On This Day

December 1911 in History

Events in History


Event of interestEvent of Interest

Dec 3 Willis Carrier presents his influential "Rational Psychrometric Formulae" on air conditioning to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Engineer Willis Carrier
Engineer
Willis Carrier
  • Dec 7 National Hockey Association forms with New Westminster, Vancouver & Victoria
  • Dec 10 Calbraith Rogers completes 1st crossing of US by airplane in 84 days
  • Dec 10 Dutch lawyer Tobias Asser receives the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Dec 12 Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

Heartbreak and Tragedy for Captain ScottHeartbreak and Tragedy for Captain Scott

Dec 14 Norwegian Roald Amundsen's expedition is the 1st to each the South Pole

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The British party, l-r Scott, Oates, Wilson and Evans reach Amundsen's tent. Photo: Henry Bowers/British Library
The British party, l-r Scott, Oates, Wilson and Evans reach Amundsen's tent. Photo: Henry Bowers/British Library
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  • Dec 25 Edward Knoblock's "Kismet" premieres in NYC
  • Dec 29 Proclamation restores "Dei Gratia" from Canada's coins

Electoral defeatElection of Interest

Dec 29 Sun Yat-sen elected 1st President of the Republic of China

Father of Modern China Sun Yat-sen
Father of Modern China
Sun Yat-sen
  • Dec 29 Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty

Nobel prizeNobel Prize

Dec 31 Marie Curie receives her second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her work with radioactivity

Physicist Marie Curie
Physicist
Marie Curie

Birthdays in History

  • Dec 5 Alfred Manessier, French painter (leaded windows), born in Saint-Ouen, Somme, France (d. 1993)
  • Dec 6 Alfred James Broomhall, British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, born in Shandong, China (d. 1994)
  • Dec 9 Ryūzō Sejima, Japanese army officer and educator, born in Toyama, Japan (d. 2007)
  • Dec 11 Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian novelist (Palace Walk, Sugar Street) and first Arabic writer to win a Nobel Prize (1988), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 2006)

Person of interestKenneth Patchen

Dec 13 Kenneth Patchen, American poet and novelist (Cloth of the Tempest), born in Niles, Ohio (d. 1972)

Poet and Novelist Kenneth Patchen
Poet and Novelist
Kenneth Patchen
  • Dec 13 Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and 1989 Nobel laureate for his contributions to econometrics, born in Skedsmo, Norway (d. 1999)
  • Dec 14 Ota Adler, Czech-British fur trader and founder (Federal Trust), born in Kraslice, Czechoslovakia (d. 1995)
  • Dec 14 Hans von Ohain, German-American aerospace engineer, born in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt German Empire (d. 1998)
  • Dec 15 Nicholas P. Dallis, American psychiatrist and comic strip writer (Rex Morgan, M.D.), born in NYC, New York (d. 1991)
  • Dec 18 Helen Vlachos, journalist
  • Dec 18 Jules Dassin, Middletown CT, director (Circle of Two, Never on Sunday)
  • Dec 20 Hortense Calisher, American novelist (Arts & Letters 1967), born in NYC, New York
  • Dec 22 Grote Reber, American radio astronomer (1st parabolic radio telescope), born in Wheaton, Illinois (d. 2002)
  • Dec 23 Niels Jerne, Danish immunologist (1984 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology), born in London, England (d. 1994)
  • Dec 24 Eric Briault, educationalist
  • Dec 24 Malcolm MacEwen, Scottish conservationist & communist activist, born in Inverness, Scotland (d. 1996)
  • Dec 25 Louise Bourgeois, French American artist (Femme Maison), born in Paris, France (d, 2010)
  • Dec 26 Steve Kordek, pinball machine designer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2012)
  • Dec 31 Dal Stivens, Australian novelist, born in Blayney, Australia (d. 1997)

Deaths in History

  • Dec 7 William Griggs, English inventor (photo chromo lithography), dies at 79
  • Dec 10 Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist and director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, dies at 94
  • Dec 19 John Bigelow, American statesman and author, dies at 94