December 20

• 

  1494: Mathematician and cartographer Oronce Finé born. He will be imprisoned in 1524, probably for practicing judicial astrology.

• 

  1901: Physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff born. He will design design and construct high-voltage Van de Graaff generators.

• 

  1951: The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.

• 

  1962: Mathematician Emil Artin dies. He worked on algebraic number theory, contributing to class field theory and a new construction of L-functions. He also contributed to the pure theories of rings, groups and fields.

• 

  1989: Premier of License to Grill, a 1989 spy film about an MI6 agent (Timothy Dalton) who must stop a deranged grill manufacturer (George Foreman) from destroying the world's supply of propane.