What happened on May 3? There are more than 285 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About May 3
May 3 is the 124th day of the year 2024. There are 242 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday. This day falls under the 18th week of the year 2024.
On this day in McRoberts, Kentucky 41835 sunrise occured at 06:31 AM and sunset occured at 08:23 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Taurus. The modern birthstone for this month is Emerald while the mystical birthstone is Sapphire.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 271 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For May 3
- 1481The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
- 1491Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
- 1791The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1802Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
- 1808Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
- 1808Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
- 1815Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
- 1830The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened. It is the first steam hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
- 1837The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
- 1849The May Uprising in Dresden begins – the last of the German revolutions of 1848.
- 1860Charles XV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
- 1867The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
- 1877Labatt Park, the oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world has its first game.
- 1901The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1913Raja Harishchandra the first full-length Indian feature film is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
- 1915The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
- 1916The leaders of the Easter Rising are executed in Dublin.
- 1920A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
- 1921West 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.
- 1928Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
- 1936Joe DiMaggio, familiarly referred to as Joltin' Joe and The Yankee Clipper makes his major league debut for the New York Yankees.
- 1937Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- 1939The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- 1942World 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.
- 1945World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
- 1947New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- 1948The 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.
- 1951London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain
- 1951The 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.
- 1952Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
- 1952The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time on the CBS network.
- 1957Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
- 1960The Anne Frank House opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 1960The Off-Broadway musical comedy, The Fantasticks, opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
- 1963The 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.
- 1973The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1.451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
- 1978The 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.
- 1986Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes in an airliner (Flight UL512) at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
- 1987A 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.
- 1999The 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 is the strongest tornado ever recorded with wind speeds of up to 318 mph.
- 2000The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
- 2001The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
- 2002A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.
- 2003New Hampshire’s famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.
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Who Were Born On May 3?
- 612Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
- 1415Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (d. 1495)
- 1428Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (d. 1495)
- 1446Margaret of York, wife of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1503)
- 1469Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and political author (d. 1527)
- 1662Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (d. 1736)
- 1695Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (d. 1771)
- 1713Alexis Claude de Clairaut, French mathematician (d. 1765)
- 1761August von Kotzebue, German dramatist (d. 1819)
- 1764Elisabeth of France, sister of Louis XVI (d. 1794)
- 1768Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (d. 1838)
- 1814Sir Adams George Archibald, Canadian Father of the Confederation (d. 1892)
- 1826Charles, Crown Prince of Sweden-Norway (d. 1872)
- 1835Alfred Austin, English poet (d. 1913)
- 1844Richard D'Oyly Carte, English theatrical impresario (d. 1901)
- 1849Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
- 1849Jacob August Riis, American journalist (d. 1914)
- 1857George Gore, American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1859Andy Adams, American author (d. 1935)
- 1860John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist (d. 1936)
- 1860Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician (d. 1940)
- 1861Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)
- 1867J.T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
- 1870Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
- 1873Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945)
- 1874François Coty, French perfume manufacturer (d. 1934)
- 1874V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (d. 1954)
- 1877Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
- 1879Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman (d. 1950)
- 1886Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
- 1887Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
- 1888Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1891Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet (d. 1969)
- 1892George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892Jacob Viner, Canadian economist (d. 1970)
- 1893Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (d. 1975)
- 1895Cornelius Van Til, philosopher and Christian apologist (d. 1987)
- 1896Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1896Karl Allmenroder, German World War I Flying ace (d. 1917)
- 1898Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
- 1898Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1901Gino Cervi, Italian actor (d. 1974)
- 1902Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1903Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
- 1905Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1988)
- 1906Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American radio personality, daughter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1975)
- 1906Mary Astor, Academy Award-winning American actress (d. 1987)
- 1907Dorothy Young, American entertainer (d. 2011)
- 1910Norman Corwin, American radio pioneer
- 1912Virgil Fox, American organist (d. 1980)
- 1913William Inge, American playwright (d. 1973)
- 1915Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler and trainer (d. 2003)
- 1916Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (d. 2006)
- 1917Betty Comden, American lyricist (d. 2006)
- 1918Ted Bates, English former footballer (d. 2003)
- 1919John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d. 2004)
- 1919Pete Seeger, American singer
- 1920John Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (d. 2001)
- 1921Joe Ames, American singer (d. 2007)
- 1921Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- 1922Len Shackleton, English former footballer (d. 2000)
- 1923George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist and conductor
- 1923Ralph Hall, American politician
- 1924Ken Tyrrell, English founder of eponymous F1 racing team (d. 2001)
- 1924Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet (d. 2000)
- 1925Jean Séguy, French sociologist of religions (d. 2007)
- 1928Dave Dudley, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1932Robert Osborne, American film historian
- 1933Alex Cord, American actor
- 1933James Brown, American singer and dancer (d. 2006)
- 1933Steven Weinberg, American physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1934Frankie Valli, American singer (The Four Seasons)
- 1934Georges Moustaki, Egyptian born Greek-French singer and songwriter
- 1934Henry Cooper, English boxer (d. 2011)
- 1935Ron Popeil, American inventor
- 1937Nélida Piñon, Brazilian writer
- 1938Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
- 1938Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian Islamist terrorist
- 1940Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
- 1940David Koch, American businessman, politician
- 1940Konrad “Conny” Plank, German record producer and musician
- 1941Edward “Monk” Malloy, American university president
- 1942C.L. Otter, American politician, governor of Idaho
- 1942Dave Marash, American journalist
- 1942Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast
- 1943Jim Risch, American politician, junior senator of Idaho
- 1945Davey Lopes, American baseball player and coach
- 1946Greg Gumbel, American broadcaster
- 1946Norm Chow, American football coach
- 1946Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
- 1947Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
- 1948Chris Mulkey, American actor
- 1949Ken Hom, Chinese American chef
- 1949Ron Wyden, American politician, senior senator of Oregon
- 1950Mary Hopkin, Welsh Singer
- 1951Christopher Cross, American musician
- 1951Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer
- 1952Allan Wells, British athlete
- 1952Caitlin Clarke. American actress (d. 2004)
- 1952Chuck Baldwin, American political figure
- 1953Gary Young, American drummer (Pavement)
- 1955David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- 1956Marc Bellemare, French Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1957Rod Langway, American ice hockey player
- 1958Kevin Kilner, American actor
- 1958Sandi Toksvig, Danish born writer, broadcaster and comedian
- 1958Susanna Kwan, Hong Kong singer
- 1959Ben Elton, British comedian and author
- 1959David Ball, English musician (Soft Cell)
- 1959Uma Bharati, Indian politician
- 1960Amy Steel, American actress
- 1961David Vitter, American politician
- 1961Joe Murray, American cartoonist
- 1961Steve McClaren, English football manager
- 1962Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
- 1963Jamie Reeves, British strongman
- 1963Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player
- 1964Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965John Jensen, Danish footballer
- 1965Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian self-made businessman
- 1965Nina Garcia, Colombian-American fashion expert and television personality
- 1965Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian
- 1966Darren Morgan, Welsh snooker player
- 1966Firdous Bamji, Indian-American actor
- 1966Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
- 1966Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
- 1966Peter Abbay, American actor
- 1967André Olbrich, German guitarist and composer (Blind Guardian)
- 1968Shane Minor, American singer
- 1969Daryl F. Mallett, American writer/editor
- 1970Bobby Cannavale, American actor
- 1970Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
- 1971Damon Dash, American label executive
- 1971Josey Scott, American singer (Saliva)
- 1972Shonie Carter, American MMA fighter
- 1973Brad Martin, American musician
- 1973Rea Garvey, Irish musician
- 1974Peter Everitt, Australian football player
- 1974Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan
- 1975Christina Hendricks, American actress
- 1975Dulé Hill, American actor
- 1975Maksim Mrvica, Croatian pianist
- 1975Valentino Lanús, Mexican actor
- 1975Willie Geist, American television personality
- 1976Brad Scott, Australian rules footballer and coach
- 1976Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
- 1977Mashima Hiro, Japanese manga artist of Rave Master and Fairy Tail
- 1977Ryan Dempster, American baseball player
- 1977Tyronn Lue, American basketball player
- 1978Autumn Phillips, member of the British royal family
- 1978Lawrence Tynes, American football player
- 1978Paul Banks, American vocalist (Interpol)
- 1979Steve Mack, American professional wrestler
- 1980Jaycee Dugard, American kindnapping victim
- 1980Marcel Vigneron, American chef (Top Chef)
- 1980Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
- 1981Farrah Franklin, American singer (former member of Destiny’s Child)
- 1981U;Nee, South Korean singer and actress (d. 2007)
- 1982Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-born American football player
- 1983Joseph Addai, American football player
- 1983Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer
- 1983Myriam Fares, Lebanese singer
- 1983Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
- 1984Cheryl Burke, American dancer
- 1985Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer; plays for Italian team SSC Napoli
- 1985Meagan Tandy, American actress
- 1987Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
- 1990Levi Johnston, American actor and model; former fiancé of Bristol Palin
- 1990Miranda Chartrand, Canadian singer
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Who Died On May 3?
- 1152Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England (b. 1105)
- 1160Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. c. 1100)
- 1270King Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
- 1294John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
- 1481Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)
- 1598Anna Guarini, Italian singer (b. 1563)
- 1606Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (b. 1555)
- 1616William Shakespeare, English writer and actor (b. 1564) (his death is commonly accepted to be on April 23, according to the Julian calendar)
- 1622Pedro Páez, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1564)
- 1679James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
- 1693Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
- 1704Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (b. 1644)
- 1724John Leverett the Younger, American President of Harvard (b. 1662)
- 1750John Willison, Scottish minister and writer (b. 1680)
- 1752Samuel Ogle, British provincial Governor of Maryland (b. c. 1692)
- 1758Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
- 1763George Psalmanazar, British impostor (b. 1679)
- 1764Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (b. 1712)
- 1779John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)
- 1793Martin Gerbert, German theologian and historian (b. 1720)
- 1839Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
- 1856Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (b. 1803)
- 1910Howard Taylor Ricketts, American bacteriologist. (b. 1871)
- 1916Leaders of the Easter Rising: Patrick Pearse, Irish Nationalist and Leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1879)
- 1916Leaders of the Easter Rising: Thomas MacDonagh, Irish Nationalist and Leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1878)
- 1916Leaders of the Easter Rising: Tom Clarke, Irish Nationalist, Leader and Organiser of the Easter Rising (b. 1858)
- 1918Charlie Soong, Christian missionary
- 1921Théodore Pilette, Belgian racing driver (b. 1883)
- 1942Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
- 1958Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
- 1969Zakir Hussain, 3rd President of India, (b. 1897)
- 1972Bruce Cabot, American film actor (b. 1904)
- 1972Leslie Harvey, Scottish guitar player for Stone the Crows (b. 1944)
- 1978Bill Downs, American broadcast journalist (b. 1914)
- 1987Dalida, French singer (b. 1933)
- 1988Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
- 1989Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual (b. 1926)
- 1989Edward Ochab, Polish Communist politician (b. 1906)
- 1991Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-born writer (b. 1933)
- 1991Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
- 1992George Murphy, American dancer, actor and politician (b. 1902)
- 1996Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 1996Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist (b. 1921)
- 1996Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997Narciso Yepes, Spanish classical guitarist (b. 1927)
- 1997Sébastien Enjolras, French racing driver (b. 1976)
- 1999Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
- 1999Joe Adcock, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 1999Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1967)
- 2000John Joseph O'Connor, Cardinal Archbishop of New York (b. 1920)
- 2000Julia Bathory, Hungarian glass-designer (b. 1901)
- 2001Billy Higgins, American drummer (b. 1936)
- 2002Barbara Castle, British politician (b. 1910)
- 2002Evgeny Svetlanov, Russian composer and pianist (b. 1928)
- 2003Suzy Parker, American actress (b. 1932)
- 2004Anthony Ainley, British actor (b. 1932)
- 2004Darrell Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1928)
- 2004Ken Downing, British racing driver (b. 1917)
- 2006Earl Woods, athlete and father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)
- 2006Karel Appel, Dutch painter (b. 1921)
- 2006Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
- 2007Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (b. 1932)
- 2007Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
- 2007Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
- 2008Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Spanish former Prime Minister (b. 1926)
- 2009Ram Shewalkar, Indian Marathi writer (b. 1931)
- 2009Ton Lutz, Dutch actor (b. 1919)
- 2010Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
- 2010Roy Carrier, American Zydeco musician (b. 1947)
- 2011Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2011Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer (b. 1936)
- 2011Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor (b. 1927)
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