The first paper money issued in the Americas

Today in History

• The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas (1690)
• The longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet/3,633 meters) begins operation in San Francisco (1918)
• The Day the Music Died: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper die in a plane crash (1959)
• Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (1969)
• New York police officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust and survives to testify against police corruption (1971)
• A seven-day blizzard in Iran kills at least 4,000, making it the deadliest snowstorm in recorded history (1972)
• The first successful human embryo transfer takes place (1984)

Birthdays

• Samuel Osgood, first US Postmaster General (1747)
• Felix Mendelssohn, composer (1809)
• Horace Greeley, journalist famous for the phrase “Go west, young man” (1811)
• Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to receive a medical degree in the US (1821)
• Hugo Junkers, aircraft designer (1859 — died February 3, 1935)
• Gertrude Stein, novelist (1874)
• Norman Rockwell, painter (1894)
• Pretty Boy Floyd, gangster (1904)
• James Michener, novelist (1907)
• Joey Bishop, comedian and actor (1918)
• Henry Heimlich, physician who developed the Heimlich maneuver (1920)
• Shelley Berman, comedian and actor (1925)
• Victor Buono, actor (1938)
• Fran Tarkenton, football player (1940)
• Blythe Danner, actress (1943)
• Morgan Fairchild, actress (1950)
• Nathan Lane, actor (1956)

Deaths

• Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press (1468)
• Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President (1924)
• Hugo Junkers, aircraft designer (1935 — born February 3, 1859)
• Anna May Wong, actress (1961)
• John Cassavetes, actor (1989)
• Nancy Culp, actress (1991)
• Audrey Meadows, actress (1996)
• Ben Gazzarra, actor (2012)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
• Four Chaplains Day (US)
• Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
• Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
• Martyrs’ Day (Sao Tome and Principe)
• Setsubun (Japan)
• Veteran’s Day (Thailand)

February 3 is the 34th day of the year. There are 331 days (332 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.