Saint Nicholas (270-343 AD)
Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus, born in Patara, Asia Minor
- 938 Romanos II, Byzantine emperor (d. 963)
- 1275 Margaret Plantagenet, English princess (d. 1318)
- 1455 Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)
- 1493 Anne Pierre Adrien duke of Montmorency, marshal of France
- 1591 Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1660)
- 1638 Shunzhi Emperor of China (1644-1661) Third Qing Emperor, born in Shengjing (d. 1661)
- 1666 George Bähr, German architect (Frauenkirche, Dresden) (d. 1738)
- 1678 Dominique Marie Valet, French RC/old-catholic bishop
- 1713 Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer who mapped the stars of the Southern Hemisphere, born in Rumigny, France (d. 1762)
- 1733 Johann Zoffany, German painter, baptized
- 1738 Cesare Beccaria, Italian criminologist and politician, born in Milan (d. 1794)
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
American general and 7th US President (Democratic: 1829-37), born in Waxhaws in the border area between North and South Carolina
William Lamb (1779-1848)
2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Whig: 1834, 1835-41), born in London
- 1790 Ludwig Immanuel Magnus, German mathematician (d. 1861)
- 1791 Charles Knight, English publisher (The Penny Cyclopaedia), born in Windsor, England (d. 1873)
- 1801 Coenraad J van Houten, Dutch cocoa manufacturer
- 1809 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, 1st President of Liberia
- 1809 Karl Josef von Hefele, German theologian (d. 1893)
- 1810 Aernout Drost, Dutch historical novelist (Hermingard van de Eikenterpen), born in Amsterdam, Kingdom of Holland (d. 1834)
- 1811 Robert Allen, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in West Point, Ohio (d. 1886)
John Snow (1813-1858)
English epidemiologist who studied cholera and is considered the 'Father of modern epidemiology', born in York England
- 1818 Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (d. 1924)
- 1821 Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
- 1821 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (d. 1895)
- 1821 William Milligan, Scottish theologian (d. 1892)
- 1824 Branko Radicevic, Serbian poet (1st Serbian Uprising)
- 1824 Jules Chevalier, French Roman Catholic priest (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), born in Richelieu, Touraine, France (d. 1907)
- 1830 Élisée Reclus, French geographer (d. 1905)
- 1830 Paul von Heyse, German writer (Nobel 1910)
- 1831 Daniel Comboni, Italian missionary (d. 1881)
- 1831 Edward Aylesworth Perry, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
- 1835 John Henrie Kagi, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- 1838 Alice Cunningham Fletcher, ethnologist (Stranger in Her Native Land)
- 1852 Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright, poet and patron of Yates, born in Roxborough, County Galway
- 1854 Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician; Nobel laureate (d. 1917)
- 1858 Liberty Hyde Bailey, US botanist (Plantbreeding)
- 1859 Arthur Hawley Scribner, American magazine and book publisher, born in New York City (d. 1932)
- 1860 Waldemar Haffkine, Ukrainian bacteriologist (1st to develop and use vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague), born in Odessa, Russian Empire (d. 1930)
- 1866 Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor (d. 1910)
- 1866 Matthew Charlton, Australian politician (d. 1948)
- 1867 Lionel Pigot Johnson, British poet and critic (Ireland & Other Poems), born in Broadstairs, Kent (d. 1902)
- 1868 Grace Chisholm Young, English mathematician (d. 1944)
- 1869 Stanisław Wojciechowski, President of Poland (d. 1953)
- 1873 Lee Shubert, American theatre producer (theatres in NY & LA named after him), born in Lithuania (d. 1953) birth date disputed
- 1874 Eugène Fiset, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1951)
- 1874 Harold L Ickes, social activist, New Deal politician
Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878-1944)
Shah of Iran (1925-41), born in Alasht, Savad Kooh, Mazandaran, Persia
- 1879 Gerrit J Heering, Dutch theologist (Fall of Christianity)
- 1887 Marjorie Merriweather Post, American socialite and businesswoman (d. 1973)
- 1892 James Basevi Ord, US army officer (d. 1938)
- 1900 George Fox, American US Army chaplain and Methodist minister (The Four Chaplains), born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania (d. 1943) [1]
- 1900 Gilberto Freye, Brazilian sociologist/writer
- 1905 Berthold Schenck von Stauffenberg, German aristocrat who attempted to assassinate Hitler, born in Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1944)
- 1910 An Rutgers van der Loeff-Basenau, children book writer (Skating Race)
- 1912 Duncan Stuart Wilson-MacDonald, fighter pilot
- 1912 Louis Paul Boon, Flemish writer (Kapellekensbaan)
- 1914 Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (d. 1985)
- 1916 Fadil Hoxha, Yugoslav politician (d. 2001)
- 1916 Geert Lubberhuizen, publisher (Busy Bee)
- 1918 Janet Leach, potter, born in Grand Saline, Texas (d. 1997)
- 1918 Richard Ellmann, American literary scholar and biographer (Oscar Wilde), born in Highland Park, Michigan (d. 1987)
- 1920 E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1920 Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
- 1920 Sid Hartman, American sports journalist (Minneapolis Star Tribune; WCCO 830 AM), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2020)
- 1924 Yuri Bondarev, Russian writer (Silence), born in Orsk
- 1925 Bert Bolin, Swedish meteorologist
- 1926 Tim Valentine, American politician (Rep-D-NC, 1983-95), born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina (d. 2015)
- 1927 Philip Vincent Belloc Jebb, architect
- 1930 Zhores Alferov, Soviet-Russian physicist (2000 Nobel Prize in Physics), born in Vitebsk, Soviet Union (d. 2019)
- 1932 Alan Bean, American Naval captain and astronaut (Ap 12, Skylab 3, 4th to walk on the moon), born in Wheeler, Texas (d. 2018)
- 1932 David Alliance, Iran/British textile factory/multi-millionaire
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
American jurist and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1993-2020), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1934 Kanshi Ram, Indian dalit leader
- 1935 Jimmy Lee Swaggart, evangelist
- 1936 David Andrews, Irish politician
- 1936 Don Sundquist, American politician (Governor of Tennessee 1995-2003, Rep-R-Tennessee, 1983-95), born in Moline, Illinois
- 1937 Valentin Rasputin, Russian writer (To Live and Remember), born in Atalanka, Soviet Union (d. 2015)
- 1939 Jack Whyte, Scottish-Canadian author
- 1939 Robert Nye, British novelist and poet (Facts of Life & other fiction), born in London (d. 2016)
- 1940 Frank Dobson, British politician
- 1940 Margo Coleman, American advice columnist
- 1943 David Cronenberg, director (Shivers, Fly, Brood), born in Toronto, Ontario
- 1945 A. K. Faezul Huq, Bengali lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1945 Mark J Green, American lawyer/author (Closed Enterprise System), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1946 Masaharu Satō, Japanese seiyū
- 1947 Larisa Grigoriyevna Pozharskaya, Russian cosmonaut
- 1948 Kate Bornstein, American author
- 1948 Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
- 1952 Howard Koh, American state government official
- 1953 Richard Bruton, Irish politician
- 1957 Janet Cardiff, Canadian sound artist (Forty Part Motet), born in Brussels, Ontario
- 1959 Lisa Holton, American writer
- 1960 Phil Walsh, Australian Rules Football wing, coach (murdered by son), born in Hamilton, Victoria (d. 2015)
- 1967 Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese manga artist (Sailor Moon), born in Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan
- 1968 Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician
- 1969 Rona Ambrose, Canadian politician
- 1976 Jennifer 8. Lee, American journalist
- 1976 Jose Sanchez Zolliker, Mexican writer
- 1976 Katherine Brooks, American television director
- 1978 Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater
- 1985 F.V.A. Morriello, Canadian author
Authors
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