December 3rd in History

Galileo Galilei che mostra l’utilizzo del cannocchiale al Doge di Venezia (Galileo Galilei showing the Doge of Venice how to use the telescope), fresco by Giuseppe Bertini, 1858

Today in History

  • According to some sources, Galileo Galilei invents the telescope on this day (1608)
  • Illinois becomes the 21st US state (1818)
  • Commercial neon lighting is demonstrated publicly (1910)
  • Laurel and Hardy’s first film is released (1927)
  • A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway (1947)
  • The Beatles release Rubber Soul (1965)
  • Christiaan Barnard carries out the first human heart transplant (1967)
  • The Indo-Pakistan War begins with a pre-emptive Pakistani strike (1971)
  • Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter (1973)
  • Bob Marley is shot twice in an assassination attempt, but survives to play a concert two days later (1976)
  • سید روح‌اللّه مصطفوی موسوی خمینی (Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran following the overthrow of the Shah (1979)
  • A leak in a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills 3,800 people immediately (and another 6,000 over time) and causes injury to as many as 600,000 others in one of the worst industrial accidents in history (1984)
  • The world’s first text message is sent (1992)
  • The first manned rocket delivery of US mail takes place (2005)

Birthdays

  • Gilbert Stuart, painter (1755)
  • George McClellan, general and governor (1826)
  • Charles Pillsbury, flour miller (1842)
  • Joseph Conrad, author (1857)
  • Anna Freud, psychoanalyst (1895)
  • Carlos Montoya, guitarist (1903)
  • 김대중 (Kim Dae-jung), Korean president and Nobel laureate (1925)
  • Ferlin Husky, country music singer (1925)
  • Andy Williams, singer (1927)
  • Jean-Luc Godard, director (1930)
  • Jaye P. Morgan, singer and game show panelist (1931)
  • Bobby Allison, racer (1937)
  • Ozzy Osbourne, singer-songwriter (1948)
  • Heather Menzies, actress (1949)
  • Benny Hinn, evangelist (1952)
  • Daryl Hannah, actress (1960)
  • Julianne Moore, actress (1960)
  • Terri Schiavo, right-to-die patient (1963)
  • Katarina Witt, figure skater (1965)
  • Brendan Fraser, actor (1968)
  • Paul Byrd, baseball player (1970)
  • Amanda Seyfried, actress (1985)
  • James Laurinaitis, football player (1986)

Deaths

  • Diocletian, Roman emperor (311)
  • Carl Zeiss, lens maker (1888)
  • Robert Louis Stevenson, author (1894)
  • Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science (1910)
  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painter (1919)
  • Мария Успенская (Maria Ouspenskaya), actress and teacher (1949)
  • Cow Cow Davenport, boogie-woogie pianist (1955)
  • Oswald Mosely, British fascist leader (1980)
  • Walter Knott, berry farmer (1981)
  • Scatman John, singer-songwriter (1999)
  • Madeline Kahn, actress (1999)
  • Gwendolyn Brooks, poet (2000)
  • David Hemmings, actor (2003)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Admission Day (Illinois)
  • Advocate’s Day (India)
  • International Day of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations)
  • International Day of the Basque Language (Basque community)
  • National Apple Pie Day (US food holidays)
  • Telescope Day (astronomy buffs and voyeurs)

December 3 is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years). There are 28 days remaining until the end of the year.