December 2: Day of the year

December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1950

• 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens.
• 1697 - The new St. Paul's Cathedral in London, designed by Christopher Wren, opens.
• 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse on the English coast is destroyed by fire.
• 1763 - Dedication of the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island.
• 1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
• 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: French troops under Napoleon defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
• 1823 – US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
• 1845 – US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
• 1848 - Franz Joseph I of Austria becomes Emperor.
• 1851 - French President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
• 1854 - Napoleon III crowns himself Emperor of France.
• 1859 - Militant abolitionist John Brown is hanged for the October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1867 – In a New York City theater, British writer Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
• 1879 - British passenger ship Borussia sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing 169 people.
• 1899 - Philippine-American War: Battle of Tirad Pass.
• 1908 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two.
• 1917 - World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk.
• 1927 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its automobile.
• 1930 – Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
• 1939 - LaGuardia Airport, belonging to New York City, opens.
• 1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
• 1943 – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile.
• 1949 - Convention against human trafficking and prostitution is adopted by United Nations.

1951 – 2000

• 1954 – The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
• 1956 - Fidel Castro and 80 other members of the 26th July Movement start on their journey to start the Cuban Revolution, landing in Oriente province.
• 1959 - The Malpasset Dam breaks in Southern France, killing 421 people.
• 1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
• 1970 - The US Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
• 1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joins in February 1972.
• 1972 – Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1975 - The Communist political party Pathet Lao takes power in Laos, creating the Lao People's Democratic Republic, with Souphanouvong as its first leader.
• 1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
• 1980 - El Salvador Civil War: Four American nuns and a churchwoman are murdered by military death squad.
• 1982 - At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
• 1988 – Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan, making her the first woman to lead a mainly-Muslim country.
• 1990 – A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
• 1993 – Drug dealer Pablo Escobar is shot dead by Colombian police.
• 1999 – The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

From 2001

• 2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• 2004 - Typhoon Nanmadol kills about 1,000 people in the Philippines.
• 2008 – Somchai Wongsawat resigns as Prime Minister of Thailand.
• 2010 – Russia and Qatar are announced as hosts of the FIFA World Cup, for 2018 and 2022 respectively.
• 2019 - Climate change talks begin in Madrid.

Up to 1900

• 885 - Li Cunxu, Chinese Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty (d. 926)
• 1578 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1640)
• 1694 – William Shirley, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
• 1710 - Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d. 1783)
• 1754 - William Cooper, American judge and politician (d. 1809)
• 1760 – John Breckinridge, American politician (d. 1806)
• 1760 - Joseph Graetz, German composer, organist and educator (d. 1826)
• 1810 - Henry Yesler, 7th Mayor of Seattle (d. 1892)
• 1825 – Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
• 1827 - William Burges, English architect and designer (d. 1881)
• 1837 - Joseph Bell, Scottish surgeon, physician and forensics pioneer (d. 1911)
• 1846 – Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d. 1904)
• 1859 – Georges Seurat, French painter (d. 1891)
• 1866 - Harry Burleigh, American composer (d. 1949)
• 1873 - Eduardo Schaerer, President of Paraguay (d. 1941)
• 1874 - Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (d. 1901)
• 1885 – George Richards Minot, American physician (d. 1950)
• 1891 – Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1969)
• 1891 - Charles H. Wesley, American historian and writer (d. 1987)
• 1893 - Leo Ornstein, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 2002)
• 1895 - Harriet Cohen, English pianist (d. 1967)
• 1897 – Hovhannes Bagramyan, Soviet politician (d. 1982)
• 1898 - Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d. 1918)
• 1899 – John Barbirolli, English conductor (d. 1970)
• 1899 – John Cobb, British racing driver (d. 1952)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 – Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-Italian footballer (d. 1986)
• 1909 - Pietro Arcari, Italian footballer (d. 1988)
• 1909 - Marion Dönhoff, German journalist and Resistance activist (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Marc Platt, American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer and actor (d. 2014)
• 1914 – Ray Walston, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1915 – Prince Mikasa, Japanese royal (d. 2016)
• 1921 - Carlo Furno, Italian cardinal (d. 2015)
• 1923 – Maria Callas, Greek-American soprano (d. 1977)
• 1924 – Alexander Haig, American politician, United States Secretary of State (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Julie Harris, American actress (d. 2013)
• 1929 - Leon Litwack, American historian and writer
• 1930 – Gary Becker, American economist (d. 2014)
• 1931 - Nigel Calder, English science writer (d. 2014)
• 1931 - Masaaki Hatsumi, Japanese martial artist
• 1931 - Edwin Meese, 75th United States Attorney General
• 1933 - Mike Larrabee, American sprinter
• 1934 - Tarcisio Bertone, Italian cardinal and diplomat
• 1934 – Sissela Bok, Swedish philosopher and ethicist
• 1937 - Manohar Joshi, 15th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India
• 1939 – Harry Reid, American politician (d. 2021)
• 1943 - Wayne Allard, American politician
• 1944 - Cathy Lee Crosby, American actress
• 1944 – Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (d. 2006)
• 1946 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)
• 1947 - Andy Rouse, English racing driver
• 1947 – Rudolf Scharping, German politician
• 1948 – Antonin Manenka, Czechoslovakian footballer
• 1948 - Patricia Hewitt, British politician
• 1948 - Toninho Horta, Brazilian guitarist
• 1950 - Paul Watson, Canadian-American conservationist

1951 – 1975

• 1954 - Dan Butler, American actor
• 1956 - Steven Bauer, American actor
• 1957 - Dagfinn Hoybraten, Norwegian politician
• 1958 - Vladimir Parfenovich, Belarus canoe racer
• 1960 - Justus von Dohnanyi, German actor
• 1960 - Deb Haaland, American politician
• 1960 – Rick Savage, British musician (Def Leppard)
• 1962 - Kardam, Prince of Turnovo, Spanish-Bulgarian nobleman
• 1963 - Don Gaulthier, American actor
• 1963 - Brendan Coyle, British actor
• 1967 - Mary Creagh, British politician
• 1967 - Laurie Morgan, 1st Chief Minister of Guernsey
• 1968 – David Batty, English footballer
• 1968 – Nate Mendel, American musician (Foo Fighters)
• 1968 – Lucy Liu, American actress
• 1968 - Rena Sofer, American actress
• 1970 - Yang Hyuk-suk, South Korean singer-songwriter and producer
• 1971 – Francesco Toldo, Italian footballer
• 1971 - Mine Yoshizaki, Japanese illustrator
• 1972 – Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
• 1973 – Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
• 1973 – Jan Ullrich, German cyclist

From 1976

• 1976 - Masafumi Gotch, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1978 – Maelle Ricker, Canadian snowboarder
• 1978 – Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1978 – Chris Wolstenholme, English bassist (Muse)
• 1978 - Jarron Collins, American basketball player
• 1978 - Jason Collins, American basketball player
• 1979 - Sabina Babayeva, Azerbaijani singer
• 1979 – Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
• 1981 – Britney Spears, American singer
• 1983 – Chris Burke, Scottish footballer
• 1983 – Aaron Rodgers, American football player
• 1983 - Daniela Ruah, Portuguese-American actress
• 1985 - Amaury Leveaux, French swimmer
• 1985 - Dorrell Wright, American basketball player
• 1986 - Adam le Fondre, English footballer
• 1987 - Teairra Mari, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1988 - Soniya Mehra, Indian actress
• 1988 - Stephen McGinn, Scottish footballer
• 1989 - Cassie Steele, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1989 - Richard Tait, Scottish footballer
• 1990 - Gastón Ramírez, Uruguayan footballer
• 1990 - Hikaru Yaotome, Japanese singer-songwriter
• 1990 - Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Ghanaian footballer
• 1991 - Brandon Knight, American basketball player
• 1991 - Charlie Puth, American singer and songwriter
• 1993 - Dylan McLaughlin, American actor
• 1994 - Cauley Woodrow, English footballer
• 1998 - Amber Montana, American actress
• 1998 - Juice Wrld, American rapper (d. 2019)

Up to 1900

• 1348 – Emperor Hanazano of Japan (b. 1297)
• 1463 - Albert IV, Archduke of Austria (b. 1418)
• 1469 – Piero di Cosimo de' Medici of Florence (b. 1416)
• 1547 – Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer (b. 1485)
• 1594 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mapmaker (b. 1512)
• 1694 - Pierre Paul Puget, French painter, sculptor and architect (b. 1622)
• 1723 - Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, French nobleman (b. 1674)
• 1774 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)
• 1794 – Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost, German physician and theologian (b. 1715)
• 1810 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (b. 1777)
• 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher (b. 1740)
• 1815 – Jan Potocki, Polish writer and historian (b. 1761)
• 1844 - Eustachy Erazm-Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b. 1768)
• 1849 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen Consort of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• 1859 – John Brown, American abolitionist (b. 1800)
• 1863 – Jane Pierce, American First Lady, wife of Franklin Pierce (b. 1806)
• 1881 - Jenny von Westphalen, German writer, wife of Karl Marx (b. 1814)
• 1888 - Namik Kemal, Turkish poet (b. 1840)
• 1889 - Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (b. 1825)

1901 – 2000

• 1918 - Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
• 1943 – Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian writer and journalist (b. 1902)
• 1944 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b. 1876)
• 1944 - Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player (b. 1917)
• 1950 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist and composer (b. 1917)
• 1953 - Tran Kong Kim, Vietnamese scholar and politician (b. 1883)
• 1966 - Luitzen Egbertus Jon Brouwer, Dutch mathematician and philosopher (b. 1881)
• 1969 - Jose Maria Arguedas, Peruvian writer, poet and anthropologist (b. 1911)
• 1969 - Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet politician (b. 1881)
• 1972 - Yip Man, Chinese martial artist (b. 1893)
• 1974 – Max Weber, Swiss politician (b. 1897)
• 1980 – Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1905)
• 1980 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
• 1982 – Marty Feldman, British-American actor and director (b. 1934)
• 1982 – Giovanni Ferrari, Italian footballer (b. 1907)
• 1985 – Philip Larkin, English poet (b. 1922)
• 1986 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor and bandleader (b. 1917)
• 1986 - Lee Dorsey, American singer (b. 1924)
• 1987 – Luis Federico Leloir, French-Argentine chemist (b. 1906)
• 1987 - Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Belarussian physicist, astronomer and cosmologist (b. 1914)
• 1988 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
• 1990 – Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
• 1993 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian druglord (b. 1949)
• 1995 - Robertson Davies, Canadian writer (b. 1913)
• 1999 – Charlie Byrd, American jazz musician (b. 1925)

From 2001

• 2004 – Alicia Markova, British ballet dancer (b. 1910)
• 2005 – Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (b. 1948)
• 2009 – Eric Woolfson, British musician and producer (b. 1945)
• 2010 – Ron Santo, American baseball player (b. 1940)
• 2011 – Chiyono Hasegawa, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1896)
• 2011 – Bill Tapia, American musician (b. 1908)
• 2012 - Ehsan Naraghi, Iranian sociologist and writer (b. 1926)
• 2013 - Pedro Rocha, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1942)
• 2013 - William Allain, 58th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1928)
• 2013 - Christopher Evan Welch, American actor (b. 1965)
• 2013 - Vernon Shaw, President of Dominica (b. 1930)
• 2013 - Salim Kallas, Syrian actor and politician (b. 1936)
• 2013 - Brian Hitchen, English newspaper editor (b. 1936)
• 2014 - Bobby Keys, American saxophonist (b. 1943)
• 2014 - A. R. Antulay, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1929)
• 2014 - Jean Beliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
• 2014 - Don Laws, American figure skater and coach (b. 1929)
• 2015 - Sandy Berger, American political consultant (b. 1945)
• 2015 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (b. 1925)
• 2015 - George Sakato, American soldier (b. 1921)
• 2016 - Sammy Lee, American diver (b. 1920)
• 2016 - Gisela May, German actress (b. 1924)
• 2017 - Ulli Lommel, German actor and director (b. 1944)
• 2017 - Mundell Lowe, American jazz guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
• 2017 - Edwin Mosquera, Colombian weightlifter (b. 1985)
• 2017 - Ewald Schurer, German politician (b. 1954)
• 2017 - Nava Semel, Israeli writer and playwright (b. 1954)
• 2018 - Séry Bailly, Ivorian writer and politician (b. 1948)
• 2018 - Ugo De Censi, Italian-Peruvian priest (b. 1924)
• 2018 - Paul Sherwen, English racing cyclist (b. 1956)
• 2019 - George Atkinson III, American football player (b. 1992)
• 2019 - Jimmy Cavallo, American rock music saxophonist (b. 1927)
• 2019 - D. C. Fontana, American television scriptwriter and story editor (b. 1939)
• 2019 - Francesco Janich, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
• 2019 - Robert K. Massie, American historian (b. 1929)

• Laos – National Day
• United Arab Emirates – National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)
• International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – United Nations