December 21^st in history

Encyclopædia Britannica presents people and events from this day in history:

Florence Griffith Joyner: Biography of the Day

Florence Griffith Joyner

American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, considered one of the fastest women in track and holder from 1988 of the world record in the 100 metres (10.49 seconds) and 200 metres (21.34 seconds), was born this day in 1959.

 

Radium discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie: 21 December 1898 - This Day in History

On this day in 1898, having recently discovered polonium, future Nobel Prize winners Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the radioactive chemical element radium, a silvery white metal that would be used to treat cancer.

More Events on this day:

1988: Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, apparently because of a terrorist bombing; in 2003 the government of Libya accepted responsibility for the explosion and in 2004 agreed to compensate the families of the victims.

1968: Apollo 8 was launched from Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral) and eventually completed 10 lunar orbits.

1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected president of the French Fifth Republic.

1913: The New York World published the first modern crossword puzzle.

1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman captured Savannah, Georgia, during his “March to the Sea” in the American Civil War.

1845: The Battle of Froz Shh began between British and Sikh forces during the First Sikh War.