December 15: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

The longest ever United Nations climate talk ended.

Occurring in Madrid, this discussion of a response to global climate change extended two days longer than it was intended to. The talk ended with a compromise deal on curbing carbon only, and all other issues deferred for a year.

China successfully landed its moon rover.

Development for this rover started in 2002 and wasn't completed until 2010. The rover, Yutu, successfully landed on the moon on its first mission.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was convicted of diverting public funds and received a two-year suspended prison sentence.

Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood, was released. It went on to win Best Picture.

“Spice World,” a musical comedy featuring the Spice Girls, premiered in the UK.

The movie, in which all the Spice Girls played themselves, was the highest-grossing feature film by a music group.

The American Psychiatric Association officially declared that homosexuality is not a mental illness.

The red robin was officially named Britain’s National Bird.

Johnny Cash released “Folsom Prison Blues.”

It went on to win the Billboard Song of the Year.

Major Glenn Miller, musician, and composer, disappeared over the English Channel during a flight.

Gone with the Wind, the drama film directed by Victor Fleming, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.

It won Best Picture and remains the highest-grossing film of all time.

The London Underground’s Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opened.

More commonly known as the Piccadilly tube, the line ran for 8.8 miles between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park.

The Republic of Ezo, a separatist Japanese state, was established on the island of Ezo, Japan.

This was the first attempt by any Japanese government to establish a democratic government. It lasted five months before the Empire of Japan annexed its territories.

Napoleon Bonaparte finally had a funeral.

Napoleon died in St Helena, a remote British-owned island where he had been exiled. Due to the political struggle between Britain and France, it took 19 years to relocate Napoleon's remains back to France to finally have a French state funeral.

The US Patents Office was nearly completely burned down.

All 9,957 patents and 7,000 patent models were lost in the blaze. It was initially suspected to have been an act of arson, but this was soon ruled out. The office shared a building with the post office, and careless disposal of ashes by the post office staff was deemed to be the source of the fire. After this, the US Patent Office changed its policies to require multiple copies of all patent documentation.

The US Bill of Rights was ratified when Virginia gave its approval, which became amendments 1-10 of the constitution.