Notable Birthdays for February 3
Samuel Osgood (1747-1813) - the first Postmaster General for the U.S. Post Office.
Joseph E. Johnston (1807-1891) - Senior military officer for the Confederate Army
Horace Greeley (1811-1872) - Journalist and founder of the NY Tribune.
Samuel Ryan Curtis (1817-1866) - Major General for the Union Army.
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) - First woman to earn a physician degree in the U.S.
Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1888) - Naturalist and first curator at the Smithsonian Institution.
George Thomas "Tige" Anderson (1824-1901) - Brigadier General for the Confederate Army.
Nathan George "Shanks" Evans (1824-1868) - Brigadier General for the Confederate Army.
Ranald MacDonald (1824-1894) - Explorer and educator who was the first person to teach English in Japan.
Charles Henry Turner (1867-1923) - Biolologist known for his study of insects.
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) - Famous painter.
Helen Stephens (1918-1994) - Olympic gold medalist in running.
Henry Heimlich (1920-2016) - Physician and inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver.
Stephen Ross (1944-2017) - Economist who created the arbitrage pricing theory.
Morgan Fairchild (1950-Still Living) - Award-winning actress.
Eric Lander (1957-Still Living) - Mathematician, geneticist, and founder of the Broad Institute of MIT.
Lee Crystal Sackett (1958-2013) - Drummer for Joan Jett and The Blackhearts.
Elizabeth Holmes (1984-Still Living) - Fraudster and founder of Theranos.
Memorable Events for February 3
1690 - The Massachusetts colony issues the first paper money.
1743 - Philadelphia establishes a "pesthouse" to quarantine immigrants.
1834 - Wake Forest University is established in North Carolina
1855 - Wisconsin Supreme Court declares U.S. Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional.
1860 - Thomas Clemson becomes the first Superintendent of Agriculture.
1863 - Samuel Clemens uses his pen name Mark Twain for the first time.
1870 - Congress votes to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
1887 - Congress creates Electoral Count Act to avoid disputed national elections.
1913 - Congress votes to ratify the Sixteenth Amendment, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
1917 - America enters WWI due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
1933 - The first Interstate Legislative Conference takes place in Washington, D.C.
1941 - The Supreme Court upheld the Federal Wage and Hour Law then proceeds to set minimum wages and maximum hours.
1943 - Four chaplains drown after giving up their life jackets while a U.S. Army transport ship sinks.
1945 - The Air Force bombs Berlin.
1959 - A plane crash killing musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, The Big Bopper, and the pilot happens near a field in Iowa.
1961 - The Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass by putting the Doomsday Plane in the air to protect the U.S. from bombers and missiles.
1995 - Eileen Collins becomes the first woman astronaut to pilot the Space Shuttle (Mission STS-63).
2009 - Eric Holder the first Black American Attorney General for the U.S.
