Facts

1492: Kings of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella issue the Edict of Alhambra, ordering the 150,000 Jews living in the country to either convert to Christianity or leave Spain.

1821: Athanasios Diakos raises the flag of the Revolution in Livadia.

1833: The Turkish guard of Athens, Osman Efentis, surrenders the Acropolis to the Bavarian Major Paligan and Lieutenant Christopher Nezer. The Ottomans leave Athens for good.

1889: The official opening ceremony of the Eiffel Tower takes place.

1946: The first post-war elections are being held in Greece, from which the KKE abstains. The People’s Party-led United Front of Nationalists wins 206 of the 354 seats in the Parliament, while the country enters the path of civil war.

1970: Eight members of the terrorist organization “Japanese Red Army” hijack a Japan Airlines plane with 129 passengers, brandishing samurai swords and a grenade. They will be released a few hours later.

Births

1596: René Descartes, better known in Greece as Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician. He also went down in history for saying “I think, therefore I am”. (D. 11/2/1650)

1732: Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer, who summarized in his work the Classical Period of Western Music and highlighted the musical form of the sonata. (“The Creation”, “Agreement no. 94”) (D. 31/5/1809)

1740: Panoutsos Notaras, fighter of the Greek Revolution and politician. (D. 18/1/1849)

Deaths

1917: Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, the first scientist to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, in 1901, for his work on the use of serum as a therapeutic agent, and in particular for its use in the treatment of diphtheria. (Born 15/3/1854)

1980: Jesse Owens, African-American track and field athlete, who won 4 gold medals at the Berlin Olympics and overturned Adolf Hitler’s theories of pure race. (Born 12/9/1913)

2008: Gilles Dassin, American director of French origin, partner of Melina Mercouri. (Born 18/12/1911)