Notable Birthdays for December 3
Henry A. Wise (1806-1876) - The 33rd Governor of Virginia.
Thomas Alfred Davies (1809-1899) - Brevet Major General of the Union Army.
George B. McClellan (1826-1885) - The 24th Governor of NJ.
Cleveland Abbe (1838-1916) - Considered the Father of Weather Bureau.
Phoebe Hearst (1842-1919) - Founder of the University of California Museum of Anthropology.
Charles Alfred Pillsbury (1842-1899) - Founder of the Pillsbury Company.
Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911) - Founder of the home economics movement.
Mildred Wiley (1901-2000) - Olympic bronze medal winner of the high jump.
Len Lesser (1922-2011) - Actor remembered for his role as uncle Leo in Seinfeld.
John Backus (1924-2007) - Inventor and creator of the FORTRAN computer language.
Andy Williams (1927-2012) - Pop singer of It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Sally Shlaer (1938-1998) - Mathematician and engineer who co-developed the Shlaer–Mellor method for software development.
Peter Schultz (1942-Still Living) - Scientist and co-inventor of optical fiber.
Mickey Thomas (1949-Still Living) - Lead singer of Jefferson Starship.
Don Barnes (1952-Still Living) - Founding member of the rock band 38 Special.
Julianne Moore (1960-Still Living) - Actress known for her roles in The Big Lebowski (1998), Hannibal (2001), and Still Alice (2014).
Brendan Fraser (1968-Still Living) - Actor known for his role in the Mummy films and most recently The Whale.
Sean Parker (1979-Still Living) - Co-founder of Napster.
Anna Chlumsky (1980-Still Living) - Actress known for her role in the My Girl movies.
Amanda Seyfried (1985-Still Living) - Actress in the Mamma Mia films.
Memorable Events for December 3
1775 - John Paul Jones raises the Grand Union Flag on USS Alfred.
1818 - Illinois becomes the 21st state to join the Union.
1828 - Andrew Jackson elected the 7th President of the U.S.
1833 - Oberlin College in Ohio opens as the first co-ed college.
1834 - The first dental society organized in NY.
1835 - The first mutual fire insurance company issues its first policy in RI.
1847 - Frederick Douglass publishes the first issue of his newspaper North Star.
1868 - The first blacks to serve on a jury are appointed for the trial of Jefferson Davis.
1904 - Charles Dillon Perrine discovers the Jovian moon Himalia.
1911 - The first sample of air condition is presented by Willis Carrier to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
1923 - The first Congressional open session is broadcasted over the radio.
1926 - Author Agatha Christie disappears for 11 days.
1929 - President Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress.
1948 - The first female Army Officer not in the Medical Corps is sworn.
1964 - 800 students are arrested at the University of California at Berkeley.
1982 - A soil sample from Times Beach, MO, contains 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
1989 - President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev release statements ending the Cold War.
1999 - NASA loses contact with the Mars Polar Lander before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
2017 - The first pizza party in space held by astronauts.