May 3 birthdays & history

Famous people born on May 3

• 1469Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher
• 1898Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel
• 1903Bing Crosby, American singer and actor
• 1933James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1933Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1919Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist
• 1892George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1902Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1906Mary Astor, American actress
• 1941Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player, Women's World Champion, 1962-1978

What happened on May 3

• 1491Nkuwu Nzinga, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, was baptised as João I by Portuguese missionaries.
• 1791The Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ratified the first codified national constitution in Europe.
• 1802Washington, 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.
• 1830The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
• 1837The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
• 1911Edith Maryon's statuette The Dance of Anitra, one of the few of her works known to survive in private hands, was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts.
• 1913Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian feature-length film, was released.
• 1939Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence.
• 1947A new Constitution of Japan went into effect, providing for a parliamentary system of government, guaranteeing certain fundamental rights, and relegating the Japanese monarchy to a purely ceremonial role.
• 1960The Off-Broadway show The Fantasticks premiered, eventually becoming the world's longest-running musical, with 17,162 performances across 42 years.
• 1971Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany.
• 2007Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal; she has never been found.

Also observed on May 3

• Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
• Constitution Day (Poland)
• Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances: Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
• International Sun Day
• World Press Freedom Day