December 2

2023 Calendar

December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events Edit

Up to 1950 Edit

1409 - The University of Leipzig opens.
1697 - The new St. Paul's Cathedral in London, designed by Christopher Wren, opens.
1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse on the English coast is destroyed by fire.
1763 - Dedication of the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island.
1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: French troops under Napoleon defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
1823 – US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
1845 – US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
1848 - Franz Joseph I of Austria becomes Emperor.
1851 - French President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
1854 - Napoleon III crowns himself Emperor of France.
1859 - Militant abolitionist John Brown is hanged for the October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
1867 – In a New York City theater, British writer Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
1879 - British passenger ship Borussia sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing 169 people.
1899 - Philippine-American War: Battle of Tirad Pass.
1908 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two.
1917 - World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk.
1927 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its automobile.
1930 – Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
1939 - LaGuardia Airport, belonging to New York City, opens.
1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
1943 – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile.
1949 - Convention against human trafficking and prostitution is adopted by United Nations.

1951 – 2000 Edit

1954 – The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
1956 - Fidel Castro and 80 other members of the 26th July Movement start on their journey to start the Cuban Revolution, landing in Oriente province.
1959 - The Malpasset Dam breaks in Southern France, killing 421 people.
1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
1970 - The US Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joins in February 1972.
1972 – Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
1975 - The Communist political party Pathet Lao takes power in Laos, creating the Lao People's Democratic Republic, with Souphanouvong as its first leader.
1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
1980 - El Salvador Civil War: Four American nuns and a churchwoman are murdered by military death squad.
1982 - At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
1988 – Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan, making her the first woman to lead a mainly-Muslim country.
1990 – A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
1993 – Drug dealer Pablo Escobar is shot dead by Colombian police.
1999 – The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

From 2001 Edit

2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2004 - Typhoon Nanmadol kills about 1,000 people in the Philippines.
2008 – Somchai Wongsawat resigns as Prime Minister of Thailand.
2010 – Russia and Qatar are announced as hosts of the FIFA World Cup, for 2018 and 2022 respectively.
2019 - Climate change talks begin in Madrid.

Births Edit

Deaths Edit

Up to 1900 Edit

1348 – Emperor Hanazano of Japan (b. 1297)
1463 - Albert IV, Archduke of Austria (b. 1418)
1469 – Piero di Cosimo de' Medici of Florence (b. 1416)
1547 – Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer (b. 1485)
1594 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mapmaker (b. 1512)
1694 - Pierre Paul Puget, French painter, sculptor and architect (b. 1622)
1723 - Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, French nobleman (b. 1674)
1774 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)
1794 – Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost, German physician and theologian (b. 1715)
1810 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (b. 1777)
1814 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher (b. 1740)
1815 – Jan Potocki, Polish writer and historian (b. 1761)
1844 - Eustachy Erazm-Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b. 1768)
1849 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen Consort of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
1859 – John Brown, American abolitionist (b. 1800)
1863 – Jane Pierce, American First Lady, wife of Franklin Pierce (b. 1806)
1881 - Jenny von Westphalen, German writer, wife of Karl Marx (b. 1814)
1888 - Namik Kemal, Turkish poet (b. 1840)
1889 - Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (b. 1825)

1901 – 2000 Edit

1918 - Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
1943 – Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian writer and journalist (b. 1902)
1944 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b. 1876)
1944 - Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player (b. 1917)
1950 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist and composer (b. 1917)
1953 - Tran Kong Kim, Vietnamese scholar and politician (b. 1883)
1966 - Luitzen Egbertus Jon Brouwer, Dutch mathematician and philosopher (b. 1881)
1969 - Jose Maria Arguedas, Peruvian writer, poet and anthropologist (b. 1911)
1969 - Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet politician (b. 1881)
1972 - Yip Man, Chinese martial artist (b. 1893)
1974 – Max Weber, Swiss politician (b. 1897)
1980 – Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1905)
1980 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
1982 – Marty Feldman, British-American actor and director (b. 1934)
1982 – Giovanni Ferrari, Italian footballer (b. 1907)
1985 – Philip Larkin, English poet (b. 1922)
1986 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor and bandleader (b. 1917)
1986 - Lee Dorsey, American singer (b. 1924)
1987 – Luis Federico Leloir, French-Argentine chemist (b. 1906)
1987 - Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Belarussian physicist, astronomer and cosmologist (b. 1914)
1988 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
1990 – Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
1993 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian druglord (b. 1949)
1995 - Robertson Davies, Canadian writer (b. 1913)
1999 – Charlie Byrd, American jazz musician (b. 1925)

From 2001 Edit

2004 – Alicia Markova, British ballet dancer (b. 1910)
2005 – Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (b. 1948)
2009 – Eric Woolfson, British musician and producer (b. 1945)
2010 – Ron Santo, American baseball player (b. 1940)
2011 – Chiyono Hasegawa, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1896)
2011 – Bill Tapia, American musician (b. 1908)
2012 - Ehsan Naraghi, Iranian sociologist and writer (b. 1926)
2013 - Pedro Rocha, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1942)
2013 - William Allain, 58th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1928)
2013 - Christopher Evan Welch, American actor (b. 1965)
2013 - Vernon Shaw, President of Dominica (b. 1930)
2013 - Salim Kallas, Syrian actor and politician (b. 1936)
2013 - Brian Hitchen, English newspaper editor (b. 1936)
2014 - Bobby Keys, American saxophonist (b. 1943)
2014 - A. R. Antulay, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1929)
2014 - Jean Beliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
2014 - Don Laws, American figure skater and coach (b. 1929)
2015 - Sandy Berger, American political consultant (b. 1945)
2015 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (b. 1925)
2015 - George Sakato, American soldier (b. 1921)
2016 - Sammy Lee, American diver (b. 1920)
2016 - Gisela May, German actress (b. 1924)
2017 - Ulli Lommel, German actor and director (b. 1944)
2017 - Mundell Lowe, American jazz guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
2017 - Edwin Mosquera, Colombian weightlifter (b. 1985)
2017 - Ewald Schurer, German politician (b. 1954)
2017 - Nava Semel, Israeli writer and playwright (b. 1954)
2018 - Séry Bailly, Ivorian writer and politician (b. 1948)
2018 - Ugo De Censi, Italian-Peruvian priest (b. 1924)
2018 - Paul Sherwen, English racing cyclist (b. 1956)
2019 - George Atkinson III, American football player (b. 1992)
2019 - Jimmy Cavallo, American rock music saxophonist (b. 1927)
2019 - D. C. Fontana, American television scriptwriter and story editor (b. 1939)
2019 - Francesco Janich, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
2019 - Robert K. Massie, American historian (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances Edit

Laos – National Day
United Arab Emirates – National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – United Nations

December 2

Events Edit

Up to 1950 Edit

1951 – 2000 Edit

From 2001 Edit

Births Edit

Up to 1900 Edit

1901 – 1950 Edit

1951 – 1975 Edit

From 1976 Edit

Deaths Edit

Up to 1900 Edit

1901 – 2000 Edit

From 2001 Edit

Holidays and observances Edit