Today in History for Dec. 27:
In 1571, Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer who confirmed Copernicus' theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits, was born.
In 1610, 40-year-old explorer Samuel de Champlain, married 12-year-old Helen Boulle in Paris.
In 1773, Sir George Cayley, an English pioneer in aerodynamics who built the first glider to be successfully flown by man, was born.
In 1789, the first stagecoach service in Upper Canada (now Ontario) began between Queenston and Fort Erie.
In 1822, French chemist Louis Pasteur was born. He discovered that micro-organisms cause fermentation and infection, and later developed a vaccine for rabies.
In 1823, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, one of only two Canadians to be prime minister while sitting in the Senate, was born. A Conservative, he was prime minister from 1894 to 1896. Dissatisfaction with his leadership, partly over such issues as the Manitoba schools question, forced Bowell's resignation on April 27, 1896. He died in 1917.
In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard "HMS Beagle."
In 1845, ether was administered during childbirth for the first time in Jefferson, Georgia. Dr. C.W. Long used it during the delivery of his wife's second child.
In 1867, provincial legislatures in Ontario and Quebec held their first sessions, the first provinces to do so following Confederation.
In 1869, the first issue of the "Ottawa Free Press" was published.
In 1900, U.S. prohibitionist Carrie Nation staged her first hatchet raid on a saloon. She marched into a hotel bar in Wichita, Kan., smashed bottles and threw rocks at a nude painting of Cleopatra.
In 1927, Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, marking a victory by Josef Stalin in their power struggle.
In 1942, a collision between a troop train and a passenger train in Almonte, Ont., killed 36 people and injured 200.
In 1945, foreign ministers from the so-called "Big Three" -- Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union -- agreed in Moscow to establish international control of atomic energy.
In 1945, 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.
In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act granting sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.
In 1958, American physicist James Van Allen reported the discovery of a second radiation belt around the Earth, in addition to one found earlier in the year.
In 1968, "Apollo 8" and its three astronauts made a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.
In 1972, Lester B. Pearson, prime minister from 1963-68, died in Ottawa at age 75. Serving first as deputy minister and then as minister of external affairs, Pearson was instrumental in the formation of the United Nations and of NATO. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for proposing a UN peacekeeping force to ease the British and French out of Egypt. It was also the Pearson government that brought in the Canada Pension Plan, a national medicare system and the Maple Leaf flag.
In 1978, Algerian President Houari Boumediene, one of the Third World's most prominent and outspoken leaders, died after 40 days in a coma.
In 1979, Afghanistan President Hafizullah Amin was ousted from power and executed in a coup that was strongly backed by the Soviet Union. The next day, Soviet troops patrolled Kabul. The Soviet presence led to a bloody war that ended with a Soviet withdrawal in February 1989.
In 1982, Canadian Carling Bassett won the Orange Bowl world junior tennis tournament when her opponent walked off the court during the final match in Miami Beach, Fla.
In 1985, 19 people died - 16 in Rome and three in Vienna - when Palestinian terrorists attacked airports at the two centres.
In 1987, painter Nikita Marner, best known for his watercolours of the Arctic, died in Toronto at age 55.
In 1987, Gayle Sierens became the first woman to handle network play-by-play announcing of an NFL game. She called a game between Seattle and Kansas City.
In 1989, Egypt and Syria resumed diplomatic relations that had been severed for a decade.
In 1990, Harold Town, one of Canada's most prolific painters, died in Peterborough, Ont., at age 66.
In 1991, Muslim fundamentalists in Algeria won a major victory in free legislative elections. The military ended up cancelling the election results, setting off years of terror bombings and murders.
In 2002, Mwai Kibaki won the Kenyan election, ending 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi.
In 2007, Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's opposition leader, was assassinated after addressing supporters in Rawalpindi.
In 2008, Warrant Officer Gaetan Joseph Roberge of the Royal 22nd Regiment serving in Sudbury, Ont., and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse from 24 Field Squadron, 2 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont., were killed by roadside bomb while on a security patrol in the Panjwai district in Afghanistan.
In 2012, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in 1991, died at age 78.
In 2012, soccer player Christine Sinclair was the runaway winner of Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as The Canadian Press female athlete of the year.
In 2016, actress Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Hollywood royalty who found enduring fame as Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars," died at age 60. She had been hospitalized since Dec. 23 when she suffered a medical emergency aboard a flight to Los Angeles. Fisher turned her struggles with addiction and mental illness into bestselling books, a hit film and popular stage performances.
In 2016, teenage swimming sensation Penny Oleksiak was voted the winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as The Canadian Press female athlete of the year. The 16-year-old won gold and silver medals and helped Canada win a pair of relay bronze at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2018, family and colleagues of a professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., who went missing in Colombia say he was found dead. Colombian police recovered the body of Ramazan (Ramo) Gencay outside of Medellin, university president Andrew Petter said in a statement to faculty and staff.
In 2018, freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury wins the Lionel Conacher Award as The Canadian Press male athlete of the year. He won Olympic gold at the Pyeongchang Games and was dominant on the World Cup moguls circuit. Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid was in second place in the voting.
In 2023, sports editors and broadcasters across the country chose 17-year-old swimming sensation Summer McIntosh as The Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year. McIntosh was a double gold medallist at the world championships and also set two world records that year.
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The Canadian Press