List of Famous people born in December

Heinrich Jacob Goldschmidt, also Heinrich Jakob Goldschmidt, was a Jewish Austrian chemist who spent most of his career working in Norway. He studied chemistry at the Charles University in Prague, where he received his PhD in 1881. In the same year, he became professor at the ETH Zürich, where he worked with Victor Meyer. In 1888, his son Victor Goldschmidt was born; Victor later became a renowned mineralogist and founder of modern geochemistry. After working at the University of Amsterdam with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff in 1894 and 1895, Heinrich Goldschmidt became full professor at the ETH. He left the ETH in 1901 for the University of Oslo. He worked there until his retirement in 1929 at the age of 72. As his son Victor became professor for mineralogy at the University of Göttingen in 1929, he moved with him to Göttingen, but both had to leave there after the Nazis came to power, and father and son returned to Oslo in 1935. Heinrich Jacob Goldschmidt died in Oslo in 1937.

Joanna Dove Hayes is an American hurdler, who won the gold medal in the 100 metres hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Edward Lawrie Tatum was an American geneticist. He shared half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958 with George Beadle for showing that genes control individual steps in metabolism. The other half of that year's award went to Joshua Lederberg.

Lydia Emilie Florence Jannsen,, known by her pen name Lydia Koidula, was an Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means 'Lydia of the Dawn' in Estonian. It was given to her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik – 'Singer of the Dawn'.

Sandra Kalniete is a Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader. She served as Foreign Minister of Latvia 2002–2004 and as European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries in 2004. Since 2009, she has served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the European People's Party.

Andrew R. Jones is a visual effects artist most known for being part of the Oscar-winning team that did the visuals to Avatar and The Jungle Book.

Susan Whetnall is a former English badminton player, noted for her anticipation and shot-making ability, who won numerous international titles in doubles and mixed doubles from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. She was married to another English former international player, Paul Whetnall, until his death in May 2014.