History of 3 February
- 1938 – The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1944 – World War II: Top Ace Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
- 1945 – World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
- 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
- 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
- 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
- 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
- 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
- 1957 – The 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 – Cold War: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba over the latter’s nationalization of American assets.
- 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
- 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
- 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
- 1976 – International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights entered into force.
- 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
- 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
- 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush, and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
- 1994 – More than seven million people from the former apartheid Homelands receive South African citizenship.
- 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
- 2000 – Final daily edition of the Peanuts comic strip.
- 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
- 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
- 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- 2015 – Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
- 2016 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nirmal-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
- 2018 – Computer analysts report two major security vulnerabilities, named “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” affecting the microprocessors of almost all computers in the world.
Celebrating Birthday’s Today
- 1987 – Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
- 1987 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
- 1987 – Leonidas Panagopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
- 1988 – Rodrigo de la Cadena, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer
- 1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – J. R. Hildebrand, American race car driver
- 1989 – Adas Juškevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1989 – Ben Matulino, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1989 – Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
- 1989 – Anthony Wordsworth, English footballer
- 1990 – Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
- 1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
- 1991 – Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
- 1991 – Sébastien Faure, French footballer
- 1991 – Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Doug McDermott, American basketball player
- 1992 – Sio Siua Taukeiaho, New Zealand-Tongan rugby league player
- 1992 – Sandra Zaniewska, a Polish tennis player
- 1993 – Kevin Ware, American basketball player
- 1995 – Kim Seol-Hyun, South Korean singer and dancer
- 1998 – Patrick Cutrone, Italian footballer
- 2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist