DAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2022

Today is the 337th day of 2022 and the 73rd day of autumn.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st U.S. state.

In 1967, a team headed by cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard carried out the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1984, a leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,000 people within hours.

In 1999, NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander as it entered the planet’s atmosphere.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Joseph Conrad (18571924), author; Andy Williams (1927-2012), singer; Ozzy Osbourne (1948- ), musician; Daryl Hannah (1960- ), actress; Julianne Moore (1960- ), actress; Andrew Stanton (1965- ), writer/director/animator; Katarina Witt (1965- ), figure skater; Brendan Fraser (1968- ), actor; Sean Parker (1979- ), entrepreneur; Andy Grammer (1983- ), singer-songwriter; Amanda Seyfried (1985- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: The successful 2007-2008 Mars mission was given the name “Phoenix” because it “rose from the ashes” of two unsuccessful earlier missions to Mars: the lost 1999 Mars Polar Lander and the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander.

TODAY’S SPORTS:

In 1950, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 13-7. It remains the last professional football game in which the winning team did not complete a single pass.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

“Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.” — Joseph Conrad

TODAY’S NUMBER:

102.49 million — firstgeneration Sony Playstation units sold worldwide between 1994 and 2007. The 32-bit game console debuted in Japan on this day in 1994.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Nov. 30) and full moon (Dec. 7).