TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, DEC. 2, the 336th day of 2017. There are 29 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.
In 1697, London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was consecrated for use even though the building was still under construction.
In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.
In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October.
In 1939, New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field, later LaGuardia Airport, went into operation as an airliner from Chicago landed at one minute past midnight.
In 1954, the U.S. Senate passed, 67-22, a resolution condemning Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., saying he had “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations. The reactor ceased operating in 1982.
In 1970, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors under its first director, William D. Ruckelshaus.
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
In 1997, the film drama “Good Will Hunting” starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck was released by Miramax Films.
In 2015, a couple loyal to Islamic State opened fire at a holiday banquet for public employees in San Bernardino, Calif., killing 14 people and wounding 21 others before dying in a shootout with police.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 86. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby is 73. Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 72. Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 67. Actor Dennis Christopher is 62. Actor Steven Bauer is 61. Country singer Joe Henry and rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) are 57. Actor Brendan Coyle is 54. Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) and actresses Suzy Nakamura, Lucy Liu and Rena Sofer are 49. International Tennis Hall of Famer Monica Seles is 44. Singer Nelly Furtado is 39. Pop singer Britney Spears is 36. Actor Alfred Enoch is 29. Pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth is 26. Actresses Deanna and Daniella Canterman are 25.