On this day in History - Dec. 3

• 0741 - Saint Zacharias begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III
• 1048 - Al-Biruni dies. Mathematician
• 1154 - Pope Anastasius IV dies
• 1158 - D. Mafalda dies. Queen of Portugal.
• 1265 - Odofredus dies. Italian jurist
• 1368 - King Charles VI of France was born (d. 1422)
• 1506 - St. Francis Xavier dies. Jesuit priest and missionary
• 1533 - Vasili III dies (b. 1479). Grand Prince of Moscow
• 1552 - St. Francis Xavier dies of fever off the coast of China. He was the leading Roman Catholic missionary of modern times
• 1560 - Jan Gruter was born (d. 1627). Dutch critic.
• 1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduced potatoes from Colombia to England.
• 1596 - Nicolo Amati was born (d. 1684). Italian violin maker.
• 1610 - Honda Tadakatsu dies (b. 1548). Japanese general.
• 1621 - Galileu, Italian astronomer, completed the first telescope.
• 1684 - Ludvig Holberg was born (d. 1754). Norwegian historian and writer
• 1721 - German composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcken, daughter of a trumpeter at Weissenfels.
• 1753 - Samuel Crompton was born in Firwood, Greater Manchester, UK (d. 1827). Inventor of the spinning-mule.
• 1755 - Gilbert Stuart was born (d. 1828). American painter
• 1765 - Lord John Philip Sackville dies (b. 1713). English cricketer.
• 1776 - Johann Spurzheim was born (d. 1832). German neuroscientist
• 1789 - Claude Joseph Vernet dies (b. 1714). French painter.
• 1800 - France Prešeren was born (d. 1849). Slovenian poet.
• 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition mark their explorations from the Missouri River overland to the Columbia River on a pine tree.
• 1815 - John Carroll dies (b. 1735). First Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.S.
• 1818 - Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state
• 1826 - George McClellan was born (d. 1885). U.S. Civil War general
• 1828 - U.S. presidential election, 1828: Challenger Andrew Jackson beats incumbent John Quincy Adams and is elected President of the United States.
• 1833 - Oberlin Collegiate Institute, the first college to enroll men and women on equal terms, opened in Oberlin, Ohio, with an enrollment of twenty-nine men and fifteen women.
• 1838 - Cleveland Abbe was born (d. 1916). American meteorologist
• 1838 - Octavia Hill was born (d. 1912). English housing and open-space activist.
• 1842 - Ellen Swallow Richards was born (d. 1911).American scientist
• 1854 - Eureka Stockade: More than twenty goldminers at Ballarat, Australia were killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences. Claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy.
• 1857 - Joseph Conrad was born (d. 1924). Polish-born writer. Conrad would become one of the greatest English novelist and short-story, whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story Heart of Darkness (1902).
• 1861 - In a battle during the American Civil War, Federal troops ousted the Confederates from Salem, Missouri.
• 1880 - Fedor von Bock was born (d. 1945). German field marshal.
• 1882 - Archibald Campbell Tait dies (b. 1811). Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1883 - Anton Webern was born (d. 1945). Austrian composer
• 1884 - Rajendra Prasad was born (d. 1963). First President of India
• 1884 - Walther Stampfli was born (d. 1965). Member of the Swiss Federal Council
• 1886 - Manne Siegbahn was born (d. 1978). Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1887 - Prince Naruhiko was born (d. 1990). Japanese prince.
• 1887 - Sirhc Namyah was born (d. 1944). Composer.
• 1888 - Carl Zeiss dies (b. 1816). German lens maker.
• 1892 - Afanasy Fet dies (b. 1820). Russian poet.
• 1894 - Robert Louis Stevenson dies (b. 1850). Scottish writer.
• 1895 - Anna Freud was born (d. 1982). Austrian-born psychoanalyst
• 1899 - Ikeda Hayato was born (d. 1965). Prime Minister of Japan
• 1900 - Ulrich Inderbinen was born (d. 2004). Swiss mountain guide
• 1900 - Richard Kuhn was born (d. 1967).Austrian biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1901 - US President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".
• 1902 - Robert Lawson dies (b. 1833). New Zealand architect
• 1903 - John von Neumann was born. Hungarian American mathematician.
• 1904 - The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory.
• 1904 - Roberto Marinho was born (d. 2003). Brazilian journalist and business man.
• 1910 - Mary Baker Eddy dies (b. 1821). Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
• 1911 - Nino Rota was born (d. 1979). Italian composer
• 1912 - First Balkan War ends - Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month long war.
• 1912 - Prudente José de Morais Barros dies (b. 1841). President of Brazil
• 1917 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916).
• 1919 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir dies (b. 1841). French painter.
• 1921 - Phyllis Curtin was born. American soprano
• 1921 - RHD (Bob) Phillips was born. Canadian journalist and writer
• 1922 - Sven Nykvist was born. Swedish cinematographer
• 1923 - José Bonifácio Coutinho Nogueira was born (d. 2002). Brazilian politician and business man.
• 1924 - John Backus was born. Inventor of the FORTRAN language (FORmula TRANslation).
• 1925 - Ferlin Husky was born. American singer
• 1925 - Kim Dae-jung was born. President of South Korea, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1925 - George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F is premiered at Carnegie Hall.
• 1927 - Andy Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa. American singer.
• 1928 - In Rio de Janeiro, a seaplane sunk near Cap Arcona with a group of people paying homage to Alberto Santos-Dumont on board.
• 1929 - Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover announces to U.S. Congress that the worst effects of the recent stock market crash are behind the nation and the American people have regained faith in the economy.
• 1930 - Jean-Luc Godard was born. French film director
• 1931 - Franz Josef Degenhardt was born. German author and singer.
• 1931 - Jaye P. Morgan was born. American singer
• 1932 - Corry Brokken was born. Dutch singer
• 1933 - Paul J. Crutzen was born. Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1934 - Viktor Gorbatko was born. Cosmonaut
• 1935 - Eleanor Roosevelt dedicates the first low-income housing project in New York City.
• 1936 - Radio station WQXR is officially founded
• 1937 - The Dandy, the world's longest running comic, was first published.
• 1937 - Bobby Allison was born. American race car driver.
• 1937 - Binod Bihari Verma was born. Maithili literateur
• 1940 - Bugs Bunny was born. Wascally Wabbit
• 1940 - Manuela Ferreira Leite was born. Portuguese economist and politician.
• 1940 - Mike Ramsey was born. National Hockey League defenseman
• 1941 - Christian Sinding dies (b. 1856). Norwegian composer.
• 1941 - Pavel Filonov dies (b. 1883). Russian painter.
• 1942 - Alice Schwarzer was born. German journalist.
• 1942 - Pedro Virgílio Rocha Franchetti was born. Uruguyan football player.
• 1944 - The Greek Civil War breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between communists and royalists.
• 1944 - António Variações was born (d. 1984). Portuguese musician
• 1944 - Civil war breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between Communists and royalists.
• 1946 - Joop Zoetemelk was born. Dutch cyclist.
• 1946 - Poems (Alberto Caeiro) and Odes (Ricardo Reis) of de Fernando Antonio Nogueira Pessoa, were published.
• 1947 - Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway.
• 1948 - Ozzy Osbourne was born. English singer
• 1949 - John Akii-Bua was born (d. 1997). Uganda athlete
• 1949 - Mickey Thomas was born. American singer (Jefferson Starship)
• 1949 - Maria Ouspenskaya dies (b. 1876).Russian-born actor
• 1951 - Rick Mears was born. American race car driver.
• 1951 - Ray Candy was born (d. 1994). American wrestler.
• 1951 - Riki Chōshū was born. Japanese professional wrestler
• 1952 - Mel Smith was born. British comic actor and director, best known for 'Not The Nine o'Clock News' (1979-81) and 'Alas Smith and Jones' (1984-6) with Griff Rhys Jones.
• 1953 - The musical "Kismet" opened on Broadway.
• 1953 - The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and Republic of China is signed in Washington, DC.
• 1953 - Franz Klammer was born. Austrian skier
• 1955 - Steven Culp was born. American actor
• 1955 - Warren Jeffs was born. American convicted polygamist
• 1955 - Steven Culp was born. American actor
• 1955 - María Izquierdo dies (b. 1902). Mexican painter.
• 1959 - Eamonn Holmes was born. Northern Irish TV presenter
• 1959 - Gustavo Barroso dies (b. 1888). Brazilian witer, journalist and politician. He was President of the Academia Brasileira de Letras
• 1960 - Daryl Hannah was born. American actress [ 'Splash' (1994) and 'The Gingerbread Man' (1997)].
• 1960 - Julianne Moore was born. American actress.
• 1960 - Igor Larionov was born. Russian ice hockey player.
• 1960 - Julianne Moore was born. American actress.
• 1963 - Nelson Mandela's treason trial begins in South Africa.
• 1964 - Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and massive sit-in at the administration building protesting the UC Regents' decision to forbid Vietnam War protestson UC property.
• 1965 - Steve Harris was born. American actor.
• 1965 - Katarina Witt was born. German figure skater.
• 1967 - At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky becomes the first human to receive a heart transplant, but dies 18 days later from double pneumonia. The transplant team was headed by Christiaan Barnard.
• 1967 - The luxury train 20th Century Limited completes its last run from New York City, New York to Chicago, Illinois (the train was inaugurated on June 15, 1902).
• 1967 - Harry Wismer dies (b. 1913). American original owner of the New York Jets
• 1968 - Brendan Fraser was born. American actor
• 1969 - Mathias Wieman dies (b. 1902). German actor.
• 1970 - Christian Karembeu was born. French football player
• 1970 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
• 1971 - Pakistan launches airstrikes on Indian airfields. Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as India retaliates with a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
• 1971 - President Nixon commuted Jimmy Hoffa's jail term.
• 1971 - Keegan Connor Tracy was born. Canadian actress
• 1971 - Frank Sinclair was born. Jamaican footballer
• 1972 - Bucky Lasek was born. Professional skateboarder
• 1972 - Bill Johnson dies (b. 1872). American musician
• 1973 - Emile Christian dies (b. 1895). American musician
• 1973 - Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
• 1973 - Jan Ullrich was born. German cyclist
• 1973 - Holly Marie Combs was born. American actress.
• 1973 - Super Crazy was born. Mexican professional wrestler
• 1973 - Adolfo Ruiz Cortines dies. President of Mexico (1952-1958).
• 1975 - Colm Lohan was born. Irish thinker
• 1975 - Laos falls to communist forces; Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed
• 1976 - Attempted assassination of Bob Marley at 56 Hope Road. In the shooting, Bob Marley received two gunshot wounds; however his manager Don Taylor took a majority of the bullets. Both lived.
• 1976 - The Sex Pistols begin their controversial UK tour, where they are banned from performing at many venues.
• 1976 - Patrick Hillery becomes the sixth President of Ireland
• 1976 - Byron Kelleher was born. New Zealand and Waikato Rugby Player
• 1977 - Adam Małysz was born. Polish ski-jumper
• 1978 - Luis Herrera Campins is elected President of Venezuela.
• 1978 - Trina was born. Rapper
• 1979 - Rainbow Sun Francks was born. Canadian actor
• 1979 - Daniel Bedingfield was born. English pop singer
• 1979 - In Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills eleven fans.
• 1979 - Shadow Traffic begins broadcasts in the New York City metropolitan area.
• 1979 - Dhyan Chand dies (b. 1905). Indian hockey player.
• 1980 - Bom Povo Português, film directed by Rui Simões is awarded with the Prizes of The Public and of The Critic in the IV International Movie Show of São Paulo (IV Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo).
• 1980 - Anna Chlumsky was born. American actress
• 1980 - Oswald Mosley dies (b. 1896). British politician
• 1981 - Walter Knott dies (b. 1889). Farmer and creator of Knott's Berry Farm.
• 1981 - David Villa was born. Spanish football player.
• 1982 - A soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri that would be found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
• 1982 - Michael Essien was born. Ghanaian football player
• 1983 - Sherri DuPree was born. American vocalist and guitarist (Eisley).
• 1984 - Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
• 1984 - Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin dies (b. 1919). Russian mathematician.
• 1985 - Amanda Seyfried was born. American actress
• 1985 - Marcus Williams was born. American basketball player
• 1989 - Fernando Martín Espina dies (age 27). Spanish basketball player
• 1989 - Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the cold war between their nations may be coming to an end (some commentators from both nations exaggerated the wording and independently declared the Cold War over).
• 1990 - At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 collides with a Boeing 727 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 299 on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crewmembers aboard flight 1482.
• 1990 - Government of Pakistan formed National Highway Authority.
• 1991 - Radicals in Lebanon released American hostage Alann Steen, who'd been held captive nearly five years.
• 1992 - UN Security Council Resolution 794 is unanimously passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, tasked with ensuring humanitarian aid gets distributed and establishing peace in Somalia.
• 1992 - The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil runs aground in a storm while on approach to La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
• 1993 - Lewis Thomas dies (b. 1913). American physician and essayist.
• 1995 - The US and Europe signed a trans-Atlantic trade and security accord in Madrid, Spain.
• 1995 - Luís Filipe Castro Mendes, Portuguese poet receives the Prize D. Dinis from Fundação da Casa de Mateus.
• 1995 - Gerard John Schaefer dies (b. 1946). American serial killer.
• 1996 - Georges Duby dies (b. 1919), French historian.
• 1997 - In Norway Dr. Christian Sandsdalen was convicted for the mercy killing in Jun 1996 of Bodil Bjerkmann (45), who suffered from multiple sclerosis. He was the first Norwegian tried for mercy killing
• 1997 - Walt Disney Chairman Michael Eisner exercised stock options for a profit of $565 million.
• 1997 - In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
• 1998 - The gravures of Foz Côa (Portugal) are declaraded World Heritage by Unesco.
• 1999 - After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 miles, Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.
• 1999 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
• 1999 - Madeline Kahn dies (b. 1942). American actor and comedian
• 1999 - Scatman John dies (b. 1942). American singer
• 1999 - Jarl Wahlström dies (b. 1918). 12th General of The Salvation Army.
• 2000 - Gwendolyn Brooks dies (b. 1917). American poet. He promoted an understanding of Black culture through her candid, compassionate poetry and became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize.
• 2002 - Glenn Quinn dies (b. 1970). Irish actor.
• 2003 - David Hemmings dies (b. 1941). English actor
• 2004 - Shiing-Shen Chern dies (b. 1911). Chinese mathematician.
• 2005 - XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
• 2005 - Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway was born. He's the second child of Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway and his wife Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway
• 2005 - Herb Moford dies (b. 1928). Baseball player.
• 2006 - Presidential elections in Venezuela
• Feast day of Saint Francis Xavier
• Feast day also of Saint Birinus
• Central African Republic: National Day.
• International Day of Disabled Persons