May 3
date
May 3 is the 123rd day of the year (124th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 242 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events Edit
Up to 1900 Edit
- 1481 - The largest of three earthquakes strikes the Greek island of Rhodes, killing an estimated 30,000 people.
- 1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries.
- 1494 – Christopher Columbus arrives in Jamaica, naming the island Santiago.
- 1715 - A total solar eclipse is visible across Northern Europe and Northern Asia, with totality across southern England being predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes of accuracy.
- 1791 – Poland's first constitution is introduced. May 3 is still celebrated as Constitution Day in Poland, as well as in neighboring Lithuania.
- 1802 - Washington, DC is incorporated as a city.
- 1808 – Rebels in Madrid, who rose up on the previous day, against French rule, are executed.
- 1808 - Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
- 1815 - Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
- 1830 - The Canterbury-Whitstable Railway in Southern England is opened. It is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
- 1837 - The University of Athens, Greece, is founded.
- 1849 – The May uprising begins in Dresden.
- 1855 - The adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with around 60 men in an attempt to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1860 - King Charles XV of Sweden-Norway is crowned.
- 1867 - Hudson's Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
- 1887 – Canada's worst mining disaster occurs in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. 150 people are killed, and 7 survive.
1901 – 2000 Edit
- 1901 - The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1909 – Germany introduces driver's licences.
- 1913 - Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature movie, is released, marking the start of the Indian movie industry.
- 1915 - The poem In Flanders Fields is written by John McCrae.
- 1916 – In Ireland, the leaders of the Easter Uprising are executed.
- 1920 - A Bolshevik coup fails in Georgia.
- 1934 – The French navy introduces Surcouf, which was the largest submarine at the time.
- 1936 – Joe DiMaggio makes his Major League Baseball debut, for the New York Yankees.
- 1937 - Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone With the Wind wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
- 1939 - The All India Forward Bloc is founded by Subhas Chandra Bose.
- 1945 - World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbeck and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lubeck Bay.
- 1947 – Japan's new post-war constitution goes into effect.
- 1951 – George VI of the United Kingdom opens the Festival of Britain. London's Royal Festival Hall opens on the same day.
- 1952 - Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the US land a plane at the North Pole.
- 1952 - The Kentucky Derby horse race is shown on television throughout the US for the first time.
- 1956 - The first World Championships in judo take place in Tokyo.
- 1960 – In Amsterdam, the Netherlands the Anne Frank House is opened to the public.
- 1960 - Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City's Greenwich Village.
- 1973 – The Sears Tower in Chicago is completed.
- 1978 - The first Spam email is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, becoming the first female British Prime Minister.
- 1986 – A bomb explodes on an airliner at Colombo's airport in Sri Lanka, killing 21 people, and injuring 41.
- 1999 - The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by a Force-5 tornado, killing 45 people and injuring 665.
From 2001 Edit
- 2001 – For the first time, the United States loses its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
- 2002 - A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan, in Northwest India, killing 8 people.
- 2003 – New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain rock feature collapses.
- 2006 - While landing in Sochi, Southern Russia, an Airbus A320-200 of Armenian airline Armavia crashes into the Black Sea, killing all 113 people on board.
- 2007 – The Scottish National Party, under Alex Salmond, narrowly wins in the election to the Scottish Parliament.
- 2007 – Madeleine McCann gets abducted from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
- 2008 – Cyclone Nargis devastates Burma, killing thousands of people, and causing widespread flooding in the Irrawaddy River Delta.
- 2014 - The Black Forest National Park is officially opened.
- 2018 - Dust storms in Rajasthan an Uttar Pradesh, India, kill at least 100 people.
- 2019 - The number of deaths in the South Kivu Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is estimated at 1,000, making it the second-deadliest outbreak of the disease.
- 2019 - Cyclone Fani hits the state of Odisha on the east coast of India.
Births Edit
Up to 1800 Edit
- 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
- 1415 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV and Richard III of England (d. 1495)
- 1428 - Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (d. 1495)
- 1446 - Margaret of York (d. 1503)
- 1455 – King John I of Portugal (d. 1495)
- 1460 - Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal and patron of the arts (d. 1521)
- 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian philosopher (d. 1527)
- 1678 - Amaro Pargo, Spanish pirate (d. 1747)
- 1695 – Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (d. 1771)
- 1713 - Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician (d. 1765)
- 1729 - Florian Leopold Gassmann, German-Bohemian composer (d. 1774)
- 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German dramatist (d. 1819)
- 1764 - Princess Elisabeth of France (d. 1794)
- 1768 - Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist (d. 1838)
- 1768 - Agustín Eyzaguirre, acting President of Chile (d. 1838)
- 1773 - Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian naturalist (d. 1846)
- 1784 - Henry Hubbard, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1857)
1801 – 1900 Edit
- 1814 - Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
- 1826 – King Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
- 1841 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, English talent agent, impresario and composer (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Bertha Benz, German automobile pioneer (d. 1944)
- 1849 – Bernhard von Buelow, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
- 1860 – John Scott Haldane, British physiologist (d. 1936)
- 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
- 1861 - Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)
- 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
- 1872 – Simun av Skardi, Faroese poet and politician (d. 1942)
- 1873 - Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1945)
- 1874 – François Coty, French perfume manufacturer (d. 1934)
- 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
- 1879 - Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founder of Qantas (d. 1950)
- 1879 - Clyde L. Herring, American politician, 26th Governor of Iowa (d. 1945)
- 1884 - Willie Reid, Scottish footballer (d. 1966)
- 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
- 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet (d. 1969)
- 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist (d. 1975)
- 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer (d. 1975)
- 1895 - Cornelius Van Til, Dutch theologian and philosopher (d. 1987)
- 1895 - Gabriel Chevallier, French journalist and writer (d. 1969)
- 1895 - Bettina Encke von Arnim, German painter (d. 1971)
- 1896 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1898 – Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
1901 – 1950 Edit
- 1901 - Gino Cervi, Italian actor (d. 1974)
- 1901 - Ebbe Schwartz, Danish football official, President of UEFA (d. 1964)
- 1902 – Alfred Kastler, French physicist (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1909 - John A. Notte, Jr., American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1983)
- 1910 – Norman Corwin, American radio presenter (d. 2011)
- 1914 - Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French poet
- 1917 – Kiro Gligorov, former President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Pete Seeger, American musician (d. 2014)
- 1920 - John Lewis, American jazz pianist, composer and arranger (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer (d. 2000)
- 1923 - George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, teacher and writer
- 1924 - Ken Tyrrell, English racing driver (d. 2001)
- 1926 - Ann B. Davis, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1927 - Clelio Darida, Italian politician, Mayor of Rome (d. 2017)
- 1928 - Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
- 1928 - Carel Visser, Dutch artist (d. 2015)
- 1930 - Juan Gelman, Argentine writer and poet (d. 2014)
- 1931 - Aldo Rossi, Italian architect and designer (d. 1997)
- 1933 – James Brown, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist
- 1934 – Henry Cooper, British boxer (d. 2011)
- 1934 - Frankie Valli, American singer
- 1934 - Georges Moustaki, French singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Hans Cieslarczyk, German footballer
- 1938 - Lindsay Kemp, English actor, dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
- 1941 - Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player
- 1941 - Edward Malloy, American educator
- 1942 – Butch Otter, American politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
- 1943 - Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
- 1945 - Jeffrey C. Hall, American geneticist, 2017 joint-Nobel laureate
- 1946 – Rabah Saadane, Algerian footballer and coach
- 1947 - Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
- 1948 - Peter Oosterhius, English golfer
- 1949 – Ken Hom, Chinese-American chef
1951 – 1975 Edit
- 1951 – Jan Bielecki, Polish politician
- 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer
- 1951 - Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter, musician and producer
- 1951 - Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
- 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American politician, pastor and radio host
- 1952 - Allan Wells, Scottish runner
- 1956 – Marc Bellemare, French-Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish writer and broadcaster
- 1959 – Ben Elton, English comedian and writer
- 1959 - David Ball, English keyboardist and producer (Soft Cell)
- 1960 - Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English athlete
- 1961 – Steve McClaren, English football manager
- 1963 - Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-born British academic and journalist
- 1964 - Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 - Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
- 1965 – Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian, actor and presenter
- 1965 - Ignatius Aphrem I, Syrian patriarch
- 1965 - Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian multibillionaire and politician
- 1966 - Darren Morgan, Welsh snooker player
- 1970 - Bobby Cannavale, American actor
- 1970 - Suzi Perry, English model, columnist and motor racing presenter
- 1971 - Douglas Carswell, English politician, first UKIP MP
- 1972 - Stephen Barclay, English politician
- 1973 - Rea Garvey, Irish-German singer
- 1974 – Jukka Hentunen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1975 - Christina Hendricks, American actress
From 1976 Edit
- 1976 – Beto, Portuguese footballer
- 1976 - Alexander Gerst, German geophysicist, volcanologist and astronaut
- 1977 - Mashima Hiro, Japanese manga artist
- 1977 - Ben Olsen, American soccer player
- 1977 - Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
- 1978 - Dulé Hill, American actor and tap dancer
- 1978 – Autumn Phillips, Canadian-born member of the extended British Royal Family
- 1978 - Paul Banks, English-born musician
- 1978 - Lawrence Tynes, Scottish American football player
- 1979 – Simone Hauswald, German biathlete
- 1979 - Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian actress and singer
- 1980 – Jaycee Lee Dugard, American kidnap victim
- 1981 – Farrah Franklin, American actress and singer
- 1981 - U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (d. 2007)
- 1981 - Benoit Cheyrou, French footballer
- 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1983 – Laava, Brazilian singer
- 1983 – Joseph Addai, American Football player
- 1983 - Myriam Fares, Lebanese singer and entertainer
- 1984 - Cheryl Burke, American dancer
- 1985 - Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentine footballer
- 1985 - Meagan Tandy, American model and actress
- 1987 - Lina Grincikaite, Lithuanian sprinter
- 1987 - Joey Montana, Panamanian singer
- 1989 – Selah Sue, Belgian singer
- 1990 - Miranda Chartrand, Canadian-English singer
- 1990 - Brooks Koepka, American golfer
- 1996 - Alex Iwobi, Nigerian footballer
- 1996 - Noah Munck, American actor and musician
- 1996 - Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
Deaths Edit
Up to 1900 Edit
- 1152 - Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
- 1160 - Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. 1100)
- 1270 – Bela IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
- 1294 - John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
- 1481 – Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)
- 1598 - Anna Guarini, Italian singer (b. 1563)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English writer and playwright (b. 1564), April 23 in Julian calendar
- 1704 - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (b. 1644)
- 1724 - John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, politician and educator (b. 1662)
- 1752 - Samuel Ogle, English-American politician (b. 1692)
- 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
- 1764 - Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (b. 1712)
- 1779 - John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist and astronomer (b. 1714)
- 1839 - Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
- 1856 - Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
- 1886 - Alexander Karadordevic, Prince of Serbia (b. 1806)
1901 – 2000 Edit
- 1910 - John Lourie Beveridge, 17th Governor of Illinois (b. 1824)
- 1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish nationalist (b. 1858)
- 1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish nationalist (b. 1878)
- 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish nationalist and poet (b. 1879)
- 1932 - Charles Fort, American author (b. 1874)
- 1938 - Percy Funivall, English cyclist (b. 1867)
- 1939 - Madeleine Desroseaux, French poet and novelist (b. 1873)
- 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
- 1943 - Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
- 1948 - Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish nobleman (b. 1876)
- 1961 - Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher (b. 1908)
- 1969 – Zakir Hussain, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
- 1970 - Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer (b. 1918)
- 1972 - Emil Breitkreuz, American middle-distance runner (b. 1883)
- 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Ernie Nevers, American football player (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Dalida, French singer (b. 1933)
- 1988 – Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
- 1989 - Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Jerzy Kosinski, Polish writer (b. 1933)
- 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist (b. 1927)
From 2001 Edit
- 2002 – Barbara Castle, British politician (b. 1910)
- 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter (b. 1925)
- 2006 – Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
- 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino chess player and official (b. 1927)
- 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American NASA engineer (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2011 - Robert Brout, Belgian physicist (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Jorge Illueca, former President of Panama (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Lloyd Brevett, Jamaican musician (b. 1931)
- 2013 - Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist (b. 1943)
- 2014 - Gary Becker, American economist (b. 1930)
- 2014 - Jim Oberstar, American politician (b. 1934)
- 2015 - Abdul Wahid Aresar, Pakistani politician (b. 1949)
- 2015 - Danny Jones, Welsh rugby league player (b. 1986)
- 2015 - Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian film director (b. 1926)
- 2015 - Abdul Basit Usman, Filipino fugitive (b. 1974)
- 2015 - Harry Martin, American judge (b. 1920)
- 2015 - John Elders, English rugby union player (b. 1930)
- 2016 - Ian Deans, Scottish-Canadian politician (b. 1937)
- 2016 - Abel Fernandez, American actor (b. 1930)
- 2016 - Marianne Gaba, American model and actress (b. 1939)
- 2016 - Kaname Harada, Japanese World War II flying ace and anti-war activist (b. 1916)
- 2016 - Karol Machata, Slovakian actor (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Nicolas Noxon, American filmmaker (b. 1936)
- 2016 - Janusz Tazbir, Polish historian (b. 1927)
- 2017 - Mishaal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi prince and politician (b. 1926)
- 2017 - Lukas Ammann, Swiss actor (b. 1912)
- 2017 - Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and politician (b. 1942)
- 2017 - Abbas Abdullahi Sheikh Siraji, Somali politician (b. 1985)
- 2017 - Yumeji Tsukioka, Japanese actress (b. 1921)
- 2018 - Doina Cornea, Romanian activist (b. 1929)
- 2018 - Afonso Dhlakama, Mozambican politician (b. 1953)
- 2019 - Frits Soetekouw, Dutch footballer (b. 1938)
- 2019 - Goro Shimura, Japanese mathematician (b. 1930)
Observances Edit
- Constitution Day in Poland and Lithuania
- Constitution Memorial Day in Japan
- World Press Freedom Day