of Bhutan). December 19 – An explosion in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania kills 239. December 21 – Santa María School massacre: In Chile, soldiers fire at striking mineworkers gathered in the Santa María School in Iquique; over 2,000 are killed. December 31 – The first ever "ball drop" is held in Times Square, in New York City. Date unknown Anino ng Kahapon, a Tagalog-language novel is published. The triode thermionic amplifier invented by Lee de Forest, starting the development of electronics as a practical technology. The Autochrome Lumière is the first commercial color photography process. Indiana, in the United States, becomes the world's first legislature to place laws permitting compulsory sterilization for eugenic purposes on the statute book. The Moine Thrust Belt in Scotland is identified, one of the first to be discovered anywhere. The Landsforbundet for Kvinders Valgret is founded. James Murray Spangler invents the first Hoover vacuum cleaner. Henri Matisse begins to teach at the Académie Matisse in Paris, a private and non-commercial art school. Statue J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate general, is dedicated on Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue. Births January January 1 – Aftab Ali, Bengali politician, social reformer (d. 1972) January 3 – Ray Milland, Welsh actor, film director (d. 1986) January 5 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (d. 1969) January 8 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese civil servant, military official (d. 1991) January 11 – Pierre Mendès France, French politician, 142nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1982) January 12 – Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket scientist (d. 1966) January 16 – Alexander Knox, Canadian actor, novelist (d. 1995) January 17 – Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987) January 18 – Lina Haag, German World War II resistance fighter (d. 2012) January 20 Manfred von Ardenne, German research and applied physicist, inventor (d. 1997) Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (d. 2000) January 22 – Dixie Dean, English football player (d. 1980) January 23 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981) January 24 Maurice Couve de Murville, Prime Minister of France (d. 1999) Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, King of Malaysia (d. 1979) January 27 – Joyce Compton, American actress (d. 1997) January 29 – Bil Dwyer, American cartoonist and humorist (d. 1987) February February 1 – Günter Eich, German writer (d. 1972) February 5 Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007) Pierre Pflimlin, French politician (d. 2000) Sergio Méndez Arceo, Roman Catholic bishop of Cuernavaca, Mexico 1953-1983