December 30

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  1695: Academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician Samuel Morland dies. Morland contributed to early developments in computing, hydraulics, and steam power.

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  1842: Osman Hamdi Bey born. He will be an administrator, intellectual, art expert, painter, and archaeologist.

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  1850: Publication of Den Overraskende Veludstyrede Lille Kanonbåd ("The Surprisingly Well-Equipped Small Gunboat") by Danish author and military historiographer Hans Christian Andersen.

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  1892: Mathematician Pekka Myrberg born. He will do fundamental work on the iteration of rational functions (especially quadratic functions), developing the concept of period-doubling. Myrberg's research will revive interest in the results of Gaston Julia and Pierre Fatou.

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  1916: Mystic and faith healer Grigori Rasputin dies.

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  1947: Mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead dies. He was a defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy.

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  1947: Painter and forger Han van Meegeren dies. He was one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century.

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  2013: Mathematician and academic Paul Sally dies. He was known as "a legendary math professor at the University of Chicago".