| Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist, inventor of kaleidoscope | |
| Hector Berlioz in France, composer | |
| Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writer, 'Cancer Ward', Nobel 1970 | |
| Rita Moreno, actress (West Side Story), in Puerto Rico | |
| Geminid meteor shower, radiant in Gemini | |
| Indiana becomes 19th state | |
| German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia | |
| Snow falls in San Francisco. | |
| UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965) | |
| Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France | |
| First Class Mail now costs 13 cents (had been 10 cents). | |
By Scott Labrecque version 9.4.0.0