Anniversaries 13 December

Birth

Pope Sixtus V12

pope 1520–1590

Henry IV of France2

first French monarch of the House of Bourbon 1553–1610

William Drummond of Hawthornden13

British writer 1585–1649

Edward Chamberlayne4

English writer 1616–1703

Dokyo Etan3

Son of Sanada Nobuyuki 1642–1721

Yongzheng Emperor3

Qing Dynasty emperor 1678–1735

Heinrich Heine61

German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic 1797–1856

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley22

English churchman, Dean of Westminster 1815–1881

Werner von Siemens2

German inventor and industrialist 1816–1892

John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland1

British politician 1818–1906

Phillips Brooks16

American clergyman and author 1835–1893

Emily Carr2

Canadian painter and writer 1871–1945

George Pólya35

Hungarian mathematician 1887–1985

Alvin C. York24

United States Army Medal of Honor recipient 1887–1964

Marc Connelly2

American playwright 1890–1980

Mary Butts1

Novelist 1890–1937

Maryon Pearson1

Wife of Prime Minister of Canada 1901–1989

Talcott Parsons17

American sociologist 1902–1979

Ella Baker3

African-American civil rights and human rights activist 1903–1986

John Piper (artist)2

English painter and printmaker (1903-1992) 1903–1992

Laurens van der Post1

South African writer 1906–1996

Marjorie Grene1

American philosopher 1910–2009

Kenneth Patchen11

American writer and poet 1911–1972

Trygve Haavelmo1

Norwegian economist and econometrician 1911–1999

Weston La Barre5

anthropologist 1911–1996

Ross Macdonald14

Novelist 1915–1983

John Vorster2

politician from South Africa and seventh Prime Minister of … 1915–1983

Kaysone Phomvihane4

first General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary P… 1920–1992

George Shultz3

American economist, statesman, and businessman 1920

Philip Warren Anderson13

American physicist 1923

Antoni Tàpies39

Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist 1923–2012

Truman G. Madsen1

American educator 1926–2009

Jacob Thoomkuzhy1

Indian archbishop 1930

W. Richard Scott7

American sociologist 1932

Aga Khan IV26

49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism 1936

Juanita Broaddrick1

American nursing home administrator 1942

Herman Cain37

American writer, businessman and activist 1945

Ted Nugent26

American rock musician 1948

Lester Bangs20

American music critic and journalist 1948–1982

Andrews Thazhath1

Archbishop of Trichur 1951

Lin Chuan4

Taiwanese politician 1951

Ben Bernanke10

American economist 1953

Steve Forbert4

American singer-songwriter 1954

Tamora Pierce180

American writer of fantasy novels for children 1954

Emma Bull1

American writer 1954

Deborah Curtis1

widow of Ian Curtis 1956

Harry Gregson-Williams1

British composer 1961

Jamie Raskin1

American law professor; Maryland State Senator 1962

Rex Ryan5

American football coach 1962

Karen Horn1

Karen Horn 1966

Scott Zolak3

American football quarterback 1967

Beth Lisick1

American writer 1968

Leanne Wood13

Welsh Plaid Cymru politician 1971

Tom DeLonge7

American rock musician 1975

Amy Lee11

American singer-songwriter and pianist 1981

Zachary Laoutides3

film actor 1986

Taylor Swift52

American singer-songwriter 1989

Dave Leduc10

Canadian Lethwei fighter (born 1991) 1991

Marcus Orelias28

American actor, rapper, songwriter, author and entrepreneur 1993

Death

Maimónides180

rabbi, physician, philosopher 1138–1204

François Viète3

French mathematician 1540–1603

Samuel Johnson362

English writer 1709–1784

Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne1

Prince of Ligne 1735–1814

Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough21

Lord Chief Justice of England 1750–1818

Frances Wright36

American activist 1795–1852

Georg Friedrich Daumer1

German philosopher and poet 1800–1875

Christian Friedrich Hebbel1

German poet and dramatist 1813–1863

Charles Hamilton Aide2

French writer 1826–1906

Gustave Le Bon1

French psychologist 1841–1931

Samuel Gompers14

American Labor Leader[AFL] 1850–1924

John Maxson Stillman1

American chemist 1852–1923

Arthur Wesley Dow7

painter from the United States 1857–1922

Grandma Moses7

American artist 1860–1961

Wassily Kandinsky68

Russian painter 1866–1944

Nicholas Roerich29

Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, enligh… 1874–1947

L. P. Hartley5

British novelist and short story writer 1895–1972

John G. Bennett13

British mathematician and author 1897–1974

Michael Roberts (writer)3

English schoolteacher and man of letters 1902–1948

Ella Baker3

African-American civil rights and human rights activist 1903–1986

Mary Renault31

English novelist 1905–1983

Lew Grade1

Imperial Russian/Ukrainian-born British media proprietor, i… 1906–1998

Glyn Daniel1

British archaeologist 1914–1986

Paul A. Samuelson47

American economist 1915–2009

Thomas C. Schelling6

American economist 1921–2016

Marco Denevi4

Argentine journalist, writer 1922–1998

T S Satyan1

Indian photojournalist 1923–2009

Russell Hoban5

American British novelist, children's writer and illustrator 1925–2011

John Joseph Gerry2

Australian priest 1927–2017

David Wheeler (computer scientist)2

British computer scientist 1927–2004

Benedict Anderson1

American political scientist 1936–2015

Richard Holbrooke21

American diplomat 1941–2010

Stanley Tookie Williams9

American criminal 1953–2005

Gebran Tueni7

journalist 1957–2005

Richard Carlson35

Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker 1961–2006