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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 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. - 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 Jo?o 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 MacArthurby 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 is the strongest tornado ever recorded with wind speeds of up to 318 mph.
- 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.
- 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
- 1415 – Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (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 political author (d. 1527)
- 1662 – Matth?us Daniel P?ppelmann, German architect (d. 1736)
- 1695 – Henri Pitot, Italian-born French engineer (d. 1771)
- 1713 – Alexis Claude de Clairaut, French mathematician (d. 1765)
- 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, German-speaking Bohemian opera composer (d. 1774)
- 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German dramatist (d. 1819)
- 1764 – Elisabeth of France, sister of Louis XVI (d. 1794)
- 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist (d. 1838)
- 1814 – Sir Adams George Archibald, Canadian Father of the Confederation (d. 1892)
- 1826 – Charles, Crown Prince of Sweden-Norway (d. 1872)
- 1835 – Alfred Austin, English poet (d. 1913)
- 1844 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English theatrical impresario (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, 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 (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 – Fran?ois Coty, French perfume manufacturer (d. 1934)
- 1874 – V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (d. 1954)
- 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
- 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman (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, philosopher and Christian apologist (d. 1987)
- 1896 – Karl Allmenroder, German World War I Flying ace (d. 1917)
- 1896 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Golda Meir, 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 (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Mary Astor, Academy Award-winning American actress (d. 1987)
- 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American radio personality, daughter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1975)
- 1907 – Dorothy Young, American entertainer (d. 2011)
- 1910 – Norman Corwin, American radio pioneer
- 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist (d. 1980)
- 1913 – William Inge, American playwright (d. 1973)
- 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler and trainer (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Betty Comden, American lyricist (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Ted Bates, English former footballer (d. 2003)
- 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer
- 1920 – John Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Joe Ames, American singer (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Len Shackleton, English former footballer (d. 2000)
- 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist and conductor
- 1923 – Ralph Hall, American politician
- 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English founder of eponymous F1 racing team (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist of religions (d. 2007)
- 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1932 – Robert Osborne, American film historian
- 1933 – James Brown, American singer and dancer (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Alex Cord, American actor
- 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian born Greek-French singer and songwriter
- 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer (The Four Seasons)
- 1935 – Ron Popeil, American inventor
- 1937 – Nélida Pi?on, Brazilian writer
- 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
- 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian Islamist terrorist
- 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, British composer
- 1940 – David Koch, American businessman, politician
- 1940 – Konrad "Conny" Plank, German record producer and musician
- 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
- 1941 – Edward "Monk" Malloy, American university president
- 1942 – Věra ?áslavská, Czech gymnast
- 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist
- 1942 – C.L. Otter, American politician, governor of Idaho
- 1943 – Jim Risch, American politician, junior senator of Idaho
- 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 broadcaster
- 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
- 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
- 1949 – Ken Hom, Chinese American chef
- 1949 – Ron Wyden, American politician, senior senator of Oregon
- 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh Singer
- 1951 – Christopher Cross, American musician
- 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer
- 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American political figure
- 1952 – Caitlin Clarke. American actress (d. 2004)
- 1952 – Allan Wells, British athlete
- 1953 – Gary Young, American drummer (Pavement)
- 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- 1956 – Marc Bellemare, French Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1957 – Rod Langway, American ice hockey player
- 1958 – Kevin Kilner, American actor
- 1958 – Susanna Kwan, Hong Kong singer
- 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish born writer, broadcaster and comedian
- 1959 – David Ball, English musician (Soft Cell)
- 1959 – Uma Bharati, Indian politician
- 1959 – Ben Elton, British 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, British strongman
- 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965 – Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian
- 1965 – Nina Garcia, Colombian-American fashion expert and television personality
- 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer
- 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian self-made 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 composer (Blind Guardian)
- 1968 – Shane Minor, American singer
- 1969 – Daryl F. Mallett, American writer/editor
- 1970 – Bobby Cannavale, American actor
- 1970 – Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
- 1971 – Damon Dash, American label executive
- 1971 – Josey Scott, American singer (Saliva)
- 1972 – Shonie Carter, American MMA fighter
- 1973 – Rea Garvey, Irish musician
- 1973 – Brad Martin, American musician
- 1974 – Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan
- 1974 – Peter Everitt, Australian football player
- 1975 – Willie Geist, American television personality
- 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 rules footballer and coach
- 1977 – Ryan Dempster, American baseball player
- 1977 – Mashima Hiro, Japanese manga artist of Rave Master and Fairy Tail
- 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player
- 1978 – Paul Banks, American vocalist (Interpol)
- 1978 – Autumn Phillips, member of the British royal family
- 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
- 1979 – Steve Mack, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Jaycee Dugard, American kindnapping victim
- 1980 – Zuzana Ondrá?ková, Czech tennis player
- 1980 – Marcel Vigneron, American chef (Top Chef)
- 1981 – Farrah Franklin, American singer (former member of Destiny's Child)
- 1981 – U;Nee, South Korean singer and actress (d. 2007)
- 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-born American football player
- 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
- 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Myriam Fares, Lebanese singer
- 1983 – Márton Fül?p, Hungarian footballer
- 1984 – Cheryl Burke, American dancer
- 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer; plays for Italian team SSC Napoli
- 1985 – Meagan Tandy, American actress
- 1987 – Lina Grin?ikait?, Lithuanian sprinter
- 1990 – Miranda Chartrand, Canadian singer
- 1990 – Levi Johnston, American actor and model; former fiancé of Bristol Palin
- 1996 – Noah Munck, American actor
- 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England (b. 1105)
- 1160 – Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. c. 1100)
- 1270 – King 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) (his death is commonly accepted to be on April 23, according to the Julian calendar)
- 1622 – Pedro Páez, Spanish Jesuit 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 President of Harvard (b. 1662)
- 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and writer (b. 1680)
- 1752 – Samuel Ogle, British provincial Governor of Maryland (b. c. 1692)
- 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
- 1763 – George Psalmanazar, British 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
- 1918 – Charlie Soong, Christian missionary
- 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian racing driver (b. 1883)
- 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
- 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish nobleman, assassin of Minister Ritavuori (b. 1876)
- 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Zakir Hussain, 3rd President of India, (b. 1897)
- 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American film actor (b. 1904)
- 1972 – Leslie Harvey, Scottish guitar player for Stone the Crows (b. 1944)
- 1978 – Bill Downs, American broadcast journalist (b. 1914)
- 1987 – Dalida, French singer (b. 1933)
- 1988 – Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual (b. 1926)
- 1989 – Edward Ochab, Polish Communist politician (b. 1906)
- 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-born 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 (b. 1921)
- 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French racing driver (b. 1976)
- 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish classical 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, Cardinal Archbishop of New York (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Billy Higgins, American drummer (b. 1936)
- 2002 – Barbara Castle, British politician (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Evgeny Svetlanov, Russian composer and pianist (b. 1928)
- 2003 – Suzy Parker, American actress (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Anthony Ainley, British actor (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Ken Downing, British racing 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, athlete and 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 former Prime Minister (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Ton Lutz, Dutch actor (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Ram Shewalkar, Indian Marathi writer (b. 1931)
- 2010 – Roy Carrier, American Zydeco musician (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)
[edit]Holidays and observances[edit]External links
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