Today in History: First SMS (short message service) text message was sent

The following are some of the major events that occurred on December 3 throughout history:

1912 — An armistice was signed that paused hostilities in the First Balkan War.

1947 — The original production of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York.

1967 — The world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant was performed at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.

1979 — A crowd crush at a concert by The Who in Cincinnati killed 11 people.

1979 — The last unit of the AMC Pacer rolled off the assembly line, marking the end of its production.

1984 — A toxic gas leak at the plant of Union Carbide India Limited triggered the Bhopal disaster — one of the worst industrial disasters in history. Over time, estimates put the casualties at between 15,000 and 20,000 deaths, plus at least 558,125 injuries.

1989 — Leaders of the United States and the former Soviet Union met during the Malta Summit (2–3 December), a meeting widely viewed as a symbolic turning point in the end of the Cold War.

1992 — The first SMS (short message service) text message was sent. The message “Merry Christmas” was sent over the Vodafone network, marking a milestone in telecommunications history.

1994 — The first release in Japan of the PlayStation video-game console — widely regarded as the start of a new era in interactive entertainment.

1997 — Representatives from 121 countries signed the Ottawa Treaty, aimed at prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines.