What Happened in December 1909

Historical Events

Bakelite: the Birth of Plastic

Dec 7 Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry

Dec 8 Bird banding society found
Dec 9 1st US monoplane flown (Henry W Walden, Long Island, NY)

First Woman Awarded Literature Nobel

Dec 10 Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Author and Nobel Laureate Selma Lagerlöf

Dec 11 Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
Dec 11 Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Dec 15 Thomas J. Lynch becomes president of baseball's National League
Dec 16 A conservative revolution and US pressure forces Nicaraguan President Jose Santos from office
Dec 21 1st junior high school established (Berkeley California)

"The City"

Dec 21 Clyde Fitch's play "The City" premieres in NYC

Dec 21 Unitversity of Copenhagen rejects American Explorer Frederick A Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
Dec 23 Albert I becomes the third King of the Belgians

Events in 1909

Famous Birthdays

Dec 1 Jan Koplowitz, German writer, born in Kudowa (d. 2001)
Dec 3 Dana Suesse, American musician and songwriter (You Ought To Be In Pictures), born in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri (d. 1987)
Dec 4 Jimmy Jewel [James Jewel Marsh], British comedic actor (The Avengers, Thicker Than Water), born in Sheffield, England (d. 1995)
Dec 6 Alan McGilvray, Australian cricketer (20 games for NSW mid 1930's) and commentator (ABC), born in Paddington, Sydney, Australia (d. 1996)
Dec 6 Kenneth Watkins, British woodland conservationist and founder (The Woodland Trust) (d. 1996)
Dec 7 Arch Oboler, American director, screen and radio writer, and producer (Lights Out, Bwana Devil), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1987)
Dec 7 Jacob Kainen, American painter and curator, born in Waterbury, Connecticut (d. 2001)
Dec 8 Cleo Brown, American jazz pianist, born in Meridian, Mississippi (d. 1995)

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000)

Dec 9 American actor (Prisoner of Zenda; Gunga Din), and decorated US naval officer (WWII Beach Jumpers), born in New York City

Dec 11 John Wyer, English sports car racing team manager, born in Kidderminster, England (d. 1989)
Dec 11 Ronald McKie, Australian author (The Mango Tree), born in Toowoomba, Queensland (d. 1991)
Dec 12 Armand Boni, Flemish poet and writer, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1991)
Dec 12 Karen Morley, American actress (Scarface), born in Ottumwa, Iowa (d. 2003)
Dec 14 Edward L Tatum, American molecular geneticist and biochemist (Nobel Prize 1958), born in Boulder, Colorado (d. 1975)
Dec 14 Phia Berghout, Dutch harpist, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1993)
Dec 16 Henricus Verbunt, Dutch civil servant and resistance fighter, born in Tilburg, Netherlands (d. 1944)
Dec 16 Lall Singh, Indian cricketer (scored 15 & 29 in India's 1st Test match) (d. 1985)
Dec 18 Mona Barrie [Smith], British-American actress (Dawn on Great Divide), born in London, England (d. 1964)
Dec 19 W.A. Criswell, American (Baptist) preacher (d. 2002)
Dec 20 Vagn Holmboe, Danish neo-classical composer (Sinfonia rustica), born in Horsens, Jutland (d. 1996)
Dec 20 Vakkom Majeed, Indian freedom fighter and politician, born in the Kingdom of Travancore (d. 2000)
Dec 21 George Ball, American politician and diplomat (US Ambassador to the UN, Under Secretary of State), born in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 1994)
Dec 21 Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese mystery writer and journalist, born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (d. 1992)
Dec 22 Alan Carney [David Boughal], American actor (Zombies on Broadway, Take it from Me), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1973)
Dec 22 Patricia Hayes, British actress (A Fish Called Wanda), born in Wandsworth, London, England (d. 1998)
Dec 23 Barney Ross, American Welterweight Boxing Champ (1934), born in New York City (d. 1967)
Dec 23 Don Cleverley, New Zealand cricketer (two Tests for NZ 1932 & 1946, took 0-130), born in Otago, New Zealand (d. 2004)
Dec 23 Maurice Denham, British actor (Mr Love, Damn the Defiant), born in Beckenham, England (d. 2002)
Dec 24 Adam Popovich, Serbian-American musician, director and composer, born in Denver, Colorado (d. 2001)
Dec 24 Adam Rapacki, Polish minister of Foreign Affairs (1956-68), born in Lviv, Ukraine (d. 1970)
Dec 25 Louis van Lint, Belgian painter (post-war abstraction), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1986)
Dec 28 Billy Williams, American singer (Your Show of Shows), born in Waco, Texas (d. 1984)
Dec 28 Johnny Goodman, American golfer (US Open 1933), born in South Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1970)
Dec 28 Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgaria poet and communist revolutionary (Subrani Sutsjinenija), born in Bansko, Ottoman Empire (d. 1942)

Born in 1909

Famous Deaths

Dec 4 Paul-Albert Besnard, French painter and graphic artist (Elle), dies at 60
Dec 7 Whitcomb Judson, American inventor (zipper), dies at 63
Dec 10 Red Cloud, Sioux indian chief, dies
Dec 13 Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet, critic and interpreter, dies of a heart attack at 54
Dec 15 Francisco Tárrega, Spanish composer, dies at 57

Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909)

Dec 17 King of the Belgians (1865-1909), sole owner of the Congo Free State (1885-1908), dies at 74 after a reign of exactly 44 years

Dec 20 Benjamin Ipavec, Slovene composer (Tičnik), dies at 79
Dec 24 Nicolaas Pierson, Dutch economist and politician (Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1897-1901), dies at 80
Dec 26 Frederic Remington, American artist and sculptor of American West, dies at 48