Events

Pre-1600

• 533 Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.

• 687 Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theodore.

• 1025 Constantine VIII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.

• 1161 Jin–Song wars: Military officers conspire against the emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his camp.

• 1167 Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.

• 1256 Mongol forces under Hulagu enter and dismantle the Nizari Ismaili (Assassin) stronghold at Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran) as part of their offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.

• 1270 The Nizari Ismaili garrison of Gerdkuh, Persia surrender after 17 years to the Mongols.

• 1467 Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.

• 1546 The town of Ekenäs () is founded by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden.

1601–1900

• 1651 Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.

• 1778 American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.

• 1791 The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

• 1836 The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models.

• 1862 American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg ends in a Union defeat as General Ambrose Burnside withdraws the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River.

• 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas.

• 1869 The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.

• 1871 Sixteen-year-old telegraphist Ella Stewart keys and sends the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory at the Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring.

• 1890 Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

• 1893 Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World" the "New World Symphony") by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16.

• 1899 British Army forces are defeated at the Battle of Colenso in Natal, South Africa, the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War.

1901–present

• 1903 Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that makes ice cream cones.

• 1905 The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.

• 1906 The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.

• 1914 World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

• 1914 A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hōjō coal mine, in Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.

• 1917 World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers is signed.

• 1933 Anarchist insurrection suppressed in Zaragoza, Spain.

• 1939 Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

• 1941 The Holocaust in Ukraine: German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv.

• 1942 World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

• 1943 World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain campaign.

• 1944 World War II: a single-engine UC-64A Norseman aeroplane carrying United States Army Air Forces Major Glenn Miller is lost in a flight over the English Channel.

• 1945 Occupation of Japan/Shinto Directive: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.

• 1960 Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate U.S. President-Elect John F. Kennedy.

• 1960 King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country's constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.

• 1961 Eichmann trial: Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization.

• 1965 Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

• 1967 The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.

• 1970 Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet.

• 1973 John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10.

• 1973 The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorderss, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

• 1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).

• 1981 A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.

• 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights relating the abolition of capital punishment is adopted.

• 1993 The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

• 1997 Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 crashes in the desert near Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, killing 85.

• 2000 The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

• 2001 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.

• 2005 Introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.

• 2010 A boat carrying 90 asylum seekerss crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.

• 2013 The South Sudanese Civil War begins when opposition leaders Dr. Riek Machar, Pagan Amum and Rebecca Nyandeng vote to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council at Nyakuron.

• 2014 Gunman Man Haron Monis takes 18 hostages inside a café in Martin Place for 16 hours in Sydney. Monis and two hostages are killed when police raid the café the following morning.

• 2017 A 6.5earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Java in the city of Tasikmalaya, resulting in four deaths.

Births

Pre-1600

• AD 37 Nero, Roman emperor (died 68)

• 130 Lucius Verus, Roman emperor (died 169)

• 1242 Prince Munetaka, Japanese shōgun (died 1274)

• 1447 Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (died 1508)

• 1567 Christoph Demantius, German composer, poet, and theorist (died 1643)

1601–1900

• 1610 David Teniers the Younger, Flemish painter (died 1690)

• 1657 Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (died 1726)

• 1686 Jean-Joseph Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (died 1746)

• 1710 Francesco Zahra, Maltese painter (died 1773)

• 1789 Carlos Soublette, Venezuelan general and politician, 11th President of Venezuela (died 1870)

• 1832 Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (died 1923)

• 1837 E. W. Bullinger, English minister, scholar, and theologian (died 1913)

• 1846 Amunda Kolderup, Norwegian opera singer (died 1882)

• 1852 Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908)

• 1859 L. L. Zamenhof, Polish linguist and ophthalmologist, created Esperanto (died 1917)

• 1860 Niels Ryberg Finsen, Faroese-Danish physician and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1904)

• 1860 Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (died 1953)

• 1861 Charles Duryea, American engineer and businessman, co-founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company (died 1938)

• 1861 Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd President of Finland (died 1944)

• 1863 Arthur Dehon Little, American chemist and engineer (died 1935)

• 1869 Leon Marchlewski, Polish chemist and academic (died 1946)

• 1875 Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and activist (died 1899)

• 1878 Hans Carossa, German author and poet (died 1956)

• 1885 Leonid Pitamic, Slovenian lawyer, philosopher, and academic (died 1971)

• 1886 Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz, Polish politician and resistance fighter (died 1968)

• 1886 Florence Jepperson Madsen, American contralto singer and professor of music (died 1977)

• 1888 Maxwell Anderson, American journalist and playwright (died 1959)

• 1890 Harry Babcock, American pole vaulter (died 1965)

• 1891 A.P. Carter, American country singer-songwriter and musician (died 1960)

• 1892 J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman and art collector, founded Getty Oil (died 1976)

• 1894 Vibert Douglas, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (died 1988)

• 1894 Josef Imbach, Swiss sprinter (died 1964)

• 1896 Betty Smith, American author and playwright (died 1972)

• 1899 Harold Abrahams, English sprinter, lawyer, and journalist (died 1978)

1901–present

• 1902 Robert F. Bradford, American lawyer and politician, 57th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1983)

• 1903 Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 32nd Yokozuna (died 1938)

• 1907 Gordon Douglas, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1993)

• 1907 Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and the Cathedral of Brasília (died 2012)

• 1908 Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk, scholar, and author (died 2005)

• 1909 Sattar Bahlulzade, Azerbaijani-Russian painter (died 1974)

• 1909 Eliza Atkins Gleason, American librarian (died 2009)

• 1910 John Hammond, American record producer and critic (died 1987)

• 1911 Nicholas P. Dallis, American psychiatrist and illustrator (died 1991)

• 1911 Stan Kenton, American pianist and composer (died 1979)

• 1913 Roger Gaudry, Canadian chemist and businessman (died 2001)

• 1913 Muriel Rukeyser, American poet, academic, and activist (died 1980)

• 1915 Eila Campbell, English geographer and cartographer (died 1994)

• 1916 Miguel Arraes, Brazilian lawyer and politician, Governor of Pernambuco (died 2005)

• 1916 Buddy Cole, American pianist and conductor (died 1964)

• 1916 Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-English physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004)

• 1917 Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Indian-Pakistani linguist and lexicographer (died 2005)

• 1918 Jeff Chandler, American actor (died 1961)

• 1918 Chihiro Iwasaki, Japanese painter and illustrator (died 1974)

• 1919 Max Yasgur, American dairy farmer and host of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (died 1973)

• 1920 Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (died 2013)

• 1920 Kurt Schaffenberger, German-American sergeant and illustrator (died 2002)

• 1921 Alan Freed, American radio host (died 1965)

• 1923 Pierre Cossette, American producer and manager (died 2009)

• 1923 Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist and mathematician (died 2020)

• 1923 Uziel Gal, German-Israeli engineer, designed the Uzi gun (died 2002)

• 1923 Valentin Varennikov, Russian general and politician (died 2009)

• 1924 Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and academic (died 2013)

• 1924 Ruhi Sarıalp, Turkish triple jumper and educator (died 2001)

• 1925 Kasey Rogers, American actress and author (died 2006)

• 1926 Bill Pitt, Australian race car driver (died 2017)

• 1928 Ernest Ashworth, American singer-songwriter (died 2009)

• 1928 Ida Haendel, Polish-English violinist and educator (died 2020)

• 1928 Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian-New Zealand painter and architect (died 2000)

• 1930 Edna O'Brien, Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer (died 2024)

• 1931 Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish author and poet (died 2015)

• 1932 Jesse Belvin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1960)

• 1932 John Meurig Thomas, Welsh chemist and academic (died 2020)

• 1933 Bapu, Indian director and screenwriter (died 2014)

• 1933 Tim Conway, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019)

• 1933 Donald Woods, South African journalist and activist (died 2001)

• 1936 Joe D'Amato, Italian director and producer (died 1999)

• 1938 Michael Bogdanov, Welsh director and screenwriter (died 2017)

• 1938 Billy Shaw, American football player (died 2024)

• 1939 Cindy Birdsong, American singer-songwriter

• 1939 Dave Clark, English musician and songwriter

• 1940 Nick Buoniconti, American football player and sportscaster (died 2019)

• 1942 Kathleen Blanco, American educator and politician, 54th Governor of Louisiana (died 2019)

• 1943 Lucien den Arend, Dutch sculptor

• 1944 Jim Leyland, American baseball player and manager

• 1944 Chico Mendes, Brazilian trade union leader and activist (died 1988)

• 1945 Heather Booth, American civil rights activist, feminist, and political strategist

• 1945 Ivor Crewe, English political scientist and academic

• 1946 Carmine Appice, American drummer and songwriter

• 1946 Art Howe, American baseball player and manager

• 1946 Genny Lim, American writer

• 1946 Comunardo Niccolai, Italian footballer (Torres, Cagliari, national team) (died 2024)

• 1948 Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (died 1991)

• 1948 Charlie Scott, American basketball player

• 1949 Don Johnson, American actor

• 1949 Brian Roper, English economist and academic

• 1950 Melanie Chartoff, American actress and comedian

• 1950 Sylvester James Gates, American theoretical physicist and professor

• 1951 George Donikian, Australian journalist

• 1951 Joe Jordan, Scottish footballer and manager

• 1951 Tim Webster, Australian journalist and sportscaster

• 1952 Rudi Protrudi, American singer-songwriter and producer

• 1952 Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer and manager

• 1952 Julie Taymor, American director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1953 John R. Allen, American general and diplomat

• 1953 J. M. DeMatteis, American author

• 1953 Robert Charles Wilson, American-Canadian author

• 1954 Alex Cox, English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster

• 1954 Oliver Heald, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales

• 1954 Mark Warner, American businessman and politician, 69th Governor of Virginia

• 1955 Hector Sants, English banker

• 1955 Paul Simonon, English singer-songwriter and bass player

• 1956 John Lee Hancock, American screenwriter, film director, and producer

• 1956 Tony Leon, South African lawyer and politician

• 1957 Mario Marois, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster

• 1957 Mike McAlary, American journalist and author (died 1998)

• 1957 Tim Reynolds, German-American singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1958 Carlo J. Caparas, Filipino director and producer

• 1958 Richard Kastle, American classical pianist

• 1959 Greg Matthews, Australian cricketer

• 1959 Alan Whetton, New Zealand rugby player

• 1959 Gary Whetton, New Zealand rugby player

• 1960 Walter Werzowa, Austrian composer and producer

• 1961 Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician

• 1962 Tim Gaines, American bass player

• 1962 Simon Hodgkinson, English rugby player and coach

• 1963 Ellie Cornell, American actress and producer

• 1963 Norman J. Grossfeld, American screenwriter and producer

• 1963 Helen Slater, American actress

• 1963 David Wingate, American basketball player

• 1964 Paul Kaye, English actor

• 1966 Carl Hooper, Guyanese cricketer and coach

• 1966 Molly Price, American actress

• 1967 David Howells, English footballer and coach

• 1967 Mo Vaughn, American baseball player

• 1968 Garrett Wang, American actor

• 1969 Ralph Ineson, English actor

• 1969 Chantal Petitclerc, Canadian wheelchair racer and senator

• 1969 Adam Setliff, American discus thrower and lawyer

• 1970 Frankie Dettori, Italian jockey

• 1970 Lawrence Funderburke, American basketball player

• 1970 Michael Shanks, Canadian actor, screenwriter and director

• 1971 Clint Lowery, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

• 1972 Rodney Harrison, American football player and sportscaster

• 1972 Lee Jung-jae, South Korean actor

• 1972 Stuart Townsend, Irish actor

• 1972 Alexandra Tydings, American actress, director, writer and producer

• 1973 Surya Bonaly, French figure skater

• 1973 Ryoo Seung-wan, South Korean actor, director, and screenwriter

• 1974 Garath Archer, English rugby player

• 1974 P. J. Byrne, American actor

• 1975 Samira Saraya, Palestinian actor, filmmaker, poet and rapper

• 1976 Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer and manager

• 1976 Kim Eagles, Canadian sport shooter

• 1976 Aaron Miles, American baseball player and coach

• 1976 Todd Tichenor, American baseball player and umpire

• 1977 Mehmet Aurélio, Brazilian-Turkish footballer and manager

• 1977 Geoff Stults, American actor and producer

• 1978 Ned Brower, American drummer

• 1978 Mark Jansen, Dutch guitarist and songwriter

• 1978 Jerome McDougle, American football player

• 1979 Adam Brody, American actor

• 1979 Eric Young, Canadian-American wrestler

• 1980 Élodie Gossuin, French beauty pageant titleholder and model

• 1980 Sergio Pizzorno, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1980 Manuel Wilhelm, German rugby player

• 1981 Michelle Dockery, English actress

• 1981 Brendan Fletcher, Canadian actor and screenwriter

• 1981 Andy González, Puerto Rican-American baseball player

• 1981 Thomas Herrion, American football player (died 2005)

• 1981 Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer

• 1982 Charlie Cox, English actor

• 1982 Borja García, Spanish race car driver

• 1982 George O. Gore II, American actor and comedian

• 1982 Tatiana Perebiynis, Ukrainian tennis player

• 1983 Delon Armitage, Trinidadian-English rugby player

• 1983 René Duprée, Canadian professional wrestler

• 1983 Camilla Luddington, English actress

• 1983 Ronnie Radke, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

• 1983 Sophia Young, Vincentian-American basketball player

• 1984 Martyn Bernard, English high jumper

• 1984 Martin Škrtel, Slovak footballer

• 1985 Diogo Fernandes, Brazilian footballer

• 1986 Kim Junsu, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer

• 1986 Iveta Mazáčová, Czech sprinter

• 1986 Keylor Navas, Costa Rican footballer

• 1986 Snejana Onopka, Ukrainian model

• 1987 Josh Norman, American football player

• 1988 Erik Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player

• 1988 Emily Head, English actress

• 1988 Steven Nzonzi, French footballer

• 1989 Nichole Bloom, American actress and model

• 1991 Conor Daly, American race car driver

• 1991 Yanni Gourde, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1991 Alana Haim, American musician and actress

• 1992 Daiamami Genki, Japanese sumo wrestler

• 1992 Jesse Lingard, English footballer

• 1992 Maximiliano Meza, Argentine footballer

• 1992 Alex Telles, Brazilian footballer

• 1993 Daniel Ochefu, American basketball player

• 1995 Jahlil Okafor, American basketball player

• 1996 Jenifer Brening, German singer

• 1996 Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ukrainian footballer

• 1997 Maude Apatow, American actress

• 1997 Zach Banks, American race car driver

• 1997 Magdalena Fręch, Polish tennis player

• 1997 Stefania LaVie Owen, New Zealand-American actress

• 1998 Chandler Canterbury, American actor

• 2000 Kayvon Thibodeaux, American football player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 933 Li Siyuan, Chinese emperor (born 867)

• 1025 Basil II, Byzantine emperor (born 958)

• 1072 Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (born 1029)

• 1161 Wanyan Liang, Chinese emperor (born 1122)

• 1230 Ottokar I, duke of Bohemia (born 1155)

• 1283 Philip I, Latin emperor (born 1243)

• 1343 Hasan Kucek, Chopanid prince (born c. 1319)

• 1467 Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, archbishop and regent of Sweden (born 1417)

• 1574 Selim II, Ottoman sultan (born 1524)

• 1598 Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Dutch nobleman (born 1540)

1601–1900

• 1621 Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, French courtier, Constable of France (born 1578)

• 1673 Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English noblewoman (born 1623)

• 1675 Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter and educator (born 1632)

• 1683 Izaak Walton, English author (born 1593)

• 1688 Gaspar Fagel, Dutch lawyer and politician (born 1634)

• 1698 Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart, French nobleman (born 1636)

• 1715 George Hickes, English minister and scholar (born 1642)

• 1753 Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, designed Chiswick House (born 1694)

• 1792 Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish pianist, violinist, and composer (born 1756)

• 1812 Shneur Zalman, Russian rabbi, author and founder of Chabad (born 1745)

• 1817 Federigo Zuccari, astronomer, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples (born 1783)

• 1819 Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (born 1749)

• 1855 Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician and academic (born 1803)

• 1878 Alfred Bird, English chemist and businessman, invented baking powder (born 1811)

• 1890 Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (born 1831)

1901–present

• 1943 Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1904)

• 1944 Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (born 1904)

• 1947 Arthur Machen, Welsh journalist and author (born 1863)

• 1947 Crawford Vaughan, Australian politician, 27th Premier of South Australia (born 1874)

• 1950 Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of India (born 1875)

• 1958 Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900)

• 1962 Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director, and producer (born 1899)

• 1965 M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (born 1903)

• 1966 Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, Indian-Scottish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire (born 1897)

• 1966 Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1901)

• 1968 Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (born 1899)

• 1968 Jess Willard, American boxer and actor (born 1881)

• 1969 Karl Theodor Bleek, German lawyer and politician, 12th Mayor of Marburg (born 1898)

• 1971 Paul Lévy, French mathematician and theorist (born 1886)

• 1974 Anatole Litvak, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1902)

• 1977 Wilfred Kitching, English 7th General of The Salvation Army (born 1893)

• 1978 Chill Wills, American actor (born 1903)

• 1980 Peter Gregg, American race car driver (born 1940)

• 1982 Máire Comerford, Irish Republican (born 1893)

• 1984 Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (born 1904)

• 1985 Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian physician and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (born 1900)

• 1986 Serge Lifar, Russian-French ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1905)

• 1989 Edward Underdown, English actor and jockey (born 1908)

• 1991 Vasily Zaytsev, Russian captain (born 1915)

• 1993 William Dale Phillips, American chemist and engineer (born 1925)

• 2000 Haris Brkić, Bosnian-Serbian basketball player (born 1974)

• 2003 Vincent Apap, Maltese sculptor (born 1909)

• 2003 George Fisher, American cartoonist (born 1923)

• 2003 Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1947)

• 2004 Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan educator and politician, Speaker of the Nauru Parliament (born 1943)

• 2005 Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician and psychiatrist (born 1914)

• 2005 Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (born 1915)

• 2005 William Proxmire, American soldier, journalist, and politician (born 1915)

• 2005 Darrell Russell, American football player (born 1976)

• 2006 Clay Regazzoni, Swiss race car driver (born 1939)

• 2006 Mary Stolz, American journalist and author (born 1920)

• 2007 Julia Carson, American lawyer and politician (born 1938)

• 2008 León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian engineer and politician, 46th President of Ecuador (born 1931)

• 2009 Eliza Atkins Gleason, American librarian (born 1909)

• 2009 Oral Roberts, American evangelist, founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (born 1918)

• 2010 Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

• 2010 Bob Feller, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1918)

• 2010 Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American psychoanalyst and theorist (born 1940)

• 2011 Bob Brookmeyer, American trombone player and composer (born 1929)

• 2011 Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949)

• 2012 Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (born 1952)

• 2012 Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Nigerian politician, 18th Governor of Kaduna State (born 1948)

• 2012 Olga Zubarry, Argentinian actress (born 1929)

• 2013 Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (born 1921)

• 2013 Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917)

• 2013 Dyron Nix, American basketball player (born 1967)

• 2014 Donald Metcalf, Australian physiologist and immunologist (born 1929)

• 2014 Fausto Zapata, Mexican journalist, lawyer, and politician, Governor of San Luis Potosí (born 1940)

• 2015 Harry Zvi Tabor, English-Israeli physicist and engineer (born 1917)

• 2016 Craig Sager, American sports journalist (born 1951)

• 2017 Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter (born 1928)

• 2017 Calestous Juma, academic (born 1953)

• 2018 Eryue He, Chinese historical fiction writer (born 1945)

• 2018 Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia (born 1924)

• 2020 Saufatu Sopoanga, Tuvaluan politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (born 1952)

• 2024 Zakir Hussain, Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer (born 1951)

• 2025 William J. Bauer, senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, (born 1926)

Holidays and observances

Bill of Rights Day (United States)

• 2nd Amendment Day (South Carolina)

Christian feast day:

• Drina Martyrs

• Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary)

• John Horden and Robert McDonald (Episcopal Church (USA))

• Maria Crocifissa di Rosa

• Mesmin

• Valerian of Abbenza

• Virginia Centurione Bracelli

• December 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Homecoming Day (Alderney)

• Kingdom Day (Netherlands), moves to December 16 if the 15th is on a Sunday

• Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)

• World Turkic Language Family Day (UNESCO)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on December 15