UN
Day
International
Day of Persons with Disabilities
Events
of the day
National
Doctors' Day (Cuba)
In Cuba, in Cuba this holiday (December 3) commemorates
the Birthday of Carlos Juan Finlay. Carlos J.
Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was
a Cuban physician and scientist recognized as
a pioneer in yellow fever research.
1799
– War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Wiesloch,
Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Sztáray de Nagy-Mihaly
defeats the French at Wiesloch.
1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of
Hohenlinden, French General Moreau defeats the
Austrian Archduke John near Munich decisively,
coupled with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's
victory at Marengo effectively forcing the Austrians
to sign an armistice and ending the war.
1818 – Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.
1834 – The Zollverein (German Customs Union) begins
the first regular census in Germany.
1854 – Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by
many to be the birth of Australian democracy,
more than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria,
Australia are killed by state troopers in an uprising
over mining licences.
1901 – US President Theodore Roosevelt delivers
a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives
asking the Congress to curb the power of trusts
"within reasonable limits".
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
(the Balkan League) sign an armistice with Turkey,
ending the two-month long First Balkan War.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Naval Battle of Elli
takes place.
1917 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction,
including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the
Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel
and Hardy film, is released.
1944 – Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in
Athens between the ELAS and government forces
supported by the British Army.
1959 – The current flag of Singapore is adopted,
six months after Singapore became self-governing
within the British Empire.
1960 – The musical Camelot debuted at the Majestic
Theatre on Broadway, and would become associated
with the Kennedy administration.
1964 – Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest
over 800 students at the University of California,
Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in
at the administration building in protest at the
UC Regents' decision to forbid protests on UC
property.
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 (53-year-old Louis Washkansky).
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 Canadian
government grants five terrorists from the FLQ's
Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to
Cuba.
1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Pakistan launches
pre-emptive strike against India and a full scale
war begins claiming hundreds of lives.
1973 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back
the first close-up images of Jupiter.
1976 – An assassination attempt is made on Bob
Marley. He is shot twice, but plays a concert
two days later.
1979 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, 11 fans are suffocated
in a crush for seats on the concourse outside
Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert.
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 (some 6,000 of
whom would later die from their injuries) in one
of the worst industrial disasters in history.
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 Nato and The Soviet
Union may be coming to an end.
1990 – At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest
Airlines Flight 1482 collides with Northwest Airlines
Flight 299 on the runway, killing 7 passengers
and 1 crew member aboard flight 1482.
1992 – UN Security Council Resolution 794 is unanimously
passed, approving a coalition of United Nations
peacekeepers led by the United States to form
UNITAF, with the task of establishing peace and
ensuring that humanitarian aid is distributed
in Somalia.
1992 – The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying
80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a
storm while approaching La 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.
1997 – In Ottawa, 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 – Six firefighters are killed in the Worcester
Cold Storage Warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts.
2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket
aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River
to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington,
also closing a 20-mile 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 in Mogadishu, Somalia,
claims the lives of 25 people, including three
ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
Holidays
and observances
Advocate's
Day (India)
Christian Feast Day:
Birinus
Francis Xavier (Roman Catholic Church and Anglican
communion)
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
(International)
National Day (Saba)
For details, contact Datacentre
