February 3
day of the year
February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 331 days remaining until the end of the year (332 in leap years).
Events change
Up to 1900 change
- 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona and Douce I, Countess of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of the two states.
- 1377 - Over 2,000 people in Cesena, Italy are killed by Papal troops.
- 1488 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands at Mossel Bay in present-day South Africa, having become the first European to travel round the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.
- 1781 - British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
- 1809 – Illinois Territory is created.
- 1815 – The first commercial cheese factory is founded (Switzerland).
- 1830 - Greece's sovereignty is confirmed by the London Protocol.
- 1870 – The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.
- 1900 - Governor of Kentucky William Goebel dies four days after being shot, and three days after being sworn in to office.
1901 – 2000 change
- 1908 - The Panathinaikos Sports Club is founded in Athens.
- 1913 – The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified. It lets the Federal government create and collect income tax.
- 1916 – Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.
- 1917 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of submarine warfare.
- 1918 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world, at 3,633 metres long.
- 1930 - The Communist Party of Vietnam is founded in Kowloon, then-British Hong Kong.
- 1931 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits New Zealand's North Island, mainly the cities of Napier and Hastings.
- 1943 - The USAT Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat, killing 672 of the 902 men on board.
- 1944 – United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
- 1945 – World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre fighting against Japan.
- 1947 - North America's lowest temperature is recorded in Snag, Yukon, Canada.
- 1952 – The earliest known tropical storm makes landfall in South Florida.
- 1955 - Czechoslovakia declares an end to hostilities with Germany.
- 1958 - The Benelux Economic Union is formed.
- 1959 – An airplane crash kills musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. This date becomes known as "The Day The Music Died".
- 1960 - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes a speech in which he says that "winds of change" are blowing across the African continent.
- 1961 - Start of the Angolan War of Independence.
- 1966 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft is launched.
- 1967 - In Melbourne, Ronald Ryan becomes the last person to be executed in Australia.
- 1969 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
- 1972 – The first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia open in Sapporo, Japan.
- 1972 - Until February 9, a blizzard in Iran kills around 4,000 people.
- 1976 - In Mozambique, the capital city changes its name from Lourenco Marques to Maputo.
- 1981 - Gro Harlem Brundtland is elected Prime Minister of Norway.
- 1988 – The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
- 1989 - In Paraguay, a coup removes Alfredo Stroessner from power.
- 1994 - Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on mission STS-60.
- 1995 - Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot a space shuttle.
- 1996 - An earthquake of magnitude 7 hits Yunnan Province, China, killing over 300 people.
- 1998 – In Northern Italy 20 people die in a cable car disaster caused by a low-flying United States Military plane.
- 1998 - Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, as the first woman to be executed in the US since 1984.
From 2001 change
- 2002 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots defeat the St. Louis Rams, 20–17, to win their first Super Bowl championship.
- 2006 – The Egyptian al-Salam Boccaccio ferry sinks in the Red Sea, killing around 1,000 people.
- 2007 - A bombing at a market in Baghdad kills 135 people.
- 2008 – Super Bowl XLII: The New York Giants defeat the previously undefeated New England Patriots, 17–14, to win their third Super Bowl championship and prevent them from becoming the first 19-0 team.
- 2010 - The sculpture L'homme qui marche by Alberto Giacometti is sold at an auction in London for £ 65 million.
- 2011 - Tropical Cyclone Yasi hits Queensland, Australia.
- 2013 - Super Bowl XLVII is interrupted by a power failure just after half time, with the Baltimore Ravens leading 28-6 over the San Francisco 49ers. After over half an hour, play gets back underway. The Baltimore Ravens later go on to win the game.
- 2015 - Sergio Mattarella becomes President of Italy.
- 2015 - The House of Commons of the United Kingdom, by a majority, supports the introduction of "Three-person babies". After being passed by the House of Lords, the UK would be the first country to introduce this.
- 2015 - It is announced that a second novel by Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, is to be published in July, called Go Set a Watchman.
Births change
Up to 1900 change
- 995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1037)
- 1338 – Jeanne de Bourbon, Queen of France (d. 1378)
- 1654 - Pietro Antonio Fiocco, Italian composer (d. 1714)
- 1677 - Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (d. 1723)
- 1689 - Blas de Lozo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
- 1721 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
- 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
- 1747 - Samuel Osgood, American patriot (d. 1813)
- 1761 - Dorothea von Medem, German countess (d. 1821)
- 1763 - Caroline von Wolzogen, German writer (d. 1847)
- 1774 - Karl Mollweide, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1825)
- 1777 - John Cheyne, British physician, surgeon and writer (d. 1836)
- 1790 - Gideon Mantell, British geologist and physician (d. 1852)
- 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, South American independence leader (d. 1830)
- 1806 - Ansel Briggs, 1st Governor of Iowa (d. 1881)
- 1807 - Joseph E. Johnston, American Confederate general (d. 1891)
- 1807 - Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington, British general (d. 1884)
- 1806 - Ansel Briggs, American politician, 6th Governor of Iowa (d. 1881)
- 1808 – Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar of Eisenach, Empress of Prussia (d. 1877)
- 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)
- 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)
- 1817 - Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
- 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, British-American physician (d. 1910)
- 1823 - Stephen Fullerton Baird, American naturalist (d. 1887)
- 1824 - Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1910)
- 1826 - Walter Bagehot, British journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
- 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
- 1842 - Sidney Lanier, American poet and composer (d. 1881)
- 1846 - Judson Harmon, Governor of Ohio and United States Attorney General (d. 1927)
- 1854 - Sergei Korsahoff, Russian neuropsychiatrist (d. 1900)
- 1857 - Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor (d. 1935)
- 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (d. 1935)
- 1870 – Ada Negri, Italian actress (d. 1945)
- 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American writer and publicist (d. 1946)
- 1878 - Gordon Coates, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
- 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian writer (d. 1914)
- 1889 - Risto Ryti, 5th President of Finland (d. 1956)
- 1892 - Juan Negrin, Spanish politician (d. 1956)
- 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American artist, illustrator (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
- 1898 - Lil Hardin Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
- 1899 - Lao She, Chinese writer and playwright (d. 1966)
- 1899 - Joao Café Filho, President of Brazil (d. 1970)
1901 – 1950 change
- 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Scottish aviator (d. 1973)
- 1907 – James A. Michener, American writer (d. 1997)
- 1909 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)
- 1911 – Jehan Alain, French composer (d. 1940)
- 1911 - Robert Earl Jones, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1912 - Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (d. 2006)
- 1914 - Mary Carlisle, American actress
- 1915 - Stuart Archer, British recipient of the George Cross (d. 2015)
- 1915 – Boris Paichadze, Georgian footballer (d. 1990)
- 1918 - Joey Bishop, American entertainer (d. 2007)
- 1920 - Henry Heimlich, American physician (d. 2016)
- 1924 - Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern, German aristocrat (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Leon Schlumpf, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 2012)
- 1925 - Shelley Berman, American actor, comedian and writer (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician
- 1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer (d. 2015)
- 1927 - Blas Ople, Filipino politician (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Kenneth Anger, American filmmaker and writer
- 1927 - Indra Bahadur Rai, Indian writer (d. 2018)
- 1927 - Sarah Jiménez, Mexican artist (d. 2017)
- 1928 - Ingemar Haraldsson, Swedish footballer (d. 2004)
- 1932 – Michael Martin, American philosopher (d. 2015)
- 1932 - Stuart Hall, Jamaican-British cultural theorist and sociologist (d. 2014)
- 1933 - Paul Sarbanes, American politician (d. 2020)
- 1935 - Johnny "Guitar" Watson, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1937 - Jacques Barrot, French politician (d. 2014)
- 1938 - Emile Griffith, American boxer (d. 2013)
- 1939 - Michael Cimino, American movie director (d. 2016)
- 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
- 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 2018)
- 1943 - Shawn Philipps, American guitarist, singer and songwriter
- 1947 – Dave Davies, English musician (The Kinks)
- 1947 – Paul Auster, American writer
- 1948 – Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorese bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner
- 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish writer (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
1951 – 1975 change
- 1951 - Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian football manager
- 1951 – Blaise Compaoré, former President of Burkina Faso
- 1954 - Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1955 – Stephen Euin Cobb, American writer
- 1955 – Bruno Pezzey, Austrian footballer (d. 1994)
- 1955 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish broadcast journalist
- 1956 - Nathan Lane, American actor
- 1956 - Lee Ranaldo, American musician
- 1958 - Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American basketball player
- 1959 - Lol Tolhurst, English musician (The Cure)
- 1959 - Fredric Lehne, American actor
- 1960 – Joachim Löw, German football trainer
- 1961 - Jay Adams, American skateboarder (d. 2014)
- 1963 – Stefano Mei, Italian sportsperson (athletics)
- 1964 – Michael Rummenigge, German footballer
- 1965 - Maura Tierney, American actress
- 1966 - Franco Coraci, American movie director
- 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
- 1969 - Beau Biden, American attorney and politician (d. 2015)
- 1970 - Warwick Davis, British actor
- 1971 – Sarah Kane, British playwright (d. 1999)
- 1972 – Mart Poom, Estonian footballer
- 1975 - Brad Thorn, New Zealand rugby player
From 1976 change
- 1976 - Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Isla Fisher, Australian actress
- 1977 - Marek Zidlicky, Czech ice hockey player
- 1977 – Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rican singer
- 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
- 1978 - Amal Clooney, Lebanese-British lawyer and activist
- 1978 - Eliza Schneider, American actress and singer
- 1980 - Kim E-Z, Korean singer
- 1981 - Alisa Reyes, American actress and singer
- 1982 - Jessica Harp, American singer
- 1982 - Bridget Regan, American actress
- 1983 – Gabriel Sargissian, Armenian chess player
- 1983 - Hillary Scott, American pornographic actress
- 1984 - Sara Carbonero, Spanish journalist
- 1985 - Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarussian ice hockey player
- 1986 - Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress, comedian and entertainer
- 1988 - Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
- 1988 – Gregory van der Wiel, Dutch footballer
- 1989 – Vania King, American tennis player
- 1990 – Sean Kingston, American singer
- 1990 - Sterling Moore, American football player
- 1991 - Glenn McCuen, American actor
- 1993 - Getter Jaani, Estonian actress and singer
- 1993 - Mark Bennett, Scottish rugby player
- 1995 - Tao Tsuchiya, Japanese actress, model and dancer
Deaths change
Up to 1900 change
- 619 - Laurence of Canterbury, 2nd Archbishop of Canterbury
- 699 - Werburgh, English saint (b. 650)
- 995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
- 1014 – King Sweyn I of Denmark
- 1116 - King Coloman of Hungary (b. 1070)
- 1399 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)
- 1428 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)
- 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1404)
- 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher
- 1737 - Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician (b. 1648)
- 1820 – Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam (b. 1762)
- 1832 – George Crabbe, English naturalist (b. 1754)
- 1862 - Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (b. 1774)
- 1867 - Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (b. 1782)
- 1874 – William Charles Lunalilo, King of Hawaii (b. 1835)
- 1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
- 1900 – William Goebel, 34th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1856)
1901 – 2000 change
- 1908 - Ferdinand Meldahl, Danish architect (b. 1827)
- 1920 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
- 1921 – Colin Archer, Norwegian shipbuilder (b. 1832)
- 1922 - John Butler Yeats, Irish illustrator (b. 1839)
- 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1856)
- 1929 - Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist (b. 1878)
- 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (b. 1859)
- 1937 - Marija Leiko, Latvian movie actress (b. 1887)
- 1944 - Yvette Guilbert, French cabaret singer (b. 1865)
- 1945 – Roland Freisler, Nazi official (b. 1893)
- 1948 - Louis J. Brann, Governor of Maine (b. 1876)
- 1951 - August Horch, German engineer (b. 1868)
- 1952 - Harold L. Ickes, American politician (b. 1874)
- 1955 - Vasili Blokhin, Soviet general chief executioner of almost 22 000 Poles in Katyn Forest (b. 1895) (suicide, February 3)
- 1956 - Johnny Claes, Belgian racing driver (b. 1916)
- 1959 - "Day the Music Died":
- Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
- Roger Peterson, American pilot (b. 1937)
- Ritchie Valens, American musician (b. 1941)
- The Big Bopper, American musician (b. 1930)
- 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
- 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
- 1961 - William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
- 1967 - Joe Meek, English record producer (b. 1929)
- 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique independence founder (b. 1920)
- 1969 - C. N. Annaduri, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
- 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (b. 1904)
- 1975 - William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (b. 1873)
- 1985 - Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)
- 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)
- 1989 - Lionel Newman, American movie music orchestra leader and composer (b. 1916)
- 1991 - Harry Ackerman, American television producer (b. 1912)
- 1997 - Bohumil Hrabal, Czech writer (b. 1914)
- 1998 - Karla Faye Tucker, American murderer (b. 1959)
- 2000 - Alla Rakha, Indian tabla player (b. 1919)
From 2001 change
- 2003 – Lana Clarkson, American actress (b. 1962)
- 2004 - Jason Raize, American actor (b. 1975)
- 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian politician (b. 1963)
- 2005 – Ernst Mayr, German biologist (b. 1904)
- 2006 - Al Lewis, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2006 - Romano Mussolini, Italian pianist and artist (b. 1927)
- 2011 – Edouard Glissant, French-Martinican poet (b. 1928)
- 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Samuel Youd, British writer (b. 1922)
- 2014 - Louise Brough, American tennis player (b. 1923)
- 2014 - Richard Bull, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2014 - Louan Gideon, American actress (b. 1955)
- 2014 - Joan Mondale, former Second Lady of the United States (b. 1930)
- 2014 - Bill Sinkin, American activist (b. 1913)
- 2015 - Frank Borghi, American soccer player (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
- 2015 - Martin Gilbert, British historian (b. 1936)
- 2015 - Mary Healy, American actress (b. 1918)
- 2016 - Mark Farren, Irish footballer (b. 1982)
- 2016 - Balram Jakhar, Indian politician (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (b. 1952)
- 2016 - Big Kap, American DJ (b. 1970)
- 2017 - Robert Dahlqvist, Swedish rock musician (b. 1976)
- 2017 - Yoshiro Hayashi, Japanese politician (b. 1927)
- 2017 - Hassan Joharchi, Iranian actor (b. 1968)
- 2017 - Lou Rowan, Australian cricket umpire (b. 1925)
- 2017 - Benny Perrin, American football player (b. 1959)
- 2017 - John M. Hayes, American scientist (b. 1940)
- 2017 - Richard Lyon, American admiral and politician (b. 1923)
- 2017 - Shumon Miura, Japanese writer (b. 1926)
- 2018 - Michael Harner, American anthropologist and writer (b. 1929)
- 2018 - Dirk Bernard Joseph Schouten, Dutch economist (b. 1923)
- 2018 - Hukum Singh, Indian politician (b. 1938)
- 2018 - Rolf Zacher, German actor (b. 1941)
Observances change
- Christian feast day: Saint Blaise (Roman Catholic Church)
- Heroes' Day (Mozambique)
- Veterans' Day (Thailand)
- Setsubun (Japan)