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.

Recurring Event

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.

Events

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 States dollar|$" target="_blank" >^*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.
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.

Births

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 and philologist (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 and abolitionist (d. 1880)
1803 - Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright and satirist (d. 1857)
1840 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary in Hawaii (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 and philologist (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 and humorist (d. 2000)
1911 - John Sturges, American director (d. 1982)
1912 - Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d. 2005)
1916 - Betty Furness, American actress and consumer activist (d. 1994)
1917 - Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
1920 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
1924 - Nell Rankin, American soprano (d. 2005)
1924 - Hank Stram, American football coach and broadcaster (d. 2005)
1926 - George Martin, English producer of The Beatles' records
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, pornographic actress
1939 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
1941 - Van Dyke Parks, American musician, composer
1942 - John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
1945 - Stephen Stills, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1946 - John Paul Jones, English bassist (Led Zeppelin)
1946 - Cissy King, American dancer and singer, The Lawrence Welk Show
1946 - Victoria Principal, American actress
1949 - Sylvia Likens, torture victim.
1952 - Jim Ross, professional wrestling announcer
1956 - Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director
1957 - Bojan Križ, Slovenian skier
1959 - Rafael Arraiz Venezuelan writer
1960 - Joan Chen, Chinese actress
1966 - Martin Galway, Northern Ireland composer
1969 - Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
1974 - Alessandro Petacchi, Italian professional road 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

Deaths

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
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 and encyclopedist (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 soprano (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 and author (b. 1910)
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 flamenco dancer (b. 1918)
2002 - Esquivel, Mexican band leader and composer (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)

Holidays and observances

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

External links