Today in History....December 10

* 1684, Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley

* 1868, the first traffic lights are installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps

* 1898, the Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the Spanish-American War

* 1906, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War

* 1907, the worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clashed with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected

* 1932, Thailand adopts a Constitution and becomes a constitutional monarchy

* 1948, the UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Day is also International Human Rights Day

* 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, the People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan

* 1963, the United States Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is canceled by Robert McNamara

* 1971, Jim Hart throws a football for a record 98 yards, the longest recorded throw

* 1978, Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
* 1981, the United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia

* 1989, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement that peacefully changed the second oldest communist country into a democratic society

* 1997, the Supreme Court narrowed double-jeopardy protections for people who face both civil fines and criminal prosecution for the same conduct, ruling that three Oklahoma men could be prosecuted in a bank failure case even though they'd already paid civil fines for their action

* 2006, one million Lebanese opposition supporters gather in downtown Beirut, calling for the government to resign