Historical Events on December 3

  • 1818: The Great State of Illinois becomes the twenty-first state of the United States.
  • 1834: The first regularly conducted census in Germany is begun by the German Customs Union.
  • 1901: United States President Theodore Roosevelt asks the U.S Congress to limit the power of trusts.
  • 1910: At the Paris Motor Show, Georges Claude demonstrates the use of modern neon lighting.
  • 1919: The Quebec Bridge finally opens to the public.
  • 1927: The first Laurel and Hardy Film – Putting Pants on Philip – is released on this day.
  • 1964: When the University of California Regents’ Office decides to forbid protest on University property, students takeover and sit-in at the University’s administration building. As a result, over 800 students are arrested by the police.
  • 1971: Pakistan attack India and sparks the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
  • 1973: The first up-close pictures of Jupiter are sent back to Earth from Pioneer 10.
  • 1979: Eleven people are suffocated in a crush for seats outside a Who concert at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • 1982: When a soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri, it’s shown to contain over three hundred times the safe levels for dioxin.
  • 1994: The PlayStation game system was released for the first time in Japan on this day.
  • 1999: Radio contact is lost between NASA and the Mars Polar Lander right before the spacecraft begins entering Mars’ atmosphere.

Famous Birthdays on December 3

  • American general and politician, George B. McClellan is born in 1826.
  • Cuban epidemiologist and doctor, Carlos Finlay is born in 1833.
  • American activist and philanthropist, Phoebe Hearst is born in 1842.
  • American businessman and founder of the Pillsbury Company, Charles Pillsbury is born in 1842.
  • Polish novelist Joseph Conrad is born in 1857.
  • Dutch chemist, engineer and Nobel Prize laureate, Paul J. Crutzen is born in 1933.
  • British-American actor Nicolas Coster is born in 1934.
  • American journalist and author, David K. Shipler is born in 1942.
  • English singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne is born in 1948.
  • American actress and producer, Daryl Hannah is born in 1960.
  • American actress Julianne Moore is born in 1960.
  • American actress Amanda Seyfried is born in 1985.