January 3
January 3 is the
3rd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. 362 days (363 during
leap years) remain in the year after this day.
Under the terms of the
Twentieth Amendment to the
United States Constitution, congressional terms begin at noon on January 3 of every odd-numbered year. As such all members of the
U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of all
U.S. Senators are sworn in on January 3 every two years. A Congress lasts until January 3rd of the next odd-numbered year. Therefore the
110th Congress will begin on January 3, 2007 and end on January 3, 2009. The Twentieth Amendment became effective in January 1934, during the
73rd Congress. Thus the first session of the 73rd Congress convened in March 1933, but the second session convened in January 1934.
*
1431 -
Joan of Arc is handed over to the
Bishop Pierre Cauchon.
*
1496 -
Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
*
1521 -
Pope Leo X excommunicates
Martin Luther in the
papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
*
1749 -
Benning Wentworth issues the first of the
New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of
Vermont.
*
1777 -
Battle of Princeton. American general
George Washington defeats British general
Charles Cornwallis.
*
1815 -
Austria,
Britain, and
France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against
Prussia and
Russia.
*
1823 -
Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in
Texas from the government of
Mexico.
*
1825 - Rensselaer School, the first engineering college in the U.S. is opened in
Troy,
New York. It is now known as
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
*
1833 -
Britain seizes control of the
Falkland Islands in the
South Atlantic.
*
1834 - The government of
Mexico imprisons
Stephen F. Austin in
Mexico City.
*
1848 -
Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first
president of the independent
African Republic of Liberia.
*
1852 - First Chinese arrive in
Hawaii.
*
1861 -
American Civil War:
Delaware votes not to secede from the
United States.
*
1868 - The
Japanese
Meiji dynasty is restored and the
Shogunate is abolished.
*
1871 -
Henry W. Bradley patents
oleomargarine.
*
1888 - The 91 cm
refracting telescope at
Lick Observatory is used for the first time. It was the largest
telescope in the world at the time.
* 1888 -
Marvin C. Stone patents the
drinking straw.
*
1899 - The first known use of the word
automobile, in an editorial in
The New York Times.
*
1920 -
Curse of the Bambino: The
Boston Red Sox sell
Babe Ruth to the
New York Yankees for a sum of
$125,000 and a loan of more than $300,000.
*
1921 - Turkey makes peace with
Armenia.
*
1924 -
English explorer
Howard Carter discovers the sarcophagus of
Tutankhamen in the
Valley of the Kings, near
Luxor,
Egypt.
*
1925 -
Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over
Italy.
*
1932 -
Martial law declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by
United Fruit.
*
1938 - The
March of Dimes is established by
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* 1938 -
Woman in White is first broadcast on the
NBC Red network. The program remains on the radio for the next 10 years.
*
1947 - Proceedings of the
U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
*
1951 -
Dragnet is first broadcast on
NBC-TV.
*
1953 -
Frances Bolton and her son,
Oliver from
Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
*
1957 -
Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric
watch.
*
1958 - The
West Indies Federation is formed.
*
1959 -
Alaska is admitted as the 49th
U.S. state.
*
1961 - The
United States severs diplomatic relations with
Cuba.
* 1961 - The
SL-1, a government-run reactor near
Idaho Falls, Idaho leaks radiation, killing three workers.
*
1962 -
Pope John XXIII excommunicates
Fidel Castro.
*
1966 - The first
Acid Test at
the Fillmore,
San Francisco, California.
*
1966 - The
Psychedelic Shop, the world's first
Head shop, opened on Haight Street near Ashbury in the
Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of
San Francisco.
*
1973 -
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the
New York Yankees for $12 million to a 12-person syndicate led by
George Steinbrenner.
*
1983 -
Tony Dorsett of the
Dallas Cowboys makes the longest run from scrimmage in
NFL history.
*
CiTV launches on
ITV1 in the
UK.
*
1987 -
Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
*
1988 -
Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century.
*
1990 - Former leader of
Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
*
1991 - Hockey Hall of Famer
Wayne Gretzky scores his 700th goal.
* 1991 -
Gulf War: The British government announces the expulsion of 75 Iraqis from the country.
*
1993 - In
Moscow,
George H. W. Bush and
Boris Yeltsin sign the second
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
* 1993 - In an
AFC Wild Card game, the
Buffalo Bills comeback from a 35-3 defecit against the
Houston Oilers and win the game in overtime 41-38, the largest
comeback in
NFL history.
*
1994 - An
Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkhutsk,
Russia killing 125 including 1 on the ground.
*
1997 -
China announces it will spend $27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the
Yangtze and
Yellow river valleys.
*
1999 - The
Mars Polar Lander launches.
* 1999 - Israel detains, later to expel, 14 members of
Concerned Christians.
*
2000 - The last "
Peanuts" comic strip is created by
Charles Schulz.
*
2003 -
Ohio State University becomes the first NCAA Division I Football team to complete a season 14-0 by winning the
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl over the
University of Miami 31-24, and is crowned
BCS National Champion.
*
2004 -
Flight 604, a
Boeing 737 owned by
Flash Airlines, an
Egyptian airliner, plunges into the
Red Sea, killing all 148 aboard.
*
106 BC -
Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d.
43 BC)
*
1196 -
Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d.
1231)
*
1710 -
Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d.
1796)
*
1719 -
Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian (d.
1773)
*
1722 -
Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (d.
1752)
*
1778 -
Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d.
1861)
*
1793 -
Lucretia Mott, American women's rights activist (d.
1880)
*
1803 -
Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright (d.
1857)
*
1840 -
Father Damien, Belgian missionary (d.
1889)
*
1855 -
Hubert Bland, English socialist (d.
1914)
*
1879 -
Grace Coolidge,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1957)
*
1883 -
Clement Attlee,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1967)
*
1887 -
August Macke, German painter (d.
1914)
*
1892 -
J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (d.
1973)
*
1894 -
Pola Negri, Polish actress (d.
1987)
* 1894 -
ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d.
1963)
*
1897 -
Marion Davies, American actress (d.
1961)
*
1901 -
Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (d.
1963)
*
1905 -
Anna May Wong, American actress (d.
1961)
*
1907 -
Ray Milland, Welsh actor (d.
1986)
*
1909 -
Victor Borge, Danish entertainer (d.
2000)
*
1910 -
Frenchy Bordagaray, Baseball player (d.
2000)
*
1911 -
John Sturges, American director (d.
1982)
*
1912 -
Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d.
2005)
*
1916 -
Betty Furness, American actress (d.
1994)
*
1917 -
Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d.
2004)
*
1920 -
Renato Carosone, Italian musician (d.
2001)
*
1924 -
Nell Rankin, American singer (d.
2005)
* 1924 -
Hank Stram, American football coach (d.
2005)
*
1926 -
George Martin, British producer
*
1929 -
Sergio Leone, Italian director (d.
1989)
*
1930 -
Robert Loggia, American actor
*
1932 -
Dabney Coleman, American actor
* 1932 -
Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (d.
2005)
*
1936 -
Georgina Spelvin, American pornographic actress
*
1939 -
Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
*
1941 -
Van Dyke Parks, American musician
*
1942 -
John Thaw, British actor (d.
2002)
*
1945 -
Stephen Stills, American musician
*
1946 -
John Paul Jones, British musician (
Led Zeppelin)
* 1946 -
Cissy King, American entertainer
* 1946 -
Victoria Principal, American actress
*
1949 -
Sylvia Likens, American torture victim
*
1950 -
Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer
*
1954 -
Dean Hart, Canadian wrestler (d.
1990)
* 1954 -
Ned Lamont, American businessman
*
1956 -
Mel Gibson, Australian actor
*
1957 -
Bojan Križ, Slovenian skier
*
1959 -
Rafael Arráiz Lucca Venezuelan writer
*
1960 -
Joan Chen, Chinese actress
*
1966 -
Martin Galway, Northern Ireland composer
*
1969 -
Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
*
1974 -
Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
*
1975 -
Jason Marsden, American actor
* 1975 -
Danica McKellar, American actress
* 1975 -
Thomas Bangalter, French DJ (
Daft Punk)
*
1976 -
Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor
*
1977 -
Lee Bowyer, English footballer
*
1978 -
Mike York, American ice hockey player
*
1980 -
David Tyree, American football player
* 1980 -
Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model
*
1981 -
Eli Manning, American football player
*
722 -
Empress Gemmei of Japan (b.
661)
*
1322 - King
Philip V of France (b.
1293)
*
1437 -
Catherine of Valois, wife of
Henry V of England (b.
1401)
*
1543 -
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (b.
1499)
*
1641 -
Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (bc.
1618)
*
1656 -
Mathieu Molé, French statesman (b.
1584)
*
1670 -
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (b.
1608)
*
1690 -
Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, Lithuanian rabbi (b.
1615)
*
1779 -
Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (b.
1712)
*
1785 -
Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b.
1706)
*
1795 -
Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (b.
1730)
*
1826 -
Louis Gabriel Suchet, French marshal (b.
1770)
*
1875 -
Pierre Larousse, French editor (b.
1817)
*
1923 -
Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist (b.
1883)
*
1927 -
Carle David Tolmé Runge, German physicist (b.
1856)
*
1933 -
Wilhelm Cuno, 6th
Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (Germany) (b.
1876)
* 1933 -
Jack Pickford, Canadian actor (b.
1896)
*
1944 -
Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet (b.
1873)
*
1945 -
Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b.
1877)
* 1945 -
Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (b.
1879)
*
1946 -
William Joyce, American Nazi propagandist (executed) (b.
1906)
*
1950 -
Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b.
1884)
*
1956 -
Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (b.
1864)
* 1956 -
Joseph Wirth, 5th
Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (Germany) (b.
1876)
*
1963 -
Jack Carson, Canadian actor (b.
1910)
*
1967 -
Mary Garden, Scottish singer (b.
1874)
* 1967 -
Jack Ruby, American killer of
Lee Harvey Oswald (b.
1911)
*
1979 -
Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b.
1887)
*
1980 -
Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist (b.
1910)
* 1980 -
Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (b.
1892)
*
1981 -
Princess Alice of Albany (b.
1883)
*
1988 -
Rose Ausländer, German poet (b.
1901)
*
1992 - Dame
Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b.
1897)
*
1993 -
Johnny Most, American sports announcer (b.
1923)
*
2001 -
José Greco, Italian-born dancer (b.
1918)
*
2002 -
Esquivel, Mexican band leader (b.
1918)
* 2002 -
Freddy Heineken, Dutch beer executive (b.
1923)
*
2003 -
Sid Gillman, American football coach (b.
1911)
*
2004 -
Leon Wagner, baseball player (b.
1934)
*
2005 -
Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (b.
1917)
* 2005 -
JN Dixit, Indian government official (b.
1936)
* 2005 -
Will Eisner, American comic book artist (b.
1917)
*
2006 -
Bill Skate,
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b.
1954)
*
Feast day of
St Genevieve*
Roman Empire - Festival in honour of
Pax*The tenth night and ninth
day of Christmas in Western
Christianity*In
astronomy the best date to view the
Quadrantids meteor shower.
*In
astronomy the approximate date of
Earth's
perihelion.
*The
Festival of
Sleep Day
*
BBC: On This Day*
NY Times: On this dayJanuary 2 -
January 4 -
December 3 -
February 3 â€"
listing of all days
