December 3

Events

Pre-1600

• 915 - Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor.

  1601–1900

• 1775 - American Revolution: becomes the first vessel to fly the Continental Union Flag ; the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.
• 1799 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Wiesloch: Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Anton Sztáray defeats the French at Wiesloch.
• 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden: French General Jean Victor Marie Moreau decisively defeats the Archduke John of Austria near Munich. Coupled with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's earlier victory at Marengo, this will force the Austrians to sign an armistice and end the war.
• 1800 - United States presidential election: The Electoral College casts votes for president and vice president that result in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
• 1818 - Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.
• 1834 - The Zollverein begins the first regular census in Germany.
• 1854 - Battle of the Eureka Stockade: More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.
• 1859 - Nigeria's first newspaper, missionary Henry Townsend's Iwe Irohin, was published.
• 1881 - The first issue of Tamperean daily newspaper Aamulehti is published.
• 1898 - The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club defeats an all-star collection of early football players 16–0, in what is considered to be the first all-star game for professional American football.

  1901–present

• 1901 - In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word report to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits". The speech was not delivered in person.
• 1904 - The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California's Lick Observatory.
• 1910 - Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
• 1912 - Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War.
• 1919 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
• 1920 - Following more than a month of Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
• 1925 - Final agreement is signed between the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom formalizing the Partition of Ireland.
• 1929 - President Herbert Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress. It is presented in the form of a written message rather than a speech.
• 1938 - Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization.
• 1944 - Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in Athens between the ELAS and government forces supported by the British Army.
• 1954 - Väinö Linna's war novel The Unknown Soldier is published.
• 1959 - The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.
• 1960 - The musical Camelot debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It will become associated with the Kennedy administration.
• 1965 - Soviet Union, Space probe of the Luna program, called Luna 8, is launched, but crashes on the Moon.
• 1967 - At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant on a human.
• 1971 - Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Pakistan launches a pre-emptive strike against India and a full-scale war begins.
• 1972 - Spantax Flight 275 crashes during takeoff from Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, killing all 155 people on board.
• 1973 - Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
• 1979 - In Cincinnati, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert.
• 1979 - Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.
• 1982 - A soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri, that will be found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
• 1984 - Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
• 1989 - In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.
• 1992 - The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
• 1992 - A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.
• 1994 - Taiwan holds its first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only directly elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first directly elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung.
• 1994 - Sony releases the PlayStation game console in Japan.
• 1995 - Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 crashes on approach to Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing 71 of the 76 people on board.
• 1997 - In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa 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.
• 1999 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
• 1999 - In Worcester, Massachusetts, firefighters responded to a fire at the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. facility, which takes the lives of 6 firefighters.
• 2005 - XCOR Aerospace makes the first crewed rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail in Kern County, California.
• 2007 - Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, and close a portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods.
• 2009 - A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
• 2012 - At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines.
• 2014 - The Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches the space explorer Hayabusa2 from the Tanegashima Space Center on a six-year round trip mission to an asteroid to collect rock samples.
• 2022 - Massive power outage after Moore County substation attack that leaves 45,000 people without power for five days, leading to an FBI probe.
• 2023 - Mount Marapi located in West Sumatra, Indonesia begins a sporadic series of eruptions. 23 people were killed, and 12 were injured.
• 2024 - Martial law is declared in South Korea.

  Births

Pre-1600

• 1368 - Charles VI of France
• 1447 - Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan
• 1483 - Nicolaus von Amsdorf, German theologian and Protestant reformer
• 1560 - Jan Gruter, Dutch scholar and critic
• 1590 - Daniel Seghers, Flemish Jesuit brother and painter

  1601–1900

• 1616 - John Wallis, English mathematician and cryptographer
• 1684 - Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian and writer
• 1722 - Hryhorii Skovoroda, Ukrainian poet, composer, and philosopher
• 1729 - Antonio Soler, Spanish composer and theorist
• 1730 - Mahadaji Shinde, Maratha ruler of Gwalior
• 1755 - Gilbert Stuart, American painter
• 1793 - Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, English painter and academic
• 1798 - Alfred Iverson Sr., American politician
• 1800 - France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer
• 1810 - Louisa Susannah Cheves McCord, American author and political essayist
• 1826 - George B. McClellan, American general and politician, 24th Governor of New Jersey
• 1827 - Lombe Atthill, Northern Irish obstetrician and gynaecologist
• 1833 - Carlos Finlay, Cuban epidemiologist and physician
• 1838 - Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist and academic
• 1838 - Octavia Hill, English activist and author
• 1838 - Princess Louise of Prussia
• 1842 - Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and activist
• 1842 - Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American businessman, founded the Pillsbury Company
• 1842 - Ellen Swallow Richards, American chemist, ecologist, and educator
• 1848 - William Shiels, Irish-Australian politician, 16th Premier of Victoria
• 1850 - Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia
• 1856 - George Leake, Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Western Australia
• 1857 - Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British novelist
• 1857 - Mathilde Kralik, Austrian pianist and composer
• 1863 - Gussie Davis, African-American songwriter
• 1864 - Herman Heijermans, Dutch author and playwright
• 1867 - William John Bowser, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of British Columbia
• 1872 - Arthur Charles Hardy, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate
• 1872 - William Haselden, English cartoonist
• 1875 - Max Meldrum, Scottish-Australian painter and educator
• 1878 - Francis A. Nixon, American businessman
• 1879 - Albert Asher, New Zealand rugby player
• 1879 - Charles Hutchison, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1879 - Kafū Nagai, Japanese author and playwright
• 1879 - Donald Matheson Sutherland, Canadian physician and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of National Defence
• 1880 - Fedor von Bock, German field marshal
• 1883 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor
• 1884 - Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India
• 1884 - Walther Stampfli, Swiss lawyer and politician, 50th President of the Swiss Confederation
• 1886 - Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1887 - Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, Japanese general and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan
• 1891 - Thomas Farrell, American general
• 1894 - Deiva Zivarattinam, Indian lawyer and politician
• 1895 - Anna Freud, Austrian-English psychologist and psychoanalyst
• 1895 - Sheng Shicai, Chinese warlord
• 1897 - William Gropper, American cartoonist and painter
• 1899 - Hayato Ikeda, Japanese politician, 58th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1899 - Howard Kinsey, American tennis player
• 1900 - Bert Hawke, Australian politician, 18th Premier of Western Australia
• 1900 - Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountaineer
• 1900 - Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate