What happened on December 13 ?

1048 - Al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)

1124 - Pope Callixtus II

1204 - Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)

1250 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)

1404 - Albert, Count of Holland (b. 1336)

1466 - Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi), Florentine artist and sculptor (b. 1386)

1516 - Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (b. 1462)

1521 - King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)

1557 - Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician

1565 - Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (b. 1516)

1603 - François Viète, French mathematician (b. 1540)

1621 - Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)

1716 - Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)

1721 - Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway (b. 1676)

1729 - Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)

1754 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)

1769 - Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)

1783 - Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)

1784 - Samuel Johnson, British writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)

1814 - Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, Belgian-born Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)

1837 - Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)

1863 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (b. 1813)

1868 - Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (b. 1794)

1881 - August Senoa, Croatian writer (b. 1838)

1883 - Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)

1895 - Anyos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)

1919 - Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (b. 1850)

1930 - Fritz Pregl, Austrian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)

1931 - Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)

1935 - Victor Grignard, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)

1940 - Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)

1944 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French artist (b. 1866)

1947 - Nicholas Roerich, Russian-born painter (b. 1874)

1955 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)

1961 - Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)

1983 - Alexander Schmemann, Orthodox Christian priest and theologian (b. 1921)

1983 - Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (b.1933)

1993 - Vanessa Duriès, French novelist (b. 1972)

2001 - Chuck Schuldiner, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (Death) (b. 1967)

2002 - Zal Yanofsky, American guitarist and singer (The Lovin' Spoonful) (b. 1945)

2003 - William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Senator (b. 1921)

2004 - Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball player (b. 1934)

2004 - David Wheeler, British computer scientist (b. 1927)

2005 - Stanley Williams (Stanley Tookie Williams III), Founder of the Crips street gang, convicted murderer and anti-gang activist (lethal injection) (b. 1953)

1992 - Maxim Matushansky, Israeli chess and grpahic artist