3 December in history

5 events that happened on 3 December, from 1552 to 1984.

  1. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1552 CE 474 years ago

    Francis Xavier dies within sight of China

    The Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier died of fever on Shangchuan Island while waiting to enter mainland China. He had preached in India, South-East Asia and Japan, and was canonised in 1622.

  2. 1800 CE 226 years ago

    Moreau defeats the Austrians at Hohenlinden

    French forces under General Jean Moreau crushed an Austrian army in snowy forest east of Munich. The defeat forced Austria to make peace at Lunéville in February 1801.

    Austria

  3. 1910 CE 116 years ago

    Georges Claude shows neon lighting at the Paris Motor Show

    At the Paris Motor Show, the French engineer Georges Claude displayed glowing tubes of neon gas. Neon signs soon became a fixture of advertising and city nightlife worldwide.

    Paris

  4. 1967 CE 59 years ago

    Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant

    At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, Christiaan Barnard's team transplanted a heart into Louis Washkansky. He lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia, but the operation launched transplant surgery.

  5. 1984 CE 42 years ago

    Toxic gas leaks from a pesticide plant in Bhopal

    Methyl isocyanate escaped from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal overnight, killing thousands within days. Total deaths are estimated in the range of 15,000 or more, and hundreds of thousands suffered lasting harm.

December

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31

All days of the year →