Historical Events
Physics Nobel to Van der Waals
Dec 10 Dutch Physicist Johannes van der Waals wins the Nobel Prize for physics
- Dec 19 1st US city ordinance requiring white & black residential areas in Baltimore
- Dec 19 Rayon 1st commercially produced in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
- Dec 21 Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
- Dec 22 US postal savings stamps 1st issued
- Dec 24 Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain, San Francisco
- Dec 28 Englebert Humperdink's opera "Konigskinder" premiers at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City
- Dec 31 US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Alicia Markova, English ballerina and choreographer (Diaghilev's Ballet sRusses 1925-32), born in London (d. 2004)
- Dec 1 Louis Slotin, Canadian Physicist and Chemist (Manhattan Project, Los Alamos) who assembled the plutonium core for 'Trinity', the first detonated atomic device, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 1946)
- Dec 2 Bob Newson, South African cricket fast bowler (3 Tests, 4 wickets; Transvaal; Rhodesia), born in Sea Point, Cape Province, South Africa (d. 1988)
- Dec 2 Robert Paige, American actor, TV newscaster and political correspondent (Son of Dracula, Pardon My Sarong, Colgate Comedy Hour), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 1987)
- Dec 2 Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer, author and managing editor of Harper's Magazine (d. 1991)
- Dec 2 Taisto Mäki, Finnish athlete (WR 2 miles, 5,000m and 10,000m simultaneously 1939-42), born in Rekola, Finland (d. 1979)
- Dec 3 Robert Arthur Hughes, British missionary and surgeon who worked in India, born in Oswestry, England (d. 1996)
- Dec 4 Alex North [Isadore Soifer], American composer (Spartacus; Viva Zapata), born in Chester, Pennsylvania (d. 1991) [1]
- Dec 4 Amar Singh, Indian cricket all-rounder (7 Tests, 28 wickets; India's first half-century in Test cricket), born in Rajkot, Gujarat, India (d. 1940)
- Dec 4 R. [Ramaswamy] Venkataraman, Indian politician, eighth President of India (1987-92), born in Rajamadam, British India (d. 2009)
- Dec 5 Abraham Polonsky, American writer and director (Tell them Willie Boy is Here), born in New York City (d. 1999)
- Dec 7 Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian-Venezuelan musician and arranger, born in Port of Spain, Trinidad (d. 2011)
- Dec 7 Louis Prima, American jazz and pop singer, trumpeter, and bandleader ("That Old Black Magic"; "Oh, Marie"), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1978)
- Dec 7 Richard Franko Goldman, American educator and composer, born in New York City (d. 1980)
- Dec 7 Rod Cameron [Nathan Roderick Cox], Canadian actor (City Detective, State Trooper, Trigger Trail), born in Calgary, Alberta (d. 1983)
- Dec 9 Dick Elffers, Dutch graphic artist and painter (Holland Festival), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1990)
- Dec 9 Stephen Jurika, American naval officer (WWII Doolittle raid over Tokyo), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1993)
- Dec 10 Jill Summers, British actress (Agatha Coronation Street), born in Lancashire, England (d. 1997)
- Dec 11 Noel Rosa, Brazilian songwriter, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (d. 1937)
- Dec 11 Robert Grieve, Scottish civil servant and planner, born in Glasgow (d. 1995)
- Dec 13 Charles Alfred Coulson, British chemist (theoretical), born in Dudley, England (d. 1974)
- Dec 13 Lillian Roth [Rutstein], American singer and actress (Animal Crackers), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1980)
- Dec 15 John H. Hammond, American music producer, talent scout, promoter, and activist, "discovered" Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, born in New York City (d. 1987)
- Dec 16 Freddie Brown, English cricketer ("Lettuces! Hearts as big as "), born in Lima, Peru (d. 1991)
- Dec 16 Robert Noehren, American organist and educator, born in Buffalo, New York (d. 2002)
- Dec 16 Stanojlo Rajičić, Serbian composer, educator, and musicologist, born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia (d. 2000)
- Dec 17 (Donnell) "Spade" Cooley, American Western swing fiddler, bandleader, and television personality ("Shame On You"), born in Grand Oklahoma (d. 1969)
- Dec 17 (Melvin) "Sy" Oliver, American jazz arranger, songwriter (Jimmie Lunceford; Tommy Dorsey - "Yes, Indeed!"), and bandleader, born in Battle Creek, Michigan (d. 1988) [1]
- Dec 17 Keki Tarapore, Indian cricketer (0-72 in his only Test for India), born in Bombay, India (d. 1986)
- Dec 18 Abe Burrows [Borowitz], American Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning songwriter, composer and writer (Guys and Dolls), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1985)
- Dec 18 Eric Tindill, New Zealand rugby union halfback (1 cap; Wellington RFU), cricket wicketkeeper (5 Tests, 7 dismissals) and international umpire (1 Test), born in Nelson, New Zealand (d. 2010)
Jean Genet (1910-1986)
Dec 19 French novelist (The Thief's Journal, Our Lady of the Flowers) and playwright (The Balcony, The Maids), born in Paris
- Dec 19 Jose Lezama Lima, Cuban poet and novelist, born in Havana, Cuba (d. 1976)
- Dec 21 Rosa Bouglione, French circus performer, born in Ixelles, Belgium (d. 2018)
- Dec 22 Jimmy Boucher, Irish cricket all-rounder (28 first-class matches for Ireland; secretary Irish Cricket Union 1954-73), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1995)
- Dec 22 Richard Ainley, British actor (I Dood It, As You Like It, Above Suspicion), born in Middlesex, England (d. 1967)
- Dec 23 Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (d. 1961)
- Dec 24 Betty Ann Davies, British stage and screen actress (Merry Comes To Town), born in London, England (d. 1955)
- Dec 24 Fritz [Reuter] Leiber Jr., American sci-fi author (Bazaar of the Bizarre), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)
- Dec 24 Max Miedinger, typeface designer, famous for creating Helvetica in 1957, born in Zürich, Switzerland (d. 1980)
- Dec 24 Mitchell Ayres, American orchestra leader (Hollywood Palace), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 1969)
- Dec 24 William "Bill" Pickering, NASA scientist (JPL), born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 2004)
- Dec 25 David Lichine [Lichtenstein], Russian-American dancer and choreographer (Make Mine Music), born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia (d. 1972)
- Dec 26 Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2003)
- Dec 26 Lucy Faithfull, British children's campaigner, born in South Africa (d. 1996)
- Dec 26 Marguerite Churchill, American stage and screen actress (Dracula's Daughter; The Big Trail), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2000)
- Dec 27 Charles Olson, American poet (The Maximus Poems), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 1970)
- Dec 27 Neville Crump, British racehorse trainer (Grand National 1948, 52, 60), born in Beckenham, Kent, England (d. 1997) [1]
- Dec 28 John "Jack" Kerr, New Zealand cricketer (opening batsman in 1930s), born in Dannevirke, New Zealand (d. 2007)
- Dec 29 Ronald Coase, British economist (Nobel Prize in Economics 1991), born in Willesden, London (d. 2013)
- Dec 30 Herman van der Horst, Dutch cinematographer (Faja Lobbi), born in Alblasserdam, Netherlands (d. 1976)
- Dec 30 Paul Bowles, writer (The Shelting Sky), born in Queens, NYC, New York (d. 1999)
- Dec 31 Richard "Dick" Kollmar, American actor (Broadway Spotlight, Guess What), born in Rigewood, New Jersey (d. 1971)
- Dec 31 Roy Rowland, American film director, born in New York City (d. 1995)
Famous Weddings
Maxwell Perkins
Dec 31 Editor Maxwell Perkins (26) weds Louise Saunders at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in North Plainfield, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)
Dec 3 American founder of the religious movement, Christian Science (Science & Health), dies at 89
- Dec 8 George Doherty Johnston, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 78
- Dec 10 Pablo Hernandez Salces, Spanish composer, dies at 76
- Dec 29 Reginald "R.F." Doherty, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1897-1900), dies of neurasthenia at 38
- Dec 31 Archibald Hoxsey, American pioneer aviator (worked for the Wright brothers), dies at 26
- Dec 31 John Bevins Moisant, American pioneer aviator, first to cross English Channel with passenger and a cat, killed in New Orleans whose present day airport was originally name for him, dies at 42
