On this day -- February 3

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 331 days remaining, (332 in leap years).

In the Northern hemisphere, there are 88 days in winter (in a non-leap year). We are considered halfway through winter on February 3.

Events

1451 - Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Mehmed II.
1488 - Bartholomeu Diaz of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south.
1783 - American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
1787 - Shays' Rebellion is crushed, ending an uprising that would prompt negotiations that would result in the drafting of the Constitution of the United States.
1809 - Illinois Territory is created.
1815 - The first commercial cheese factory is founded (Switzerland).
1867 - Prince Mutshuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan.
1870 - The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.

1900 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former-Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebels.
1913 - The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income tax.
1916 - Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.
1917 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long).
1931 - 258 die in New Zealand's worst natural disaster, the Napier earthquake.
1941 - World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
1944 - United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
1947 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House and Senate press gallery.

1951 - Dick Button wins the American figure skating championship for the sixth time.
1952 - The earliest known tropical storm makes landfall in South Florida.
1959 - Plane crash that kills Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper. This date becomes known as "The Day The Music Died".
1966 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
1969 - In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
1972 - The first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia open in Sapporo, Japan.
1984 - Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the tenth space shuttle mission.
1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
1989 - After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.
1998 - Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
1998 - A United States Marine Corps pilot causes the death of 20 skiers in Italy riding on a lift suspended by a cable snapped by the low-flying plane.

1721 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
1754 - George Crabbe, English poet, naturalist (d. 1832)
1809 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)
1811 - Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, publisher (d. 1872)
1821 - Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States (d. 1910)
1859 - Hugo Junkers, German industrialist and aircraft designer (d. 1935)
1862 - James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1946)
1874 - Gertrude Stein, American writer and patron of the arts (d. 1946)
1887 - Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
1893 - Gaston Julia, French mathematician (d. 1978)
1894 - Norman Rockwell, American artist, illustrator (d. 1978)
1898 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)

1014 - Sweyn I, king of Denmark (b. ca. 965)
1428 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1386)
1468 - Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher (b. ca. 1390s)
1889 - Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
1924 - Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States (b. 1856)
1956 - �mile Borel, mathematician, politician, statesman, member of the French Resistance during World War II (b. 1871)
1959 - Rock and roll performers Buddy Holly (b. 1936), Ritchie Valens (b. 1941) and The Big Bopper (b. 1930) (plane crash)
1960 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor
1964 - Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (b. 1880)
1989 - John Cassavetes, American actor, director, writer (b. 1929)
1996 - Audrey Meadows, actress (b. 1926)