1883) December 14 – Helene Kröller-Müller, Dutch museum founder and art collector (b. 1869) December 16 – Juan Demóstenes Arosemena, 18th President of Panama (b. 1879) December 18 – Bruno Liljefors, Swedish artist (b. 1860) December 19 Dmitry Grave, Soviet mathematician (b. 1863) Reginald F. Nicholson, United States Navy admiral (b. 1852) December 20 – Hans Langsdorff, German naval officer (suicide) (b. 1894) December 22 – Ma Rainey, African-American blues singer (b. 1886) December 23 Anthony Fokker, Dutch-born American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890) Maxime Laubeuf, French maritime engineer (b. 1864) December 24 – Walter Gordon, German physicist (b. 1893) December 25 – Ivan Dmitriyevich Borisov, Soviet aircraft pilot (b. 1913) December 27 – Rinaldo Cuneo, American artist ("the painter of San Francisco") (b. 1877) December 31 – Sir Frank Benson, British actor (b. 1858) Nobel Prizes Physics – Ernest Lawrence Chemistry – Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ružička Physiology or Medicine – Gerhard Domagk Literature – Frans Eemil Sillanpää Peace – not awarded References External links 1939 WWII Timeline The 1930s Timeline: 1939 – from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia Paula Phelan, 1939 Into The Dark, 2009, ZAPmedia.