865

  • March 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh.
    • 1126 – Following the death of his mother Urraca, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of Castile and León.
    • 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg.
    • 1576 – Spanish explorer Diego García de Palacio first sights the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copán.
    • 1618 – Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
    • 1655 – John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England’s North American colonies where a crime was not committed.
    • 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
    • 1702 – Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland
    • 1722 – The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into anarchy.
    • 1736 – Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.
    • 1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America”, the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
    • 1777 – Regiments from Ansbach and Bayreuth, sent to support Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, mutiny in the town of Ochsenfurt.
    • 1782 – Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.
    • 1801 – War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.
    • 1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
    • 1844 – King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The Naval Battle of Hampton Roads begins.
    • 1868 – Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka.
    • 1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.
    • 1914 – First flights (for the Royal Thai Air Force) at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok.
    • 1916 – World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.
    • 1917 – International Women’s Day protests in St. Petersburg mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23rd in the Julian calendar).
    • 1917 – The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
    • 1920 – The Arab Kingdom of Syria, the first modern Arab state to come into existence, is established.
    • 1921 – Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
    • 1924 – A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.
    • 1936 – Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.
    • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.
    • 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces gave an ultimatum to Dutch East Indies Governor General Jonkheer Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer and KNIL Commander in Chief Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten, to unconditionally surrender.
    • 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma from British.
    • 1947 – Thirteen thousand troops of the Republic of China Army arrive in Taiwan after the February 28 Incident and launch crackdowns which kill thousands of people, including many elites. This turns into a major root of the Taiwan independence movement.
    • 1949 – President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-emperor of Annam Bảo Đại sign the Élysée Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
    • 1957 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal after the Suez Crisis.
    • 1957 – The 1957 Georgia Memorial to Congress, which petitions the U.S. Congress to declare the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution null and void, is adopted by the U.S. state of Georgia.
    • 1963 – The Ba’ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d’état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council of the Revolutionary Command.
    • 1965 – Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War.
    • 1966 – Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, destroyed by a bomb.
    • 1971 – The Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali commences. Frazier wins in 15 rounds via unanimous decision.
    • 1974 – Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
    • 1979 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
    • 1983 – Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an “evil empire”.
    • 1985 – A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.
    • 2004 – A new constitution is signed by Iraq’s Governing Council.
    • 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
    • 2017 – The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses in stormy weather.

    Births on March 8

    • 1286 – John III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1341)
    • 1293 – Beatrice of Castile (d. 1359)
    • 1495 – John of God, Portuguese friar and saint (d. 1550)
    • 1514 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese daimyō (d. 1562)
    • 1518 – Sidonie of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg (d. 1575)
    • 1550 – William Drury, English politician (d. 1590)
    • 1658 – Thomas Trevor, 1st Baron Trevor, British Baron (d. 1730)
    • 1566 – Carlo Gesualdo, Italian lute player and composer (d. 1613)
    • 1712 – John Fothergill, English physician and botanist (d. 1780)
    • 1714 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
    • 1726 – Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, English admiral and politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1799)
    • 1746 – André Michaux, French botanist and explorer (d. 1802)
    • 1748 – William V, Prince of Orange (d. 1806)
    • 1761 – Jan Potocki, Polish ethnologist, historian, linguist, and author (d. 1815)
    • 1799 – Simon Cameron, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Secretary of War (d. 1889)
    • 1804 – Alvan Clark, American astronomer and optician (d. 1887)
    • 1822 – Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Polish inventor and businessman, invented the Kerosene lamp (d. 1882)
    • 1826 – Johann Köler, Estonian painter and academic (d. 1899)
    • 1827 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist and anthropologist (d. 1875)
    • 1830 – João de Deus, Portuguese poet and educator (d. 1896)
    • 1839 – Josephine Cochrane, American inventor (d. 1913)
    • 1841 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., American colonel, lawyer, and jurist (d. 1935)
    • 1848 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson, American engineer and businessman, developed the roller coaster (d. 1917)
    • 1856 – Bramwell Booth, English 2nd General of The Salvation Army (d. 1929)
    • 1856 – Colin Campbell Cooper, American painter and academic (d. 1937)
    • 1859 – Kenneth Grahame, Scottish-English banker and author (d. 1932)
    • 1865 – Frederic Goudy, American type designer, created Copperplate Gothic and Goudy Old Style (d. 1947)
    • 1879 – Otto Hahn, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
    • 1886 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
    • 1892 – Juana de Ibarbourou, Uruguayan poet and author (d. 1979)
    • 1896 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian journalist and politician, 46th Mayor of Ottawa (d. 1975)
    • 1899 – Elmer Keith, American gun designer and author (d. 1984)
    • 1900 – Howard H. Aiken, American physicist and computer scientist, created the Harvard Mark I (d. 1973)
    • 1902 – Louise Beavers, American actress and singer (d. 1962)
    • 1902 – Jennings Randolph, American journalist and politician (d. 1998)
    • 1907 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Greece (d. 1998)
    • 1909 – Beatrice Shilling, English motorcycle racer and engineer (d. 1990)
    • 1909 – Paula Strasberg, American actress and acting coach (d. 1966)
    • 1910 – Claire Trevor, American actress (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – Alan Hovhaness, Armenian-American pianist and composer (d. 2000)
    • 1912 – Preston Smith, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Texas (d. 2003)
    • 1912 – Meldrim Thomson, Jr., American publisher and politician, 73rd Governor of New Hampshire (d. 2001)
    • 1914 – Yakov Borisovich Zel’dovich, Belarusian-Russian physicist and astronomer (d. 1987)
    • 1918 – Eileen Herlie, Scottish-American actress (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Douglass Wallop, American author and playwright (d. 1985)
    • 1921 – Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d. 1990)
    • 1921 – Sahir Ludhianvi, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)
    • 1922 – Ralph H. Baer, German-American video game designer, created the Magnavox Odyssey (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (d. 2008)
    • 1922 – Carl Furillo, American baseball player (d. 1989)
    • 1922 – Yevgeny Matveyev, Russian actor and director (d. 2003)
    • 1922 – Shigeru Mizuki, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 2015)
    • 1924 – Anthony Caro, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
    • 1924 – Sean McClory, Irish-American actor and director (d. 2003)
    • 1925 – Warren Bennis, American scholar, author, and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Francisco Rabal, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Hebe Camargo, Brazilian actress and singer (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Bob Grim, American baseball player (d. 1996)
    • 1930 – Douglas Hurd, English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
    • 1931 – Neil Adcock, South African cricketer (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – John McPhee, American author and educator
    • 1931 – Gerald Potterton, English-Canadian animator, director, and producer
    • 1931 – Neil Postman, American author and critic (d. 2003)
    • 1934 – Marv Breeding, American baseball player and scout (d. 2006)
    • 1935 – George Coleman, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
    • 1936 – Sue Ane Langdon, American actress and singer
    • 1936 – Gábor Szabó, Hungarian guitarist and composer (d. 1982)
    • 1937 – Richard Fariña, American singer-songwriter and author (d. 1966)
    • 1937 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan politician, 2nd President of Rwanda (d. 1994)
    • 1938 – Pete Dawkins, American football player, colonel, and politician
    • 1939 – Jim Bouton, American baseball player and journalist (d. 2019)
    • 1939 – Lynn Seymour, Canadian ballerina and choreographer
    • 1939 – Lidiya Skoblikova, Russian speed skater and coach
    • 1939 – Robert Tear, Welsh tenor and conductor (d. 2011)
    • 1941 – Norman Stone, Scottish-English historian, author, and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1942 – Dick Allen, American baseball player and tenor
    • 1942 – Ann Packer, English sprinter, hurdler, and long jumper
    • 1943 – Susan Clark, Canadian actress and producer
    • 1943 – Michael Grade, English businessman
    • 1943 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (d. 2010)
    • 1943 – Dionysis Simopoulos, Greek physicist and astronomer
    • 1944 – Sergey Nikitin, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Jim Chapman, American lawyer and politician
    • 1945 – Micky Dolenz, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
    • 1945 – Anselm Kiefer, German painter and sculptor
    • 1945 – Sylvia Wiegand, American mathematician
    • 1946 – Robert Jaworski, Filipino basketball player, coach, and politician
    • 1946 – Randy Meisner, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1947 – Carole Bayer Sager, American singer-songwriter and painter
    • 1947 – Michael S. Hart, American author, founded Project Gutenberg (d. 2011)
    • 1947 – Vladimír Mišík, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Florentino Pérez, Spanish engineer and businessman
    • 1948 – Robert W. Boyd, American physicist and academic
    • 1948 – Gyles Brandreth, German-English actor, screenwriter, and politician
    • 1948 – Mel Galley, English rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Sam Lacey, American basketball player (d. 2014)
    • 1948 – Peggy March, American pop singer
    • 1948 – Jonathan Sacks, English rabbi, philosopher, and scholar
    • 1949 – Teofilo Cubillas, Peruvian footballer
    • 1951 – Phil Edmonds, Zambian-English cricketer and businessman
    • 1951 – Dianne Walker, American tap dancer
    • 1952 – George Allen, American lawyer and politician, 67th Governor of Virginia
    • 1953 – Jim Rice, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Steve James, American documentary filmmaker
    • 1954 – David Wilkie, Sri Lankan-Scottish swimmer
    • 1956 – Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (d. 1989)
    • 1956 – David Malpass, American economist and government official
    • 1957 – Clive Burr, English rock drummer (d. 2013)
    • 1957 – William Edward Childs, American pianist and composer
    • 1957 – Bob Stoddard, American baseball player
    • 1958 – Andy McDonald, English lawyer and politician
    • 1958 – Gary Numan, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1959 – Aidan Quinn, Irish-American actor
    • 1960 – Jeffrey Eugenides, American author and academic
    • 1960 – Irek Mukhamedov, Russian ballet dancer
    • 1960 – Buck Williams, American basketball player and coach
    • 1961 – Camryn Manheim, American actress
    • 1961 – Larry Murphy, Canadian ice hockey player and journalist
    • 1962 – Leon Robinson, American actor and producer
    • 1964 – Kate Betts, American journalist and author
    • 1965 – Kenny Smith, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Greg Barker, Baron Barker of Battle, English politician
    • 1966 – Jaime Levy, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1967 – Joel Johnston, American baseball player
    • 1968 – Michael Bartels, German race car driver
    • 1968 – Shawn Mullins, American singer-songwriter
    • 1969 – Juan de Dios Ramírez Perales, Mexican footballer
    • 1970 – Jason Elam, American football player
    • 1971 – Kit Symons, English-Welsh footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Georgios Georgiadis, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Matthew Nable, Australian rugby player and actor
    • 1972 – Lena Sundström, Swedish journalist and author
    • 1973 – Boris Kodjoe, Austrian-born American actor and producer
    • 1973 – Anneke van Giersbergen, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1975 – Mauro Briano, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Gaz Coombes, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1976 – Juan Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
    • 1976 – Freddie Prinze, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1977 – James Van Der Beek, American actor
    • 1977 – Johann Vogel, Swiss footballer
    • 1978 – Nick Zano, American actor and producer
    • 1979 – Apathy, American rapper and producer
    • 1979 – Tom Chaplin, English singer-songwriter
    • 1979 – Andy Ross, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1980 – Stephen Milne, Australian footballer
    • 1981 – Michael Beauchamp, Australian footballer
    • 1981 – Timothy Jordan II, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1981 – Joost Posthuma, Dutch cyclist
    • 1982 – Nicolas Armindo, French racing driver
    • 1982 – Leonidas Kampantais, Greek footballer
    • 1982 – Isak Strand, Norwegian drummer, composer, and producer
    • 1983 – André Santos, Brazilian footballer
    • 1983 – Mark Worrell, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Rafik Djebbour, Algerian footballer
    • 1984 – Ross Taylor, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1984 – Sasha Vujačić, Slovenian basketball player
    • 1987 – Jonathan Wright, Australian rugby league player
    • 1988 – Benny Blanco, American rapper and producer
    • 1990 – Asier Illarramendi, Spanish footballer
    • 1990 – Petra Kvitová, Czech tennis player
    • 1990 – Nico Salva, Filipino basketball player
    • 1990 – Ben Tozer, English footballer
    • 1991 – Miriam Bryant, Swedish-Finnish singer-songwriter
    • 1991 – Tom English, Australian rugby player
    • 1992 – Uki Satake, Japanese singer, actress, and radio host
    • 1994 – Pablo Dyego, Brazilian footballer
    • 1994 – Claire Emslie, Scottish footballer
    • 1994 – Dylan Tombides, Australian footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1996 – Matthew Hammelmann, Australian rules footballer
    • 1998 – Tali Darsigny, Canadian weightlifter

    Deaths on March 8

    • 865 – Rudolf of Fulda, German theologian
    • 1126 – Urraca of León and Castile (b. 1079)
    • 1137 – Adela of Normandy, by marriage countess of Blois (b. c. 1067)
    • 1144 – Pope Celestine II
    • 1223 – Wincenty Kadłubek, Polish bishop and historian (b. 1161)
    • 1365 – Queen Noguk of Korea
    • 1403 – Bayezid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1360)
    • 1441 – Margaret of Burgundy, Duchess of Bavaria
    • 1466 – Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1401)
    • 1550 – John of God, Portuguese friar and saint (b. 1495)
    • 1619 – Veit Bach, German baker and miller (b. 1550)
    • 1641 – Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer and explorer (b. 1587)
    • 1702 – William III of England (b. 1650)
    • 1717 – Abraham Darby I, English blacksmith (b. 1678)
    • 1723 – Christopher Wren, English architect, designed St. Paul’s Cathedral (b. 1632)
    • 1731 – Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1688)
    • 1771 – Louis August le Clerc, French-Danish sculptor and academic (b. 1688)
    • 1819 – Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1739)
    • 1844 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (b. 1763)
    • 1869 – Hector Berlioz, French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1803)
    • 1872 – Cornelius Krieghoff, Dutch-Canadian painter (b. 1815)
    • 1874 – Millard Fillmore, American lawyer and politician, 13th President of the United States (b. 1800)
    • 1887 – Henry Ward Beecher, American minister and activist (b. 1813)
    • 1887 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer, designed the Eads Bridge (b. 1820)
    • 1889 – John Ericsson, Swedish-American engineer, designed the USS Monitor (b. 1803)
    • 1917 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Company (b. 1838)
    • 1923 – Krišjānis Barons, Latvian linguist and author (b. 1835)
    • 1923 – Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1837)
    • 1930 – William Howard Taft, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 27th President of the United States (b. 1857)
    • 1930 – Edward Terry Sanford, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, United States Assistant Attorney General (b. 1865)
    • 1935 – Hachikō, Japanese dog (b. 1923)
    • 1937 – Howie Morenz, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1902)
    • 1941 – Sherwood Anderson, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1876)
    • 1942 – José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player and theoretician (b. 1888)
    • 1944 – Fredy Hirsch, German Jewish athlete who helped thousands of Jewish children in the Holocaust (b. 1916)
    • 1945 – Frederick Bligh Bond, English archaeologist and architect (b. 1864)
    • 1948 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and scientist (b. 1889)
    • 1957 – Othmar Schoeck, Swiss composer and conductor (b. 1886)
    • 1961 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor and composer (b. 1879)
    • 1971 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1893)
    • 1973 – Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1945)
    • 1975 – George Stevens, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1904)
    • 1976 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian colonel (b. 1908)
    • 1983 – Chabuca Granda, Peruvian-American singer-songwriter (b. 1920)
    • 1983 – Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, English lieutenant and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1904)
    • 1983 – William Walton, English composer (b. 1902)
    • 1985 – Edward Andrews, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Amar Singh Chamkila, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1961)
    • 1988 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1991 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (b. 1938)
    • 1993 – Billy Eckstine, American trumpet player (b. 1914)
    • 1996 – Jack Churchill, British colonel (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Gershon Liebman, French rabbi (b. 1905)
    • 1998 – Ray Nitschke, American football player and actor (b. 1936)
    • 1999 – Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentinian journalist and author (b. 1914)
    • 1999 – Peggy Cass, American actress and comedian (b. 1924)
    • 1999 – Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
    • 2001 – Edward Winter, American actor (b. 1937)
    • 2003 – Adam Faith, English singer (b. 1940)
    • 2003 – Karen Morley, American actress (b. 1909)
    • 2004 – Muhammad Zaidan, Syrian terrorist, founded the Palestine Liberation Front (b. 1948)
    • 2005 – César Lattes, Brazilian physicist and academic (b. 1924)
    • 2005 – Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen commander and politician, 3rd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (b. 1951)
    • 2007 – John Inman, English actor (b. 1935)
    • 2007 – John Vukovich, American baseball player and coach (b. 1947)
    • 2009 – Hank Locklin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
    • 2009 – Zbigniew Religa, Polish surgeon and politician, Polish Minister of Health (b. 1938)
    • 2011 – Mike Starr, American bass player (b. 1966)
    • 2012 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Minoru Mori, Japanese businessman, founded the Mori Art Museum (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Steven Rubenstein, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Haseeb Ahsan, Pakistani cricketer and manager (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – John O’Connell, Irish journalist and politician, 17th Irish Minister of Health (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, German soldier and publisher (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Leo Bretholz, Austrian-American Holocaust survivor and author (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Tjol Lategan, South African rugby player (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Sam Simon, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1955)
    • 2016 – Aldo Ferrer, Argentinian economist and diplomat (b. 1927)
    • 2016 – Ross Hannaford, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
    • 2016 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (b. 1926)
    • 2018 – Kate Wilhelm, American author (b. 1928)
    • 2019 – Marshall Brodien, American actor (b. 1934)
    • 2019 – Cedrick Hardman, American football player and actor (b. 1948)
    • 2020 – Max von Sydow, Swedish actor (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on March 8

    • Christian feast day:
      • Edward King (Church of England)
      • Felix of Burgundy
      • Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (the Church of England, The Episcopal Church (USA))
      • John of God
      • Philemon the actor
      • March 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Canberra Day can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in March (Australian Capital Territory)
    • Earliest day on which Commonwealth Day can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in March (Commonwealth of Nations)
    • Earliest day on which Decoration Day can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Wednesday in March (Liberia)
    • Earliest day on which Passion Sunday can fall, while April 17 is the latest; observed on the fifth Sunday of Lent (Christianity)
    • International Women’s Day, and its related observances:
      • International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day

  • February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
    • 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
    • 1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
    • 1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
    • 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
    • 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
    • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
    • 1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
    • 1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
    • 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
    • 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
    • 1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
    • 1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
    • 1834 – Wake Forest University is established (as Wake Forest Institute) in North Carolina, United States.
    • 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
    • 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
    • 1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of 7 lives.
    • 1917 – First World War: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
    • 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
    • 1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
    • 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
    • 1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
    • 1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
    • 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
    • 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
    • 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
    • 1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
    • 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
    • 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
    • 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change”, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
    • 1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
    • 1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
    • 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
    • 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
    • 1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
    • 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
    • 1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
    • 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
    • 1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
    • 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
    • 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
    • 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
    • 2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.

    Births on February 3

    • 1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
    • 1392 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and military commander (d. 1455)
    • 1428 – Helena Palaiologina, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1458)
    • 1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
    • 1504 – Scipione Rebiba, Italian cardinal (d. 1577)
    • 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
    • 1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
    • 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (d. 1755)
    • 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
    • 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
    • 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier and politician, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
    • 1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
    • 1763 – Caroline von Wolzogen, German author (d. 1847)
    • 1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
    • 1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)
    • 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
    • 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general and politician (d. 1891)
    • 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
    • 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
    • 1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement
    • 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
    • 1817 – Émile Prudent, French pianist and composer (d. 1863)
    • 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician and educator (d. 1910)
    • 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1894)
    • 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
    • 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
    • 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
    • 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
    • 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
    • 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
    • 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
    • 1867 – Charles Henry Turner, American biologist, educator and zoologist (d. 1923)
    • 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, (d. 1946)
    • 1878 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
    • 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian pharmacist and poet (d. 1914)
    • 1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
    • 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
    • 1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1978)
    • 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
    • 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
    • 1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 1973)
    • 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
    • 1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
    • 1907 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (d. 1997)
    • 1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
    • 1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
    • 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
    • 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Mary Carlisle, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler and hammer thrower (d. 1998)
    • 1917 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi and general (d. 1994)
    • 1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor and producer (d. 2007)
    • 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner, baseball player, and manager (d. 1994)
    • 1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician and author (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
    • 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Shelley Berman, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German soldier and politician, 8th Mayor of Berlin
    • 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician, 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
    • 1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
    • 1936 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984)
    • 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
    • 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
    • 1938 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler and trainer
    • 1941 – Howard Phillips, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
    • 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American soul/R&B singer (d. 2018)
    • 1943 – Eric Haydock, English bass player (d. 2019)
    • 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
    • 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist, essayist, and poet
    • 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor and director
    • 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author and playwright (d. 2015)
    • 1949 – Jim Thorpe, American golfer
    • 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
    • 1950 – Grant Goldman, Australian radio and television host (d. 2020)
    • 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
    • 1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
    • 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and comedian
    • 1957 – Eric Lander, American mathematician, geneticist, and academic
    • 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1958 – Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist
    • 1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist and academic
    • 1959 – Óscar Iván Zuluaga, Colombian economist and politician, 67th Colombian Minister of Finance
    • 1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (d. 2018)
    • 1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler and trainer
    • 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
    • 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
    • 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
    • 1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
    • 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress and producer
    • 1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach
    • 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
    • 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer
    • 1969 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (d. 2015)
    • 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
    • 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
    • 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
    • 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish pianist and composer
    • 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist and producer
    • 1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
    • 1977 – Daddy Yankee, American-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
    • 1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
    • 1979 – Paul Franks, English cricketer and coach
    • 1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
    • 1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
    • 1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
    • 1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
    • 1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
    • 1986 – Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress
    • 1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
    • 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
    • 1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
    • 1990 – Martin Taupau, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1991 – Corey Norman, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player

    Deaths on February 3

    • AD 6 – Ping, emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
    • 456 – Sihyaj Chan K’awiil II, ruler of Tikal
    • 639 – K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I, ruler of Piedras Negras
    • 699 – Werburgh, English nun and saint
    • 865 – Ansgar, Frankish archbishop (b. 801)
    • 929 – Guy, margrave of Tuscany
    • 938 – Zhou Ben, Chinese general (b. 862)
    • 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
    • 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and England (b. 960)
    • 1116 – Coloman, king of Hungary
    • 1161 – Inge I, king of Norway (b. 1135)
    • 1252 – Sviatoslav III, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1196)
    • 1399 – John of Gaunt, Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1340)
    • 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1386)
    • 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
    • 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
    • 1537 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513)
    • 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian and author (b. 1513)
    • 1618 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania (b. 1573)
    • 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1564)
    • 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1648)
    • 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Spanish statesman and economist (b. 1723)
    • 1813 – Juan Bautista Cabral, Argentinian sergeant (b. 1789)
    • 1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
    • 1832 – George Crabbe, English surgeon and poet (b. 1754)
    • 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
    • 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
    • 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
    • 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
    • 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
    • 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
    • 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
    • 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
    • 1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
    • 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (b. 1887)
    • 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
    • 1955 – Vasily Blokhin, Russian general (b. 1895)
    • 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and academic (b. 1871)
    • 1956 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (b. 1916)
    • 1959 – The Day the Music Died
      • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
      • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
      • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
    • 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
    • 1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Scottish-Australian captain and politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
    • 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
    • 1963 – Benjamin R. Jacobs (b. 1879)
    • 1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
    • 1969 – C. N. Annadurai, Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
    • 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican activist and academic (b. 1920)
    • 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and engineer (b. 1873)
    • 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
    • 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
    • 1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
    • 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
    • 1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
    • 1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Gwen Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1950)
    • 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian biologist and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
    • 2005 – Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (b. 1904)
    • 2006 – Al Lewis, American actor and activist (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Frances Reid, American actress (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
    • 2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – James Muri, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
    • 2015 – Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1929)
    • 2016 – Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2017 – Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1931)
    • 2019 – Julie Adams, American actress (b. 1926)
    • 2019 – Kristoff St. John, American actor (b. 1966)
    • 2020 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on February 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Ansgar
      • Berlinda of Meerbeke
      • Blaise
      • Celsa and Nona
      • Claudine Thévenet
      • Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
      • Hadelin
      • Margaret of England
      • Werburgh
      • February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
    • Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
    • Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
    • Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
    • Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
    • Martyrs’ Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
    • Setsubun (Japan)
    • Veterans’ Day (Thailand)