About December 24
December 24, 2024 is the 359th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 7 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
Is this your birthday? Are you not curious to learn who shares your special day? Find out the December 24 famous birthdays and expand your knowledge today. (Sponsored link)
Capricorn is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 36 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
What Happened On December 24
- 1294 –Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.
- 1777 –Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
- 1851 –Library of Congress burns.
- 1871 –Aida opens in Cairo.
- 1906 –Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
- 1911 –Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
- 1939 –World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
- 1941 –World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
- 1943 –World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.
- 1951 –Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1964 –Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
- 1968 –Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.
- 1973 –District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
- 1974 –Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
- 1979 –The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
- 1980 –Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, an incident called “Britain’s Roswell”.
- 1997 –The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
- 2003 –The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid’s busy Chamartín Station.
- 2005 –Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
- 2008 –Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
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