Today in History: First Illuminated Traffic Lights Launched in London

December 8 is the 342th day of the year (343th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 23.

Railways

• 8 December 1874 Agop The Azarian Company has committed to the construction of the Belova-Sofia line in the 12 month.

Events

• 1808 - The French Army under Napoleon Bonaparte enters Madrid.
• 1863 – Located in Santiago (Chile) Church of the Company His church was completely burned as a result of a fire, more than 2000 people died. A monument was erected in this area after the fire.
• 1868 - The first illuminated traffic lights are introduced in London.
• 1869 - First Vatican Council opened.
• 1886 – Under the Presidency of Samuel Gompers in the USA, American Federation of Labor was established.
• 1936 – In Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza is elected President.
• 1941 – One day after the Pearl Harbor Attack, the United States Congress declared war on Japan and World War II It officially entered World War II.
• 1942 – Vatan newspaper was closed due to articles against Hitler and the Axis Powers.
• 1948 - The United Nations ratifies the recognition of South Korea.
• 1953 – Turkey eliminated Spain in football and qualified for the World Football Championship.
• 1953 – DSI (General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works) was established.
• 1955 – Samsun Anatolian High School was established.
• 1962 – “Mutual Health Assistance Agreement” was signed between the member states of the European Union. According to the agreement, which Turkey also joined, the care of patients who cannot be treated in their own country will be carried out in countries that have these opportunities.
• 1966 – Türksan, which is said to be the world's first “workers' company”, was founded. It was announced that the purpose of the establishment of the company was to evaluate the savings of Turkish workers working abroad.
• 1968 – İsmail Akçay placed fourth in Tokyo International Marathon.
• 1972 – Doğan Koloğlu was sentenced to 7,5 years in prison.
• 1973 – President Fahri Korutürk pardoned writer Çetin Altan's sentence. However, Altan's 2-year sentence remained outside the scope of amnesty.
• 1980 - John Lennon was shot dead in front of his hotel in New York.
• 1980 – Right-wing militant Cevdet Karakaş, who killed the left-wing lawyer Erdal Aslan on February 11, 1980, was sentenced to death.
• 1987 – Directed by Ömer Kavur Homeland Hotelwon the grand prize at the 9th Nantes 3 Short Film Festival.
• 1987 - Palestinians living in Israeli-occupied territories started the intifada movement.
• 1987 - US President Ronald Reagan and USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty for the mutual destruction of medium-range nuclear missiles.
• 1991 – Boris Yeltsin and the Heads of State of the Republics of Ukraine and Belarus declared the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
• 1992 – The Turkish Grand National Assembly decided to send soldiers to Somalia.
• 1995 – Confederation of Public Workers' Unions, abbreviation of KESK, confederation of civil servants' unions was established.
• 1996 – The PKK delivered the 6 soldiers it held hostage to Welfare Party Van Deputy Fethullah Erbaş, Human Rights Association Chairman Akın Birdal and Mazlum-Der İzmir Branch President Halit Çelik in the Zap camp in Northern Iraq.
• 2003 – Erdoğan Teziç was appointed as the Chairman of YÖK by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
• 2004 – At the Damageplan concert in Ohio, Dimebag Darrell (Darrell Lance Abbott) is shot on stage by a lunatic named Nathan Gale.
• 2007 – No Global Warming Rally was held.

Births

• 65 BC – Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
• 1021 – Wang Anshi, Chinese economist, statesman, and poet (d. 1086) who initiated major and controversial socio-economic reforms known as the New Policies
• 1542 – Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
• 1699 – Maria Josepha, III. Queen of Poland by marrying August (d. 1757)
• 1708 – Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1765)
• 1723 – Paul Henri Thiry d'Holbach, French philosopher and writer (d. 1789)
• 1730 – Johann Hedwig, German botanist (d. 1799)
• 1730 – Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physicist (d. 1799)
• 1756 – Maximilian Franz von Österreich, German clergyman and politician (d. 1801)
• 1765 – Elias (Eli) Whitney, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1825)
• 1790 – Richard Carlile, English journalist (d. 1843)
• 1818 – III. Charles, 28th prince of Monaco and duke of Valentinois (d. 1889)
• 1832 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author, poet, politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
• 1839 – Ali Suavi (Sarıklı Revolutionary), Turkish journalist and writer (d. 1878)
• 1861 – Georges Méliès, French filmmaker and director (d. 1938)
• 1864 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (d. 1943)
• 1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
• 1894 – EC Segar, American cartoonist (creator of Popeye (d. 1938)
• 1911 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
• 1925 – Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, dancer, and comedian (d. 1990)
• 1925 - Arnaldo Forlani, Italian politician
• 1926 – Joachim Fest, German writer (d. 2006)
• 1930 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian actor, director and winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor (d. 2014)
• 1936 – David Carradine, American actor (d. 2009)
• 1939 – Mary Catherine Bateson, American cultural anthropologist, educator, and author (d. 2021)
• 1941 – Randall Harold Cunningham, American politician
• 1943 – Jim Morrison, American singer, songwriter, composer, and poet (d. 1971)
• 1943 – Hakkı Koşar, Turkish karate player
• 1946 – Salif Keita, Malian football player
• 1953 – Kim Basinger, American actress and winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
• 1954 – Louis de Bernières, English writer
• 1957 – Phil Collen, English musician
• 1960 – Aaron Allston, American author and game programmer (d. 2014)
• 1962 – Marty Friedman, American musician
• 1966 – Sinead O'Connor, Irish musician
• 1971 – Abdullah Ercan, Turkish football player
• 1973 Corey Taylor, American musician
• 1976 - Dominic Monaghan, English actor
• 1977 – Francesca Inaudi, Italian actress
• 1978 – Ian Somerhalder, American actor
• 1978 – Soner Sarıkabadayı, Turkish pop music singer
• 1979 – Christian Wilhelmsson, Swedish national football player
• 1981 – Azra Akın, Turkish model, model and actress
• 1982 – Hamit Altintop, Turkish football player
• 1982 – Halil Altintop, Turkish football player
• 1982 – Nicki Minaj, American rapper and songwriter
• 1985 – Dwight Howard, American basketball player
• 1986 – Eric Arndt, American professional wrestler
• 1987 – Lauren Phillips, American pornographic actress, model, and former professional dancer
• 1993 – AnnaSophia Robb, American actress
• 1994 – Conseslus Kipruto, Kenyan athlete
• 1994 - Cara Mund Miss America pageant Miss 2018 selected female model
• 1994 – Raheem Sterling, Jamaican-born English national football player
• 1996 – Scott McTominay, Scottish football player

Deaths

• 1709 – Thomas Corneille, French poet (b. 1625)
• 1830 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French liberal writer (b. 1767)
• 1831 – James Hoban, Irish architect (the White House is one of his most important works) (b. 1762)
• 1859 – Thomas de Quincey, English essayist (b. 1785)
• 1864 – George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1762)
• 1894 – Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (b. 1821)
• 1903 – Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (b. 1820)
• 1907 – II. Oscar, king of Sweden and Norway (b. 1829)
• 1913 – Camille Jenatzy, Belgian engineer (b. 1868)
• 1914 – Maximilian von Spee, German soldier (b. 1861)
• 1919 – J. Alden Weir, American impressionist painter (b. 1852)
• 1937 – Ahmet Baytursun, Kazakh educator, linguist, writer, poet and politician (b. 1872)
• 1963 – Sarit Thanarat, Thai politician (b. 1908)
• 1978 – Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
• 1980 – John Lennon, English rock singer, founder of The Beatles and winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score (b. 1940)
• 1981 – Ferruccio Parri, 43rd Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1890)
• 1983 – Slim Pickens, American film actor (b. 1919)
• 1984 – Semih Sancar, Turkish soldier and 16th Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (b. 1911)
• 1989 – Berke Vardar, Turkish linguist (b. 1934)
• 1990 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish painter, assemblageist and theater director (b. 1925)
• 1994 – Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian composer, pioneer of the Bossa Nova movement, performer, pianist and guitarist (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Howard Rollins, American actor (b. 1950)
• 1997 – Bob Bell, American actor and performer (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Mirza Delibašić, Bosnian basketball player (b. 1954)
• 2001 – Betty Holberton, American computer scientist and human computer (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (member of Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Darrell Lance Abbott, American guitarist and founder of Pantera (b. 1966)
• 2013 – John Cornforth, Australian chemist (b. 1917)
• 2015 – Alan Hodgkinson, English international football player (b. 1936)
• 2016 – John Glenn, American aviator, engineer, astronaut, and politician (b. 1921)
• 2018 – Lüdmila Alekseyeva, Russian writer, historian and human rights activist (b. 1927)
• 2018 – Evelyn Berezin, American computer engineer (b. 1925)
• 2018 – Jolanta Szczypińska, Polish politician (b. 1957)
• 2019 – René Auberjonois, American male theater, film and television actor, voice actor (b. 1940)
• 2019 – Juice WRLD, American rapper, singer and songwriter (b. 1998)
• 2019 – Carroll Spinney, American comedian, actress, and voice actor (b. 1933)
• 2020 – Harold Budd, American avant-garde composer and poet (b. 1936)
• 2020 – Raffaele Pinto, Italian rally racer (b. 1945)
• 2020 – Alejandro Sabella, Argentine coach and former football player (b. 1954)
• 2020 – Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, Soviet-Russian high-ranking soldier and politician (b. 1942)