Historical Events on February 3

1451 Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire

1488 Bartolomeu Dias discovers Mosselbaai (Angra dos Vaqueros)

1576 Henry of Navarre (future Henry IV) escapes from Paris

1844 Hector Berlioz's "Carnaval Romain" premieres in Paris

1863 Samuel Clemens first uses the pen name Mark Twain in a Virginia City newspaper, the "Territorial Enterprise"

1882 Circus owner P. T. Barnum buys his world-famous elephant Jumbo

1917 US liner Housatonic is sunk by German submarine, on the same day that US President Woodrow Wilson breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany

1928 Paleoanthropologist Davidson Black reports his findings on the ancient human fossils found at Zhoukoudian, China in the journal Nature and declares them to be a new species he names 'Sinanthropus pekinensis' (now known as 'Homo erectus')

1930 William Howard Taft resigns as US chief justice for health reasons

1931 Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of journalist H. L. Mencken, after he calls the state the "apex of moronia"

1932 "Shanghai Express" directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook and Anna Mae Wong premieres in Los Angeles

1933 German Minister Hermann Goering bans social-democratic newspaper Vorwarts

1937 Don Bradman scores 212 (in 441 minutes!) in 5th cricket test v England

1951 "Victor Borge Show" debuts on NBC TV

1951 Tennessee Williams' play "The Rose Tattoo" premieres in NYC

1959 "The Day the Music Died" plane crash kills musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J. P. Richardson and pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa

1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes his famous "wind of change" speech in Africa, against the apartheid regime, angering South African politicians

1960 "La Dolce Vita" directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg has its film premiere in Italy

1962 US President John F. Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food & drugs

1967 "Purple Haze" recorded by Jimi Hendrix

1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill announces the dissolution of the Stormont parliament and the holding of new elections

1978 Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and US President Jimmy Carter discuss the Middle East peace process in Washington, D.C.

1979 Minnesota Twins trade Rod Carew to California for 4 players

1980 Larry Holmes TKOs Lorenzo Holmes in 6 for heavyweight boxing title

1980 30th NBA All-Star Game, Capital Centre, Landover, Md: East beats West, 144-136 (OT); MVP: George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs, SF

1986 US President Ronald Reagan announces formation of commission of enquiry on Challenger Accident

1986 The Pope and Mother Teresa meet in Calcutta

1990 Darryl Strawberry voluntarily enters Smither Center for Alcohol rehabilitation

1992 Defense opens calling Noriega "our ally in war on drugs"

1994 President Bill Clinton lifts US trade embargo against Vietnam

1998 Florida Panther Dino Ciccarelli is 9th NHLer to score 600 career goals

1998 Stamps commemorating Diana, Princess of Wales, go on sale in Britain

2002 Super Bowl XXXVI, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: New England Patriots beat St. Louis Rams, 20-17; MVP: Tom Brady, New England, QB

2008 Super Bowl XLII, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ: New York Giants beat New England Patriots, 17-14; MVP: Eli Manning, New York, QB

2009 Eric Holder becomes 82nd and 1st African American US Attoney General, succeeding Michael Mukasey

2016 Rand Paul drops out of the Republican Presidential nomination race

2016 US President Barack Obama visits his first US mosque - the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque in Maryland

2019 Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the first ever papal visit to the Arabian peninsula

2020 First Democratic caucus in Iowa won narrowly by Pete Buttigieg (most delegates) and Bernie Sanders (most votes) after lengthy delays and irregularities in reporting the results