List of Famous people born in December

Allen Joseph Bard is an American chemist. He is the Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair Professor and director of the Center for Electrochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Bard is considered a "father of modern electrochemistry" for his innovative work developing the scanning electrochemical microscope, his co-discovery of electrochemiluminescence, his key contributions to photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor electrodes, and co-authoring a seminal textbook.

Paul Varul is an Estonian lawyer and politician. He was the Minister of Justice of Estonia 1995–1999. He was involved in drafting all the major legal acts of private law in Estonia. He has also been an expert contributor to the drafting of the National Central Bank Act and the legislation regulating the pursuit of business of a credit institution.

Paul Gustave Simonon is an English musician and artist best known as the bassist for The Clash. More recent work includes his involvement in the supergroup The Good, the Bad & the Queen and playing on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach in 2010, which saw Simonon reunite with The Clash guitarist Mick Jones and Blur frontman Damon Albarn – and which also led to Simonon becoming the live band's touring bassist for Gorillaz's Escape to Plastic Beach Tour.

Edward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites Woodland Sketches, Sea Pieces and New England Idylls. Woodland Sketches includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose". In 1904 he was one of the first seven Americans honored by membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Susanna Foster was an American film actress best known for her leading role as Christine in the 1943 film version of Phantom of the Opera.

Lee Rogers Berger is an American-born South African paleoanthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. He is best known for his discovery of the Australopithecus sediba type site, Malapa; his leadership of Rising Star Expedition in the excavation of Homo naledi at Rising Star Cave; and the Taung Bird of Prey Hypothesis.

Kathleen Nord is a former butterfly and medley swimmer from East Germany. She won the gold medal in the 200 m butterfly at the 1988 Summer Olympics and finished fifth in the 400 m individual medley. Between 1982 and 1989 she won six gold, two silver and three bronze medals in individual medley and butterfly events at European and world championships. She missed the 1984 Summer Olympics due to their boycott by East Germany and competed at the Friendship Games instead, winning a silver medal in the 400 m individual medley.