It happened on a… December 23

1972

16 plane crash survivors rescued from Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 after 72 days on the Andean Mountains, after only surviving through cannibalism

NYC World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m).

Quebec government creates Loto-Québec.

Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the 1st men to orbit the Moon (Apollo 8)

The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Walt Disney movie “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” was released.

A National Football League (NFL) championship game was televised nationally for the first time. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17.

The Engelbert Humperdinck opera “Hansel und Gretel” was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.

Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.