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.
[edit] Events
- 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
- 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
- 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
- 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
- 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
- 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 and Whitstable Railway is opened. It is the first steam hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
- 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
- 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins – the last of the German revolutions of 1848.
- 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
- 1867 – The Hudson's Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
- 1877 – Labatt Park, the oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world has its first game.
- 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1913 – Raja Harishchandra the first full-length Indian feature film is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
- 1915 – The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
- 1916 – The leaders of the Easter Rising are executed in Dublin.
- 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
- 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to issues surrounding its enforcement.
- 1928 – Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
- 1936 – Joe DiMaggio, familiarly referred to as Joltin' Joe and The Yankee Clipper makes his major league debut for the New York Yankees.
- 1937 – Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
- 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
- 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules, in Shelley v. Kraemer, that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
- 1951 – London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain
- 1951 – The United States Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
- 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
- 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time on the CBS network.
- 1957 – Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
- 1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy, The Fantasticks, opens in New York City's Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
- 1960 – The Anne Frank House opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing newfound attention to the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
- 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1.451 feet as the world's tallest building.
- 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
- 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes in an airliner (Flight UL512) at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
- 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop restrictor plate racing the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
- 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produced the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
- 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
- 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
- 2002 – A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.
- 2003 – New Hampshire's famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.
[edit] Births
- 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
- 1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
- 1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (d. 1495)
- 1446 – Margaret of York, wife of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1503)
- 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and author (d. 1527)
- 1632 – Catherine de Saint-Augustin, Canadian saint, founder of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
- 1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (d. 1736)
- 1695 – Henri Pitot, Italian-French engineer and inventor of the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
- 1713 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician (d. 1765)
- 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, German-Bohemian composer (d. 1774)
- 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German dramatist and author (d. 1819)
- 1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
- 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (d. 1838)
- 1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, father of the Confederation (d. 1892)
- 1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
- 1835 – Alfred Austin, English poet (d. 1913)
- 1844 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English talent agent, impresario, and composer (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German statesman, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
- 1849 – Jacob August Riis, American journalist (d. 1914)
- 1857 – George Gore, American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1859 – Andy Adams, American author (d. 1935)
- 1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist (d. 1936)
- 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician (d. 1940)
- 1861 – Emmett Dalton, American outlaw, member of the Dalton Gang (d. 1937)
- 1867 – J.T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
- 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
- 1873 – Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945)
- 1874 – François Coty, French perfume manufacturer and newspaper publisher, founder of the fascist league Solidarité Française (d. 1934)
- 1874 – V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (d. 1954)
- 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
- 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman, aviation pioneer, and soldier, one of the founders of Qantas (d. 1950)
- 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
- 1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
- 1888 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet (d. 1969)
- 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian economist (d. 1970)
- 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
- 1896 – Karl Allmenroder, German flying ace (d. 1917)
- 1896 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian politician (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Golda Meir, Israeli teacher and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
- 1901 – Gino Cervi, Italian actor (d. 1974)
- 1902 – Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (The Rhythm Boys) (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American radio personality, daughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt (d. 1975)
- 1906 – René Huyghe, French historian (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Dorothy Young, American actress and novelist (d. 2011)
- 1910 – Norman Corwin, American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher (d. 2011)
- 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist (d. 1980)
- 1913 – William Inge, American playwright (d. 1973)
- 1914 – Homesick James, American guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, French-Canadian tenor (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Betty Comden, American actress, screenwriter, and lyricist (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer (d. 2003)
- 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American illustrator (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist (The Weavers and Almanac Singers)
- 1920 – John Lewis, American pianist, arranger, and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Joe Ames, American singer (Ames Brothers) (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer (d. 2000)
- 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, teacher, and author
- 1923 – Ralph Hall, American politician
- 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist (d. 2007)
- 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1932 – Robert Osborne, American historian
- 1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Alex Cord, American actor
- 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Greek-French singer-songwriter
- 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer (The Four Seasons and The Wonder Who?)
- 1935 – Ron Popeil, American inventor and spokesman, founded the Ronco company
- 1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian writer
- 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
- 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
- 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer
- 1940 – David Koch, American businessman and politician
- 1940 – Conny Plank, German musician and producer (Cluster and Moebius & Plank)
- 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
- 1941 – Edward Malloy, American educator, 16th president of the University of Notre Dame
- 1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast
- 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist
- 1942 – C.L. Otter, American politician
- 1943 – Jim Risch, American politician
- 1944 – Pete Staples, English musician (The Troggs)
- 1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player and coach
- 1946 – Norm Chow, American football coach
- 1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
- 1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
- 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
- 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
- 1949 – Ken Hom, Chinese-American chef
- 1949 – Ron Wyden, American politician
- 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh Singer-songwriter and musician
- 1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
- 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer
- 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American politician, pastor, and radio host
- 1952 – Caitlin Clarke. American actress (d. 2004)
- 1952 – Allan Wells, English athlete
- 1953 – Bruce Hall, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (REO Speedwagon)
- 1953 – Gary Young, American musician and singer (Pavement)
- 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- 1956 – Marc Bellemare, French-Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Rod Langway, American ice hockey player
- 1958 – Kevin Kilner, American actor
- 1958 – Susanna Kwan, Hong Kong singer and actress
- 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish writer, broadcaster, and comedian
- 1959 – David Ball, English musician and producer (Soft Cell and The Grid)
- 1959 – Uma Bharati, Indian politician
- 1959 – Ben Elton, English comedian and author
- 1960 – Amy Steel, American actress
- 1961 – Steve McClaren, English football manager
- 1961 – Joe Murray, American cartoonist
- 1961 – David Vitter, American politician
- 1961 – Leyla Zana, Turkish politician
- 1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
- 1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player
- 1963 – Jamie Reeves, English strongman and wrestler
- 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965 – Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian
- 1965 – Nina Garcia, Colombian-American fashion director, journalist, and critic
- 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer
- 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
- 1966 – Peter Abbay, American actor
- 1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
- 1966 – Firdous Bamji, Indian-American actor
- 1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
- 1966 – Darren Morgan, Welsh snooker player
- 1967 – André Olbrich, German guitarist and songwriter (Blind Guardian)
- 1968 – Shane Minor, American singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Daryl F. Mallett, American writer and editor
- 1970 – Bobby Cannavale, American actor
- 1970 – Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
- 1970 – Suzi Perry, English model and columnist
- 1971 – Damon Dash, American record executive
- 1971 – Josey Scott, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (Saliva)
- 1972 – Shonie Carter, American mixed martial artist
- 1973 – Rea Garvey, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Reamonn)
- 1973 – Brad Martin, American singer-songwriter
- 1974 – Princess Haya bint Al Hussein
- 1974 – Peter Everitt, Australian footballer
- 1975 – Willie Geist, American television host, writer, and producer
- 1975 – Christina Hendricks, American actress
- 1975 – Dulé Hill, American actor
- 1975 – Valentino Lanús, Mexican actor
- 1975 – Maksim Mrvica, Croatian pianist
- 1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
- 1977 – Ryan Dempster, American baseball player
- 1977 – Mashima Hiro, Japanese manga artist
- 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player
- 1978 – Paul Banks, American singer-songwriter and musician (Interpol)
- 1978 – Autumn Phillips, English royal, wife of Peter Phillips
- 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
- 1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
- 1979 – Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian actress
- 1980 – Jaycee Dugard, American kindnapping victim
- 1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
- 1980 – Marcel Vigneron, American chef
- 1981 – Farrah Franklin, American singer and actress (Destiny's Child)
- 1981 – U;Nee, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (d. 2007)
- 1981 – Charlie Brooks, English actress
- 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
- 1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
- 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
- 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Myriam Fares, Lebanese singer, producer, dancer, actress, and fashion designer
- 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer
- 1984 – Cheryl Burke, American dancer
- 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Meagan Tandy, American actress
- 1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
- 1988 – Daniel Patrick Ellis, American actor and model
- 1989 – Taylor Trensch, American actor
- 1990 – Miranda Chartrand, Canadian singer
- 1990 – Levi Johnston, American model, actor, and author
- 1991 – Bela Padilla, Filipino actress
- 1993 – Abby Rakic-Platt, English actress
- 1996 – Noah Munck, American actor
- 2006 – Mutya Orquia, Filipino actress
[edit] Deaths
- 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
- 1160 – Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. c. 1100)
- 1270 – Béla 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)
- 1606 – Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (b. 1555)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English writer and actor (b. 1564)
- 1622 – Pedro Páez, Spanish missionary (b. 1564)
- 1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
- 1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
- 1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (b. 1644)
- 1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, politician, and educator President of Harvard University (b. 1662)
- 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and writer (b. 1680)
- 1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American politician, Proprietary Governor of Maryland (b. c. 1692)
- 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
- 1763 – George Psalmanazar, English impostor (b. 1679)
- 1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (b. 1712)
- 1779 – John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)
- 1793 – Martin Gerbert, German theologian and historian (b. 1720)
- 1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
- 1856 – Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (b. 1803)
- 1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American bacteriologist. (b. 1871)
- 1916 – Leaders of the Easter Rising
- Tom Clarke, Irish Nationalist, Leader and Organiser of the Easter Rising (b. 1858)
- Thomas MacDonagh, Irish Nationalist and Leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1878)
- Patrick Pearse, Irish Nationalist and Leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1879)
- 1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary
- 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
- 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
- 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish nobleman (b. 1876)
- 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Zakir Hussain, Indian politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
- 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1972 – Leslie Harvey, Scottish guitarist Stone the Crows (b. 1944)
- 1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
- 1981 – Nargis. Indian Actor (b. 1929)
- 1987 – Dalida, French singer and actress (b. 1933)
- 1988 – Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual (b. 1926)
- 1989 – Edward Ochab, Polish politician (b. 1906)
- 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish writer (b. 1933)
- 1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
- 1992 – George Murphy, American dancer, actor, and politician (b. 1902)
- 1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
- 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
- 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1967)
- 1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Julia Bathory, Hungarian glass-designer (b. 1901)
- 2000 – John Joseph O'Connor, American Archbishop (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Billy Higgins, American drummer and educator (b. 1936)
- 2002 – Barbara Castle, English politician (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Evgeny Svetlanov, Russian composer, conductor, and pianist (b. 1928)
- 2003 – Suzy Parker, American actress (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Anthony Ainley, English actor (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
- 2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
- 2006 – Earl Woods, American army officer, athlete, and writer, father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Ton Lutz, Dutch actor (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Ram Shewalkar, Indian writer (b. 1931)
- 2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor (b. 1927)
- 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Edith Bliss, Australian singer and television presenter (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Lloyd Brevett, Jamaican bass player and producer (The Skatalites) (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician and diplomat, President of Panama (b. 1918)
- 2012 – František Tondra, Slovak bishop (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Digby Wolfe, Australian actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links
