What are the important events that happened on December 10? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 10: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 10 is the 344^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 27, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 29,422,080 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectatetracontatetragon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 69 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,737 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 10 Historical Events

• 1041 –
  The adopted son of Empress Zoe of Byzantium succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
• 1541 –
  Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
• 1799 –
  France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.
• 1869 –
  Kappa Sigma Fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
• 1907 –
  The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected.
• 1935 –
  The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded to halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
• 1948 –
  The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• 1949 –
  Chinese Civil War: The People’s Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
• 1993 –
  The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages.
• 1994 –
  Rwandan Genocide: Military advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.

Who were born on December 10?

• 1804 –
  Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
• 1851 –
  Melvil Dewey, American librarian, (d. 1931)
• 1880 –
  Fred Immler, German actor (d. 1965)
• 1885 –
  Marios Varvoglis, Greek Composer (d. 1967)
• 1907 –
  Rumer Godden, English writer (d. 1998)
• 1913 –
  Harry Locke, English actor (d. 1987)
• 1956 –
  Roberto Cassinelli, Italian politician and lawyer
• 1959 –
  Mark Aguirre, American basketball player
• 1963 –
  Jahangir Khan, former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan
• 1983 –
  Katrin Siska, Estonian singer

Who died on December 10?

• 1831 –
  Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
• 1850 –
  François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (b. 1787)
• 1926 –
  Nikola Pašić, Serbian politician (b. 1845)
• 1945 –
  Theodor Dannecker, German Nazi officer (b. 1913)
• 1968 –
  Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
• 1992 –
  Dan Maskell, English tennis commentator (b. 1908)
• 1994 –
  Keith Joseph, English politician (b. 1918)
• 1999 –
  Lex Goudsmit, Dutch actor (b. 1913)
• 2004 –
  Gary Webb, American journalist (b. 1955)
• 2005 –
  Eugene McCarthy, America politician (b. 1916)