January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 362 days remaining (363 in leap years).
- 1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
- 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
- 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
- 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.
- 1847 - California town of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco
- 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.
- 1899 - The first known use of the word "automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times
- 1920 - Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. The loan was to finance Frazee's Broadway production of the musical No, No, Nanette[?].
- 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 United States 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.
- 1959 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
- 1961 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
- 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
- 1966 - First Acid Test[?] at the Fillmore Auditorium[?], 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).
- 1997 - NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel[?] signs off for the last time.
- 2000 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published
- 106 BC - Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (+ 43 BC)
- 1793 - Lucretia Mott, women's rights activist and abolitionist
- 1829 - Konrad Duden[?], philologist (+ 1911)
- 1879 - Grace Coolidge[?], First Lady
- 1883 - Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1967)
- 1887 - August Macke[?], painter (+ 1914)
- 1892 - J. R. R. Tolkien, writer and philologist (+ 1973)
- 1897 - Pola Negri[?], actress (+ 1987)
- 1897 - Marion Davies, actress (+ 1961)
- 1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (+ 1963)
- 1905 - Anna May Wong[?], actress (+ 1961)
- 1907 - Ray Milland, actor (+ 1986)
- 1909 - Victor Borge, entertainer and humorist (+ 2000)
- 1911 - John Sturges[?], director
- 1916 - Betty Furness[?], actress, consumer activist
- 1924 - Hank Stram[?], American football coach, broadcaster
- 1926 - George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records
- 1929 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
- 1930 - Robert Loggia[?], actor
- 1932 - Dabney Coleman[?], actor
- 1936 - Georgina Spelvin[?], pornographic film actress
- 1939 - Bobby Hull, ice hockey player
- 1941 - Van Dyke Parks, musician, composer
- 1942 - John Thaw, actor (+ 2002)
- 1945 - Stephen Stills, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
- 1945 - Victoria Principal[?], actress
- 1946 - John Paul Jones, bassist from Led Zeppelin
- 1956 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
- 1960 - Joan Chen[?], actress
- 1969 - Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver
- 1975 - Danica McKellar, actress
- 1976 - Jason Marsden, actor
- 1989 - Alex D. Linz, actor
- 1322 - Philip V, king of France
- 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, potter
- 1933 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy"
- 1945 - Edgar Cayce, psychic
- 1950 - Emil Jannings, actor
- 1967 - Jack Ruby, convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald
- 1979 - Conrad Hilton, hotelier
- 1980 - Joy Adamson, conservationist and author of Born Free[?]
- 1992 - Dame Judith Anderson[?], actress
- 2002 - Freddy Heineken, CEO of the beer brewery
See Also:
January 2 - January 4 - December 3 - February 3 - listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December