What Happened in December 1911

Historical Events

Air Conditioning

Dec 3 Willis Carrier presents his influential "Rational Psychrometric Formulae", on air conditioning to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers - makes air conditioning possible

Dec 7 Leslie J Stuart's musical "Betsy" premieres in NYC
Dec 7 National Hockey Association forms with New Westminster, Vancouver & Victoria

Maeterlinck Nobel for Literature

Dec 10 Belgium poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck is presented in absentia with the Nobel Prize for Literature

Author and Nobel Laureate Maurice Maeterlinck

Dec 10 Calbraith Rogers completes 1st crossing of US by airplane in 84 days
Dec 10 Dutch lawyer Tobias Asser receives the Nobel Peace Prize
Dec 12 Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

Amundsen 1st to the South Pole

Dec 14 Norwegian Roald Amundsen's Antarctic expedition is the 1st to reach the South Pole

The British party, l-r Scott, Oates, Wilson and Evans reach Amundsen's tent. Photo: Henry Bowers/British Library

Dec 16 UK National Insurance Act becomes law, providing health insurance for industrial workers (about a third of the workforce) [1]

"I Gioielli Della Madonna"

Dec 23 Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's opera "I Gioielli Della Madonna" premieres at the Kurfürstenoper in Berlin, Germany, sung in German as "Der Schmuck der Madonna"

"Oaha, die Satire der Satire"

Dec 23 Frank Wedekind's play "Oaha, die Satire der Satire" premieres in Munich

Dec 25 Edward Knoblock's "Kismet" premieres in NYC

Sun Yat-sen Elected

Dec 29 Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen is elected the 1st President of the Republic of China

Dec 29 Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty
Dec 29 Proclamation restores "Dei Gratia" from Canada's coins
Dec 29 San Francisco Symphony forms
Dec 30 English cricketer Sydney Barnes takes 5-6 in 1st 11 overs v Australia at MCG

Marie Curie's Second Nobel Prize

Dec 31 Marie Curie receives her second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her work with radioactivity

Events in 1911

Famous Birthdays

Dec 1 Calvin Griffith, Canadian baseball team owner (Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins 1955-84), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1999)
Dec 1 Franz Binder, Austrian soccer striker and manager (19 caps Austria, 9 caps Germany; Rapid Vienna), born in St. Pölten, Austria (d. 1989)

Walter Alston (1911-1984)

Dec 1 American Baseball Hall of Fame manager (World Series 1955, 59, 63, 65; Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers), born in Venice, Ohio

Dec 3 Nino Rota [Giovanni Rota Rinaldi], Italian classical and film score composer (Il cappello di paglia di Firenze; The Godfather (I & II); 16 Federico Fellini films), born in Milan, Italy (d. 1979)
Dec 5 Alfred Manessier, French painter (leaded windows), born in Saint-Ouen, Somme, France (d. 1993)
Dec 5 Władysław Szpilman, Polish pianist and classical composer, born in Sosnowiec, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (d. 2000)
Dec 6 Alfred James Broomhall, British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, born in Shandong, China (d. 1994)
Dec 8 Lee J. Cobb [Leo Jacoby], American actor (Virginian, 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront), born in New York City (d. 1976)
Dec 8 Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist, born in Asea, Greece (d. 1992)

Broderick Crawford (1911-1986)

Dec 9 American actor (All the King's Men, Highway Patrol), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dec 9 Ryūzō Sejima, Japanese army officer and educator, born in Toyama, Japan (d. 2007)
Dec 10 Chet Huntley, American newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), born in Cardwell, Montana (d. 1974)
Dec 11 Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian novelist (Palace Walk, Sugar Street) and first Arabic writer to win a Nobel Prize (1988), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 2006)
Dec 13 Buzz Borries, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Navy 1932–34), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1969)

Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972)

Dec 13 American poet and novelist (Cloth of the Tempest), born in Niles, Ohio

Dec 13 Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and 1989 Nobel laureate for his contributions to econometrics, born in Skedsmo, Norway (d. 1999)
Dec 14 Hans von Ohain, German-American aerospace engineer, developed 1st turbojet engine, born in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt German Empire (d. 1998) [1]
Dec 14 Ota Adler, Czech-British fur trader and founder (Federal Trust), born in Kraslice, Czechoslovakia (d. 1995)
Dec 14 Spike Jones [Lindley Armstrong Jones], American bandleader (Der Fueher's Face, Cocktails For Two), born in Long Beach, California (d. 1965)
Dec 15 Nicholas P. Dallis, American psychiatrist and comic strip writer (Rex Morgan, M.D.), born in New York City (d. 1991)
Dec 15 Stan Kenton, American musician, jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader (Artistry In Rhythm), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 1979)
Dec 17 William Roerick, American actor (The Wasp Woman, Guiding Light), born in Hoboken, New Jersey (d. 1995)
Dec 18 Helen Vlachos, Greek newspaper publisher (closed her newspapers in protest at military junta), born in Athens, Greece (d. 1995)
Dec 18 Jules Dassin, American film director (The Naked City; Night And The City; Rififi), blacklisted during McCarthy era, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 2008)
Dec 18 Peg Leg Sam [Arthur Jackson], American country blues harmonica player, singer and comedian, born in Jonesville, South Carolina (d. 1977)
Dec 20 Hortense Calisher, American novelist (President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters), born in New York City (d. 2009)

Josh Gibson (1911-1947)

Dec 21 American Baseball HOF catcher (Negro World Series 1943, 44; 12 × NL All-Star; Triple Crown 1936, 37; batting average .466 1943), born in Buena Vista, Georgia

Dec 21 Paul Burkhard, Swiss composer, born in Zürich, Switzerland (d. 1977)
Dec 22 Grote Reber, American radio astronomer (1st parabolic radio telescope), born in Wheaton, Illinois (d. 2002)
Dec 23 James Gregory, American actor (My Favorite Martian, Barney Miller), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2002)
Dec 23 Niels Jerne, Danish immunologist (1984 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology), born in London, England (d. 1994)
Dec 24 Eric Briault, British educationalist (d. 1996)
Dec 24 Malcolm MacEwen, Scottish conservationist & communist activist, born in Inverness, Scotland (d. 1996)
Dec 25 Burne Hogarth, American strip-cartoon artist (Tarzan), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1996)
Dec 25 Louise Bourgeois, French American artist (Femme Maison), born in Paris, France (d. 2010)
Dec 26 Renato Guttuso, Italian painter (Flight From Etna; Crucifixion), theater set designer, and politician, born in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy (d. 1987)
Dec 26 Steve Kordek, American pinball machine designer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2012)
Dec 27 Anna Russell, English music satirist and composer, born in London, England (d. 2006)
Dec 27 Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian composer (Dark Heaven Requiem), born in Budatétény, Budapest, Hungary (d. 1977)
Dec 28 Phani Majumdar, Indian filmmaker (Street Singer), born in Faridpur Sadar Upazila, British India (d. 1994)
Dec 28 Sam Levenson, American humorist (Sam Levenson Show, Masquerade Party), born in New York City (d. 1980)
Dec 29 (Robert) "Cutty" Cutshall, American jazz trombonist (Benny Goodman Orchestra; Eddie Condon), born in Huntington County, Pennsylvania (d. 1968)

Klaus Fuchs (1911-1988)

Dec 29 German-British atomic physicist and spy for the Soviet Union, born in Rüsselsheim, German Empire

Dec 30 Jeanette Nolan, American actress (Richard Boone Show, Virginian), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1998)
Dec 31 Dal Stivens, Australian novelist, born in Blayney, Australia (d. 1997)

Born in 1911

Famous Deaths

Dec 7 William Griggs, English inventor (photo chromo lithography), dies at 79
Dec 10 Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist and director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, dies at 94
Dec 11 Thomas Ball, American sculptor, painter and musician, dies at 92
Dec 13 Reggie Duff, Australian cricket batsman (23 Tests; 104 on debut), dies of alcoholism at 33
Dec 18 Alberto Randegger, Italian composer, dies at 79
Dec 19 John Bigelow, American statesman and author, dies at 94
Dec 23 Karl Hoschna, Bohemian born Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), dies at 34

On This Day