This is a list of selected April 3 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Only use ONE image at a time
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Martin Cooper, demonstrating an old-style mobile phone -
Robert Walpole, painted by Jean-Baptiste van Loo -
One of a number of posters created to promote the Marshall Plan in Europe -
George Marshall -
Osborne 1 -
One-dollar Pony Express stamp -
Seal of Edward the Confessor -
Robert Walpole
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1922 – Joseph Stalin became the first general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. | "Article too long" yellow banner |
| 1936 – Richard Hauptmann was executed in the electric chair for the kidnapping and murder of the "Lindbergh baby". | lots of CN tags |
| 1944 – Philippine resistance against Japan: Cebuano fishermen discovered the Koga papers after a plane crash killed Admiral Mineichi Koga, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet. | Date not mentioned in target article |
| 1946 – Imperial Japanese Army officer Masaharu Homma was executed for war crimes committed during the Bataan Death March. | Citations needed |
| 1948 – The Marshall Plan, an economic recovery program established by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall to assist the post-World War II re-building of Europe, was signed into law. | refimprove section |
| 1948 – Division of Korea: A communist uprising began on Jeju Island, eventually leading to thousands of deaths and atrocities committed by both sides. | POV orange banner |
| 1961 – An individual Leadbeater's possum, thought to have been extinct for over 50 years, was discovered in New South Wales, Australia. | lots of CN tags |
| 1966 – Luna 10 entered orbit around the Moon, becoming the first space probe to orbit an astronomical body other than Earth. | refimprove |
| 1971 – The Japanese tokusatsu television series Kamen Rider premiered, the first property in a long-running media franchise. | refimprove sections |
| 1973 – On a New York City street, Motorola researcher Martin Cooper made the first public call on a handheld mobile phone. | Cooper: refimprove section; Phone: expansion, outdated |
| 1974 – The Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes began, killing at least 315 people and injuring 5,484 in 13 US states at the end of a very strong La Niña event. | needs more footnotes |
| 1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, was unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. | Too much uncited |
| 2008 – Texas law enforcement authorities raided the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' YFZ Ranch, eventually removing 533 women and children from the premises. | lead too short |
Eligible
- 1559 – Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain signed the second treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, ending the Italian War of 1551–1559.
- 1721 – Robert Walpole (pictured) took office as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons, becoming the first de facto prime minister of Great Britain.
- 1860 – The Pony Express, a mail service that became the most direct means of long-distance communication across the United States before the first transcontinental telegraph, began operation.
- 1888 – Emma Elizabeth Smith was killed in the first of eleven unsolved murders of women that took place in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London.
- 1895 – The libel trial instigated by Irish author Oscar Wilde (pictured) began, eventually resulting in his arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of gross indecency.
- 1933 – Lord Clydesdale and David McIntyre undertook the first successful flight over Mount Everest.
- 2000 – In United States v. Microsoft Corp., Microsoft was found to have violated antitrust law by bundling the web browser Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system.
- 2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
- 2016 – The first news stories on the Panama Papers were published, revealing that shell corporations represented by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca had been used for illegal purposes.
- Born/died: | Al-Adil ibn al-Sallar |d|1154|Richard of Chichester |d|1253| George Herbert |b|1593| Cyrus K. Holliday |b|1826|Ernst Chladni |d|1827| Talbot Baines Reed |b|1852|Thomas C. Kinkaid |b|1888| Roza Shanina |b|1924| Tony Benn |b|1925| Pál Teleki |d|1941|SethBling |b|1987| Graham Greene |d|1991| Mary Cartwright |d|1998
Notes
- 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak appears on March 28 and April 2, 2006 tornado outbreak appears on April 2 and 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak appears on April 5, so Super Outbreak should not appear in the same year
Rakesh Sharma
- 1043 – Edward the Confessor, usually considered to be the last king of the House of Wessex, was crowned King of England.
- 1984 – Aboard Soyuz T-11, Rakesh Sharma (pictured) became the first Indian to be launched into space.
- 1996 – A U.S. Air Force CT-43 crashed into a mountainside while attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing all 35 people on board, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
- 2009 – A gunman opened fire at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York, U.S., killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
- 2013 – The northeastern section of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, experienced several flash floods that killed at least 100 people.
- Mukhtar al-Thaqafi (d. 687)
- Mary Carpenter (b. 1807)
- Reginald Heber (d. 1826)
- Gus Grissom (b. 1926)