SUNDAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Sunday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2017. There are 28 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On Dec. 3, 1967, a surgical team in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the donor organ, which came from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who had died in a traffic accident.

On this date:

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.

In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio— the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States — began holding classes.

In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

In 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped froma pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

In 1992, the first telephone text message was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth, who transmitted the greeting “Merry Christmas” from his work computer in Newbury, Berkshire, to Vodafone executive Richard Jarvis’ mobile phone.

Ten years ago: A U.S. intelligence report concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development programin the fall of 2003 under international pressure but was continuing to enrich uranium.

Five years ago: The White House rejected a $2.2 trillion proposal by House Republicans to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a plan that included $800 billion in higher tax revenue over 10 years but no increase in tax rates for the wealthy.

One year ago: Some 20,000 people filled a tiny stadiumin Chapeco, Brazil, to say goodbye to members of a soccer club who died in a plane crash in Colombia.

Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Jean-Luc Godard is 87. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 86. Actor Nicolas Coster is 84. Actress Mary Alice is 76. Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 69. Actress Daryl Hannah is 57. Actress Julianne Moore is 57. Olympic gold medal figure skater Katarina Witt is 52. Actor Brendan Fraser is 49. Actress Amanda Seyfried is 32.

Thought for Today: “It is right noble to fight with wickedness and wrong; the mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means.” — Lydia Maria Child, American author (1802-1880).