December 12 - this day in history

On December 12, 1674, the first brief essay on the history of Ukraine, Synopsis, was published in the Kiev-Pechersk Printing House. From the point of view of modern historical science, he expounded not established facts, but a compilation of representations and traditional legends, therefore it is considered to be a source not so much of history, as of historical mythology.

1901 - Italian physicist and inventor Guglielmo Marconi conducted the first successful transatlantic radio communication session, during which in Newfoundland he received the letter "S" transmitted from Great Britain by Morse code.

1913 - in Florence, in the hotel room of a waiter Vincenzo Perugia, the police revealed the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci “Mona Lisa”, stolen two years earlier from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

1955 - British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the first hovercraft.

1974 - The Godfather II film premiered in New York with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the lead roles. The film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, received 6 Oscars.

1980 - oil tycoon Armand Hammer bought a notebook with notes by Leonardo da Vinci at an auction in London dated 1508 for $ 5.28 million (the highest price ever paid for a manuscript).

1990 - By the decision of the 14th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee in Banff (Canada), the first Ukrainian object called “St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and adjacent monastic buildings, Kiev Pechersk Lavra” were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List under number 527.

1996 - US President Bill Clinton appointed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who became the first woman in US history to take this post.

2016 - the forward of Real Madrid and Portugal national team Cristiano Ronaldo won the Golden Ball for the fourth time, according to France Football magazine, as the best footballer in the world.