May 3

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 1481 &ndash; The largest of three earthquakes strikes the Greek island of Rhodes, killing an estimated 30,000 people.
* 1491 &ndash; Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries.
* 1494 &ndash; Christopher Columbus arrives in Jamaica, naming the island Santiago.
* 1715 &ndash; A total solar eclipse is visible across Northern Europe and Northern Asia, with totality across southern England being predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes of accuracy.
* 1791 &ndash; Poland's first constitution is introduced. May 3 is still celebrated as Constitution Day in Poland, as well as in neighboring Lithuania.
* 1802 &ndash; Washington, DC is incorporated as a city.
* 1808 &ndash; Rebels in Madrid, who rose up on the previous day, against French rule, are executed.
* 1808 &ndash; Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
* 1815 &ndash; Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
* 1830 &ndash; The Canterbury–Whitstable Railway in Southern England is opened. It is the first steam–hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
* 1837 &ndash; The University of Athens, Greece, is founded.
* 1849 &ndash; The May uprising begins in Dresden.
* 1855 &ndash; The adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with around 60 men in an attempt to conquer Nicaragua.
* 1860 &ndash; King Charles XV of Sweden-Norway is crowned.
* 1867 &ndash; Hudson's Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
* 1887 &ndash; Canada's worst mining disaster occurs in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. 150 people are killed, and 7 survive.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
* 1909 &ndash; Germany introduces driver's licences.
* 1913 &ndash; *Raja Harishchandra*, the first full–length Indian feature movie, is released, marking the start of the Indian movie industry.
* 1915 &ndash; The poem In Flanders Fields is written by John McCrae.
* 1916 &ndash; In Ireland, the leaders of the Easter Uprising are executed.
* 1920 &ndash; A Bolshevik coup fails in Georgia.
* 1934 &ndash; The French navy introduces *Surcouf*, which was the largest submarine at the time.
* 1936 &ndash; Joe DiMaggio makes his Major League Baseball debut, for the New York Yankees.
* 1937 &ndash; Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone With the Wind wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
* 1939 &ndash; The All India Forward Bloc is founded by Subhas Chandra Bose.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: Sinking of the prison ships *Cap Arcona*, *Thielbeck* and *Deutschland* by the Royal Air Force in Lubeck Bay.
* 1947 &ndash; Japan's new post–war constitution goes into effect.
* 1951 &ndash; George VI of the United Kingdom opens the Festival of Britain. London's Royal Festival Hall opens on the same day.
* 1952 &ndash; Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the US land a plane at the North Pole.
* 1952 &ndash; The Kentucky Derby horse race is shown on television throughout the US for the first time.
* 1956 &ndash; The first World Championships in judo take place in Tokyo.
* 1960 &ndash; In Amsterdam, the Netherlands the Anne Frank House is opened to the public.
* 1960 &ndash; Off–Broadway musical comedy *The Fantasticks* opens in New York City's Greenwich Village.
* 1973 &ndash; The Sears Tower in Chicago is completed.
* 1978 &ndash; The first Spam email is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
* 1979 &ndash; Margaret Thatcher is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, becoming the first female British Prime Minister.
* 1986 &ndash; A bomb explodes on an airliner at Colombo's airport in Sri Lanka, killing 21 people, and injuring 41.
* 1999 &ndash; The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by a Force–5 tornado, killing 45 people and injuring 665.

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; For the first time, the United States loses its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
* 2002 &ndash; A military MiG–21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan, in Northwest India, killing 8 people.
* 2003 &ndash; New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain rock feature collapses.
* 2006 &ndash; While landing in Sochi, Southern Russia, an Airbus A320–200 of Armenian airline Armavia crashes into the Black Sea, killing all 113 people on board.
* 2007 &ndash; The Scottish National Party, under Alex Salmond, narrowly wins in the election to the Scottish Parliament.
* 2007 &ndash; Madeleine McCann gets abducted from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
* 2008 &ndash; Cyclone Nargis devastates Burma, killing thousands of people, and causing widespread flooding in the Irrawaddy River Delta.
* 2014 &ndash; The Black Forest National Park is officially opened.
* 2018 &ndash; Dust storms in Rajasthan an Uttar Pradesh, India, kill at least 100 people.
* 2019 &ndash; The number of deaths in the South Kivu Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is estimated at 1,000, making it the second–deadliest outbreak of the disease.
* 2019 &ndash; Cyclone Fani hits the state of Odisha on the east coast of India.

## Births 
### Up to 1800 
* 612 &ndash; Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor (d. 641)
* 1415 &ndash; Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV and Richard III of England (d. 1495)
* 1428 &ndash; Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (d. 1495)
* 1446 &ndash; Margaret of York (d. 1503)
* 1455 &ndash; King John I of Portugal (d. 1495)
* 1460 &ndash; Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal and patron of the arts (d. 1521)
* 1469 &ndash; Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian philosopher (d. 1527)
* 1678 &ndash; Amaro Pargo, Spanish pirate (d. 1747)
* 1695 &ndash; Henri Pitot, Italian–born French engineer (d. 1771)
* 1713 &ndash; Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician (d. 1765)
* 1729 &ndash; Florian Leopold Gassmann, German–Bohemian composer (d. 1774)
* 1761 &ndash; August von Kotzebue, German dramatist (d. 1819)
* 1764 &ndash; Princess Elisabeth of France (d. 1794)
* 1768 &ndash; Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist (d. 1838)
* 1768 &ndash; Agustín Eyzaguirre, acting President of Chile (d. 1838)
* 1773 &ndash; Giuseppe Acerbi, Italian naturalist (d. 1846)
* 1784 &ndash; Henry Hubbard, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1857)

### 1801 &ndash; 1900 
* 1814 &ndash; Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
* 1826 &ndash; King Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
* 1841 &ndash; Richard D'Oyly Carte, English talent agent, impresario and composer (d. 1901)
* 1849 &ndash; Bertha Benz, German automobile pioneer (d. 1944)
* 1849 &ndash; Bernhard von Buelow, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
* 1860 &ndash; John Scott Haldane, British physiologist (d. 1936)
* 1860 &ndash; Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
* 1861 &ndash; Emmett Dalton, American outlaw (d. 1937)
* 1870 &ndash; Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
* 1872 &ndash; Simun av Skardi, Faroese poet and politician (d. 1942)
* 1873 &ndash; Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German–Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1945)
* 1874 &ndash; François Coty, French perfume manufacturer (d. 1934)
* 1877 &ndash; Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (d. 1925)
* 1879 &ndash; Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co–founder of Qantas (d. 1950)
* 1879 &ndash; Clyde L. Herring, American politician, 26th Governor of Iowa (d. 1945)
* 1884 &ndash; Willie Reid, Scottish footballer (d. 1966)
* 1886 &ndash; Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
* 1891 &ndash; Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet (d. 1969)
* 1892 &ndash; George Paget Thomson, English physicist (d. 1975)
* 1893 &ndash; Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer (d. 1975)
* 1895 &ndash; Cornelius Van Til, Dutch theologian and philosopher (d. 1987)
* 1895 &ndash; Gabriel Chevallier, French journalist and writer (d. 1969)
* 1895 &ndash; Bettina Encke von Arnim, German painter (d. 1971)
* 1896 &ndash; Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (d. 1990)
* 1898 &ndash; Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Gino Cervi, Italian actor (d. 1974)
* 1901 &ndash; Ebbe Schwartz, Danish football official, President of UEFA (d. 1964)
* 1902 &ndash; Alfred Kastler, French physicist (d. 1984)
* 1903 &ndash; Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
* 1905 &ndash; Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1988)
* 1906 &ndash; Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
* 1909 &ndash; John A. Notte, Jr., American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1983)
* 1910 &ndash; Norman Corwin, American radio presenter (d. 2011)
* 1914 &ndash; Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French poet
* 1917 &ndash; Kiro Gligorov, former President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2012)
* 1919 &ndash; Pete Seeger, American musician (d. 2014)
* 1920 &ndash; John Lewis, American jazz pianist, composer and arranger (d. 2001)
* 1921 &ndash; Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
* 1922 &ndash; Len Shackleton, English footballer (d. 2000)
* 1923 &ndash; George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, teacher and writer
* 1924 &ndash; Ken Tyrrell, English racing driver (d. 2001)
* 1926 &ndash; Ann B. Davis, American actress (d. 2014)
* 1927 &ndash; Clelio Darida, Italian politician, Mayor of Rome (d. 2017)
* 1928 &ndash; Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
* 1928 &ndash; Carel Visser, Dutch artist (d. 2015)
* 1930 &ndash; Juan Gelman, Argentine writer and poet (d. 2014)
* 1931 &ndash; Aldo Rossi, Italian architect and designer (d. 1997)
* 1933 &ndash; James Brown, American singer (d. 2006)
* 1933 &ndash; Steven Weinberg, American physicist
* 1934 &ndash; Henry Cooper, British boxer (d. 2011)
* 1934 &ndash; Frankie Valli, American singer
* 1934 &ndash; Georges Moustaki, French singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
* 1937 &ndash; Hans Cieslarczyk, German footballer
* 1938 &ndash; Lindsay Kemp, English actor, dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
* 1941 &ndash; Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player
* 1941 &ndash; Edward Malloy, American educator
* 1942 &ndash; Butch Otter, American politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
* 1943 &ndash; Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
* 1945 &ndash; Jeffrey C. Hall, American geneticist, 2017 joint–Nobel laureate 
* 1946 &ndash; Rabah Saadane, Algerian footballer and coach
* 1947 &ndash; Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
* 1948 &ndash; Peter Oosterhius, English golfer
* 1949 &ndash; Ken Hom, Chinese–American chef

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Jan Bielecki, Polish politician
* 1951 &ndash; Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer
* 1951 &ndash; Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter, musician and producer
* 1951 &ndash; Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
* 1952 &ndash; Chuck Baldwin, American politician, pastor and radio host
* 1952 &ndash; Allan Wells, Scottish runner
* 1956 &ndash; Marc Bellemare, French–Canadian lawyer and politician
* 1958 &ndash; Sandi Toksvig, Danish writer and broadcaster
* 1959 &ndash; Ben Elton, English comedian and writer
* 1959 &ndash; David Ball, English keyboardist and producer (Soft Cell)
* 1960 &ndash; Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English athlete
* 1961 &ndash; Steve McClaren, English football manager
* 1963 &ndash; Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani–born British academic and journalist
* 1964 &ndash; Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1964 &ndash; Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
* 1965 &ndash; Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian, actor and presenter
* 1965 &ndash; Ignatius Aphrem I, Syrian patriarch
* 1965 &ndash; Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian multibillionaire and politician
* 1966 &ndash; Darren Morgan, Welsh snooker player
* 1970 &ndash; Bobby Cannavale, American actor
* 1970 &ndash; Suzi Perry, English model, columnist and motor racing presenter
* 1971 &ndash; Douglas Carswell, English politician, first UKIP MP
* 1972 &ndash; Stephen Barclay, English politician
* 1973 &ndash; Rea Garvey, Irish–German singer
* 1974 &ndash; Jukka Hentunen, Finnish ice hockey player
* 1975 &ndash; Christina Hendricks, American actress

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Beto, Portuguese footballer
* 1976 &ndash; Alexander Gerst, German geophysicist, volcanologist and astronaut
* 1977 &ndash; Mashima Hiro, Japanese manga artist
* 1977 &ndash; Ben Olsen, American soccer player
* 1977 &ndash; Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
* 1978 &ndash; Dulé Hill, American actor and tap dancer
* 1978 &ndash; Autumn Phillips, Canadian–born member of the extended British Royal Family
* 1978 &ndash; Paul Banks, English–born musician
* 1978 &ndash; Lawrence Tynes, Scottish American football player
* 1979 &ndash; Simone Hauswald, German biathlete
* 1979 &ndash; Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian actress and singer
* 1980 &ndash; Jaycee Lee Dugard, American kidnap victim
* 1981 &ndash; Farrah Franklin, American actress and singer
* 1981 &ndash; U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (d. 2007)
* 1981 &ndash; Benoit Cheyrou, French footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)
* 1983 &ndash; Laava, Brazilian singer
* 1983 &ndash; Joseph Addai, American Football player
* 1983 &ndash; Myriam Fares, Lebanese singer and entertainer
* 1984 &ndash; Cheryl Burke, American dancer
* 1985 &ndash; Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentine footballer
* 1985 &ndash; Meagan Tandy, American model and actress
* 1987 &ndash; Lina Grincikaite, Lithuanian sprinter
* 1987 &ndash; Joey Montana, Panamanian singer
* 1989 &ndash; Selah Sue, Belgian singer
* 1990 &ndash; Miranda Chartrand, Canadian–English singer
* 1990 &ndash; Brooks Koepka, American golfer
* 1996 &ndash; Alex Iwobi, Nigerian footballer
* 1996 &ndash; Noah Munck, American actor and musician
* 1996 &ndash; Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 1152 &ndash; Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
* 1160 &ndash; Peter Lombard, Italian scholar and bishop (b. 1100)
* 1270 &ndash; Bela IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
* 1294 &ndash; John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
* 1481 &ndash; Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)
* 1598 &ndash; Anna Guarini, Italian singer (b. 1563)
* 1616 &ndash; William Shakespeare, English writer and playwright (b. 1564), April 23 in Julian calendar
* 1704 &ndash; Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (b. 1644)
* 1724 &ndash; John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, politician and educator (b. 1662)
* 1752 &ndash; Samuel Ogle, English–American politician (b. 1692)
* 1758 &ndash; Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
* 1764 &ndash; Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (b. 1712)
* 1779 &ndash; John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist and astronomer (b. 1714)
* 1839 &ndash; Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
* 1856 &ndash; Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
* 1886 &ndash; Alexander Karadordevic, Prince of Serbia (b. 1806)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1910 &ndash; John Lourie Beveridge, 17th Governor of Illinois (b. 1824)
* 1916 &ndash; Tom Clarke, Irish nationalist (b. 1858)
* 1916 &ndash; Thomas MacDonagh, Irish nationalist (b. 1878)
* 1916 &ndash; Patrick Pearse, Irish nationalist and poet (b. 1879)
* 1932 &ndash; Charles Fort, American author (b. 1874)
* 1938 &ndash; Percy Funivall, English cyclist (b. 1867)
* 1939 &ndash; Madeleine Desroseaux, French poet and novelist (b. 1873)
* 1942 &ndash; Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
* 1943 &ndash; Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
* 1948 &ndash; Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish nobleman (b. 1876)
* 1961 &ndash; Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher (b. 1908)
* 1969 &ndash; Zakir Hussain, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
* 1970 &ndash; Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer (b. 1918)   
* 1972 &ndash; Emil Breitkreuz, American middle–distance runner (b. 1883)
* 1972 &ndash; Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
* 1976 &ndash; Ernie Nevers, American football player (b. 1903)
* 1987 &ndash; Dalida, French singer (b. 1933)
* 1988 &ndash; Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
* 1989 &ndash; Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
* 1991 &ndash; Jerzy Kosinski, Polish writer (b. 1933)
* 1996 &ndash; Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
* 1997 &ndash; Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist (b. 1927)

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; Barbara Castle, British politician (b. 1910)
* 2006 &ndash; Karel Appel, Dutch painter (b. 1925)
* 2006 &ndash; Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)
* 2007 &ndash; Wally Schirra, American astronaut (b. 1923)
* 2008 &ndash; Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
* 2010 &ndash; Florencio Campomanes, Filipino chess player and official (b. 1927)
* 2010 &ndash; Guenter Wendt, German–American NASA engineer (b. 1923)
* 2011 &ndash; Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)
* 2011 &ndash; Robert Brout, Belgian physicist (b. 1928)
* 2012 &ndash; Jorge Illueca, former President of Panama (b. 1918)
* 2012 &ndash; Lloyd Brevett, Jamaican musician (b. 1931)
* 2013 &ndash; Cedric Brooks, Jamaican–American saxophonist (b. 1943)
* 2014 &ndash; Gary Becker, American economist (b. 1930)
* 2014 &ndash; Jim Oberstar, American politician (b. 1934)
* 2015 &ndash; Abdul Wahid Aresar, Pakistani politician (b. 1949)
* 2015 &ndash; Danny Jones, Welsh rugby league player (b. 1986)
* 2015 &ndash; Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian film director (b. 1926)
* 2015 &ndash; Abdul Basit Usman, Filipino fugitive (b. 1974)
* 2015 &ndash; Harry Martin, American judge (b. 1920)
* 2015 &ndash; John Elders, English rugby union player (b. 1930)
* 2016 &ndash; Ian Deans, Scottish–Canadian politician (b. 1937)
* 2016 &ndash; Abel Fernandez, American actor (b. 1930)
* 2016 &ndash; Marianne Gaba, American model and actress (b. 1939)
* 2016 &ndash; Kaname Harada, Japanese World War II flying ace and anti–war activist (b. 1916)
* 2016 &ndash; Karol Machata, Slovakian actor (b. 1928)
* 2016 &ndash; Nicolas Noxon, American filmmaker (b. 1936)
* 2016 &ndash; Janusz Tazbir, Polish historian (b. 1927)
* 2017 &ndash; Mishaal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi prince and politician (b. 1926)
* 2017 &ndash; Lukas Ammann, Swiss actor (b. 1912)
* 2017 &ndash; Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and politician (b. 1942)
* 2017 &ndash; Abbas Abdullahi Sheikh Siraji, Somali politician (b. 1985)
* 2017 &ndash; Yumeji Tsukioka, Japanese actress (b. 1921)
* 2018 &ndash; Doina Cornea, Romanian activist (b. 1929)
* 2018 &ndash; Afonso Dhlakama, Mozambican politician (b. 1953)
* 2019 &ndash; Frits Soetekouw, Dutch footballer (b. 1938)
* 2019 &ndash; Goro Shimura, Japanese mathematician (b. 1930)

## Observances 
* Saints Philip and James, Apostles
* Constitution Day in Poland and Lithuania
* Constitution Memorial Day in Japan
* World Press Freedom Day