The Birthday Gazette

Born on December 15

December 15 birthdays & history

If you were born on December 15, you share a birthday with L. L. Zamenhof, Henri Becquerel and Gustave Eiffel. December 15 babies are Sagittarius, with turquoise as their birthstone and the narcissus as their birth flower. December 15 is the 350th day of the year in leap years (349th in other years).

Famous people born on December 15

  • 1859L. L. Zamenhof, Polish linguist and ophthalmologist, created Esperanto
  • 1852Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1832Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower
  • 1907Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and the Cathedral of Brasília
  • 1923Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist and mathematician
  • 1986Keylor Navas, Costa Rican footballer
  • 1916Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-English physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1860Niels Ryberg Finsen, Faroese-Danish physician and educator, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1892J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman and art collector, founded Getty Oil
  • 1981Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer

What happened on December 15

  • 687Sergius was elected pope, ending the last disputed period of sede vacante during the Byzantine Papacy.
  • 1025Constantine VIII (depicted) became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.
  • 1791The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
  • 1869The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.
  • 1871Sixteen-year-old Ella Stewart sent the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory.
  • 1893Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World" a.k.a. the "New World Symphony") by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a concert premiere on the evening of December 16.
  • 1903Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony receives a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that makes ice cream cones.
  • 1905The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.
  • 1906The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, a 14.17-kilometre (8.80 mi) long deep-level underground tube railway connecting Hammersmith and Finsbury Park, London, opened.
  • 1939The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • 1960King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country's constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule.
  • 1965Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

Also observed on December 15

  • Bill of Rights Day (United States) 2nd Amendment Day (South Carolina)
  • Homecoming Day (Alderney)
  • Kingdom Day (Netherlands), moves to December 16 if the 15th is on a Sunday
  • Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)
  • World Turkic Language Family Day (UNESCO)

Questions, answered

What star sign is December 15?

People born on December 15 are Sagittarius. Their birthstone is turquoise and their birth flower is the narcissus.

Which famous people were born on December 15?

L. L. Zamenhof (1859), Henri Becquerel (1852), Gustave Eiffel (1832), Oscar Niemeyer (1907), Freeman Dyson (1923), Keylor Navas (1986) were all born on December 15.

What happened on December 15 in history?

Among other things: in 1939, The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia; in 1960, King Mahendra of Nepal suspends the country's constitution, dissolves parliament, dismisses the cabinet, and imposes direct rule; in 1965, Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

Can I get a newspaper front page from December 15?

Yes. The Birthday Gazette makes a personalised vintage-style front page for any December 15 birth year, with their name in the headline, events, famous birthdays and typical US prices. The preview is free and the print files cost $9.

Events, birthdays and observances are adapted from Wikipedia contributors, “December 15”, English Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (shortened and filtered). Ranking uses Wikidata (CC0). Sources.