Notable Deaths on December 3

Q: Who died on December 3?

Notable people who died on December 3 include: Diocletian, Birinus, Abbo, Siegfried, Abraham.

Q: What is Carl Zeiss known for?

Carl Zeiss, German physicist and lens maker, created the optical instrument (born 1816)

1888 — Carl Zeiss

German physicist and lens maker, created the optical instrument (born 1816)

December 3 has seen 88 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 311 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · December 3 — Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 88 people 311 – 2024

Did you know

In 1846 he founded his workshop, which is still in business as Zeiss

Did you know

Zeiss gathered a group of gifted practical and theoretical opticians and glass makers to reshape most aspects of optical instrument production

Did you know

Carl Zeiss was a German scientific instrument maker, optician and businessman

Did you know

His collaboration with Ernst Abbe revolutionized optical theory and practical design of microscopes

Did you know

Their quest to extend these advances brought Otto Schott into the enterprises to revolutionize optical glass manufacture

Diocletian

Roman emperor (born 244)

Year 311 (CCCXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Maximinus. The denomination 311 for this year has been used since the…

311

Birinus

French-English bishop and saint (born 600)

Birinus was the first Bishop of Dorchester and was known as the "Apostle to the West Saxons" for his conversion of the Kingdom of Wessex to Christianity. He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the…

649

Abbo

bishop of Auxerre

Abbo of Auxerre was a Benedictine abbot and bishop of Auxerre.

860

Siegfried

Frankish nobleman

Siegfried was a prominent German noble from the Duchy of Saxony in the East Francia, who was the Count of Merseburg in Eastphalia, from an unknown date before 934 until his death.

937

Abraham

Coptic pope of Alexandria

Pope Abraham of Alexandria was the 62nd Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. He is considered a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church. He is also referred to as Efrem or Ephrem.

978

Emma of Lesum

Saxon countess and Saint

Emma of Lesum or Emma of Stiepel was a countess popularly venerated as a saint for her good works. She was married to Liudger of Saxony. She is also the first female inhabitant of Bremen to be known by name.

1038

Saint Osmund (born 1065)

Osmund, Count of Sées, was a Norman noble and clergyman. Following the Norman conquest of England, he served as Lord Chancellor and as the second bishop of Salisbury, or Old Sarum.

1099

Pope Anastasius IV (born 1073)

Pope Anastasius IV, born Corrado Demetri della Suburra, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 July 1153 to his death in 1154. He is the most recent pope to take the name "Anastasius" upon…

1154

Odofredus

Italian lawyer and jurist

Odofredus was an Italian jurist. He was born in Ostia and moved to Bologna, studying law under Jacobus Balduinus and Franciscus Accursius. After working as an advocate in Italy and France, he became a law professor in…

1265

Henry III the White

Duke of Wroclaw

Henry III the White, a member of the Silesian Piasts, was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1248 until his death, as co-ruler with his brother Władysław.

1266

Henry III

Duke of Głogów (born 1251/60)

Henry III of Głogów was a duke of Głogów from 1274 to his death and also duke of parts of Greater Poland during 1306–1310.

1309

Maud Chaworth

Countess of Leicester (born 1282)

Maud de Chaworth was an English noblewoman and wealthy heiress. She was the only child of Patrick de Chaworth. Sometime before 2 March 1297, she married Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, by whom she had seven children.

1322

Louis II

Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (born 1502)

Louis II of Zweibrücken was Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1514 to 1532.

1532

Vasili III of Russia (born 1479)

Vasili III Ivanovich was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1505 until his death in 1533.

1533

Jean Tixier de Ravisi

French scholar and academic (born 1470)

Jean Tixier de Ravisi was a French Renaissance humanist scholar and professor of rhetoric. He was born in Ravisi, which is near the commune of Saint-Saulge in the central province of Nivernais. His works, which are…

1542

Francis Xavier

Spanish missionary and saint (born 1506)

Francis Xavier, venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative of the Portuguese Empire, led the first Christian mission to Japan.

1552

Alexander Farnese

Duke of Parma (born 1545)

Alexander Farnese was an Italian noble and military leader, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592, as well as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592. Nephew to King Philip II of…

1592

Honda Tadakatsu

Japanese general and daimyō (born 1548)

Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō was a Japanese samurai, general, and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu.

1610

William Cecil

2nd Earl of Salisbury (born 1591)

William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury,, known as Viscount Cranborne from 1605 to 1612, was an English peer, nobleman, and politician.

1668

Katherine Jones

Viscountess Ranelagh, British scientist (born 1615)

Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, also known as Lady Ranelagh, was an Anglo-Irish scientist in seventeenth-century Ireland and England. She was also a political and religious philosopher, and a member of many…

1691

Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Mühlingen (born 1637)

Emilie Juliane was a German countess and hymn writer.

1706

Henri-Guillaume Hamal

Walloon musician and composer (born 1685)

Henri-Guillaume Hamal was a Walloon musician, musical director and composer.

1752

Lord John Sackville

English cricketer and politician (born 1713)

Lord John Philip Sackville was the second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He was a keen cricketer who was closely connected with the sport in Kent.

1765

Claude Joseph Vernet

French painter (born 1714)

Claude-Joseph Vernet was a French painter. His son Carle Vernet and daughter Marguerite Émilie Chalgrin were also painters.

1789

John Carroll

American archbishop (born 1735)

John Carroll was an American Catholic prelate who served as the nation's first Catholic bishop, overseeing the Diocese of Baltimore, then the only diocese in the nascent United States, from 1789 to 1815. He became…

1815

Edward Thonen

German emigrant to Australia (born 1827)

Edward Thonen was a German emigrant to Australia, and one of the miners involved in the Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat, Victoria. He was captain of one of the miners' divisions. When soldiers stormed the Stockade on 3…

1854

Samuel Cooper

American general (born 1798)

Samuel Cooper was an American military officer, who served in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War in the United States Army. Although little-known today, Cooper was technically the highest-ranking…

1876

Archibald Tait

Scottish-English archbishop (born 1811)

Archibald Campbell Tait was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish priest to become Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England.

1882

Billy Midwinter

English-Australian cricketer (born 1851)

William Evans Midwinter was a cricketer who played four Test matches for England, sandwiched between eight for Australia. He was the only cricketer to have played for Australia and England in Test matches against each…

1890

Afanasy Fet

Russian author and poet (born 1820)

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet, later known as Shenshin, was a Russian poet regarded as the finest master of lyric verse in Russian literature.

1892

Robert Louis Stevenson

Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist (born 1850)

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Kidnapped (1886) and for the…

1894

Robert Lawson

New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys' High School and Knox Church (born 1833)

Robert Arthur Lawson was one of New Zealand's pre-eminent 19th century architects. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography states that he did more than any other designer to shape the face of the Victorian era…

1902

David Bratton

American water polo player (born 1869)

David Hey Bratton was an American water polo player and competition swimmer who competed for the New York Athletic Club and represented the United States at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.

1904

Mary Baker Eddy

American religious leader and author, founded Christian Science (born 1821)

Mary Baker Eddy was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the Mother Church of the Christian Science movement. She also founded The Christian Science Monitor in…

1910

Prudente de Morais

Brazilian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Brazil (born 1841)

Prudente José de Morais Barros was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the third president of Brazil from 1894 to 1898. Morais was elected in 1894, being the first civilian president of the country, the…

1912

Harold Garnett

English-French cricketer (born 1879)

Harold Gwyer Garnett was an English-born first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club and Argentina. He was killed during World War I in the fighting at Cambrai, France. A wicketkeeper, in 152…

1917

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

French painter and sculptor (born 1841)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a leading French Impressionist artist. In his depiction of feminine beauty, Renoir has been described as "the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."

1919

Ezra Meeker

American farmer and politician (born 1830)

Ezra Morgan Meeker was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man, migrating from Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Later in life he worked to memorialize the Trail, repeatedly retracing…

1928

Charles James O'Donnell

Irish lawyer and politician (born 1849)

Charles James O'Cahan O'Donnell was an Irish colonial administrator in the British Raj, and later a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

1934

Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (born 1868)

Princess Victoria was the fourth child and second daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and the younger sister of King George V.

1935

William Propsting

Australian politician, 20th Premier of Tasmania (born 1861)

William Bispham Propsting, CMG was an Australian lawyer and politician. He served as premier of Tasmania from 1903 to 1904. He was a member of the parliament of Tasmania for over 35 years and also served terms as…

1937

Pavel Filonov

Russian painter and poet (born 1883)

Pavel Nikolayevich Filonov was a Russian avant-garde painter, art theorist, and poet.

1941

Maria Ouspenskaya

Russian-American actress and educator (born 1876)

Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an older woman in Hollywood films. She was twice nominated for the…

1949

Rudolf Margolius

Czech lawyer and politician (born 1913)

Rudolf Margolius was a Czech lawyer and economist, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia (1949–1952), and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952.

1952

Manik Bandopadhyay

Indian author, poet, and playwright (born 1908)

Manik Bandyopadhyay [alias Banerjee] is an Indian author regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. His birth name is Prabodhkumar Bandyopadhyay. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years…

1956

Alexander Rodchenko

Russian sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer (born 1891)

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara…

1956

Harry Wismer

American football player and sportscaster (born 1913)

Harry Wismer was an American sports broadcaster and the founder of the Titans of New York franchise in the American Football League (AFL).

1967

William Manuel Johnson

American bassist (born 1872)

William Manuel "Bill" Johnson was an American jazz musician who played banjo and double bass; he is considered the father of the "slap" style of double bass playing.

1972

Emile Christian

American trombonist, cornet player, and composer (born 1895)

Emile Joseph Christian, sometimes spelled Emil Christian, was an American early jazz trombonist; he also played cornet and string bass. He also wrote a number of tunes, including "Meet Me at the Green Goose", "Satanic…

1973

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines

President of Mexico, 1952–1958 (born 1889)

Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously served as Governor of Veracruz and…

1973

Dhyan Chand

Indian field hockey player and coach (born 1905)

Major Dhyan Chand was an Indian field hockey player. He is widely regarded as the greatest field hockey player in history. He was known for his extraordinary ball control and goal-scoring feats, in addition to earning…

1979

Oswald Mosley

English lieutenant, fascist, and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (born 1896)

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, was a British politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when, disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for…

1980

Walter Knott

American farmer, founded Knott's Berry Farm (born 1889)

Walter Marvin Knott was an American farmer and businessman who founded the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, introduced and mass-marketed the boysenberry, and founded the Knott's Berry Farm…

1981

Joel Rinne

Finnish actor (born 1897)

Toivo Joel Rinne was a prolific Finnish actor of stage and screen. Among his most memorable film parts is the title role in the Inspector Palmu movie series, which started in 1960s Komisario Palmun erehdys, and…

1981

Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin

Azerbaijani-Russian mathematician and academic (born 1919)

Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin was a Soviet mathematician, who made numerous contributions in algebraic topology, geometry, measure theory, probability theory, ergodic theory and entropy theory.

1984

Fernando Martín Espina

Spanish basketball player (born 1962)

Fernando Martín Espina was a Spanish professional basketball player who was considered to be one of the best Spanish basketball players ever. Martín was 2.06 m tall, and he played primarily at the center and power…

1989

Connie B. Gay

American businessman, founded the Country Music Association (born 1914)

Connie Barriot Gay was an American music entrepreneur who is renowned as a "founding father" and "major force" in country music. He is credited with coining the country music genre, which had previously been called…

1989

Lewis Thomas

American physician, etymologist, and academic (born 1913)

Lewis Thomas was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and biologist. He was a longtime contributor to The New England Journal of Medicine, and his essays were…

1993

Georges Duby

French historian and author (born 1919)

Georges Duby was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of France's most…

1996

Pierre Hétu

Canadian pianist and conductor (born 1936)

Pierre Hétu was a conductor and pianist. He studied music from 1955–57 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal with Germaine Malépart (piano) and at the University of Montreal with Jean Papineau-Couture…

1998

John Archer

American actor (born 1915)

John Archer was an American actor.

1999

Scatman John

American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1942)

John Paul Larkin, known professionally under the alias Scatman John, was an American musician. A prolific jazz pianist and vocalist for several decades, he rose to prominence in 1994 through his fusion of scat singing…

1999

Madeline Kahn

American actress, comedian, and singer (born 1942)

Madeline Gail Kahn was an American actress, comedian, and singer. She was known for her comedic roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including What's Up, Doc? (1972), Young Frankenstein (1974),…

1999

Horst Mahseli

Polish footballer (born 1934)

Horst Lothar Mahseli was a Polish footballer who is best remembered for his 1950s performances in both Legia Warsaw and the Poland national team.

1999

Jarl Wahlström

Finnish 12th General of The Salvation Army (born 1918)

Jarl Holger Wahlström was the 12th General of The Salvation Army (1981–86).

1999

Gwendolyn Brooks

American poet and educator (born 1917)

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May…

2000

Hoyt Curtin

American composer and producer (born 1922)

Hoyt Stoddard Curtin was an American composer, music producer and the primary musical director for Hanna-Barbera from its beginnings with The Ruff and Reddy Show from 1957 to 1965, and again from 1972 to 1986 until his…

2000

Adrienne Adams

American illustrator (born 1906)

Adrienne Adams was an American children's book illustrator as well as an artist and writer of children's books. She won two Caldecott Honors and in 1973 she was awarded the Rutgers Award for overall contributions to…

2002

Glenn Quinn

Irish-American actor (born 1970)

Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor, best known for his portrayal of Mark Healy on the 1990s family sitcom Roseanne and his role as the half-demon Allen Francis Doyle on Angel, a spin-off series of…

2002

David Hemmings

English actor (born 1941)

David Leslie Edward Hemmings was an English actor, director, and producer of film and television. Originally trained as a boy soprano in operatic roles, he began appearing in films as a child actor in the 1950s. He…

2003

Sita Ram Goel

Indian historian, publisher and writer (born 1921)

Sita Ram Goel was an Indian Hindu nationalist writer, and publisher known for his literature pertaining to Hinduism and Hindu nationalism in the late twentieth century. He was one of the founders of Voice of India.

2003

Shiing-Shen Chern

Chinese-American mathematician and academic (born 1911)

Shiing-Shen Chern was a Chinese-born American mathematician and poet. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geometry" and is…

2004

Frederick Ashworth

American admiral (born 1912)

Frederick Lincoln "Dick" Ashworth was a United States Navy officer who served as the weaponeer on the B-29 Bockscar that dropped a Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945 during World War II.

2005

Herb Moford

American baseball player (born 1928)

Herbert Moford was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals (1955), Detroit Tigers (1958), Boston Red Sox (1959) and New York Mets (1962). He was born in Brooksville,…

2005

Kikka Sirén

Finnish pop/schlager singer (born 1964)

Kirsi Hannele Sirén, better known by her stage name Kikka, was a Finnish pop/schlager singer. She was known for her sexpot image and suggestive, double entendre-filled songs. Kikka's best-known songs were "Mä haluun…

2005

James Kemsley

Australian cartoonist and actor (born 1948)

James Lawrence Kemsley OAM was an Australian cartoonist who was notable for producing the comic strip Ginger Meggs between 1984 and 2007.

2007

Robert Zajonc

Polish-American psychologist and author (born 1923)

Robert Bolesław Zajonc was a Polish social psychologist who is known for his decades of work on a wide range of social and cognitive processes. One of his most important contributions to social psychology is the…

2008

Leila Lopes

Brazilian actress and journalist (born 1959)

Leila Lopes was a Brazilian actress, journalist and television presenter, known for her appearance in TV Globo telenovelas and later for entering the pornographic film industry.

2009

Richard Todd

Irish-born British soldier and actor (born 1919)

Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd OBE was an Irish-British actor, known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor…

2009

Abdumalik Bahori

Azerbaijani poet and author (born 1927)

Abdumalik Bahori was a children's poet and the first Tajikistani fiction writer. He was born into a middle-class family who worked in the silk producing industry. He graduated from Leninabad Pedagogical Institute in…

2010

Dev Anand

Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

Dev Anand was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema. Through a career that…

2011

Jules Mikhael Al-Jamil

Iraqi-Lebanese archbishop (born 1938)

Jules Mikhael Al-Jamil was a Syriac Catholic prelate who served as an auxiliary bishop for the Patriarchate of Antioch from 1986 until his death in 2012.

2012

Herman Badillo

Puerto Rican-American lawyer and politician (born 1929)

Herman Badillo was an American lawyer and politician who served as borough president of The Bronx and United States Representative, and ran for Mayor of New York City. He was the first Puerto Rican elected to these…

2014

Gladstone Anderson

Jamaican singer and pianist (born 1934)

Gladstone Anderson, also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sound and the…

2015

Scott Weiland

American singer-songwriter (born 1967)

Scott Richard Weiland was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1989 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2013, recording six albums with them.…

2015

Ragnar Ulstein

Norwegian journalist and war historian (born 1920)

Ragnar Leif Ulstein MM was a Norwegian journalist, writer and resistance member. He wrote several documentary books from the Second World War, including surveys of the SOE group Norwegian Independent Company 1,…

2019

Mohamed Ali Yusuf

Somali politician (born 1944)

Mohamed Ali Yusuf Gaagaab was a Somali politician. He served as acting Vice President of Puntland from 10 October 2004 to 8 January 2005, and later he was appointed Minister of Finance of Puntland beginning on 25…

2024

Notable deaths

Who died on December 3?

Carl Zeiss — German optician and optical instrument maker

FeaturedCarl Zeiss

Death year1888

Known forIn 1846 he founded his workshop, which is still in business as Zeiss

Deaths on this date88 (311 – 2024)

Explore December 3

Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.

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Also on December 3 in History

2024

Martial law is declared in South Korea. Wikipedia →

2023

Mount Marapi located in West Sumatra, Indonesia begins a sporadic series of eruptions. 23 people were killed, and 12 were injured. Wikipedia →

2022

Massive power outage after Moore County substation attack that leaves 45,000 people without power for five days, leading to an FBI probe. Wikipedia →

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Notable Deaths on December 3

1888 — Carl Zeiss

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