Summary of the Day ✨ 21 December (21/12)
A tragic mass shooting at Charles University in Prague claimed 14 lives while a rare celestial spectacle occurred as Jupiter and Saturn reached their closest conjunction since 1623. Meanwhile, Mesoamerican communities celebrated the end of the Mayan calendar cycle, Iraq mourned the deadliest suicide attack on U.S. soldiers, and Spanish authorities thwarted a major terrorist plot in Madrid.
Historical Events 📜
- 2023: Fourteen people are killed and 25 others injured during a mass shooting at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
- 2020: A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.
- 2012: 2012 phenomenon: Festivities are held in parts of Mesoamerica to commemorate the conclusion of b’ak’tun 13, a roughly 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar whose passing many New Age spiritualists had earlier held to portend a variety of cataclysmic or transformative events.
- 2004: Iraq War: A suicide bomber kills 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers in Iraq.
- 1999: The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.
- 1999: Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 overshoots the runway at La Aurora International Airport, killing 18.
- 1995: The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
- 1992: A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, Portugal, killing 56.
- 1991: Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The leaders of 11 now effectively autonomous Soviet republics sign the Alma-Ata Protocol establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States in place of the collapsing Soviet Union.
- 1988: A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270. This is to date the deadliest air disaster to occur on British soil.
- 1979: Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
- 1973: The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.
- 1968: Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
- 1967: Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a human-to-human heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.
- 1965: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.
Famous Births 👶
- 2006: Cooper Flagg, American basketball player
- 2002: Clara Tauson, Danish tennis player
- 1997: Madelyn Cline, American actress and model
- 1997: Charlie McAvoy, American ice hockey player
- 1996: Ben Chilwell, English footballer
- 1996: Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
- 1994: Luke Brooks, Australian rugby league player
- 1992: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, American football player
- 1992: Jamie Oleksiak, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991: Nic Maddinson, Australian cricketer
- 1991: Otis, American wrestler
- 1991: Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer
- 1989: Mark Ingram II, American football player
- 1989: Tamannaah, Indian actress
- 1988: Danny Duffy, American baseball player
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Michelle Botes, South African actress (born 1962)
- 2024: Art Evans, American actor (born 1942)
- 2019: Andrew Clennel Palmer, British engineer (born 1938)
- 2017: Bruce McCandless II, US astronaut who conducted the first untethered spacewalk (born 1937)
- 2014: Udo Jürgens, Austrian-Swiss singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1934)
- 2014: Sitor Situmorang, Indonesian poet and author (born 1923)
- 2014: Billie Whitelaw, English actress (born 1932)
- 2013: Edgar Bronfman Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (born 1929)
- 2013: John Eisenhower, American historian, general, and diplomat, 45th United States Ambassador to Belgium (born 1922)
- 2010: Enzo Bearzot, Italian footballer and manager (born 1927)
- 2009: Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
- 2009: Christos Lambrakis, Greek journalist and businessman (born 1934)
- 2006: Saparmyrat Nyýazow, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (born 1940) (date death announced)
- 2004: Autar Singh Paintal, Indian physiologist and neurologist (born 1925)
- 1998: Ernst-Günther Schenck, German colonel and physician (born 1904)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Armed Forces Day (Philippines)
- Christian feast day:
O Oriens - Christian feast day:
Peter Canisius - Christian feast day:
Thomas the Apostle - Christian feast day:
December 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Forefathers’ Day (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
- São Tomé Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)