August 3 is the 215th day of the year (216th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 150 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
Pre-1600
8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bosna.
435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.
908 – Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats an East Frankish army under Duke Burchard of Thuringia.
1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
1057 – Frederick of Lorraine elected as Pope Stephen IX.
1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1601–1900
1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.
1645 – Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
1778 – The theatre La Scala in Milan is inaugurated with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed, ending the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
1829 – The Treaty of Lewistown is signed by the Shawnee and Seneca peoples, exchanging land in Ohio for land west of the Mississippi River.
1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also known as the first ever American intercollegiate athletic event.
1859 – The American Dental Association is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.
1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.
1901–present
1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists for only ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France, while Romania declares its neutrality.
1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.
1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
1949 – The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger that would create the National Basketball Association.
1958 – The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
1960 – Niger gains independence from France.
1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.
1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria: A total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
2007 – Former deputy director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
2014 – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake kills at least 617 people and injures more than 2,400 in Yunnan, China.
2014 – The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL begins.
2018 – Two burka-clad men kill 29 people and injure more than 80 in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in eastern Afghanistan.
2019 – Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.
2019 – Twenty-three people are killed and 22 injured in a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
2023 – Worst floods hit major parts of Slovenia.
Births
Pre-1600
1442 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (d. 1499)
1486 – Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (d. 1512)
1491 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, German noblewoman (d. 1543)
1509 – Étienne Dolet, French scholar and translator (d. 1546)
1601–1900
1622 – Wolfgang Julius, Count of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, German field marshal (d. 1698)
1692 – John Henley, English minister and poet (d. 1759)
1724 – Alvise Foscari, Venetian admiral (d. 1790)
1766 – Aaron Chorin, Hungarian rabbi and author (d. 1844)
1770 – Frederick William III of Prussia (d. 1840)
1803 – Joseph Paxton, English gardener and architect, designed The Crystal Palace (d. 1865)
1808 – Hamilton Fish, American lawyer and politician, 26th United States Secretary of State (d. 1893)
1811 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (d. 1861)
1817 – Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen (d. 1895)
1823 – Thomas Francis Meagher, Irish-American revolutionary and military leader, territorial governor of Montana (d. 1867)
1832 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer, conductor, and director (d. 1914)
1840 – John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, English jurist and politician (d. 1929)
1850 – Reginald Heber Roe, English-Australian swimmer, tennis player, and academic (d. 1926)
1856 – Alfred Deakin, Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1919)
1860 – William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 1935)
1863 – Géza Gárdonyi, Hungarian author and journalist (d. 1922)
1867 – Stanley Baldwin, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1947)
1871 – Vernon Louis Parrington, American historian and scholar (d. 1929)
1872 – Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957)
1886 – Maithili Sharan Gupt, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1964)
1887 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (d. 1915)
1887 – August Wesley, Finnish journalist, trade unionist, and revolutionary (d. ?)
1890 – Konstantin Melnikov, Russian architect, designed the Rusakov Workers' Club (d. 1974)
1894 – Harry Heilmann, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1951)
1895 – Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English politician (d. 1942)
1896 – Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
1899 – Louis Chiron, Monegasque race car driver (d. 1979)
1900 – Ernie Pyle, American soldier and journalist (d. 1945)
1900 – John T. Scopes, American educator (d. 1970)
1901–present
1901 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
1901 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (d. 1981)
1902 – Regina Jonas, German rabbi (d. 1944)
1902 – David Buttolph, American film composer (d. 1983)
1903 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian journalist and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Tunisia (d. 2000)
1904 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (d. 1983)
1904 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (d. 1988)
1905 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (d. 2004)
1907 – Lawrence Brown, American trombonist and composer (d. 1988)
1907 – Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general and politician, 29th President of Brazil (d. 1996)
1907 – Yang Shangkun, Chinese politician, and 4th President of China (d. 1998)
1909 – Walter Van Tilburg Clark, American author and educator (d. 1971)
1911 – Alex McCrindle, Scottish actor and producer (d. 1990)
1912 – Fritz Hellwig, German politician (d. 2017)
1913 – Mel Tolkin, Ukrainian-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2007)
1916 – Shakeel Badayuni, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1970)
1916 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1978)
1917 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1995)
1918 – James MacGregor Burns, American historian, political scientist, and author (d. 2014)
1918 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (d. 1999)
1918 – Larry Haines, American actor (d. 2008)
1918 – Eddie Jefferson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
1920 – Norman Dewis, English test driver and engineer (d. 2019)
1920 – Max Fatchen, Australian journalist and author (d. 2012)
1920 – P. D. James, English author (d. 2014)
1920 – Charlie Shavers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1971)
1920 – Elmar Tampõld, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2013)
1921 – Richard Adler, American composer and producer (d. 2012)
1921 – Hayden Carruth, American poet and critic (d. 2008)
1921 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (d. 1972)
1922 – John Eisenhower, American historian, general, and diplomat, 45th United States Ambassador to Belgium (d. 2013)
1923 – Jean Hagen, American actress (d. 1977)
1923 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria (d. 2012)
1924 – Connie Converse, American musician and singer-songwriter
1924 – Leon Uris, American soldier and author (d. 2003)
1925 – Marv Levy, American-Canadian football player, coach, and manager
1925 – Lewis Rowland, American neurologist (d. 2017)
1926 – Rona Anderson, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
1926 – Tony Bennett, American singer and actor (d. 2023)
1926 – Anthony Sampson, English journalist and author (d. 2004)
1926 – Gordon Scott, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Rushdy Abaza, Egyptian actor (d. 1980)
1928 – Cécile Aubry, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1928 – Henning Moritzen, Danish actor (d. 2012)
1930 – James Komack, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1933 – Pat Crawford, Australian cricketer (d. 2009)
1934 – Haystacks Calhoun, American wrestler and actor (d. 1989)
1934 – Michael Chapman, English bassoon player (d. 2005)
1934 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (d. 2002)
1935 – John Erman, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2021)
1935 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and cosmonaut (d. 1997)
1935 – Vic Vogel, Canadian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2019)
1936 – Jerry G. Bishop, American radio and television host (d. 2013)
1936 – Edward Petherbridge, English actor
1937 – Steven Berkoff, English actor, director, and playwright
1937 – Roland Burris, American lawyer and politician, 39th Illinois Attorney General