President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940) December 22 – Elena Mukhina, Soviet artistic gymnast (b. 1960) December 25 – James Brown, American singer (b. 1933) December 26 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913) December 30 – Saddam Hussein, 5th President of Iraq (executed) (b. 1937) December 31 – Ya'akov Hodorov, Israeli footballer (b. 1927) Nobel Prizes Chemistry – Roger D. Kornberg. Economics – Edmund Phelps. Literature – Orhan Pamuk. Peace – Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Physics – John C. Mather, and George F. Smoot. Physiology or Medicine – Andrew Z. Fire, and Craig C. Mello. New English words and terms bucket list crowdfunding crowdsourcing Eris hypermiling mumblecore sizzle reel ski cross References