Events that happened on December 6

IN THE WORLD:

- The Day of St. Nicholas in Catholic countries /the main children's holiday in Western Europe/.

- The national holiday of Finland, the Independence Day /on December 6, 1917 the Finnish government adopted the declaration of independence; on December 31, 1917 the revolutionary government of Soviet Russia headed by Vladimir Lenin acknowledged Finland's independence/.

- English playwright Nicholas ROWE /1674-1718/, the publisher of the first collected works by William Shakespeare in the 18th century and the author of the first biography of Shakespeare, died 285 years ago.

- French chemist and physicist Joseph Louis GAY-LUSSAC /1778-1850/ was born 225 years ago /discovered gas laws which were given his name/.

- French scientist, aviation and astronautics pioneer Robert ESNAULT-PELTERIE /1881-1957/ died 46 years ago /he created the first monoplane/.

- The fourth main expedition to the International Space Station started 2 years ago, in 2001. The Endeavor space shuttle was launched from Cape Canaveral. The crew included Russian cosmonaut Yuri Onufriyenko and 6 US astronauts. Endeavor delivered the Italian Rafaello MPLM for extra equipment of the International Space Station.

IN RUSSIA:

- Revolutionary democrat, poet and publicist Nikolai P. OGAREV /1813-1877/ was born 190 years ago /in immigration from 1856/.

- The Filatov Moscow Children's Municipal Clinic was founded 161 years ago, in 1842 /at the time its title was Children's Hospital/.

- Ossetian writer and literary critic Gaito /Georgy/ I. GAZDANOV /1903-1971/ was born 100 years ago. He wrote only in Russian. In immigration from 1920. The author of novels "A Soiree at Claire's", "Pilgrims", "Awakening", etc.

- Surgeon, writer and academician Nikolai M. AMOSOV /1913-2002/ was born 90 years ago. He performed more than 4,000 heart operations. The author of books "Thoughts and Heart", "Meditations on Health", "A Book on Happiness and Misfortunes", etc.

- writer Sergei P. ZALYGIN /1913-2000/ was born 90 years ago. The author of novels "Salty Fold", "Commission", "After a Storm" and "The Ecological Novel", a story "Namesakes", articles on nature protection. Editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir /New World/ journal from 1986.