10th » The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use Railway semaphore signal named semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
11th » Paraguayan War: Brazilian Army e.g Brazilian troops defeat Paraguayan Army e.g Paraguayan at the Battle of Avay.
25th » President of the United States U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all American Civil War Civil War Confederate States Army Confederate soldiers.
Famous Birthdays on December in 1868
4th » Jesse Burkett, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1953)
5th » Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (d. 1951)
9th » Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize in Chemistry known as Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1934)
20th » Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (d. 1938)
21st » George W. Fuller, American engineer (d. 1934)
22nd » Jaan Tõnisson, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1941?)
24th » Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
Famous Deaths for December 1868
6th » August Schleicher, German linguist and academic (b. 1821)
13th » Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (b. 1794)
25th » Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (b. 1821)