On this day: May 3

Events on May 3

• 1791 The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1802 Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government. The "City of Washington" is given a mayor-council form of government. Wikipedia
• 1808 Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill. Wikipedia
• 1837 The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece. Wikipedia
• 1845 A long-running feud between two towns in Wisconsin came to a head when a schooner crashed into a bridge; they later merged to form the city of Milwaukee. Wikipedia
• 1855 American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua. Wikipedia
• 1901 The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida. Wikipedia
• 1921 Under the British Government of Ireland Act, Ireland was partitioned into two self-governing territories, Northern and Southern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1921 Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1921 West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues. Wikipedia
• 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence. Wikipedia
• 1942 Second World War: Japanese forces began an invasion of Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands, enabling them to threaten and intercept supply and communication routes between the United States and Australasia. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia. Wikipedia
• 1945 Second World War: The German ocean liner Cap Arcona, afloat in the Bay of Lübeck with thousands of concentration camp survivors on board, was attacked and sunk by the Royal Air Force. Wikipedia
• 1952 Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole. Wikipedia
• 1957 Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Wikipedia
• 1971 Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany. Wikipedia
• 1978 The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. Wikipedia
• 1979 The Conservative Party wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female British Prime Minister. Wikipedia
• 1987 A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega. Wikipedia
• 1999 The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 484 ± 32 kilometres per hour (301 ± 20 mph). In meteorology, the term "May 3" is synonymous with the F5 tornado. Wikipedia
• 2000 The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet. Wikipedia
• 2001 The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947. Wikipedia
• 2006 Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people. Wikipedia
• 2023 Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia. Wikipedia
• 2023 Ethnic violence breaks out between the Meitei and the Kuki Zo people in the state of Manipur. Wikipedia

Born on May 3

• 490 Kʼan Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (died 565) Wikipedia
• 612 Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (died 641) Wikipedia
• 1276 Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (died 1319) Wikipedia
• 1469 Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (died 1527) Wikipedia
• 1826 Charles XV of Sweden (died 1872) Wikipedia
• 1849 Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1929) Wikipedia
• 1859 August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1879 Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1892 George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1898 Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1902 Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1903 Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1906 Mary Astor, American actress (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1919 Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1933 Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1933 James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1941 Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player, Women's World Champion, 1962-1978 Wikipedia
• 1971 Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party Wikipedia
• 1975 Christina Hendricks, American actress and model Wikipedia
• 1985 Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer Wikipedia
• 2001 Rachel Zegler, American actress and singer Wikipedia
• 2003 Florian Wirtz, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 3

• 1270 Béla IV of Hungary (born 1206) Wikipedia
• 1330 Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (born 1282) Wikipedia
• 1481 Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (born 1432) Wikipedia
• 1534 Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (born 1481) Wikipedia
• 1758 Pope Benedict XIV (born 1675) Wikipedia
• 1856 Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (born 1803) Wikipedia
• 1916 Patrick Pearse, executed Irish teacher and rebel leader (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1969 Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1981 Nargis, Indian actress (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 1987 Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 1989 Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2008 Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2014 Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2016 Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (born 1950) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Emilia Bicchieri Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Juvenal of Narni Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marie-Léonie Paradis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Moura and Timothy (Catholic and Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philip and James the Lesser Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Alexander I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theodosius of Kiev (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Constitution Memorial Day (Japan) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Poland) Wikipedia
• Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances: Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America) Wikipedia
• International Sun Day Wikipedia
• World Press Freedom Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 3” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.