December 9 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

December 9th is a day filled with many important events throughout history, from ancient battles to modern scientific breakthroughs and cultural milestones. It's a day when leaders were chosen, new technologies were introduced, and significant steps were taken towards independence and human rights.

Historical Events
Famous Births
Notable Deaths
Holidays and Observances
See also

Historical Events

Early Times (Before 1600)

536 – During the Gothic War, the Byzantine general Belisarius entered the city of Rome without a fight. The Gothic soldiers defending the city left, allowing Belisarius to take control.
730 – In the Battle of Marj Ardabil, the Khazars defeated a large Umayyad army and killed its commander, al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami.
1432 – The first major battle of the Lithuanian Civil War took place near the town of Ashmyany. This battle marked the start of the most active part of the war between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis.
1531 – According to tradition, the Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, which is now part of Mexico City.

Modern History (1601–1900)

1636 – The Qing dynasty of China, led by Emperor Hong Taiji, began its invasion of Joseon (which is modern-day Korea).
1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, forces loyal to William defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Reading. This defeat forced King James II to leave England. (This date is based on the Old Style calendar; in today's calendar, it would be December 19.)
1775 – During the American Revolutionary War, British troops and their supporters, called Loyalists, lost the Battle of Great Bridge in Virginia. They had been given wrong information about how strong the Patriot militia was. This battle ended British rule in Virginia.
1822 – French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel introduced new terms like linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization in a paper for the French Academy of Sciences. He also showed through experiments that his idea about optical rotation (how light twists) being a type of birefringence (how light splits) was correct.
1824 – Patriot forces, led by General Antonio José de Sucre, defeated a Royalist army in the Battle of Ayacucho. This victory brought an end to the Peruvian War of Independence.
1835 – During the Texas Revolution, the Texian Army successfully captured San Antonio after a long fight known as the Siege of Béxar.
1851 – The first YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) in North America was started in Montreal, Canada.
1856 – The Iranian city of Bushehr surrendered to British forces who had been occupying it.
1861 – During the American Civil War, the U.S. Congress created the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to oversee how the war was being fought.
1868 – The very first traffic lights were put up outside the Palace of Westminster in London. These early traffic lights looked like railway signals and used moving arms. At night, they were lit by red and green gas lamps.
1872 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback became the first African American governor of a U.S. state. This happened after the previous governor, Henry C. Warmoth, was removed from office.

Recent History (1901–Present)

1905 – In France, a new law was passed that officially separated the church from the state.
1911 – A terrible mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 miners. Rescue efforts were led by the United States Bureau of Mines.
1917 – During World War I, Field Marshal Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.
- WWI – The Kingdom of Romania signed the Armistice of Focșani with the Central Powers, ending its fighting in the war.
1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz was elected as the first president of Poland.
1931 – The Constituent Cortes (a special assembly) approved a new constitution that created the Second Spanish Republic.
1935 – Student protests, known as the December 9th Movement, took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Government authorities later broke up these protests.
1937 – During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops, led by Lt. Gen. Yasuhiko Asaka, launched an attack on the Chinese city of Nanking. This was part of the Battle of Nanking.
1940 – In World War II, British and Indian troops, led by Major-General Richard O'Connor, attacked Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt. This was part of Operation Compass.
1941 – World War II: China, Cuba, Guatemala, and the Philippine Commonwealth officially declared war on Germany and Japan.
1941 – World War II: The American 19th Bombardment Group attacked Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon.
1946 – The Constituent Assembly of India met for the first time to begin writing the Constitution of India.
1948 – The Genocide Convention, an international agreement to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, was adopted.
1950 – During the Cold War, Harry Gold was sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping Klaus Fuchs share secret information about the Manhattan Project (which developed the atomic bomb) with the Soviet Union. Gold's statements later helped in the legal case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
1953 – During the "Red Scare" in the U.S., General Electric announced that any employees who were members of the Communist party would be fired.
1956 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810-9, a plane called a Canadair North Star, crashed near Hope, British Columbia, Canada. All 62 people on board died.
1960 – The first episode of Coronation Street, a long-running television soap opera, was shown in the United Kingdom.
1961 – Tanganyika gained its independence from Britain.
1965 – The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred when a bright fireball was seen across several U.S. states. Witnesses reported something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh.
1968 – Douglas Engelbart gave a famous presentation, often called "The Mother of All Demos". He showed off new computer ideas like the computer mouse, hypertext (links between information), and the first graphical user interface (GUI) using his oN-Line System (NLS).
1969 – U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers suggested a plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition. Egypt and Jordan accepted it, but the PLO did not, which later led to a civil war in Jordan in September 1970.
1971 – During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Indian Air Force performed an amazing airdrop of Indian Army soldiers. This allowed them to get past Pakistani defenses.
1973 – British and Irish officials signed the Sunningdale Agreement. This agreement aimed to create a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland and a council that would work across the border.
1979 – The complete removal of the smallpox virus was confirmed. Smallpox became the first of only two diseases (the other being rinderpest in 2011) that have been completely wiped out.
1987 – The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule, began in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
1992 – American troops landed in Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope, a mission to help with humanitarian aid.
2006 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on mission STS-116. It carried a part called the P5 truss segment for the International Space Station.
2008 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was arrested by federal agents. He was accused of crimes, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was being left empty by President-elect Barack Obama.
2012 – A plane crash in Mexico killed seven people, including the popular singer Jenni Rivera.
2013 – At least seven people died and 63 were hurt in a train accident near Bintaro, Indonesia.
2016 – President Park Geun-hye of South Korea was removed from office by the country's National Assembly because of a big political scandal.
2017 – The Marriage Amendment Bill became law in Australia, making Australia the 26th country to allow same-sex marriage.
2019 – A volcano on Whakaari / White Island, New Zealand, erupted, killing 22 people.
2021 – Fifty-five people died and over 100 were injured when a truck carrying 160 migrants from Central America overturned in Chiapas, Mexico.

Famous Births

Born Before 1600

1392 – Peter, Duke of Coimbra, a Portuguese prince.
1447 – Chenghua Emperor, an emperor of China.
1482 – Frederick II, Elector Palatine, a German ruler.
1493 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado, a Spanish nobleman.
1508 – Gemma Frisius, a Dutch mathematician and mapmaker.
1561 – Edwin Sandys, an English lawyer and politician.
1571 – Metius, a Dutch mathematician and astronomer.
1579 – Martin de Porres, a Peruvian saint.
1594 – Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, a famous Swedish king.

Born 1601–1900

1608 – John Milton, a famous English poet and philosopher.
1610 – Baldassare Ferri, an Italian singer and actor.
1617 – Richard Lovelace, an English poet.
1652 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, a German doctor and botanist.
1667 – William Whiston, an English mathematician and historian.
1717 – Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a German archaeologist and historian.
1721 – Peter Pelham, an English-American organist and composer.
1728 – Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, an Italian composer.
1742 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist.
1745 – Maddalena Laura Sirmen, an Italian violinist and composer.
1748 – Claude Louis Berthollet, a French chemist.
1752 – Antoine Étienne de Tousard, a French general and engineer.
1768 – Joseph Desha, an American politician.
1787 – John Dobson, an English architect.
1779 – Tabitha Babbitt, an American tool maker and inventor.
1806 – Jean-Olivier Chénier, a Canadian doctor.
1813 – Thomas Andrews, an Irish chemist and physicist.
1837 – Émile Waldteufel, a French pianist and composer.
1842 – Peter Kropotkin, a Russian scientist and philosopher.
1845 – Joel Chandler Harris, an American journalist and author.
1850 – Emma Abbott, an American opera singer.
1861 – Hélène Smith, a French psychic.
1867 – Gregorios Xenopoulos, a Greek journalist and author.
1868 – Fritz Haber, a Polish-German chemist who won the Nobel Prize.
1870 – Ida S. Scudder, an Indian doctor and missionary.
1870 – Francisco S. Carvajal, a Mexican lawyer and politician who was president in 1914.
1871 – Joe Kelley, an American baseball player.
1873 – George Blewett, a Canadian philosopher.
1875 – Harry Miller, an American engineer.
1876 – Berton Churchill, a Canadian-American actor.
1882 – Elmer Booth, an American actor.
1882 – Joaquín Turina, a Spanish-French composer.
1883 – Nikolai Luzin, a Russian mathematician.
1883 – Alexander Papagos, a Greek general and Prime Minister.
1883 – Joseph Pilates, a German-American fitness expert who developed Pilates.
1886 – Clarence Birdseye, an American businessman who founded Birds Eye.
1887 – Tim Moore, an American actor.
1889 – Hannes Kolehmainen, a Finnish-American runner.
1890 – Laura Salverson, a Canadian author.
1891 – Maksim Bahdanovič, a Belarusian poet.
1892 – André Randall, a French actor.
1895 – Dolores Ibárruri, a Spanish activist and politician.
1895 – Conchita Supervía, a Spanish opera singer.
1897 – Hermione Gingold, an English actress.
1898 – Irene Greenwood, an Australian radio broadcaster and activist.
1898 – Emmett Kelly, an American clown.
1899 – Jean de Brunhoff, a French author and illustrator, known for Babar the Elephant.
1900 – Margaret Brundage, an American illustrator.
1900 – Albert Weisbord, an American activist.

Born 1901–Present

1901 – Jean Mermoz, a French pilot.
1901 – Ödön von Horváth, a Hungarian-German author.
1902 – Margaret Hamilton, an American actress, famous for playing the Wicked Witch of the West.
1904 – Robert Livingston, an American actor.
1905 – Dalton Trumbo, an American author and screenwriter.
1906 – Grace Hopper, an American admiral and computer scientist who helped create the COBOL programming language.
1906 – Freddy Martin, an American bandleader.
1909 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., an American actor and producer.
1910 – Vere Bird, the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
1911 – Broderick Crawford, an American actor.
1911 – Ryūzō Sejima, a Japanese colonel and businessman.
1912 – Tip O'Neill, an American politician, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
1912 – Jim Turnesa, an American golfer.
1914 – Max Manus, a Norwegian lieutenant.
1914 – Frances Reid, an American actress.
1914 – Ljubica Sokić, a Serbian painter.
1915 – Eloise Jarvis McGraw, an American author.
1915 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, a German-Austrian opera singer.
1916 – Jerome Beatty Jr., an American author.
1916 – Kirk Douglas, a famous American actor and producer.
1916 – Colin McCool, an Australian cricketer.
1917 – James Jesus Angleton, a CIA agent.
1917 – James Rainwater, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
1919 – V. Dakshinamoorthy, an Indian singer-songwriter.
1919 – William Lipscomb, an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize.
1920 – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a former President of Italy.
1920 – Bruno Ruffo, an Italian motorcycle racer.
1922 – Redd Foxx, an American actor and comedian.
1925 – Roy Rubin, an American basketball player and coach.
1926 – Henry Way Kendall, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
1926 – Jan Křesadlo, a Czech-English psychologist and author.
1926 – David Nathan, a British journalist.
1926 – Lorenzo Wright, an American sprinter.
1927 – Pierre Henry, a French composer.
1928 – Joan Blos, an American author.
1928 – André Milhoux, a Belgian race car driver.
1928 – Dick Van Patten, an American actor.
1929 – John Cassavetes, an American actor and director.
1929 – Bob Hawke, a former Prime Minister of Australia.
1930 – Buck Henry, an American actor and screenwriter.
1930 – Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores, a former President of Guatemala.
1931 – Cliff Hagan, an American basketball player and coach.
1931 – William Reynolds, an American actor.
1931 – Ladislav Smoljak, a Czech actor and director.
1932 – Donald Byrd, an American trumpet player.
1932 – Bill Hartack, an American jockey.
1932 – Billy Edd Wheeler, an American singer-songwriter.
1933 – Ashleigh Brilliant, an English-American author.
1933 – Milt Campbell, an American athlete and football player.
1933 – Morton Downey Jr., an American talk show host.
1933 – Orville Moody, an American golfer.
1934 – Judi Dench, a famous English actress.
1934 – Alan Ridout, an English composer.
1934 – Junior Wells, an American blues singer.
1938 – David Houston, an American singer.
1938 – Deacon Jones, an American football player.
1938 – Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a Greek scientist.
1940 – Clancy Eccles, a Jamaican singer and producer.
1941 – Mehmet Ali Birand, a Turkish journalist.
1941 – Beau Bridges, an American actor.
1941 – Dan Hicks, an American singer-songwriter.
1942 – Billy Bremner, a Scottish footballer.
1942 – Dick Butkus, an American football player.
1942 – Germain Gagnon, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1942 – Fred Jones, an Australian rugby league player.
1942 – Joe McGinniss, an American journalist.
1942 – William Turnage, an American conservationist.
1943 – Pit Martin, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1943 – Joanna Trollope, an English author.
1943 – Kenny Vance, an American singer.
1944 – Neil Innes, an English singer-songwriter.
1944 – Ki Longfellow, an American author.
1944 – Bob O'Connor, a former Mayor of Pittsburgh.
1945 – Michael Nouri, an American actor.
1946 – David Currie, Baron Currie of Marylebone, an English economist.
1946 – Dennis Dunaway, an American bass player.
1946 – Sonia Gandhi, an Italian-Indian politician.
1946 – Nicholas Reade, an English bishop.
1947 – Tom Daschle, an American politician.
1947 – Jaak Jõerüüt, an Estonian politician.
1947 – Allan Jones, an English cricketer.
1948 – Marleen Gorris, a Dutch director.
1948 – Jonathan Sumption, an English historian and judge.
1949 – Tom Kite, an American golfer.
1950 – Joan Armatrading, a Kittian-English singer-songwriter.
1952 – Liaqat Baloch, a Pakistani politician.
1952 – Michael Dorn, an American actor, known for playing Worf in Star Trek.
1953 – Cornelis de Bondt, a Dutch composer.
1953 – World B. Free, an American basketball player.
1953 – John Malkovich, a famous American actor and producer.
1954 – Jean-Claude Juncker, a former Prime Minister of Luxembourg.
1954 – Henk ten Cate, a Dutch footballer and manager.
1955 – Otis Birdsong, an American basketball player.
1955 – Chamras Saewataporn, a Thai singer-songwriter.
1956 – Sylvia, an American country singer.
1956 – Jean-Pierre Thiollet, a French journalist.
1957 – Peter O'Mara, an Australian guitarist.
1957 – Donny Osmond, an American singer and actor.
1957 – Steve Taylor, an American singer-songwriter.
1959 – Susan Bullock, an English opera singer.
1959 – Mario Cantone, an American comedian and actor.
1960 – Stefen Fangmeier, an American visual effects designer.
1960 – Caroline Lucas, an English politician.
1960 – Dobroslav Paraga, a Croatian politician.
1960 – Juan Samuel, a Dominican baseball player.
1961 – David Anthony Higgins, an American actor.
1961 – Joe Lando, an American actor.
1962 – Felicity Huffman, an American actress.
1962 – Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor.
1963 – Dave Hilton Jr., a Canadian boxer.
1963 – Empress Masako, the Empress of Japan.
1964 – Michael Foster, an American drummer.
1964 – Ross Harrington, an Australian rugby league player.
1964 – Hape Kerkeling, a German actor and singer.
1964 – Johannes B. Kerner, a German journalist.
1964 – Les Kiss, an Australian rugby league player.
1964 – Paul Landers, a German guitarist.
1965 – Joe Ausanio, an American baseball player.
1966 – Kirsten Gillibrand, an American politician.
1966 – Dave Harold, an English snooker player.
1966 – Gideon Sa'ar, an Israeli politician.
1966 – Martin Taylor, an English footballer.
1967 – Joshua Bell, an American violinist.
1967 – Jason Dozzell, an English footballer.
1968 – Kurt Angle, an American professional wrestler.
1968 – Brian Bell, an American singer-songwriter.
1968 – Brent Price, an American basketball player.
1969 – Jakob Dylan, an American singer-songwriter.
1969 – Saskia Garel, a Jamaican-Canadian singer.
1969 – Lori Greiner, an American businesswoman.
1969 – Bixente Lizarazu, a French footballer.
1969 – Raphaël Rouquier, a French mathematician.
1969 – Allison Smith, an American actress.
1970 – Kara DioGuardi, an American singer-songwriter.
1970 – Lance Krall, an American actor and director.
1971 – Geoff Barrow, an English musician.
1971 – Nick Hysong, an American pole vaulter.
1971 – Petr Nedvěd, a Czech-Canadian ice hockey player.
1972 – Reiko Aylesworth, an American actress.
1972 – Tré Cool, a German-American drummer for Green Day.
1972 – Michael Corcoran, an American singer-songwriter.
1972 – Fabrice Santoro, a Tahitian-French tennis player.
1972 – Saima Wazed, a Bangladeshi psychologist.
1973 – Stacey Abrams, an American politician and activist.
1973 – Fabio Artico, an Italian footballer.
1973 – Vénuste Niyongabo, a Burundian runner.
1973 – Bárbara Padilla, a Mexican-American opera singer.
1974 – David Akers, an American football player.
1974 – Canibus, a Jamaican-American rapper.
1974 – Aloísio da Silva Filho, a Brazilian footballer.
1974 – Wendy Dillinger, an American soccer player.
1974 – Fiona MacDonald, a Scottish curler.
1976 – Mona Hanna-Attisha, an American pediatrician and public health advocate.
1977 – Shayne Graham, an American football player.
1977 – Imogen Heap, an English singer-songwriter.
1978 – Gastón Gaudio, an Argentinian tennis player.
1978 – Jesse Metcalfe, an American actor.
1979 – Olivia Lufkin, a Japanese-American singer.
1979 – Stephen McPhail, an Irish footballer.
1979 – Aiko Uemura, a Japanese skier.
1980 – Simon Helberg, an American actor, known for The Big Bang Theory.
1980 – Ryder Hesjedal, a Canadian cyclist.
1980 – Mark Riddell, an Australian rugby league player.
1981 – Mardy Fish, an American tennis player.
1982 – Tamilla Abassova, a Russian cyclist.
1982 – Nathalie De Vos, a Belgian runner.
1982 – Ryan Grant, an American football player.
1982 – Jim Slater, an American ice hockey player.
1982 – Bastian Swillims, a German sprinter.
1983 – Jermaine Beckford, an English-Jamaican footballer.
1983 – Neslihan Demir Darnel, a Turkish volleyball player.
1983 – Dariusz Dudka, a Polish footballer.
1983 – Jolene Purdy, an American actress.
1984 – Ángel Guirado, a Spanish–Filipino footballer.
1984 – Leon Hall, an American football player.
1985 – Wil Besseling, a Dutch golfer.
1986 – Aron Baynes, an Australian basketball player.
1987 – Kostas Giannoulis, a Greek footballer.
1987 – Gerald Henderson Jr., an American basketball player.
1987 – Mat Latos, an American baseball player.
1987 – Hikaru Nakamura, a Japanese-American chess player.
1987 – Jeff Petry, an American ice hockey player.
1987 – Joshua Sasse, an English actor.
1988 – Kwadwo Asamoah, a Ghanaian footballer.
1989 – Eric Bledsoe, an American basketball player.
1990 – Ashleigh Brewer, an Australian actress.
1990 – Denise Hannema, a Dutch cricketer.
1991 – Langston Galloway, an American basketball player.
1991 – Choi Min-ho, a South Korean singer and actor.
1993 – Mark McMorris, a Canadian snowboarder.
1993 – Laura Smulders, a Dutch cyclist.
1995 – Simone Fontecchio, an Italian basketball player.
1995 – McKayla Maroney, an American gymnast.
1995 – Kelly Oubre Jr., an American basketball player.
1996 – Mackenzie Blackwood, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1996 – Kyle Connor, an American ice hockey player.
1996 – MyKayla Skinner, an American gymnast.
2000 – Diāna Ņikitina, a Latvian figure skater.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1600

638 – Sergius I of Constantinople, a religious leader.
730 – Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah, an Arab general.
748 – Nasr ibn Sayyar, an Umayyad general.
933 – Li Congrong, a prince of the Later Tang dynasty.
1117 – Gertrude of Brunswick, a German noblewoman.
1165 – Malcolm IV of Scotland, a Scottish king.
1242 – Richard le Gras, an English official and abbot.
1268 – Vaišvilkas, a Grand Duke of Lithuania.
1299 – Bohemond I, an Archbishop of Trier.
1437 – Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, a powerful European ruler.
1544 – Teofilo Folengo, an Italian poet.
1565 – Pope Pius IV, a leader of the Catholic Church.

Died 1601–1900

1603 – William Watson, an English priest.
1625 – Ubbo Emmius, a Dutch historian.
1636 – Fabian Birkowski, a Polish preacher.
1641 – Anthony van Dyck, a famous Belgian-English painter.
1669 – Pope Clement IX, a leader of the Catholic Church.
1674 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, an English historian and politician.
1706 – Peter II of Portugal, a king of Portugal.
1718 – Vincenzo Coronelli, an Italian monk and mapmaker.
1761 – Tarabai, a Queen of the Maratha Empire in India.
1793 – Yolande de Polastron, a French educator.
1798 – Johann Reinhold Forster, a German botanist and ornithologist.
1830 – Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher, a Danish surgeon and botanist.
1854 – Almeida Garrett, a Portuguese journalist and author.
1858 – Robert Baldwin, a Canadian lawyer and politician.
1887 – Mahmadu Lamine, a Senegalese religious leader.

Died 1901–Present

1906 – Ferdinand Brunetière, a French author.
1907 – Eva Nansen, a Norwegian singer and pioneer in women's skiing.
1916 – Natsume Sōseki, a Japanese author.
1924 – Bernard Zweers, a Dutch composer.
1930 – Rube Foster, an American baseball player and manager.
1932 – Karl Blossfeldt, a German photographer.
1932 – Begum Rokeya, a Bangladeshi social worker and author.
1935 – Walter Liggett, an American journalist.
1937 – Lilias Armstrong, an English expert in phonetics.
1937 – Gustaf Dalén, a Swedish physicist and engineer who won the Nobel Prize.
1941 – Dmitry Merezhkovsky, a Russian author and philosopher.
1943 – Georges Dufrénoy, a French painter.
1944 – Laird Cregar, an American actor.
1945 – Yun Chi-ho, a South Korean activist and politician.
1957 – Ali İhsan Sâbis, a Turkish general.
1963 – Daniel O. Fagunwa, a Nigerian author.
1963 – Perry Miller, an American historian.
1964 – Edith Sitwell, an English poet.
1965 – Branch Rickey, an American baseball manager.
1967 – Charles Léon Hammes, a Luxembourgian judge.
1968 – Enoch L. Johnson, an American mob boss.
1970 – Artem Mikoyan, a Russian engineer who co-founded the Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft design bureau.
1970 – Feroz Khan Noon, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1971 – Ralph Bunche, an American political scientist and diplomat who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
1971 – Sergey Konenkov, a Russian sculptor.
1971 – Rev. Aeneas Francon Williams, a Scottish minister and missionary.
1972 – Louella Parsons, an American writer and columnist.
1975 – William A. Wellman, an American film director.
1979 – Fulton J. Sheen, an American archbishop.
1982 – Leon Jaworski, an American lawyer.
1991 – Berenice Abbott, an American photographer.
1992 – Vincent Gardenia, an American actor.
1993 – Danny Blanchflower, a Northern Irish footballer.
1995 – Toni Cade Bambara, an American author.
1995 – Douglas Corrigan, an American pilot.
1996 – Patty Donahue, an American singer.
1996 – Mary Leakey, an English archaeologist and anthropologist.
1996 – Alain Poher, a French politician.
1996 – Diana Morgan, a Welsh playwright.
1998 – Shaughnessy Cohen, a Canadian lawyer and politician.
1998 – Archie Moore, an American boxer.
2001 – Michael Carver, Baron Carver, an English field marshal.
2002 – Mary Hansen, an Australian singer.
2002 – Ian Hornak, an American painter.
2002 – Stan Rice, an American painter and poet.
2003 – Norm Sloan, an American basketball coach.
2003 – Paul Simon, an American politician.
2005 – György Sándor, a Hungarian-American pianist.
2005 – Robert Sheckley, an American author.
2006 – Georgia Gibbs, an American singer.
2007 – Rafael Sperafico, a Brazilian race car driver.
2007 – Gordon Zahn, an American sociologist.
2008 – Ibrahim Dossey, a Ghanaian footballer.
2008 – Yury Glazkov, a Russian astronaut.
2009 – Gene Barry, an American actor.
2010 – James Moody, an American saxophonist.
2010 – Dov Shilansky, an Israeli lawyer and politician.
2012 – Béla Nagy Abodi, a Hungarian painter.
2012 – Patrick Moore, an English astronomer.
2012 – Alex Moulton, an English engineer.
2012 – Jenni Rivera, an American singer.
2012 – Charles Rosen, an American pianist.
2012 – Riccardo Schicchi, an Italian director.
2012 – Norman Joseph Woodland, an American inventor who helped create the barcode.
2013 – Hristu Cândroveanu, a Romanian writer.
2013 – John Gabbert, an American judge.
2013 – Barbara Hesse-Bukowska, a Polish pianist.
2013 – Eleanor Parker, an American actress.
2013 – John Wilbur, an American football player.
2014 – Sacvan Bercovitch, a Canadian-American author.
2014 – Jane Freilicher, an American painter.
2014 – Jorge María Mejía, an Argentinian cardinal.
2014 – Mary Ann Mobley, an American model and actress.
2014 – Blagoje Paunović, a Serbian footballer.
2014 – Jože Toporišič, a Slovenian linguist.
2015 – Soshana Afroyim, an Austrian painter.
2015 – Norman Breslow, an American statistician.
2015 – Juvenal Juvêncio, a Brazilian lawyer.
2015 – Julio Terrazas Sandoval, a Bolivian cardinal.
2021 – Speedy Duncan, an American football player.
2021 – Demaryius Thomas, an American football player.
2022 – Jovit Baldivino, a Filipino singer.

Holidays and Observances

Anna's Day (Sweden and Finland): This day marks the start of preparing lutefisk for Christmas Eve. It's also a special name day for people named Anna.
Armed Forces Day (Peru)
Christian Feast Days:
- Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Anne (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Juan Diego
- Leocadia
- Nectarius of Auvergne
- Peter Fourier
- December 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Fatherland's Heroes Day (Russia)
Independence Day (Tanzania): This day celebrates when Tanganyika became independent from Britain in 1961.
International Anti-Corruption Day (United Nations): A day to raise awareness about fighting corruption.
National Heroes Day (Antigua and Barbuda): Formerly known as V.C. Bird Day, this day honors national heroes.
Navy Day (Sri Lanka)