Date·Lore

On This Day · The 337th day of the year

December 3

December 3's recorded history is unusually compressed, gathered within recent centuries rather than reaching into antiquity. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

♐ZodiacSagittarius ◈BirthstoneTurquoise ❀Birth flowerHolly

Sagittarius is the sign for December 3 — read more on the Sagittarius page, or see December's birthstone & birth flower.

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed September 6, 2026

What happened on December 3?

December 3 is the 337th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1799 and 2009. Famous people born on December 3 include France Prešeren, Ellen Swallow Richards and Franz Klammer.

Released on December 3

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Movie Five Nights at Freddy's 2

2024

  • Game Antonblast

2021

  • Game Chorus

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1799

    War of the Second Coalition

  2. 1818

    Illinois

  3. 1904

    Moons of Jupiter

  4. 1938

    Nazi Germany

  5. 1959

    Flag of Singapore

  6. 1992

    Oil tanker

  7. 1994

    Taiwan

  8. 1997

    Ottawa

  9. 1999

    NASA

  10. 2009

    2009 Hotel Shamo bombing

Famous birthday twins

Born on December 3

France Prešeren

b. 1800

Ellen Swallow Richards

b. 1842

Franz Klammer

b. 1953

Aleksey Drozdov

b. 1983

Herman Heijermans

b. 1864

Gilbert Stuart

b. 1755

Zlata Filipović

b. 1980

Alberto Juantorena

b. 1950

Deaths

  • 1919Pierre-Auguste Renoir
  • 1894Robert Louis Stevenson
  • 1815John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)
  • 1533Vasili III of Russia
  • 1532Louis II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Abbo of Auxerre
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Abraham of Alexandria (Coptic, 6 Koiak))
  • —Christian feast day: Adrian (Ethernan)
  • —Christian feast day: Birinus
  • —Christian feast day: Cassian of Tangier
  • —Christian feast day: Emma (of Lesum or of Bremen)
  • —Christian feast day: Francis Xavier
  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer zu Gleifheim

The factual record above — event titles, dates, names, and observances — is drawn from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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