What are the important events that happened on December 3? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 3: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 3 is the 337^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 28 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 20, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 490,200 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectatriacontaheptagon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 76 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,730 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 3 Historical Events

• 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.
• 1910 –
  Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.

Who were born on December 3?

• 1911 –
  Nino Rota, Italian composer (d. 1979)
• 1918 –
  Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general (d. 2000)
• 1921 –
  Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
• 1922 –
  Sven Nykvist, Swedish cinematographer (d. 2006)
• 1930 –
  Jean-Luc Godard, French film director
• 1948 –
  Ozzy Osbourne, English singer
• 1971 –
  Keegan Connor Tracy, Canadian actress
• 1979 –
  Rainbow Sun Francks, Canadian actor
• 1980 –
  Anna Chlumsky, American actress
• 1985 –
  Marcus Williams, American basketball player

Who died on December 3?

• 1265 –
  Odofredus, Italian jurist
• 1892 –
  Afanasy Fet, Russian poet (b. 1820)
• 1910 –
  Mary Baker Eddy, Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist (b. 1821)
• 1949 –
  Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress (b. 1876)
• 1972 –
  Bill Johnson, American musician (b. 1872)
• 1994 –
  Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (b. 1933)
• 1999 –
  Madeline Kahn, American actress (b. 1942)
• 2000 –
  Hoyt Curtin, American songwriter (b. 1922)
• 2004 –
  Shiing-Shen Chern, Chinese mathematician (b. 1911)
• 2007 –
  James Kemsley, Australian cartoonist and actor (b. 1948)