Historical Events
Reports Leopold II Brided US
Dec 9 NY American reports Belgian King Leopold II bribed US Senate commission on the Congo
Moissan Nobel for Isolating Fluoride
Dec 10 Frenchman Henri Moissan is presented with the Nobel prize for Chemistry for isolating Fluoride
Nervous System Work Awarded Nobel
Dec 10 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal "in recognition of their work on the anatomy of the nervous system" [1]
Roosevelt First US Nobel
Dec 10 US President Theodore Roosevelt is the 1st American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- Dec 11 US President Theodore Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo
- Dec 12 Oscar Straus, 1st Jewish US government member, appointed Secretary of Commerce
Bülow Disbands Government
Dec 13 German chancellor Bernhard von Bülow disbands the Parliament
Event of Interest
Dec 14 The Pure Food and Drug Act is introduced in the U.S. Senate, after lobbying by businessman Henry John Heinz
- Dec 20 Venezuela (under vice-pres Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
- Dec 21 British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen's Compensation Act, broadening employers' liability for accidents
- Dec 24 Reginald Fessenden becoomes 1st to broadcast music over radio (disputed)
- Dec 27 1st annual meeting of American Sociological Society, Providence, Rhode Island
- Dec 28 Ecuador adopts its second liberal constitution
- Dec 29 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Wanderers beat New Glasgow (NS), 7-2 for 17-5 aggregate challenge series victory
- Dec 30 Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy
- Dec 30 The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan
- Dec 31 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Christchurch, NZ: All-NZ final; Antony Wilding beats Francis Fisher 6-0, 6-4, 6-4
- Dec 31 French, British and Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
Famous Birthdays
Peter Carl Goldmark (1906-1977)
Dec 2 Hungarian-American engineer (developed the 33-1/3 rpm LP phonograph record format), born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary
- Dec 6 Antoon Spinoy, Belgian politician, born in Mechelen, Belgium (d. 1967)
- Dec 7 George James, American jazz saxophonist, born in Boggs, Oklahoma (d. 1995)
- Dec 8 (Lloyd) "Slim" Andrews, American comic actor (Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory), and singer-songwriter, born in Gravette, Arkansas (d. 1992) [1]
- Dec 8 Leo Shuken, American film music composer and arranger (Stagecoach; The Fabulous Dorseys; The Unsinkable Molly Brown), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1976)
- Dec 8 Richard Llewellyn, Welsh novelist (How Green Was My Valley), born in Hendon, Middlesex, England (d. 1983)
- Dec 9 Freddy Martin, American orchestra leader (started Merv Griffin) and tenor saxophonist, born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1983)
Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
Dec 9 American computer scientist and US Navy admiral who invented the first compiler for a universal computer programming language and is credited with coining the phrase 'debugging’, born in New York City
- Dec 9 Greet Koeman, Dutch opera soprano, born in Zaandam, North Holland, Netherlands (d. 1961)
- Dec 10 Walter Zinn, Canadian-American nuclear physicist (invented the breeder reactor), born in Kitchener, Ontario (d. 2000)
- Dec 11 Birago Diop, Senegalese writer and ambassador (Leurres et Lueurs), born in Dakar, French West Africa (d. 1989)
- Dec 11 Jack Purvis, American jazz trumpet player and composer, born in Kokomo, Indiana (d. 1962)
- Dec 12 William Pahlmann, American interior designer (4 Season restaurant, NYC), born in Pleasant Mound, Illinois (d. 1987)
- Dec 13 Ingemar Liljefors, Swedish composer, born in Gothenburg, Sweden (d. 1981)
- Dec 13 Laurens Jan van der Post, South African-born writer, soldier, explorer and conservationist, born in Philippolis (d. 1996)
- Dec 14 Alexander Tsfasman, Soviet Russian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, born in Alexandrovsk, Russian Empire (now Zaporizhya, Ukraine) (d. 1971)
- Dec 14 Guy Middleton, British actor (Oh! What a Lovely War, Laughter in Paradise), born in Hove, East Sussex, England (d. 1973)
- Dec 14 Helmut Bornefeld, German organist and composer, born in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, Germany (d. 1990)
- Dec 16 John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale, English landowner, politician (MP for Salisbury, 1942-65), and horse breeder, born in Wiltshire, England (d. 1996)
- Dec 17 Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer (Rustic Suite), born in Tomar, Portugal (d. 1994)
- Dec 18 Edwin H. "Buddy" Morris, American music publisher (Edwin H. Morris & Company), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1996)
- Dec 18 Kam Tong, Chinese American actor (Have Gun Will Travel, Across the Pacific, Flower Drum Song), born in San Francisco (d. 1969)
- Dec 19 H. Allen Smith, American humorist and author (Low Man on Totem Pole), born in McLeansboro, Illinois (d. 1976)
Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)
Dec 19 General Secretary of the Soviet Union (1964-82), born in Kamenskoye, Ukraine
- Dec 20 Dick White, British intelligence officer (Director General of MI5 1953–1956; Head of the Secret Intelligence Service 1956–1968), born in Tonbridge, Kent (d. 1993)
- Dec 20 Irving Krick, American meteorologist and inventor, born in San Francisco, California (d. 1996)
- Dec 20 Lowell Gilmore, American actor (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Living Christ Series), born in St. Paul, Minnesota (d. 1960)
- Dec 23 Ross Lee Finney, American composer (Landscapes Remembered), born in Wells, Minnesota (d. 1997)
- Dec 24 Franz Waxman [Wachsmann], German-American film score composer (Rebecca; Sunset Boulevard; A Place In The Sun), born in Königshütte, Silesia, German Empire (now Chorzów, Poland) (d. 1967)
- Dec 24 John Walker, American art curator, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1995)
- Dec 25 Clark M. Clifford, American lawyer and presidential advisor (US Secretary of Defense 1968-69), born in Fort Scott, Kansas (d. 1998)
- Dec 25 Ernst Ruska, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
- Dec 25 Frank Ferguson, American character actor (My Friend Flicka - "Gus"; Peyton Place - "Eli Carson"), born in Ferndale, California (d. 1978) [note some sources give year as 1899]
- Dec 25 Herman Jan Scheltema [NEM Pareau], Dutch jurist and poet, born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1981)
- Dec 25 Lew Grade, British TV mogul (ATV), movie producer (Boys from Brazil), born in Tokmak, Uyezd, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1998)
- Dec 25 William McChesney Martin, American Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank (1951-70), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1998)
- Dec 27 Ivan Brkanović, Croatian composer (Triptych - Funeral Folk Rite), born in Škaljari, Montenegro (d. 1987)
- Dec 27 Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer and actor (An American in Paris; Dance of Life), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1972)
- Dec 27 Teun Struycken [Antoon Arnold Marie Struycken], Dutch Minister of Justice (1950-51) and Governor of the Netherlands Antilles (1951-56), born in Breda, Netherlands (d. 1977)
- Dec 30 Carol Reed, English motion picture director (3rd Man, Oliver!), born in London, England (d. 1976)
- Dec 30 Johann von Kielmansegg, German general (Commander-in-Chief of NATOs forces), born in Hofgeismar, Germany (d. 2006)
- Dec 31 Erna Bogen-Bogáti, Hungarian foils (Olympic bronze 1932), born in Jaroslaw, Poland (d. 2002)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 7 Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
- Dec 10 Nikolai Garin-Michailovski], Russian railroad engineer (Trans-Siberian railway) and author (Tjoma Kartashov), dies at 54
- Dec 13 Jan Gerard Palm, Curaçao bandmaster, choir master, and composer known as as the "Father of Curaçao's classical music", dies at 75
- Dec 14 Jean Abraham Oudemans, Dutch geographer and astronomer, dies at 78
- Dec 21 Adalbert von Goldschmidt, Austrian composer, dies at 58
- Dec 30 Angela Burdett-Coutts, English philanthropist extrordinaire and "the richest heiress in England", dies at 92
- Dec 30 Josephine Butler (née Grey), British feminist and social reformer (campaigned against the slave trade and Contagious Diseases Acts), dies at 78
