February 3

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 331 days remaining, (332 in leap years).

In the Northern hemisphere, there are 88 days in winter (in a non-leap year). We are considered halfway through winter on February 3.

Events

• 1451 – Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Mehmed II.
• 1488 – Bartholomeu Diaz of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south.
• 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.
• 1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
• 1787 – Shays' Rebellion is crushed, ending an uprising that would prompt negotiations that would result in the drafting of the Constitution of the United States.
• 1809 – Illinois Territory is created.
• 1815 – The first commercial cheese factory is founded (Switzerland).
• 1867 – Prince Mutsuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan.
• 1870 – The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.
• 1900 – Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former-Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebel.
• 1913 – The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose 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 unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long).
• 1931 – 258 die in New Zealand's worst natural disaster, the Napier earthquake.
• 1941 – World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
• 1944 – United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
• 1945 – World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
• 1947 – Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House and Senate press gallery.
• 1951 – Dick Button wins the American figure skating championship for the fourth consecutive time.
• 1952 – The earliest known tropical storm makes landfall in South Florida.
• 1959 – Plane crash that kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. This date becomes known as "The Day The Music Died".
• 1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
• 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.
• 1984 – Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the tenth space shuttle mission.
• 1988 – Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
• 1989 – After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.
• 1998 – Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
• 1998 – Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 skiers in Italy riding on a lift suspended by a cable snapped by the low-flying plane.
• 2002 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots defeat the St. Louis Rams, 20–17, to win their first Super Bowl championship.
• 2008 – Super Bowl XLII will take place from the new Arizona Cardinals stadium currently under construction in Glendale, Arizona.

Births

• 1266 or 1267 – Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel
• 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
• 1754 – George Crabbe, English poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
• 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)
• 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)
• 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (d. 1910)
• 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American writer (d. 1881)
• 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German industrialist and aircraft designer (d. 1935)
• 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1946)
• 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American writer and patron of the arts (d. 1946)
• 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
• 1893 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (d. 1978)
• 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American artist, illustrator (d. 1978)
• 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
• 1904 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
• 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
• 1907 – James Michener, American author (d. 1997)
• 1909 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)
• 1911 – Robert Earl Jones, American actor
• 1918 – Joey Bishop, comedian, actor
• 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner
• 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician
• 1924 – Andrzej Szczypiorski, writer (d. 2000)
• 1925 – John Fiedler, American voice actor
• 1926 – Shelley Berman, American comedian
• 1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer
• 1930 – Gillian Ayres, painter
• 1932 – Peggy Ann Garner, actress (d. 1984)
• 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, United States Senator
• 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1939 – Michael Cimino, American film director
• 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player
• 1941 – Neil Bogart, music company executive (d. 1982)
• 1943 – Blythe Danner, actress
• 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player
• 1947 – Paul Auster, novelist
• 1947  – Melanie Safka, singer and songwriter
• 1947  – Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)
• 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor
• 1948 – Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorian politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, actress
• 1950  – Pamela Franklin, American actress
• 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player
• 1956 – Nathan Lane, actor
• 1956  – Lee Ranaldo, American musician (Sonic Youth)
• 1959 – Thomas Calabro, American actor
• 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler (d. 1993)
• 1961 – Keith Gordon, American actor and director
• 1962 – Michelle Greene, American actress
• 1965 – Maura Tierney, actress
• 1970 – Warwick Davis, British actor
• 1971 – Sarah Kane, playwright (d. 1999)
• 1974 – Miriam Yeung, actress and singer

Deaths

• 619 – Laurence of Canterbury, second Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1014 – Sweyn I, king of Denmark (b. ca. 965)
• 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1386)
• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher (b. ca. 1390s)
• 1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
• 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States (b. 1856)
• 1956 – Émile Borel, mathematician, politician, statesman, member of the French Resistance during World War II (b. 1871)
• 1959 – Rock and roll performers Buddy Holly (b. 1936), Ritchie Valens (b. 1941) and The Big Bopper (b. 1930) (plane crash)
• 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor
• 1964 – Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (b. 1880)
• 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist
• 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, writer (b. 1929)
• 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress
• 1996 – Audrey Meadows, actress (b. 1926)
• 1998 – Karla Faye Tucker, murderess
• 2000 – Richard Kleindienst, American politician
• 2003 – Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer
• 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian Prime Minister
• 2005 – Corrado Cardinal Bafile, oldest Cardinal ever. (b. 1903)
• 2005 – Ernst Mayr, evolutionary biologist (b. 1904)

Holidays and observances

• Saint Blaise Roman Catholics visit churches to have their throats blessed.
• Boy Scout Sunday
• Feast day of Saint Werburgh
• Japan – the festival of Setsubun before spring
• Mozambique – Heroes' Day
• United States – Four Chaplains Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

February 2 – February 4 – January 3 – March 3 — listing of all days