What are the important events that happened on December 2? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 2: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 2 is the 337^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 19, 2024 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,733,097,600 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectatriacontaheptagon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 58 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,364 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 2 Historical Events

• 1805 –
  Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz – French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
• 1845 –
  Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
• 1852 –
  Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French (Napoleon III).
• 1867 –
  At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
• 1899 –
  Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed “The Filipino Thermopylae”, is fought.
• 1954 –
  Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute”.
• 1975 –
  Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
• 1980 –
  Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.
• 1999 –
  Glenbrook rail accident near Sydney, New South Wales.
• 1999 –
  The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Who were born on December 2?

• 1825 –
  Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
• 1915 –
  Prince Mikasa, Japanese royal
• 1922 –
  Iakovos Kambanelis, Greek poet, playwright, lyricist, and novelist
• 1923 –
  Maria Callas, Greek soprano (d. 1977)
• 1924 –
  Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish writer and film director (d. 2006)
• 1947 –
  Isaac Bitton, French rock band drummer (Les Variations)
• 1958 –
  George Saunders, American writer
• 1978 –
  Maëlle Ricker, Canadian snowboarder, Olympic Gold Medalist
• 1981 –
  Danijel Pranjić, Croatian football player
• 1986 –
  Tal Wilkenfeld, Australian electric bass player

Who died on December 2?

• 1463 –
  Archduke Albert VI of Austria (b. 1418)
• 1747 –
  Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)
• 1943 –
  Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian author and journalist (b. 1902)
• 1944 –
  Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player (b. 1917)
• 1966 –
  Giles Cooper, Anglo-Irish playwright (b. 1918)
• 1980 –
  Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Pakistani politician (b. 1905)
• 1982 –
  Marty Feldman, British comedian, writer and actor (b. 1933)
• 1987 –
  Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)
• 1988 –
  Karl-Heinz Bürger, German SS-Oberführer (b. 1904)
• 2005 –
  Van Tuong Nguyen, Thai-born Australian drug smuggler (b. 1980)