Anniversaries 5 December

Birth

Pope Julius II2

pope from 1503 to 1513 1443–1513

Martin Van Buren8

American politician, 8th President of the United States (in… 1782–1862

Christina Rossetti30

English poet 1830–1894

Sidney Lee8

English biographer and critic 1859–1926

Józef Piłsudski14

Polish politician and Prime Minister 1867–1935

Arnold Sommerfeld2

physicist 1868–1951

Flora Thompson35

English author and poet 1876–1947

Rose Wilder Lane43

American journalist 1886–1968

David Bomberg7

painter 1890–1957

Carl Ferdinand Cori1

Czech Nobel prize laureate and scientist 1896–1984

Gershom Scholem7

German-born Israeli philosopher and historian 1897–1982

Milton H. Erickson1

American psychiatrist 1901–1980

Walt Disney102

American film producer and businessman 1901–1966

Werner Heisenberg42

German theoretical physicist 1901–1976

William Barclay6

Church of Scotland minister and academic 1907–1978

Abraham Polonsky9

American politician 1910–1999

Tex Atchison3

American musician 1912–1982

Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi2

Indian islamic scholar 1913–1999

Hans Hellmut Kirst1

German writer 1914–1989

Jagan Nath Azad1

Indian writer (1918-2004) 1918–2004

Benjamin Creme134

artist, author, esotericist 1922–2016

Bhumibol Adulyadej6

King of Thailand 1927–2016

Yi-Fu Tuan2

Chinese-American geographer 1930

Little Richard13

American pianist, singer and songwriter 1932

Sheldon L. Glashow5

American theoretical physicist 1932

Joan Didion48

American writer 1934

Sukavich Rangsitpol31

Thai politician 1935

Calvin Trillin4

American journalist 1935

James Lee Burke9

Novelist, short story writer 1936

John Berendt3

American writer 1939

Robert Hand1

American astrologer and writer 1942

Mike Rosen18

American political pundit 1944

Ray Comfort133

New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist 1949

Morgan Brittany1

American actress 1951

Tomson Highway2

Canadian and Cree writer 1951

Hanif Kureishi23

English playwright, screenwriter, novelist 1954

Adam Thorpe3

British writer 1956

Tom Vu1

Americnan poker player 1957

Elizabeth S. Anderson4

professor of philosophy and womens' studies 1959

Danny Yamashiro8

American radio evangelist 1967

Lydia Millet1

American writer 1968

Margaret Cho179

American stand-up comedian 1968

Sajid Javid4

British politician 1969

Lewis Pugh69

Environmental campaigner, maritime lawyer and endurance swi… 1969

Luboš Motl13

Czech physicist and translator 1973

Death

Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani5

Iranian Sufi (963–1033) 963–1033

Nicolas Steno4

Pioneer in anatomy and geology, bishop 1638–1686

Abdul-Qādir Bedil3

Persian writer,poet 1644–1720

Phillis Wheatley15

American poet 1753–1784

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart26

Austrian Romantic composer 1756–1791

Louis Poinsot1

French mathematician and physicist 1777–1859

Alexandre Dumas123

French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer a… 1802–1870

George Whyte-Melville4

Scottish writer 1821–1878

Claude Monet87

French impressionist painter 1840–1926

Sri Aurobindo224

Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, gur… 1872–1950

Vachel Lindsay15

American poet 1879–1931

Joe Jackson14

American baseball player 1887–1951

Lyndall Urwick16

British management consultant 1891–1983

Aleksandr Vasilevsky5

Soviet military commander 1895–1977

Kalki Krishnamurthy7

writer 1899–1954

Anna Kavan2

British artist 1901–1968

Caryl Brahms4

English critic, novelist, and journalist 1901–1982

Oscar Niemeyer14

Brazilian architect 1907–2012

Amrita Sher-Gil22

Hungarian Indian artist 1913–1941

Nelson Mandela143

President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist 1918–2013

Michael I of Romania1

King of Romania (1927-1930, 1940-1947) 1921–2017

Clair Cameron Patterson3

American chemist and geochemist 1922–1995

Satyananda Saraswati2

yogi 1923–2009

Edward Lewis Wallant6

American writer 1926–1962

George Brecht3

American artist and composer 1926–2008

Karlheinz Stockhausen3

German composer 1928–2007

Jim Rohn13

American motivational speaker 1930–2009

Colin Wilson192

author 1931–2013

Cynthia Eagle Russett2

American historian 1937–2013

Jayalalithaa2

Indian politician and actress 1948–2016