Winter Solstice Date Facts | weatherology°
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By: Meteorologist Laura Lockwood
Updated: Dec 14th 2018

Winter Solstice Date Facts

With the solstice coming up on December 21st, 2018 at 4:23pm CST, some other interesting things have occurred in the past on December 21st as well, including:

  • 1620 – The pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Harbor and founded a society that would allow them to worship freely.
  • 1891 – The first game of basketball, based on rules created by James Naismith, played by 18 students in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  • 1898 – Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium, ushering in the atom age.
  • 1913 – 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World, created by Arthur Wynne.
  • 1937 – The first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the WALT DISNEY ANIMATED classics series, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater.
  • 1968 – Apollo 8: 1st manned Moon voyage launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. They were the first to leave the Earth's orbit and circle the Moon.

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Image of first crossword from NY World.
Image is from: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html
Image of Marie Curie.
Image is from: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/biographical/
Image of Apollo 8 insignia.
Image is from : https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html