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

September 3: Facts & Myths About This Day

September 3 is the 246^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 119 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 21, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,756,857,600 seconds 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 ‘dihectatetracontahexagon’ day.

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

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 167 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 4,639 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

September 3 Historical Events

• 1802 –
  William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.
• 1855 –
  Indian Wars: in Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children.
• 1870 –
  Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23.
• 1925 –
  USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), the United States’ first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne.
• 1941 –
  The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs.
• 1943 –
  World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy begins.
• 1971 –
  Qatar becomes an independent state
• 1976 –
  Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
• 1997 –
  Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev TU-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64.
• 1999 –
  An 87-automobile pile-up happens on Highway 401 freeway just East of Windsor, Ontario, Canada after an unusually thick fog from Lake St. Clair.

Who were born on September 3?

• 1724 –
  Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, British soldier and Governor of Quebec (d. 1808)
• 1856 –
  Louis Sullivan, American architect (d. 1924)
• 1900 –
  Maurice Dobb, British economist (d. 1976)
• 1905 –
  John Mills, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1972)
• 1921 –
  Marguerite Higgins, American reporter and war correspondent, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1966)
• 1928 –
  Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg politician, 8th Prime Minister of Luxembourg and 7th President of the European Commission (d. 2007)
• 1933 –
  Tompall Glaser, American singer
• 1938 –
  Ryōji Noyori, Japanese chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1964 –
  Adam Curry, American Internet entrepreneur and MTV VJ
• 1987 –
  Chris Fountain, English actor

Who died on September 3?

• 1658 –
  Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (b. 1599)
• 1883 –
  Ivan Turgenev, Russian novelist and playwright (b. 1818)
• 1893 –
  James Harrison, Scottish-born Australian newspaper printer, journalist, politician and pioneer in the field of mechanical refrigeration (b. 1816)
• 1978 –
  Karin Molander, Swedish actress (b. 1889)
• 1980 –
  Dirch Passer, Danish actor (b. 1926)
• 1989 –
  Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer (b. 1953)
• 2007 –
  Jane Tomlinson, British charity fund raiser (b. 1964)
• 2007 –
  Syd Jackson, New Zealand Māori activist and trade unionist (b. 1939)
• 2010 –
  Noah Howard, American jazz musician (b. 1943)
• 2010 –
  Robert Schimmel, American stand-up comedian (b. 1950)