December 28 birthdays & history

Famous people born on December 28

• 1856Woodrow Wilson, American historian and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1969Linus Torvalds, Finnish-American computer programmer, developed Linux kernel
• 1903John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist
• 1955Liu Xiaobo, Chinese author, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1954Denzel Washington, American actor, director, and producer
• 1922Stan Lee, American publisher, producer, and actor
• 1934Maggie Smith, English actress
• 1882Arthur Eddington, English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician
• 1981Sienna Miller, American-British actress and fashion designer
• 1944Kary Mullis, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

What happened on December 28

• 484Alaric II (depicted) succeeded his father Euric as King of the Visigoths.
• 1065Westminster Abbey, built by Edward the Confessor as the first Romanesque church in England, was first consecrated.
• 1767Taksin the Great was crowned king of the newly established Thonburi Kingdom at the new capital of Thonburi in present-day Thailand.
• 1836South Australia and Adelaide are founded.
• 1836Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico with the signing of the Santa María–Calatrava Treaty.
• 1846Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
• 1895The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines.
• 1907The last confirmed sighting of the now-extinct huia occurred in the Tararua Range on New Zealand's North Island.
• 1918At the general election in Ireland, Constance Markievicz was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as the first female member of Parliament, although she never took her seat.
• 1925The Tokyo Grand Sumo Association became the All Japan Sumo Association at the instigation of Prince-Regent Hirohito, laying the foundations for the world's sole professional sumo association.
• 1967American businesswoman Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
• 2018Netflix released Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, its first interactive content for adults.

Also observed on December 28

• King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand)
• Proclamation Day (South Australia), celebration started on the day following Christmas (South Australia)
• Republic Day (South Sudan)
• The fourth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)