Born on December 26

Winkler, Clemens Alexander

Winkler, Clemens Alexander (b. Dec. 26, 1838, Freiberg, Ger.--d. Oct. 8, 1904, Dresden), German chemist who discovered the element germanium.

Salis, Johann Gaudenz, FREIHERR VON (count of) SALIS-SEEWIS

Salis, Johann Gaudenz, FREIHERR VON (count of) SALIS- SEEWIS (b. Dec. 26, 1762, Malans, Switz.--d. Jan. 29, 1834, Malans), Swiss poet whose work is tender and sometimes elegiac, celebrating friendship, humanity, and the serenity of nature.

Batz, Jean, baron de

Batz, Jean, baron de (b. Dec. 26, 1760, Goutz, Fr.--d. Jan. 10, 1822, Chadieu), royalist conspirator during the French Revolution.

Hoppe-Seyler, Ernst Felix (Immanuel)

Hoppe-Seyler, Ernst Felix (Immanuel) (b. Dec. 26, 1825, Freyburg an der Unstrut, Halle--d. Aug. 10, 1895, Wasserburg am Bodensee), German physician, known for his work toward establishing physiological chemistry (biochemistry) as an academic discipline. He was the first to obtain lecithin in a pure form and introduced the word proteid (now protein). Additional contributions included metabolic studies and researches on chlorophyll and on blood, especially hemoglobin, which he obtained in crystalline form.

Bulkeley, Richard

Bulkeley, Richard (b. Dec. 26, 1717, Dublin--d. Dec. 7, 1800, Halifax, Nova Scotia), British soldier and statesman who became a political leader in Nova Scotia.

Toomer, Jean

Toomer, Jean (b. Dec. 26, 1894, Washington, D.C.--d. March 30, 1967), American poet and novelist.

Brown, Earle

Brown, Earle (b. Dec. 26, 1926, Lunenburg, Mass., U.S.), one of the leading American composers of avant-garde music, best known for his development of graphic notation and the open-form system of composition.

Kairov, Ivan Andreyevich

Kairov, Ivan Andreyevich (b. Dec. 26 [Dec. 14, old style], 1893, Ryazan, Russia--d. Oct. 29, 1978), Soviet educator and public education official responsible for numerous works dealing with pedagogical theory.

Kreutzwald, F(riedrich) Reinhold

Kreutzwald, F(riedrich) Reinhold (b. Dec. 26, 1803, Kadrina, Russian Estonia--d. Aug. 25, 1882, Tartu), physician, folklorist, and poet who compiled the Estonian national epic poem Kale vipoeg (1857-61, "The Son of Kalevi").

Gombos, Gyula

Gömbös, Gyula (b. Dec. 26, 1886, Murga, Hung., Austria-Hungary--d. Oct. 6, 1936, Munich), Hungarian premier (1932-36) who was known for his reactionary and anti-Semitic views and who was largely responsible for the trend to Fascism in Hungary in the interwar period.

Benda, Julien

Benda, Julien (b. Dec. 26, 1867, Paris--d. June 7, 1956, Fontenay-aux-Roses, near Paris), novelist and philosopher, leader of the anti-Romantic movement in French criticism, persistent defender of reason and intellect against the philosophical intuitionism of Henri Bergson.

Hofbauer, Saint Clement Mary

Hofbauer, Saint Clement Mary, original name JOHN HOFBAUER (b. Dec. 26, 1751, Tasswitz, Moravia [now in Czech Republic]--d. March 15, 1820, Vienna, Austria; canonized May 20, 1909; feast day March 15), patron saint of Vienna.

Mayo, (George) Elton

Mayo, (George) Elton (b. Dec. 26, 1880, Adelaide, Australia--d. Sept. 7, 1949, Polesden Lacey, Surrey, Eng.), Australian-born psychologist who became an early leader in the field of industrial sociology in the United States, emphasizing the dependence of productivity on small-group unity. He extended this work to link the factory system to the larger society.

Southworth, Emma

Southworth, Emma, née EMMA DOROTHY ELIZA NEVITTE, also called MRS. E .D. E.N . SOUTHWORTH (b. Dec. 26, 1819, Washington, D.C., U.S.--d. June 30, 1899, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), one of the most popular of the 19th-century American sentimental novelists. For more than 50 years, her sentimental domestic novels reached a wide audience in the United States and Europe.

Eboue, Felix

Éboué, Félix, in full ADOLPHE- FELIX-SYLVESTRE EBOUE (b. Dec. 26, 1884, Cayenne, French Guiana--d. May 17, 1944, Cairo, Egypt), black colonial administrator who reached the highest level of the French colonial administrative system and played a crucial role in the adherence of French Equatorial Africa to Charles de Gaulle's Free France in 1940.

Angell, Sir Norman

Angell, Sir Norman, original name RALPH NORMAN ANGELL-LANE (b. Dec. 26, 1873, Holbeach, Lincolnshire, Eng.--d. Oct. 7, 1967, Croydon, Surrey), English economist and worker for international peace who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1933.

Allen, Steve

Allen, Steve, byname of STEPHEN VALENTINE PATRICK WILLIAM ALLEN (b. Dec. 26, 1921, New York, N.Y., U.S.), pioneer American television entertainer, versatile author, songwriter, and comedian who performed in radio, motion pictures, and theatre, as well as television.

Seghers, Charles Jean

Seghers, Charles Jean (b. Dec. 26, 1839, Ghent--d. Nov. 28, 1886, Alaska), twice bishop of Vancouver Island, B.C., whose missionary activity in northwestern North America earned him the title Apostle of Alaska.

Bowman, Isaiah

Bowman, Isaiah (b. Dec. 26, 1878, Waterloo, Ont., Can.--d. Jan. 6, 1950, Baltimore), geographer and educator who helped establish the American Geographical Society's international standing during his 20 years as its director.

Eyadema, (Etienne) Gnassingbe

Eyadema, (Etienne) Gnassingbe (b. Dec. 26, 1937, Pya, Togoland [now Togo]), soldier who became president of Togo after a military takeover in January 1967.

Cairnes, John Elliott

Cairnes, John Elliott (b. Dec. 26, 1823, Castle Bellingham, County Louth, Ire.--d. July 8, 1875, London), Irish classical economist who restated most of that school's doctrines in his last and largest work, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (1874).

Kikuchi Kan

Kikuchi Kan, also called KIKUCHI HIROSHI (b. Dec. 26, 1888, Takamatsu, Japan--d. March 6, 1948, Tokyo), playwright, novelist, and founder of one of the major publishing companies in Japan.

Dorpfeld, Wilhelm

Dörpfeld, Wilhelm (b. Dec. 26, 1853, Barmen, Rhenish Prussia [now Wuppertal, Ger.]--d. April 25, 1940, Leukas, Greece), German archaeologist and authority on Greek architecture who excavated the Mycenaean palace at Tiryns (modern Tirins, Greece) and continued the excavation of the famed German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik, Tur., the site of ancient Troy.

Ripley, Robert LeRoy

Ripley, Robert LeRoy, original name LEROY RIPLEY (b. Dec. 26, 1893, Santa Rosa, Calif., U.S.--d. May 27, 1949, New York, N.Y.), American cartoonist who was the founder of "Believe It or Not!," a widely popular newspaper cartoon presenting bizarre facts and oddities of all kinds.

Philaret

Philaret, also spelled FILARET, original name VASILY MI KHAYLO VICH DROZDOV (b. Dec. 26, 1782 [Jan. 6, 1783, New Style], Kolomna, near Moscow, Russia--d. Nov. 19 [Dec. 1], 1867, Moscow), Russian Orthodox biblical theologian and metropolitan, or archbishop, of Moscow whose scholarship, oratory, and administrative ability made him the leading Russian churchman of the 19th century.

Gordon, Lord George

Gordon, Lord George (b. Dec. 26, 1751, London, Eng.--d. Nov. 1, 1793, London), English lord and instigator of the anti-Catholic Gordon riots in London (1780).

Babbage, Charles

Babbage, Charles (b. Dec. 26, 1791, London, Eng.--d. Oct. 18, 1871, London), English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer.

Mannes, Leopold (Damrosch)

Mannes, Leopold (Damrosch) (b. Dec. 26, 1899, New York, N.Y., U.S.--d. Aug. 11, 1964, Vineyard Haven, Mass.), American musician and photographic technician known as a codeveloper of Kodachrome film (1935).

Lacepede, (Bernard-Germain-) Etienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de

Lacépède, (Bernard-Germain-) Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de (count of) (b. Dec. 26, 1756, Agen, Fr.--d. Oct. 6, 1825, Épinay-sur-Seine), French naturalist and politician who made original contributions to the knowledge of fishes and reptiles.

Obituary: Zygmund, Antoni

Zygmund, Antoni, Polish-born mathematician (b. Dec. 26, 1900, Warsaw, Poland--d. May 30, 1992, Chicago, Ill.), as a university professor in Europe and after 1947 at the University of Chicago, exerted a major influence on 20th-century mathematics through his work, teaching, and students. Zygmund's interest lay in the broad division of mathematics known as analysis, and he was particularly well known for his contributions to harmonic analysis, a field relied on in science and technology for the formulation of descriptions of periodic phenomena such as waves, vibrations, and regularly repeating structures. In 1986 he received the U.S. National Medal of Science for creating the so-called Chicago School of Analysis, the "strongest school of analytical research [particularly Fourier analysis and its applications to partial differential equations] in the contemporary mathematical world." Zygmund's legacy from nearly six decades of teaching included more than 80 Ph.D. students and hundreds of second-generation mathematical descendants. His book Trigonometric Series (1935 and later editions) remained the definitive treatment of the subject. Zygmund obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Warsaw in 1923. Between 1922 and 1929 he taught at the Polytechnical School in Warsaw, and between 1926 and 1929 he was also at the University of Warsaw. After a year in England on a Rockefeller fellowship, he became professor of mathematics at the University of Wilno (later Vilnius, Lithuania). In 1940, following a period of service in the Polish army, Zygmund escaped with his wife and son from his German-overrun homeland to the U.S. Successive posts at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., and the University of Pennsylvania led to an invitation in 1947 to join the faculty of the University of Chicago, where Zygmund remained until his retirement in 1980. His other books include Analytic Functions (1938, with Stanislaw Saks) and Measure and Integral (1977, with R.L. Wheeden). Zygmund held membership in the national academies of science of four countries: the U.S., Poland, Argentina, and Spain.

Mathews, Charles James

Mathews, Charles James (b. Dec. 26, 1803, Liverpool--d. June 24, 1878, Manchester), writer of comic sketches and one of the best high comedians ever to appear on the English stage.

Dewey, George

Dewey, George (b. Dec. 26, 1837, Montpelier, Vt., U.S.--d. Jan. 16, 1917, Washington, D.C.), U.S. naval commander who defeated the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War (1898).

Boucicault, Dion

Boucicault, Dion, original name DIONYSIUS LARDNER BOURSIQUOT (b. Dec. 26, 1820/22, Dublin--d. Sept. 18, 1890, New York City), Irish-U.S. playwright and actor, a major influence on the form and content of American drama.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, Wade-Giles romanization MAO TSE-TUNG (b. Dec. 26, 1893, Shao-shan, Hunan province, China--d. Sept. 9, 1976, Peking), principal Chinese Marxist theorist, soldier, and statesman who led his nation's communist revolution. Leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1931, he was chairman (chief of state) of the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1959 and chairman of the party until his death.

Obituary: David, Elizabeth

David, Elizabeth, British food writer (b. Dec. 26, 1913--d. May 22, 1992, London, England), celebrated the joys of cooking in a series of magazine columns and books that revolutionized the everyday kitchens, shops, and restaurants of Britain in the years following World War II. Although the recipes in her books were sometimes sketchy, David conveyed an enthusiasm for good food and for European culture that even noncooks found enticing. While studying literature and history at the Sorbonne in Paris, she was captivated by the local cuisine, and after a brief stint as an actress and an unsuccessful marriage, she resolved to share her culinary passion. In A Book of Mediterranean Food (1950), David conjured up both the romance of sunnier climes and the succulence of bouillabaisse, ratatouille, and other dishes filled with such authentic ingredients as fresh garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and butter--items that were unknown or unobtainable in ration-weary postwar England. She continued with French Country Cooking (1951), Italian Food (1954), Summer Cooking (1955), French Provincial Cooking (1960), Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen (1970), and English Bread and Yeast Cookery (1977). In 1965 she opened the first kitchen shop in London, but she quit the business in 1973 after a falling out with her partners. A collection of early essays, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, appeared in 1984. David was made Chevalier du Mérite Agricole of France in 1977 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986.

Miller, Henry (Valentine)

Miller, Henry (Valentine) (b. Dec. 26, 1891, New York City--d. June 7, 1980, Pacific Palisades, Calif., U.S.), U.S. writer and perennial Bohemian whose autobiographical novels achieve a candour--particularly about sex--that made them a liberating influence in mid-20th-century literature. He is also notable for a free and easy American style and a gift for comedy that springs from his willingness to admit to feelings others conceal and an almost eager acceptance of the bad along with the good. Because of their sexual frankness, his major works were banned in Britain and the United States until the 1960s, but they were widely known earlier from copies smuggled in from France.

Carpentier (y Valmont), Alejo

Carpentier (y Valmont), Alejo (b. Dec. 26, 1904, Havana--d. April 24, 1980, Paris), novelist, musicologist, and journalist, at various times a Cuban insurgent, exile, and government official.

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

Arndt, Ernst Moritz (b. Dec. 26, 1769, Schoritz bei Gartz, Rügen, Swed.--d. Jan. 29, 1860, Bonn), prose writer, poet, and patriot who expressed the national awakening in his country in the Napoleonic era.

Gray, Thomas

Gray, Thomas (b. Dec. 26, 1716, London--d. July 30, 1771, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.), English poet whose "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" is one of the best known of English lyric poems. Although his literary output was slight, he was the dominant poetic figure in the mid-18th century and a precursor of the Romantic movement.

.Frederick II

.Frederick II (b. Dec. 26, 1194, Jesi, Ancona, Papal States--d. Dec. 13, 1250, Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Kingdom of Sicily), king of Sicily (1197-1250), duke of Swabia (as Frederick VI, 1228-35), German king (1212-50), and Holy Roman emperor (1220-50). A Hohenstaufen and grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, he pursued his dynasty's imperial policies against the papacy and the Italian city states; and he also joined in the Sixth Crusade (1228-29), conquering several areas of the Holy Land and crowning himself king of Jerusalem (reigning 1229-43).

Gerlache, Etienne-Constantin, baron de

Gerlache, Étienne-Constantin, baron de (b. Dec. 26, 1785, Biourge, Luxembourg--d. Feb. 10, 1871, Brussels), Belgian Catholic statesman and historian and a parliamentary leader in the first years of the Belgian kingdom established in 1830. He helped Leopold of Saxe-Coburg become the first king of the Belgians as Leopold I in 1831.

.Valdemar BIRGERSSON

.Valdemar BIRGERSSON (b. 1243--d. Dec. 26, 1302), king of Sweden (1250-75) who governed jointly with his father Birger Jarl (q.v.) until the latter's death in 1266 and then reigned alone. Because of an extramarital affair with his wife's sister, a postulant nun, by whom he had a child, Valdemar in 1274 made a pilgrimage to Rome to gain forgiveness. Pope Gregory X exacted concessions, whereby Valdemar acknowledged papal overlordship and the responsibility to send taxes to Rome; and these concessions inspired Valdemar's brothers to rebel. By 1275, Magnus, the next in line, had made himself king (as Magnus I). Valdemar, defeated in battle, fled into exile in Norway, where he continued unsuccessfully for many years to hatch conspiracies to regain the throne.

Duy Tan

Duy Tan, original name VINH SAN (b. 1899--d. Dec. 26, 1945), emperor of Vietnam from 1907 to 1916 and symbol of the Vietnamese anticolonialist movement against the French before and during World War I; he became an officer and decorated hero in the French army during World War II.

Zosimus, SAINT

Zosimus, SAINT (b. Greece--d. Dec. 26, 418, Rome; feast day December 26), pope from March 417 to December 418. He was consecrated as Pope St. Innocent I's successor on March 18, 417. His brief but turbulent pontificate was embroiled in conflicts involving Gaul, Africa, and Pelagianism, a heretical doctrine that minimized the role of divine grace in man's salvation.