About the day » Monday December 8, 1879Calender converter

• Alida Harmana Geertruida van Zeben, Groningen
• Anna Maria van Keulen, Ammerzoden,Gelderland,Netherlands († 1888)
• Anna van Zuilen, Oostwold gem. Midwolda, Groningen, Nederland († 1933)
• Anna Maria Ruijgrok, Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 1885)
• Albert Oldenburger, Nieuwe Pekela, Pekela, Groningen, Nederland († 1900)
• Anna Maria Driessen, Grathem, Limburg, Netherlands
• Annie Martha Corban, Cornwall, Litchfield, Connecticut, Verenigde Staten († 1968)
• Alida Harmanna Geertruida van Zeben, Groningen, Groningen, Nederland († 1963)
• Adriana Maria Vaarten, Alphen en Riel
• Alida Anthonia Kleinstarink, Utrecht, Utrecht, Nederland († 1880)

• Anna Cornelia Lips (0), Princenhage, Gemeente Breda, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Abraham Loebel Friedenthal (65), Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado, Verenigde Staten
• Albert Jans Dieters (82), Gieten, Drenthe, Nederland
• Ruurd Paulus Akkerman (47), Groningen
• Aaltje Lap (65), Enkhuizen, Noord-Holland, Nederland
• Alida van der Bijl (71), Veur
• Abraham Schmaal (84), Nieuwe Pekela, Nederland
• Abraham Schmaal* (84), Nieuwe Pekela, Groningen, Nederland
• Agnes Juliana Knoppert (89), Deventer
• Albert Dieters (82), Gieten, Nederland

• 1865 » Rüdiger von der Goltz, German general († 1946)
• 1874 » Ernst Moro, Austrian physician and pediatrician († 1951)
• 1875 » Frederik Buch, Danish actor and screenwriter († 1925)
• 1877 » Paul Ladmirault, French pianist, violinist, and composer († 1944)
• 1880 » Johannes Aavik, Estonian linguist and philologist († 1973)
• 1881 » Albert Gleizes, French painter († 1953)
• 1884 » Francis Balfour, English colonel and politician († 1965)
• 1886 » Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator († 1957)
• 1890 » Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American pianist and composer († 1959)
• 1892 » Marcus Lee Hansen, American historian, author, and academic († 1938)

• 1856 » Theobald Mathew, Irish social reformer and temperance movement leader (b. 1790)
• 1859 » Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (b. 1785)
• 1864 » George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
• 1869 » Narcisa de Jesús, Ecuadorian saint (b. 1832)
• 1885 » William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1821)
• 1886 » Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist, and publisher (b. 1792)
• 1894 » Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1821)
• 1903 » Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (b. 1820)
• 1907 » Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
• 1913 » Camille Jenatzy, Belgian race car driver (b. 1868)

• Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1849 till 1890 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from November 3, 1877 to August 20, 1879 the cabinet Kappeijne van de Coppello, with Mr. J. Kappeijne van de Coppello (liberaal) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from August 20, 1879 to April 23, 1883 the cabinet Van Lijnden van Sandenburg, with Mr. C.Th. baron Van Lijnden van Sandenburg (conservatief-AR) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 4.0 million citizens.
• January 22 » The Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War results in a British defeat.
• February 14 » The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
• May 14 » The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
• September 18 » The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
• October 8 » War of the Pacific: The Chilean Navy defeats the Peruvian Navy in the Battle of Angamos.
• October 22 » Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasts 13​⁄₂ hours before burning out).

The temperature on December 8, 1879 was about -4.7 °C. There was 5 mm of rain. The air pressure was 12 kgf/m² and came mainly from the south-southeast. The airpressure was 77 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 93%.