On this day: 3 January
Events, births and deaths on 3 January. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Jeff Baena
- Deaths · Hiroshi Hara
- Deaths · Brenton Wood
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Peter Naur
- Deaths · Paul Bley
- Deaths · Igor Sergun
100 years ago1926
- Births · George Martin
- Births · W. Michael Blumenthal
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1028 · Deaths · Fujiwara no Michinaga
- 1028 · Deaths · Fujiwara no Yukinari
Events · 27
- 1653Coonan Cross Oath — 1653 oath by members of the Saint Thomas Christians
- 17391739 Yinchuan–Pingluo earthquake — M8.0 earthquake in China
- 1749Berlingske — Danish newspaper
- 1777Battle of Princeton — battle in the American independence War
- 1848President of Liberia — head of state and government of Liberia
- 1868restoration of imperial rule — return of power to the emperor in 1868
- 1871Battle of Bapaume — 1871 battle
- 1885Battle of Nui Bop — 1885 battle of the Sino-French War
- 1911Siege of Sidney Street — 1911 siege in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney
- 19111911 Kebin earthquake — earthquake struck Almaty Province, Kazakhstan on January 3, 1911
- 1938March of Dimes — United States nonprofit organization
- 1941Battle of Bardia — 1941 battle of World War II
- 1949Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — central bank of the Philippines
- 1958West Indies Federation — federation of British colonies (1958–1962)
- 1959Alaska — state of the United States of America
- 1961Aero Flight 311 — 1961 aviation accident in Kvevlax, Finland
- 1987Varig Flight 797 — 1989 plane crash of a Varig Boeing 707-320C near Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
- 1992CommutAir flight 4821 — 1992 aviation accident
- 1993START II — bilateral treaty between the United States and Russia
- 1994Baikal Airlines Flight 130 — aviation accident
- 2002Karine A Affair — 2002 Israeli military action
- 2004Flash Airlines Flight 604 — 2004 Egyptian aircraft accident
- 2009Bitcoin — digital cash system and associated currency
- 20152015 Baga massacre — series of mass killings and attacks in the Nigerian town of Baga
- 2020assassination of Qasem Soleimani — 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq
- 20242024 Kerman bombings — bombing in Kerman, Iran, on 3 January 2024 at a commemorative ceremony marking the assassination of Qasem Soleimani
- 20262026 United States strikes in Venezuela — January 2026 extraterritorial capture of the president of Venezuela by the government of the United States
Births · 60
- 106 BCE(Julian date)Cicero — Roman statesman, lawyer, orator, and philosopher (106–43 BC)
- 1196(Julian date)Tsuchimikado — Emperor of Japan
- 1698Pietro Metastasio — Italian poet and librettist (1698–1782)
- 1793Lucretia Mott — American quaker missionary
- 1810Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie — Irish-born French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer (1810-1897)
- 1831Savitribai Phule — Indian social reformer (1831-1897)
- 1836Sakamoto Ryōma — Japanese samurai and politician (1836–1867)
- 1840Father Damien — 19th century Belgian Roman Catholic priest and saint (1840–1889)
- 1876Wilhelm Pieck — German communist politician, president of GDR (1876-1960)
- 1877Josephine Hull — American stage and film actress (1877-1957)
- 1879Grace Coolidge — First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929
- 1883Clement Attlee — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 (1883–1967)
- 1887August Macke — German painter of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (1887–1914)
- 1892J. R. R. Tolkien — English writer and philologist (1892–1973)
- 1897
- 1901Ngô Đình Diệm — South Vietnamese politician; President of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963
- 1905Anna May Wong — Chinese American actress (1905-1961)
- 1907Ray Milland — British actor (1907–1986)
- 1909Victor Borge — Danish comedian and pianist (1909–2000)
- 1910John Sturges — American film director (1910–1992)
- 1924
- 1926George Martin — English record producer (1926–2016)
- 1929Sergio Leone — Italian filmmaker (1929–1989)
- 1929Gordon Moore — American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation (1929–2023)
- 1930Robert Loggia — American actor (1930–2015)
Deaths · 60
- 236(Julian date)Anterus — Pope and Bishop of Rome from 235 to 236
- 323(Julian date)Emperor Yuan of Jin — First Emperor of Eastern Jin Dynasty freom 318 to 323
- 1028(Julian date)Fujiwara no Michinaga — Japanese nobleman of the Heian period (966-1028)
- 1322(Julian date)Philip V of France — King of France and Navarre (r. 1316-1322)
- 1437(Julian date)Catherine of Valois — Queen consort of England
- 1501(Julian date)Ali-Shir Nava'i — Turkic poet and politician (1441–1501)
- 1543(Julian date)Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo — Portuguese or Spanish explorer
- 1571(Julian date)Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg — Elector of Brandenburg (1505-1571)
- 1641Jeremiah Horrocks — English astronomer
- 1670George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle — English soldier and politician (1608-1670)
- 1701Louis I, Prince of Monaco — Monegasque prince (1642-1701)
- 1705Luca Giordano — Italian Baroque painter (1634–1705)
- 1785Baldassare Galuppi — Italian composer (1706-1785)
- 1795Josiah Wedgwood — English potter and founder of the Wedgwood company (1730–1795)
- 1826Louis-Gabriel Suchet — French military commander (1770-1826)
- 1838Prince Maximilian of Saxony — Prince of Saxony (1759-1838)
- 1871Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara — Indian Carmelite priest and Religious Founder (1805–1871)
- 1875Pierre Larousse — French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopaedist
- 1882William Harrison Ainsworth — English novelist (1805-1882)
- 1903Alois Hitler — Austrian civil servant; father of Adolf Hitler (1837-1903)
- 1911Alexandros Papadiamantis — Greek short-story writer (1851–1911)
- 1915James Elroy Flecker — English poet (1884-1915)
- 1922Wilhelm Voigt — German impostor (1849-1922)
- 1923Jaroslav Hašek — Czech humorist, satirist, writer and anarchist (1883-1923)
- 1927Carl David Tolmé Runge — German mathematician and physicist (1856–1927)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.