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This day in history

This day in history: 3 January

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events54

Born on this day · Died on this day218 · 96

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Key facts

368 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 3 January.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Daniel of Padua

Christian feast day: Genevieve

Christian feast day: Holy Name of Jesus

Christian feast day: January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)

Christian feast day: Pope Anterus

Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan)

The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

Events

2026The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.

2024At least 91 people are killed in bombings in Kerman, Iran, during a ceremony commemorating the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani four years earlier.

2023Singapore's Jurong Bird Park permanently closes.

2020Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict.

2019Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.

2018For the first time in history, all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm.

2016In response to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

2015Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.

2009The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.

2004Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.

2002Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.

1999The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.

1994Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.

1993In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

1992CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people.

1990United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.

1987Varig Flight 797 crashes near Akouré in the Ivory Coast, resulting in 50 deaths.

1977Apple Computer is incorporated.

1976The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.

1962Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

1961Aero Flight 311 crashes into the forest in Kvevlax, Finland, killing 25 people.

1961A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.

1961Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1961The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.

1959Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.

1958The West Indies Federation is formed.

1957The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.

1956A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.

1953Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.

1949The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.

1947Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.

1946Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf suffers a concussion during a freak racing accident; he dies from the injury the following day. The annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.

1944World War II: US flying ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

1933Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.

1920Over 640 are killed after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the Mexican states Puebla and Veracruz.

1913An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading (955.0 mb (28.20 inHg)) for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.

1913First Balkan War: Greece completes its capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender.

1911A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.

1911A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.

1885Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop.

Born on this day

2008Raegan Revord, American actor

2004Carlos Baleba, Cameroonian footballer

2004Habib Diarra, Senegalese footballer

2004Toby Collyer, English footballer

2003Alan Virginius, French footballer

2003Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist

2003Kyle Rittenhouse, American conservative personality

2002Nico González, Spanish footballer

2001Deni Avdija, Israeli-Serbian basketball player

2000João Mário, Portuguese footballer

2000Leandro Barreiro, Luxembourgish footballer

1998Emiru, American online streamer

1998Patrick Cutrone, Italian footballer

1997Fodé Ballo-Touré, French-Senegalese footballer

1997Jérémie Boga, French-Ivorian footballer

1997Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler

1996Florence Pugh, English actress

1996Léo Ortiz, Brazilian footballer

1995Jisoo, South Korean singer and actress

1995Kim Seol-hyun, South Korean singer and actress

1995Paddy Pimblett, English mixed martial artist

1995Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, American-Jordanian basketball player

1995Tonny Vilhena, Dutch footballer

1994Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist

1992Doug McDermott, American basketball player

1992Sio Siua Taukeiaho, New Zealand-Tongan rugby league player

1991Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player

1991Darius Morris, American basketball player (died 2024)

1991Goo Hara, South Korean singer and actress (died 2019)

1991Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer

1991Joonas Nättinen, Finnish ice hockey player

1991Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer

1991Ryan Ellis, Canadian ice hockey player

1991Sébastien Faure, French footballer

1990Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer

1989Eric Sim, American baseball player and YouTuber

1989Jordi Masip, Spanish footballer

1989Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast

1988Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer

1988Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer

Died on this day

2025Brenton Wood, American R&B singer-songwriter and keyboard player (born 1941)

2025Jeff Baena, American filmmaker (born 1977)

2025Niko Lekishvili, Georgian politician (born 1947)

2023Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist and influencer (born 2002)

2021Eric Jerome Dickey, American author (born 1961)

2020Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (born 1957)

2019Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (born 1931)

2018Colin Brumby, Australian composer (born 1933)

2017H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (born 1958)

2016Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1945)

2016Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (born 1957)

2016Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (born 1932)

2016Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (born 1928)

2015Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (born 1919)

2015Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (born 1936)

2014George Goodman, American economist and author (born 1930)

2014Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (born 1939)

2014Saul Zaentz, American film producer (born 1921)

2013Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot (born 1913)

2013Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (born 1942)

2013Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1930)

2013William Maxson, American general (born 1930)

2012Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher (born 1924)

2012Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge (born 1917)

2012Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (born 1934)

2012Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator (born 1914)

2010Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic (born 1925)

2010Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (born 1928)

2009Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (born 1921)

2009Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (born 1969)

Quote of the day

“Only the educated are free.”

Epictetus

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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