January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 362 days remaining (363 in leap years).

Events

• 1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
• 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
• 1749 - Benning Wentworth issued 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.
• 1818 - Venus occulted Jupiter. It was the last occultation of a planet by an other planet before November 22nd, 2065. Unfortunately no observation reports from this event visible in the Pacific area are known.
• 1823 - Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico
• 1833 - Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
• 1834 - The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City
• 1840 - One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1899 - The first known use of the word automobile, in an editorial in the New York Times.
• 1925 - Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
• 1926 - General Theodorus Pángulos names himself dictator of Greece.
• 1938 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• 1947 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
• 1951 - Dragnet airs on television for the first time (NBC).
• 1957 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• 1958 - West Indies Federation 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 at the installation. The radiation is contained.
• 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
• 1966 - First Acid Test at the Fillmore, San Francisco, California.
• 1973 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
• 1987 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1990 - Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
• 1993 - In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
• 1994 - An Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkhutsk, Russia killing 125 including 1 on the ground
• 1997 - NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
• 2000 - The last Peanuts comic strip was created by Charles Schulz.
• 2004 - Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 aboard.

Births

• 106 BC - Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d. 43 BC)
• 1793 - Lucretia Mott, American women's rights activist and abolitionist (d. 1880)
• 1803 - Douglas William Jerrold, British dramatic playwright and political satirist (d. 1857)
• 1829 - Konrad Duden, philologist (d. 1911)
• 1840 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary priest in Hawai'i (d. 1889)
• 1855 - Hubert Bland, English socialist and co-founder of Fabian Society (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, South African-born writer and philologist (d. 1973)
• 1894 - Pola Negri, Polish actress (d. 1987)
• 1897 - Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
• 1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
• 1905 - Anna May Wong, Chinese-American actress (d. 1961)
• 1907 - Ray Milland, Welsh actor (d. 1986)
• 1909 - Victor Borge, Danish entertainer and humorist (d. 2000)
• 1911 - John Sturges, director
• 1916 - Betty Furness, American actress, consumer activist (d. 1994)
• 1920 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
• 1924 - Hank Stram, American football coach, broadcaster
• 1926 - George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records
• 1929 - Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)
• 1930 - Robert Loggia, American actor
• 1932 - Dabney Coleman, American actor
• 1936 - Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress
• 1939 - Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 - Van Dyke Parks, American musician, composer
• 1942 - John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
• 1945 - Stephen Stills, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• 1945 - Victoria Principal, American actress
• 1946 - John Paul Jones, English bassist from Led Zeppelin
• 1956 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
• 1957 - Bojan Križaj, Slovenian alpine skier
• 1960 - Joan Chen, Chinese actress
• 1966 - Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
• 1968 - Shannon Sturges, American actress
• 1969 - Michael Schumacher, German Formula One driver
• 1975 - Danica McKellar, American actress
• 1975 - Jason Marsden, American actor
• 1976 - Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor
• 1981 - Polly Klaas, young victim of crime (d. 1993)
• 1981 - Eli Manning, American football quarterback
• 1989 - Alex D. Linz, actor

Deaths

• 1322 - Philip V, king of France (b. 1293)
• 1543 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, first European to visit California (b. 1499)
• 1641 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. ca. 1619)
• 1785 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
• 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (b. 1730)
• 1875 - Pierre Larousse, French editor and encyclopedist (b. 1817)
• 1923 - Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
• 1933 - Jack Pickford, Canadian actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy" (b. 1896)
• 1945 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
• 1946 - William Joyce, American Nazi propagandist (executed) (b. 1906)
• 1950 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b. 1884)
• 1967 - Jack Ruby, convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)
• 1979 - Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
• 1980 - Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist and author (b. 1910)
• 1981 - Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany, the last grandchild of Queen Victoria (b. 1883)
• 1992 - Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
• 2002 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch CEO of the beer brewery (b. 1923)
• 2003 - Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
• 2003 - José Maria Gironella, author and poet

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of St Genevieve
• Roman Empire - Festival in honour of Pax
• The ninth day and tenth night of Christmas in Western Christianity
• In astromomy the best date to view the metor shower Quadrantids.

January 2 - January 4 - December 3 - February 3 - listing of all days