Enron Files for Chapter 11, Lays Off Employees

Enron files for bankruptcy

Born on This Day

Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace

1946 - 1997

Italian fashion designer known for his glamorous and sexually provocative designs featuring vibrant colors and patterns.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas

1923 - 1977

Greek-born opera singer considered one of greatest in history thanks to her vocal range and roles in "Tosca" and "Norma."

4th Hollywood Beauty Awards - Arrivals

Britney Spears

1981 -

Singer, dancer and pop icon whose hits "...Baby One More Time" and "Toxic" sold more than 150 million records.

Gianni VersaceLeonardo Cendamo

Maria CallasCorbis via Getty Images

Britney SpearsWireImage

1942

DEC2

The first nuclear chain reaction takes place, a milestone for developing atomic weapons for the top-secret Manhattan Project. One unsung contributor: Chinese-born female physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, the only Asian American to work on the project.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on December 2nd

George Washington arrives at the banks of the Delaware

As related in a letter dated the following day, General George Washington writes to Congress from his headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, to report that he had transported much of the Continental Army’s stores and baggage across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania on December 2, 1776. His famous crossing of the Delaware would come less […]

1:50m read read

Philadelphia midwife overhears British plans to attack Washington’s army

Legend has it that on the night of December 2, 1777, Philadelphia housewife and midwife Lydia Darragh single-handedly saves the lives of General George Washington and his Continental Army when she overhears the British planning a surprise attack on Washington’s army for the following day. During the occupation of Philadelphia, British General William Howe stationed […]

1:16m read read

Napoleon crowned emperor

In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head. The Corsican-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history, rapidly […]

1:46m read read

The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon by Jacques Louis David

Monroe Doctrine declared

During his annual address to Congress, President James Monroe proclaims a new U.S. foreign policy initiative that becomes known as the “Monroe Doctrine.” Primarily the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts. The […]

1:16m read read

Abolitionist John Brown is hanged

Militant abolitionist John Brown is executed on charges of treason, murder and insurrection on December 2, 1859. Brown, born in Connecticut in 1800, first became militant during the mid-1850s, when as a leader of the Free State forces in Kansas he fought pro-slavery settlers in the sharply divided U.S. territory. Achieving only moderate success in […]

Physicist Enrico Fermi produces the first nuclear chain reaction

Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist, directs and controls the first nuclear chain reaction in his laboratory beneath the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, ushering in the nuclear age. Upon successful completion of the experiment, a coded message was transmitted to President Roosevelt: “The Italian navigator has landed in the […]

2:04m read read

Joseph McCarthy condemned by Senate

The U.S. Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming of a senator. The condemnation, which was equivalent to a censure, related to McCarthy’s controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society. What is known as “McCarthyism” began on February 9, 1950, when McCarthy, […]

Fidel Castro declares himself a Marxist-Leninist

Following a year of severely strained relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist. The announcement sealed the bitter Cold War animosity between the two nations. Castro came to power in 1959 after leading a successful revolution against the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista. Almost […]

Environmental Protection Agency opens

On December 2, 1970, a new federal agency opens its doors. Created in response to the dawning realization that human activity can have major effects on the planet, the Environmental Protection Agency heralded a new age of government action on behalf of the environment. Concerns about pollution and other environmental issues began creeping into the […]

1:46m read read

The United Arab Emirates is formed

On December 2, 1971, the United Arab Emirates is formed. The union of six small Gulf kingdoms—to which a seventh was soon added—created a small state with an outsized role in the global economy. A number of kingdoms on the norther coast of the Arabian Peninsula came under British protection through a series of treaties […]

1:58m read read

The Temptations earn their final #1 hit with “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”

On December 2, 1972, the Temptations earn the last of their four chart-topping hits when “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Over the course of their storied career, the Temptations placed 38 hit records in the pop top 40. Beyond their quantitative achievements, the Temptations also embodied the original Motown […]

1:54m read read

William Kennedy Smith’s rape trial begins

Opening testimony takes place in the highly publicized rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Jean Kennedy Smith, the president’s sister and a former ambassador to Ireland. Smith, then a 30-year-old medical student at Georgetown University, was accused of sexually assaulting a 29-year-old Florida woman in […]

1:58m read read

“Good Will Hunting” premieres

On December 2, 1997, Good Will Hunting, a movie that will earn childhood friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon a Best Screenplay Oscar and propel them to Hollywood stardom, premieres in Los Angeles. Good Will Hunting, which opened in wide release across America on January 9, 1998, featured Damon in the title role as a […]

2:48m read read

Researchers unravel the genetic code of an entire human chromosome

On December 2, 1999, in the journal Nature, scientists announce that they have sequenced the DNA of a human chromosome for the first time. The genetic sequence of chromosome 22 is one of the first major findings of the Human Genome Project, an international scientific effort to decode the instructions for life hidden in our […]

2:00m read read

649-day tree sit-in at the University of California, Berkeley begins

On December 2, 2006, four students at the University of California, Berkeley, inhabit the treetops of an oak grove on campus to protest the university’s plans to demolish over an acre of the forest to build a new athletic center, kicking off an epic 21-month standoff. It was one of the longest tree sit-ins in […]

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