Operation Desert Fox: American and British troops begin to bomb Iraqi targets after Iraq obstructs UN weapons inspectors.

Tuesday 16, 1997:

Super Typhoon Paka makes landfall on the island of Guam with 150 mph winds.

Monday 16, 1991:

United Nations reverses its 1975 resolution that Zionism is racism by a vote of 111-25, with 13 abstentions

Sunday 16, 1990:

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti

Saturday 16, 1989:

The Romanian Revolution begins in the city of Timişoara as a protest against an attempt to evict a dissident priest.

Monday 16, 1985:

In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead , making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the Gambino family.

Sunday 16, 1973:

O.J. Simpson becomes the first player in NFL history to rush for 2000 yards in one season.

Thursday 16, 1971:

The Pakistan Army surrenders, ending the Liberation War of Bangladesh and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 simultaneously.

Wednesday 16, 1970:

Shipworkers in Gda?sk, Poland clash with government police and the seeds of the Solidarity movement are sown.

Friday 16, 1966:

Mao's Little Red Book is published in Beijing

Monday 16, 1963:

Park Chung-Hee is sworn in as South Korea's fifth president.

Friday 16, 1960:

A United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation collide over New York City, killing 134

Tuesday 16, 1958:

A fire at a store in Bogotá, Colombia kills 83 people.

Monday 16, 1946:

Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France

Saturday 16, 1944:

World War II: A V-2 rocket hits the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people.

Wednesday 16, 1942:

SS Chief Heinrich Himmler orders that the Roma (gypsy) people be sent to Auschwitz for extermination.

Saturday 16, 1922:

Poland's President Gabriel Narutowicz assassinated.

Friday 16, 1910:

Henri Coanda makes first short flight in aircraft with jet engine

Saturday 16, 1893:

World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony".

Friday 16, 1864:

American Civil War: Union troops led by General George Thomas defeat Confederate troops in the Battle of Nashville.

Monday 16, 1850:

The first four ships arrive to settle Christchurch, New Zealand.

Sunday 16, 1838:

Boers defeat Zulu troops at Battle of Blood River, led by Dambuza and Nhlela, celebrated in South Africa as the day of the vow.

Monday 16, 1811:

The first of a series of severe earthquakes occurs, in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri in the United States.

Thursday 16, 1773:

The Boston Tea Party: a crowd of colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumps 342 crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the British Tea tax.

Friday 16, 1689:

The English Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights.

Tuesday 16, 1653:

Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Sunday 16, 1392:

Emperor Go-Kameyama of Japan abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu, ending the nanboku-cho period of competing imperial courts.

More on December, 16

• People Born on December, 16
• They left us on December, 16