June 3

Events
Up to 1950
350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, ending Rome, leading a group of gladiators.
1326 - The Treaty of Novgorod determines the border between Russia and the Finnmark region of northern Norway.
1539 - Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
1608 - Samuel de Champlain completes his 3rd voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
1621 - The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for the New Netherlands.
1665 - Future-King James II of England/James VII of Scotland defeats the Dutch fleet off Lowestoft, Suffolk, England.
1769 - At Tahiti, James Cook observes the transit of Venus.
1781 - American Revolutionary War: Jack Jouett makes a midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Legislature of coming British cavalry who had been sent to capture them.
1789 - From Fort Chipewyan, a Alexander MacKenzie-led expedition, to find a river link to the Pacific Ocean coast of Canada, sets off.
1839 - In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsu destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium taken from British merchants, providing the United Kingdom with the "casus belli" to begin hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
1858 - Francis Thomas Gregory climbs the world's biggest monolith (single piece of rock), Mount Augustus in Western Australia. He names the rock after his brother, Augustus Gregory.
1861 - American Civil War: Union troops defeat Confederate forces in the Battle of Philippi in Virginia.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor - Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
1885 - Last military engagement on Canadian soil - Cree leader Big Bear escapes from the North-West Mounted Police.
1889 - The Transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway is completed.
1889 - The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, 14 miles (23 kilometres) from a Generator at Willamette Falls in Oregon to Portland, Oregon.
1916 - The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard.
1937 - Almost 6 months after his abdication as King, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom marries Wallis Simpson.
1940 - World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends, as Allied forces retreat.
1940 - World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
1940 - Franz Redemacher proposes Madagascar as the "Jewish Homeland".
1941 - World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the village of Kandanos, Greece, to the ground, killing 180 of its residents.
1942 - World War II: Japan begins its Aleutian Islands campaign by attacking Unalaska Island.
1947 - Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma announces the planned Partition of India.
1950 - Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal climb Annapurna in the Himalayas. It is the first successful ascent of a mountain higher than 8000 metres.
From 1951
1959 - Singapore is declared a self-governing state, though remaining within the British Empire.
1961 - US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev meet in Vienna, Austria, for talks.
1962 - A Boeing 707 plane crashes near Paris, killing 130 people.
1963 - A Northwest Airlines DC-7 crashes into the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia, Canada, killing 101 people.
1965 - NASA Gemini 4 mission: Crew member Edward Higgins White becomes the first American to perform a spacewalk.
1968 - Valerie Solanas attempts to kill artist Andy Warhol.
1969 - Off South Vietnam, Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts United States Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
1973 - The Supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 plane crashes in France, killing 14 people.
1979 - The Ixtoc I oil well explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to one of the worst-ever oil spills.
1980 - Seven tornadoes hit Grand Island, Nebraska, killing 5 people and destroying many homes.
1982 - Shlomo Argov, Israel's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, is shot and seriously injured in an assassination attempt in London.
1984 - The Indian government's Operation Blue Star military offensive begins at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
1989 - The crushing of protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing begins. Hundreds of people are killed.
1989 - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini dies.
1991 - Mount Unzen on Kyushu, Japan, erupts, killing 43 people, all of them researchers or journalists.
1992 - Aboriginal land rights are granted in Australia.
1993 - France and Spain recognize the independence of Andorra.
1998 - A major train derailment occurs in Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.
2003 - A train crash in Chinchilla, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, kills 19 people and injures around 50.
2006 - Montenegro becomes independent.
2008 - Barack Obama secures the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States, over Hillary Clinton.
2010 - The name of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada, is officially changed back to Haida Gwaii.
2012 - Dana Air Flight 997 crashes into a building in Lagos, Nigeria, killing all 153 people on board and more than 40 on the ground.
2017 - The June 2017 London attack is carried out, killing 8 people in a car-ramming and stabbing attack.
2018 - The Volcan de Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts, killing at least 69 people.
Births
Up to 1900
20 BC - Sejanus, Roman political figure (d. 31)
1537 - John Manuel, Prince of Portugal (d. 1554)
1540 - Charles II of Austria (d. 1590)
1579 - Jens Munk, Danish-Norwegian explorer (d. 1628)
1635 - Philippe Quinault, French writer (d. 1688).
1636 - John Hale, American minister (d. 1700)
1659 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (d. 1708)
1723 - Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian naturalist (d. 1788)
1726 - James Hutton, Scottish geologist (d. 1797)
1770 - Manuel Belgrano, Argentine politician and general (d. 1820)
1808 - Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
1819 - Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader (d. 1892)
1832 - Alexandre Charles Lecocq, French composer (d. 1918)
1840 - Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination (d. 1867)
1843 - King Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1912)
1844 - Detlev von Lilencron, German poet (d. 1909)
1844 - Garret Hobart, Vice President of the United States (d. 1899)
1853 - Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (d. 1942)
1864 - Ransom E. Olds, American pioneer (d. 1950)
1865 - King George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1936)
1872 - Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (d. 1919)
1873 - Otto Loewi, German doctor, won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1961)
1876 - Nikolay Burdenko, Russian surgeon (d. 1946)
1877 - Raoul Dufy, French painter (d. 1953)
1878 - Barney Oldfield, American racing driver (d. 1946)
1879 - Alla Nazimova, Russian-American movie and theatre actress (d. 1945)
1881 - Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter (d. 1964)
1885 - Yakov Sverdlov, Russian revolutionary and politician (d. 1919)
1890 - Baburao Painter, Indian actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1895 - Zoltan Korda, movie director (d. 1961)
1897 - Memphis Minnie, American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 1973)
1899 - Georg von Bekesy, Hungarian physicist and physiologist (d. 1972)
1900 - Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist (d. 1997)
1901 1950
1901 - Maurice Evans, English actor (d. 1989)
1901 - Zhang Xueliang, Chinese warlord (d. 2001)
1903 - Eddie Acuff, American actor (d. 1956)
1904 - Charles Drew, American surgeon (d. 1950)
1906 - Josephine Baker, American-born dancer (d. 1975)
1910 - Paulette Goddard, American actress (d. 1990)
1910 - Wilfred Thesiger, English explorer and writer (d. 2003)
1911 - Ellen Corby, American actress (d. 1999)
1913 - Lloyd Percival, Canadian tennis player, boxer, cricketer and coach (d. 1974)
1917 - Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969)
1922 - Alain Resnais, French director (d. 2014)
1923 - Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician (d. 2017)
1924 - M. Karunanidhi, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2018)
1924 - Ingrid Espelid Hovig, Norwegian television chef and cookbook author (d. 2018)
1924 - Bernard Glasser, American actor (d. 2014)
1924 - Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (d. 1997)
1924 - Torsten Wiesel, Swedish neuropsychologist and Nobel Prize winner
1925 - Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
1925 - Thomas Joseph Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow (d. 2001)
1926 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997)
1929 - Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist and geneticist
1930 - Marion Zimmer Bradley, American writer (d. 1999)
1930 - George Fernandes, Indian journalist and politician
1930 - Dakota Staton, American jazz singer (d. 2007)
1931 - Raul Castro, President of Cuba
1931 - Lindy Remigino, American athlete
1933 - Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, Emir of Bahrain (d. 1999)
1935 - Enzo Jannacci, Italian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013)
1936 - Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2017)
1937 - Solomon P. Ortiz, American politician
1937 - Edward Winter, American actor
1938 - David L. Mills, American computer engineer
1939 - Ian Hunter, English musician (Mott the Hoople)
1940 - Antonio Brack Egg, Peruvian ecologist and politician (d. 2014)
1940 - Loretta Long, American actress and singer
1942 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (d. 1999)
1943 - Billy Cunningham, American basketball player
1944 - Edith McGuire, American sprinter
1944 - Mary Thom, American feminist
1945 - Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist and businessman
1945 - John Derbyshire, British-American mathematician and political commentator
1945 - Hale Irwin, American golfer
1946 - Michael Clarke, American drummer (d. 1993)
1946 - Eddie Holman, American singer
1946 - Penelope Wilton, English actress
1947 - Mickey Finn, English singer and musician (d. 1993)
1948 - Jan Reker, Dutch footballer and manager
1949 - Floyd Lloyd, Jamaican singer
1950 - Melissa Mathison, American film and television screenwriter (d. 2015)
1950 - Suzi Quatro, American rock musician
1950 - Deniece Williams, American singer
1951 1975
1951 - Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States
1952 - Billy Powell, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 2009)
1954 - Dan Hill, Canadian singer
1954 - Bajram Rexhepi, former Prime Minister of Kosovo (d. 2017)
1956 - George Burley, Scottish football manager
1956 - Danny Wilde, American singer and guitarist (The Quick and The Rembrandts)
1957 - Peter de Villiers, South African rugby coach
1962 - Susannah Constantine, English television presenter
1963 - Rudy Demotte, Belgian politician, Prime Minister of Wallonia
1964 - Kerry King, American rock guitarist (Slayer)
1964 - James Purefoy, British actor
1965 - Michael Moore, British politician
1965 - Thomas Ohrner, German actor and television presenter
1966 - Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer
1967 - Anderson Cooper, American broadcast journalist
1968 - Saffron, Nigerian singer and dancer
1970 - Greg Hancock, American motorcycle speedway racer
1972 - Julie Gayet, French actress
1974 - Kelly Jones, Welsh singer (Stereophonics)
From 1976
1976 - Laila Samuelsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1977 - Cristiano Marques Gomes, Brazilian footballer
1979 - Christian Malcolm, British sprinter
1980 - Amauri, Brazilian-Italian footballer
1980 - Ibrahim Yattara, Guinean footballer
1980 - Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar
1982 - Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
1982 - Jodie Whittaker, English actress
1984 - Emily Scott, Australian model
1984 - Prince Felix of Luxembourg
1985 - Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan, Mongolian boxer
1985 - Papiss Cisse, Senegalese footballer
1985 - Lukasz Piszczek, Polish footballer
1986 - Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
1986 - Tomas Verner, Czech ice skater
1986 - Al Horford, Dominican basketball player
1987 - Angela Crawley, Scottish politician
1987 - Michelle Keegan, English actress
1987 - Masami Nagasawa, Japanese actress
1987 - Lalaine, American actress
1989 - Katie Hoff, American swimmer
1989 - Imogen Poots, British actress
1990 - Fabian Gotze, German footballer
1992 - Mario Gotze, German footballer
1993 - Otto Porter, American basketball player
2006 - Countess Leonore of Orange-Nassau, Jonkrouwe van Amsberg, Dutch royal
Deaths
Up to 1975
628 - Liang Shidu, Chinese rebel leader
800 - Staurakios, Byzantine general
1395 - Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria (b. 1350)
1397 - William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1328)
1411 - Leopold IV, Regent of Tyrol and Further Austria
1615 - Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567)
1649 - Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (b. 1590)
1657 - William Harvey, English physician (b. 1578)
1780 - Thomas Hutchinson, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1711)
1826 - Nikolai Karamzin, Russian writer (b. 1766)
1858 - Julius Reubke, German composer (b. 1834)
1861 - Stephen A. Douglas, American politician (b. 1813)
1875 - Georges Bizet, French composer (b. 1838)
1882 - Christian Wiberg, German painter (b. 1839)
1894 - Karl Eduard Zachariae, expert on Byzantine Law (b. 1812)
1899 - Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (b. 1825)
1900 - Mary Kingsley, English explorer (b. 1862)
1906 - John Maxwell, American golfer (b. 1871)
1918 - Ramon Maximiliano Valdes, 7th President of Panama (b. 1867)
1924 - Franz Kafka, Austrian novelist (b. 1883)
1928 - Li Yuan-hung, Chinese general and political figure (b. 1864)
1946 - Mikhail Kalinin, Soviet-Russian politician (b. 1875)
1963 - Nazim Hikmet (b. 1902)
1963 - Pope John XXIII (b. 1881)
1964 - Frans Eemil Sillanpaa, Finnish writer (b. 1888)
1969 - George Edwin Cooke, American soccer player (b. 1883)
1970 - Hjalmar Schacht, Minister of Economics and President of the Reichsbank under Adolf Hitler (b. 1877)
1971 - Heinz Hopf, German mathematician (b. 1894)
1975 - Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1901)
1975 - Ozzie Nelson, American band leader, producer, director, and actor (b. 1906)
1976 2010
1977 - Roberto Rossellini, Italian movie director, father of Isabella Rossellini, husband of Ingrid Bergman (b. 1906)
1977 - Archibald Hill, English mathematician, won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
1986 - Anna Neagle, English actress (b. 1904)
1987 - Will Sampson, American actor and artist (b. 1933)
1989 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shi'ite Islamic leader (b. 1900)
1990 - Stiv Bators, American musician, punk rock singer with The Dead Boys (b. October 22, 1949)
1990 - Robert Noyce, American inventor (b. 1927)
1991 - Katia Krafft, French volcanologist (b. 1942)
1991 - Maurice Krafft, French volcanologist (b. 1946)
1991 - Takeshi Nagata, Japanese geophysicist (b. 1913)
1992 - Robert Morley, English actor (b. 1908)
1994 - Puig Aubert, French rugby player (b. 1925)
1997 - Dennis James, American actor and game show host (b. 1917)
2000 - Merton Miller, American economist (b. 1923)
2001 - Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (b. 1915)
2002 - Lew Wasserman, American talent agent and studio executive (b. 1913)
2003 - Felix de Weldon, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)
2004 - Frances Shand Kydd, mother of Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1936)
2005 - Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader, writer and lawyer (b. 1945)
2006 - Johnny Grande, American singer (b. 1932)
2009 - Koko Taylor, American musician (b. 1928)
2009 - David Carradine, American actor (b. 1936)
2010 - Vladimir Arnold, Russian mathematician (b. 1937)
2010 - Rue McClanahan, American actress (b. 1934)
From 2011
2011 - Jack Kevorkian, American physician and assisted suicide activist (b. 1928)
2011 - James Arness, American actor (b. 1923)
2012 - Roy Salvadori, British racing driver (b. 1922)
2013 - Frank Lautenberg, United States Senator for New Jersey (b. 1924)
2013 - Jiah Khan, American-born British-Indian actress (b. 1988)
2013 - Atul Chitnis, German-Indian technician (b. 1962)
2014 - Gopinath Munde, Indian politician (b. 1949)
2014 - James Alan Shelton, Australian bluegrass guitarist (b. 1960)
2014 - Karl Harris, British motorcycle racer (b. 1979)
2014 - Svyatoslav Belza, Russian scholar, critic and essayist (b. 1942)
2014 - Virginia Luque, Argentine actress (b. 1927)
2015 - Avi Beker, Israeli academic (b. 1951)
2015 - Margaret Juntwait, American radio host (b. 1957)
2016 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer (b. 1942)
2016 - Jocelyn Lovell, Canadian cyclist (b. 1950)
2016 - Sten Lundin, Swedish motocross racer (b. 1931)
2016 - Luis Salom, Spanish motorcycle racer (b. 1991)
2016 - Dave Swarbrick, English musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
2016 - Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen, Dutch malacologist (b. 1929)
2017 - David Choby, American Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1947)
2017 - Niels Helveg Petersen, Danish politician (b. 1939)
2017 - Jimmy Piersall, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2017 - John K. Watts, Australian footballer and broadcaster (b. 1937)
2017 - Vincent Tshabalala, South African golfer (b. 1942)
2018 - Robert Brylewski, Polish singer-songwriter (b. 1961)
2018 - Frank Carlucci, American politician (b. 1930)
2018 - Jerry Hopkins, American journalist and blogger (b. 1935)
2018 - Miguel Obando y Bravo, Nicaraguan cardinal (b. 1926)
2018 - Mario Toros, Italian politician (b. 1922)
2018 - Georg von Tiesenhausen, German-American rocket scientist (b. 1914)
Observances
World Bicycle Day
European Bicycle Day
Montenegro Independence Day
Confederate Memorial Day (Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee)
June 03