wins the Nazi leadership over to his viewpoint. December 8 – Gregor Strasser resigns as the chief of the NSDAP's organizational department in protest against Hitler's "all or nothing" strategy. December 10 – The Emu War in Australia ends in failure. December 12 – Japan and the Soviet Union reform their diplomatic connections. December 19 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service using a shortwave radio facility at its Daventry transmitting station in England. December 25 The 7.6 Changma earthquake shakes the Kansu Province in China with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Two-hundred and seventy-five people are killed. IG Farben files a patent application in Germany for the medical application of the first sulfonamide oral antibiotic, which will be marketed as Prontosil, following Gerhard Domagk's laboratory demonstration of its properties as an antibiotic. King George V delivers the first Royal Christmas Message on the new BBC Empire Service radio from Sandringham House; the text has been written by Rudyard Kipling. December 27 – Internal passports are introduced in the Soviet Union. December 28 – The Cologne banker Kurt von Schröder-who is a close friend of Papen and a NSDAP member-meets with Adolf Hitler to tell him that Papen wants to set up a meeting to discuss how they can work together. Papen wants Nazi support to return to the Chancellorship while Hitler wants Papen to convince Hindenburg to appoint him Chancellor. Hitler agrees to meet Papen on January 3, 1933. Date unknown Zero-length springs are invented, revolutionizing seismometers and gravimeters. Geneticist J. B. S. Haldane publishes The Causes of Evolution, unifying the findings of Mendelian genetics with those of evolutionary science. The heath hen becomes extinct in North America. Walter B. Pitkin publishes Life Begins at Forty in the United States. SPAR, the global retail brand, is founded in Zegwaart, Netherlands. Unemployment in the United States – ca. 33% – 14 million. A similar level of unemployment affects Germany. Many people in depressed countries do not receive unemployment benefit due to governments not being able to afford benefit payments. Births January January 3 – Dabney Coleman, American actor January 5 Umberto Eco, Italian scholar and novelist (d. 2016) Raisa Gorbacheva, wife of the President of the Soviet Union (d. 1999) January 10 József Szécsényi, Hungarian track and field athlete (d. 2017) David Ejoor, Nigerian Army officer (d. 2019) January 11 – Takkō Ishimori, Japanese