February 3 facts for kids

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 331 days remain until the end of the year (332 in leap years).

This page shares important events, famous birthdays, and notable deaths that happened on February 3rd throughout history. From ancient times to more recent years, this day has seen many interesting moments, including big discoveries, important political changes, and the birth or passing of well-known people.

Historic Events

Early Times to 1600

• 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, got married. This marriage brought their two states closer together.
• 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II became the new leader of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1488 – The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias landed in Mossel Bay in Africa. He was the first known European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, which is at the southern tip of Africa.
• 1509 – The Portuguese navy won a major sea battle called the Battle of Diu in Diu, India. They defeated a large fleet made up of ships from several different empires and states.
• 1583 – The Battle of São Vicente happened off the coast of Portuguese Brazil. Three English warships, led by Edward Fenton, fought against three Spanish galleons and sank one of them.

1601 to 1900

• 1637 – The "Tulip Mania" ended in the Dutch Republic. This was a time when the prices of tulip bulbs became incredibly high, then suddenly crashed.
• 1639 – The House of Assembly of Barbados held its very first meeting. This was an important step for the island's government.
• 1661 – Maratha forces, led by Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, defeated the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
• 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts in America printed the first paper money ever used in the Americas.
• 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt, Swedish forces used a clever strategy called a double envelopment to defeat a much larger Saxon-Polish-Russian army.
• 1716 – A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit Algiers in Algeria. It caused a lot of damage and sadly, about 20,000 people lost their lives.
• 1781 – During the American Revolutionary War, British forces captured the Dutch-owned Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius.
• 1783 – Spain–United States relations began, meaning Spain and the United States officially started working together.
• 1787 – A group of militia, led by General Benjamin Lincoln, put an end to the remaining parts of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
• 1807 – A British military force, led by Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, captured the city of Montevideo from the Spanish Empire. Montevideo is now the capital of Uruguay.
• 1809 – The 10th United States Congress officially created the Territory of Illinois.
• 1813 – José de San Martín defeated a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo. This was an important battle in the Argentine War of Independence.
• 1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 declared that Greece was fully independent and its own country, separate from the Ottoman Empire. This was the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
• 1862 – The regions of Moldavia and Wallachia officially joined together to form the Romanian United Principalities.
• 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was approved. This amendment made sure that all male citizens could vote, no matter their race.

1901 to Today

• 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was approved. This amendment allowed the Federal government to collect an income tax.
• 1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, burned down. Seven people died in the fire.
• 1917 – World War I: The American entry into World War I began when the United States ended its diplomatic relations with Germany. This happened because Germany started using unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California, opened for service. It was the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at the time, stretching about 11,920 feet (3,633 meters).
• 1927 – A revolt against the military government of Portugal began in the city of Oporto.
• 1930 – The Communist Party of Vietnam was founded at a meeting held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
• 1931 – The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake hit New Zealand. It was the country's worst natural disaster and killed 258 people.
• 1933 – Adolf Hitler announced that expanding into Eastern Europe and making it more German were the main goals of Nazi foreign policy.
• 1943 – The SS Dorchester ship was sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 out of 902 men on board survived.
• 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces captured Kwajalein Atoll from the Japanese army.
• 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17 planes from the Eighth Air Force bombed Berlin. This raid killed between 2,500 and 3,000 people and left many without homes.
• 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth began a month-long battle to take back Manila from Japan.
• 1958 – The Benelux Economic Union was founded. This union between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg helped set the stage for the later European Economic Community.
• 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. This sad event is often called The Day the Music Died.
• 1959 – Sixty-five people died when American Airlines Flight 320 crashed into the East River while trying to land at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.
• 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan gave a famous speech about "a wind of change". This speech signaled that his government would likely support countries becoming independent from colonial rule.
• 1961 – The United States Air Force started Operation Looking Glass. For the next 30 years, a special "Doomsday Plane" was always in the air, ready to take control of U.S. bombers and missiles if the main command center was destroyed.
• 1966 – The Soviet Union's Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to land softly on the Moon. It was also the first spacecraft to send pictures from the Moon's surface.
• 1972 – The 1972 Iran blizzard began. This seven-day snowstorm would become the deadliest snowstorm in history, killing at least 4,000 people.
• 1984 – Doctor John Buster and his research team announced the first successful embryo transfer from one woman to another, which resulted in a live birth.
• 1984 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-41-B.
• 1989 – After having a stroke, South African President P. W. Botha resigned as the leader of the National Party. He stayed on as president for six more months.
• 1989 – A military coup overthrew Alfredo Stroessner, who had been the dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
• 1994 – Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-60 launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, who was the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Space Shuttle.
• 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 began from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
• 1998 – In the Cavalese cable car disaster, a United States military pilot caused the death of 20 people. His low-flying plane cut the cable of a cable car near Trento, Italy.

Famous Birthdays

Before 1600

• 1393 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, an English nobleman and military leader.
• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, a German publisher who invented the printing press.
• 1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.

1601 to 1900

• 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, a Czech architect who designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau.
• 1689 – Blas de Lezo, a Spanish admiral.
• 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, an Austrian composer and music theorist.
• 1747 – Samuel Osgood, an American soldier and politician who was the first United States Postmaster General.
• 1790 – Gideon Mantell, an English scientist known for his work with dinosaurs.
• 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, a Venezuelan general and politician who became the second President of Bolivia.
• 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, a famous German pianist, composer, and conductor.
• 1811 – Horace Greeley, an American journalist and politician.
• 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, an American physician and educator who was the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States.
• 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, an English politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1859 – Hugo Junkers, a German engineer who designed the Junkers J 1 aircraft.
• 1874 – Gertrude Stein, an American novelist, poet, and playwright.
• 1878 – Gordon Coates, a New Zealand soldier and politician who became the 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand.
• 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, a Danish film director and screenwriter.
• 1894 – Norman Rockwell, a famous American painter and illustrator.
• 1898 – Alvar Aalto, a Finnish architect who designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre.

1901 to Today

• 1907 – James A. Michener, an American author and giver of gifts to charity.
• 1918 – Joey Bishop, an American actor and producer.
• 1920 – Henry Heimlich, an American physician who invented the Heimlich maneuver.
• 1925 – Shelley Berman, an American actor and comedian.
• 1935 – Johnny "Guitar" Watson, an American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1939 – Michael Cimino, an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.
• 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, an American football player and sportscaster.
• 1943 – Blythe Danner, an American actress.
• 1947 – Paul Auster, an American novelist, essayist, and poet.
• 1947 – Dave Davies, an English musician, best known as a member of The Kinks.
• 1948 – Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, an East Timorese Roman Catholic bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
• 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, an American actress.
• 1956 – Nathan Lane, an American actor and comedian.
• 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., an American commander, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1960 – Joachim Löw, a German footballer and manager.
• 1965 – Maura Tierney, an American actress and producer.
• 1968 – Vlade Divac, a Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster.
• 1970 – Warwick Davis, an English actor, producer, and screenwriter.
• 1976 – Isla Fisher, an Omani-Australian actress.
• 1977 – Daddy Yankee, a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, and record producer.
• 1978 – Amal Clooney, a British-Lebanese lawyer and activist.
• 1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, an American founder of the company Theranos.
• 1986 – Lucas Duda, an American baseball player.
• 1988 – Cho Kyu-hyun, a South Korean singer.
• 1990 – Sean Kingston, an American-Jamaican singer-songwriter.
• 1999 – Kanna Hashimoto, a Japanese actress.

Notable Deaths

Before 1600

• 6 – Ping, an emperor of the Han Dynasty.
• 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, a king of Denmark and England.
• 1161 – Inge I, a king of Norway.
• 1399 – John of Gaunt, an influential Belgian-English politician.
• 1451 – Murad II, an Ottoman sultan.
• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, the German inventor of the printing press.

1601 to 1900

• 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, a Spanish statesman and economist.
• 1820 – Gia Long, a Vietnamese emperor.
• 1832 – George Crabbe, an English surgeon and poet.
• 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician.

1901 to Today

• 1922 – Christiaan de Wet, a South African general and politician.
• 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, an American historian, academic, and politician who served as the 28th President of the United States and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1935 – Hugo Junkers, the German engineer who designed the Junkers J 1.
• 1959 – The musicians who died in The Day the Music Died:
  • The Big Bopper, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
  • Buddy Holly, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
  • Ritchie Valens, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1961 – Anna May Wong, an American actress who was one of the first Chinese American movie stars.
• 1975 – Umm Kulthum, a very famous Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress.
• 1989 – John Cassavetes, an American actor, director, and screenwriter.
• 1996 – Audrey Meadows, an American actress and banker.
• 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, a Georgian biologist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of Georgia.
• 2012 – Ben Gazzara, an American actor and director.
• 2015 – Martin Gilbert, an English historian and author.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Ansgar
  • Blaise
  • Werburgh
• Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
• Four Chaplains Day (United States)
• Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
• Day of Finnish architecture and design, celebrating the birthday of Alvar Aalto (Finland)
• Heroes' Day (Mozambique)
• Martyrs' Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
• Setsubun (Japan)
• Veterans' Day (Thailand)

|

See also

In Spanish: 3 de febrero para niños