HISTORY
On this day December 22-28, 2019 (week 52)
December 22, 2019 - December 28, 2019 - Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries for each day of the week. This week features the first S-ray images, the Hansom cab, General Manuel Antonio Noriega,the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops, the tsunami of 2004, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia and British access Maggie Smith
December 22, 1895: German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen made the first X-ray image, of his wife’s hand, allowing the inner workings of the body to be observed without surgery
December 23, 1834: Englishman Joseph Hansom patented his “safety cab”. Light enough to be pulled by a single horse, they became popular in major cities around the globe
December 24, 1989: Panama’s deposed strongman, General Manuel Antonio Noriega, turned himself in to the Vatican Embassy in Panama and requested political asylum
December 25, 1979: Afghanistan was invaded by Soviet troops. A grinding nine-year campaign against local insurgents killed over 120,000 combatants and more than a million civilians
December 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.1 earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered devastating tsunamis which killed around 230,000 people from Indonesia to the coast of Africa
December 27, 537: Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia was inaugurated. Initially a Greek Orthodox cathedral, it became a mosque under the Ottoman Empire and is now a museum
December 28, 1934: British actress Maggie Smith was born. A double Oscar winner, she is now best known as the waspish Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey