About the day » Saturday December 16, 1972Calender converter

• Jamie M. Carter, Marion, Grant, Indiana, Verenigde Staten († 2017)
• Débora Cristina de Capua Ligabó, Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil († 2012)
• Cindy Bolink, Harderwijk († 2001)
• Helena Maria Stevens, Haarlem,Gemeente Haarlem,North Holland,Nederland

• Berend Bleijenberg (78), Ede
• Cornelia van As (81), Zierikzee
• Charles A. Meyer [Os Bu] "Charlie" (73)
• Aaltje Rinks Hof (78), Nuis
• Derk Jan van Faassen (91), Gemeente Groningen, Groningen, Nederland
• Anna Zwaans (72), Antwerpen Belgie
• Arendje Hobbel (82)
• Catharina Maria Geerts (71), Baarle-Nassau
• Catharina Maria Geerts (71), Baarle-Nassau
• Barend Veldhuizen (82), Soest

• 1969 » Adam Riess, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
• 1969 » Simon Grayson, English footballer and manager
• 1970 » Valerie Chow, Canadian-Hong Kong actress and publicist
• 1971 » Michael McCary, American R&B singer
• 1971 » Seyhan Kurt, French-Turkish poet and sociologist
• 1972 » Charles Gipson, American baseball player
• 1972 » Paul Leyden, Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 » Travis Morrison, American singer-songwriter
• 1973 » Scott Storch, American songwriter and producer, founded Storch Music Company
• 1973 » Themba Mnguni, South African footballer

• 1965 » W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1874)
• 1968 » Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (b. 1912)
• 1968 » Muhammad Suheimat, Jordanian general and politician (b. 1916)
• 1969 » Alphonse Castex, French rugby union player (b. 1899)
• 1969 » Soe Hok Gie, Indonesian activist and academic (b. 1942)
• 1970 » Oscar Lewis, American anthropologist of Latin America (b. 1914)
• 1974 » Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet and playwright (b. 1884)
• 1976 » Réal Caouette, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
• 1977 » Risto Jarva, Finnish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
• 1980 » Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founded KFC (b. 1890)

• Koningin Juliana (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from September 4, 1948 till April 30, 1980 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from April 5, 1967 to Tuesday, July 6, 1971 the cabinet Biesheuvel I, with Mr. B.W. Biesheuvel (ARP) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from Thursday, July 20, 1972 to Friday, May 11, 1973 the cabinet Biesheuvel II, with Mr. B.W. Biesheuvel (ARP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 13.3 million citizens.
• February 15 » Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
• October 13 » Aeroflot Flight 217 crashes outside Moscow, killing 174.
• November 8 » American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches, initially transmitting to 365 Teleservice Cable subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. First operating as a Northeastern U.S.-based regional service, HBO was one of the first cable-originated television channels. HBO's inaugural programming that evening consisted of its first event telecast—an NHL hockey game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks, and its first movie presentation—the 1971 Paul Newman–Henry Fonda film Sometimes a Great Notion.
• November 21 » Voters in South Korea overwhelmingly approve a new constitution, giving legitimacy to Park Chung-hee and the Fourth Republic.
• November 29 » Atari releases Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
• December 7 » Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

The temperature on December 16, 1972 was between -0.7 °C and 4.7 °C and averaged 1.9 °C. The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the south-southeast.