December 7 Henry Fillmore, American composer and bandleader (b. 1881) Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887) December 9 – Charles Joughin, English-born baker on RMS Titanic (b. 1878) December 10 – David Shimoni, Israeli poet and writer (b. 1891) December 12 – Ewald André Dupont, German film director (b. 1891) December 14 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi, twice Prime Minister of Finland and 7th President of Finland (b. 1870) December 16 René Couzinet, French aeronautics engineer and aircraft manufacturer (suicide) (b. 1904) Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b. 1890) December 17 Eddie Acuff, American actor (b. 1903) Whitford Kane, Irish-born American actor (b. 1881) December 21 – Lewis Terman, American psychologist (b. 1877) December 23 – Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Spanish architect (b. 1867) December 25 – William Addison Dwiggins, American book designer, type designer, illustrator, author, marionette artist (b. 1880) December 26 – Holmes Herbert, English actor (b. 1882) December 30 – Ruth Draper, American actress (b. 1884) Date unknown Dumitru Coroamă, Romanian soldier and fascist activist (b. 1885) Victoria Hayward, Bermudan-born travel writer and journalist (b. 1876) Lotte Herrlich, female photographer of German naturism (b. 1883) Nobel Prizes Physics – William Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain Chemistry – Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Semyonov Physiology or Medicine – André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards Literature – Juan Ramón Jiménez Peace – Not Awarded References Bibliography Further reading London Institute of World Affairs, The Year Book of World Affairs 1957 (London 1957) full text online, comprehensive reference book covering 1956 in diplomacy, international affairs and politics for major nations and regions External links 1956 in History Leap years in the Gregorian calendar