What are the important events that happened on January 3? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

January 3: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 3 is the 3^rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 362 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 21, 2024 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 482,184 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trigon’ day.

Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 26 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,396 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 3: This Day In History

The Perihelion, the point in the year when the Earth is closest to the Sun, occurs around this date.

January 3 Historical Events

• 1521 –
  Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
• 1749 –
  The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark’s oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
• 1815 –
  Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
• 1848 –
  Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Liberia.
• 1932 –
  Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop a revolt by banana workers fired by the United Fruit Company.
• 1956 –
  A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
• 1990 –
  Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
• 1993 –
  In Moscow, Russia, George 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.
• 1997 –
  China announces it will spend US$27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys.

Who were born on January 3?

• 1196 –
  Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
• 1760 –
  John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1835)
• 1819 –
  Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland (d. 1900)
• 1855 –
  Hubert Bland, British socialist (d. 1914)
• 1897 –
  Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
• 1923 –
  Hank Stram, American football coach (d. 2005)
• 1939 –
  Nikos Alefantos, Greek football manager
• 1949 –
  Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (d. 1965)
• 1982 –
  Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
• 1989 –
  Anya Rozova, Russian/American fashion model

Who died on January 3?

• 1785 –
  Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
• 1922 –
  Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, German impostor who became famous as The Captain of Köpenick (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick) in 1906 (b. 1849)
• 1946 –
  William Joyce, American propagandist (b. 1906)
• 1969 –
  Howard McNear, American actor (b. 1905)
• 1969 –
  Jean Focas, Greek-born astronomer (b. 1909)
• 1989 –
  Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
• 2003 –
  Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
• 2007 –
  Janos Furst, Hungarian orchestral conductor (b. 1935)
• 2008 –
  Natasha Collins, British actress and television presenter (b. 1976)
• 2009 –
  Ulf G. Lindén, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1937)