On this day...

1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia
1621 Galileo perfects the telescope
1678 Edmund Halley receives MA from Queen's College, Oxford
1685 Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm Sweden
1775 First official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred)
1818 Illinois admitted as 21st US state
1828 Andrew Jackson elected 7th President of US
1833 Oberlin College in Ohio, first truly coeducational college opens
1834 First US dental society organized (NY)
1835 First US mutual fire insurance company issues first policy (RI)
1847 Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of his newspaper "North Star"
1866 Paid fire department replaces volunteer companies
1868 Trial of Jefferson Davis starts; first blacks on US trial jury
1883 48th Congress (1883-85) convenes
1920 Turkey & Armenia agree to peace treaty
1930 Airborne chemicals combine with fog to kill 60 (Meuse Valley, Belgium)
1944 NFL Cardinals-Pitts merger dissolves
1947 Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opens
1948 "Pumpkin Papers" come to light (claimed to be from Alger Hiss)
1948 First US woman army officer not in medical corps sworn-in
1948 Chinese refugee ship "Kiangya" explodes in E. China Sea, killing 1,100
1952 First TV broadcast in Hawaii
1956 Wilt Chamberlain's first collegiate basketball game (scores 52)
1960 "Camelot" opens at the Majestic Theater on Broadway
1961 George Blanda of Houston Oilers kicks 55-yard field goal
1965 USSR launches Luna 8; crashes on Moon
1967 First human heart transplant performed (Dr. Christian Barnard, South Africa)
1967 Final run of "20th Century Limited," famed NY-Chicago luxury train
1972 Convair 990A charter crashes in Tenerife Canary Island, 155 die
1973 Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (First fly-by of an outer planet)
1975 Laos falls to communist forces; Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed
1979 Christies auctions a thimble for a record $18,400
1984 2,000 die from Union Carbide poison gas emission in Bhopal, India
1988 Barry Sanders wins the Heisman Trophy
1989 George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev end summit in Malta
1991 White House Chief of Staff John Sununu resigns

Birthdays which occurred on December 3rd:

1755 Gilbert Stuart, US, portrait painter (painted Washington)
1795 Sir Rowland Hill, introduced first adhesive postage stamp (1840)
1826 George B. McClellan, army general (Union)
1838 Cleveland Abbe, US, meteorologist (Father of the Weather Bureau)
1838 Octavia Hill, British reformer, leader of open-space movement
1857 Joseph Conrad, Poland, novelist (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness)
1883 Anton (Friedrich Wilhelm) von Webern, Vienna Aust, 12-tone composer
1895 Anna Freud, Sigmund's daughter
1900 Lester Matthews, Nottingham England, (Sir Dennis-Adv. of Fu Manchu)
1900 Richard Kuhn, Austria, biochemist, worked with vitamins (Nobel '38)
1907 Connee Boswell, New Orleans, singer (Pete Kelly's Blue)
1908 Halsey Stevens, Scott NY, composer (Triskelion)
1911 Dana Suesse, songwriter (You Ought to be in Pictures)
1911 Nino Rota, Milan Italy, composer (Torquemada)
1914 Irving Fine, Boston Mass, composer (Toccata)
1923 Tom Fears, NFL end (LA Rams)
1924 John Backus, inventor (FORTRAN computer language)
1927 Ferlin Husky, country singer (Born to Lose, Gone)
1930 Andy Williams, Wall Lake Iowa, singer (Moon River, Andy Williams Show)
1930 Jean-Luc Godard, film maker (Alphaville, Hail Mary)
1930 Phyllis Curtin, West Virginia, soprano (NYC Opera)
1931 Jaye P. Morgan, Mancos Colorado, singer/actress (Gong Show, Night Patrol)
1934 Nicolas Coster, London, (Lionel-Santa Barbara, Electric Horseman)
1948 Ozzy Osbourne, English heavy metal musician (Crazy Train)
1949 Heather Menzies, Toronto Canada, actress (Jessica-Logan's Run)
1951 Rick Mears, Indy-car racer
1953 Franz Klammer, Austria, downhill skier (Olympic gold-1976)
1955 Melody Anderson, Canada, actress (Flash Gordon, Brooke-Manimal)
1959 Kathy Jordan, Pennsylvania, tennis player (US Open Doubles 1981)
1960 Mike Ramsey, US, ice hockey player (Olympic gold-1980)
1965 Katarina Witt, Staaken GDR, figure skater (Olympic Gold-1984, 88)
1980 Anna Chlumsky, Chicago, actress (His Girl)
1981 Brian Bonsall, actor (Family Ties)

Deaths which occurred on December 3rd:

1957 Frank E. Gannett, newspaper publisher dies at 81
1973 Michael O'Shea, actor (Denny- It's a Great Life), dies at 67
1985 Sam Gillman, actor (Sam-Shane), dies at 70