On This Day - What Happened On December 3 | Britannica

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1984 Gas leak in Bhopal, India On this day in 1984, a gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, spread over a populated area, resulting ultimately in 15,000 to 20,000 deaths and leaving some half million survivors with chronic medical ailments. © Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images

Featured Biography

Gilbert Stuart American painter bornDecember 3, 1755Saunderstown, Rhode IslanddiedJuly 9, 1828 (aged 72)Boston, MassachusettsNational Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution Conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women's Committee (object no. NPG.92.120) 1979 Sean Parker American entrepreneur 1960 Julianne Moore American actress 1948 Ozzy Osbourne British musician 1930 Jean-Luc Godard French director 1884 Rajendra Prasad president of India See All Biographies On This Day

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2000 Gwendolyn Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who spoke of and to the everyday struggles and triumphs of African Americans, died in Chicago.The Contemporary Forum 1967 Christiaan Barnard of South Africa performed the first human heart transplant, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Test your knowledge of famous doctorsAP 1947 Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on Broadway, starring Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Marlon Brando; the latter two appeared in the 1951 film adaptation. Take our history of theatre quiz© 1951 Warner Brothers, Inc.; photograph from a private collection 1895 Anna Freud, a founder of child psychoanalysis and one of its foremost practitioners, was born in Vienna. Take our Psychology 101 quizArchiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin 1857 English writer Joseph Conrad, whose notable works included the novel Lord Jim (1900) and the novella Heart of Darkness (1902), was born. Test your knowledge of famous novels and novelistsNew York Public Library 1854 After hastily constructing a fortification and barricading themselves inside, miners (“diggers”) working in the Eureka goldfield in Victoria, Australia, opened fire on government forces surrounding the stockade, the culmination of long-standing grievances on the part of the diggers. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about AustraliaMitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney (Call no. SSV2B/Ball/7. Dgital order no. a928052) 1818 Illinois was admitted as the 21st state of the United States of America. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about U.S. statesEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1721 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcken, the daughter of a trumpeter at Weissenfels. How much do you know about classical composers?© Photos.com/Getty Images 1552 St. Francis Xavier, the leading Roman Catholic missionary of modern times, died of fever off the coast of China. Learn more about seven other Jesuit missionaries© Juha Sompinmäki/Shutterstock.com SIGN UP FOR History's Biggest Headlines Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors. SIGN UP Thanks for signing up for Today in History. Your first newsletter will arrive soon! SIGN UP By clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.