International History

Artist Albert Bierstadt was born on January 7, 1830, in Solingen, Germany.  He was the most successful of the Hudson River School Artists and his paintings of the American West helped inspire increased settlement. 

Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, France. Braille invented the reading and writing system used by the visually impaired for nearly two centuries.

Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez was born on December 31, 1930, in La Paz, Bolivia. Escalante taught math to a class of students previously deemed “unteachable.” Escalante became famous after the story of his success was re-told in a book and a movie.

Italian physician, merchant, horticulturalist and close friend of President Thomas Jefferson, Philip Mazzei was born on December 25, 1730, in Poggio a Caiano (Prato) in Tuscany.

Franz Waxman was born on December 24, 1906, in Königshütte, Upper Silesia, German Empire (present-day Chorzów, Poland). Waxman was the first composer to win an Academy Award for best film score two years in a row.

On December 22, 1971, Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders was founded. The international humanitarian non-governmental organization provides medical aid in times of crisis around the world.

On December 16, 1944, the Battle of the Bulge began.  It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the war to involve the United States.

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  This date is now celebrated as Human Rights Day.

On December 9, 1979 the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication completed their task, confirming the disease would no longer be spread naturally.