Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) was an Italian-American physicist who was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics. He created the world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and is one of 16 scientists who have elements named after them. One of the few physicists to excel in both theoretical and experimental work, he made significant contributions to quantum theory, statistical mechanics, and nuclear and particle physics. He helped formulate the Fermi–Dirac statistics for particles that obey Wolfgang Pauli's exclusion principle, called "fermions". His theory of beta decay correctly predicted that a particle he named the "neutrino" would be emitted along with an electron, satisfying the law of conservation of energy. He left Italy in 1938 to escape the Italian racial laws that affected his Jewish wife Laura, and emigrated to the United States. He worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II, but later opposed development of the hydrogen bomb on moral and technical grounds. (Full article...)

Fragments of the
Baal Cycle

• ... that among the best-known Ugaritic texts are epic poems called the Baal Cycle (pictured), the Legend of Keret, and the Tale of Aqhat?
• ... that Chinese violinist Sheng Zhongguo was named by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as one of the world's greatest artists?
• ... that Tell al-Hara is the highest point in Syria's southern Daraa Governorate?
• ... that the 17th-century traveller Peter Mundy described Mirza Zulqarnain as the "chiefest" Christian of the Mughal Empire?
• ... that two Nazi propaganda films were made in Theresienstadt concentration camp?
• ... that Gern Nagler and Billy Howton successfully used a draft antitrust lawsuit to convince NFL Commissioner Bert Bell to create the league's player pension?
• ... that Aigrette, the first diesel-engine submarine to be launched, had a hydrogen leak and explosion in its battery?
• ... that US Representative-elect Sharice Davids is a former mixed martial arts fighter?

Asteroid 101955 Bennu

• The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu (pictured).
• Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush dies at the age of 94.
• Magnus Carlsen defeats Fabiano Caruana to retain the World Chess Championship.
• NASA's InSight successfully lands on Mars.
• Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko declares martial law after Russian forces seize three ships in the disputed Kerch Strait near Crimea.

December 10: Human Rights Day; Nobel Banquet

The original brown dog statue

• 1684 – Edmond Halley presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, to the Royal Society.
• 1898 – The Spanish–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, with Spain recognizing the independence of Cuba and ceding Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States.
• 1907 – During the Brown Dog affair, about 1,000 protesters marched through London and then clashed with 400 police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial (pictured) for animals that had been vivisected.
• 1942 – Edward Raczyński of the Polish government-in-exile issued a note that was the first official report on the Holocaust.
• 1978 – Starring Christopher Reeve in the title role, Superman, the first big-budget Superman film, premiered in Washington, D.C.

María Bibiana Benítez (b. 1783) · C. Rajagopalachari (b. 1878) · Ziad Abu Ein (d. 2014)