Find out what significant events happened around the world today, May 3, in history
A closer look at key historic events that took place on May 3:
In 1999, a tornado produces the highest wind speeds ever recorded
The F5 tornado hit parts of Oklahoma City and amassed a wind speed of about 484 km/h. 45 people were killed and another 665 injured.
Following a tornado, three-year-old Adam Fields is left wondering why his plastic slide is in the pile of rubble that used to be his house. Said to be Oklahoma’s worst tornado in 17 years, it was categorized by meteorologists as F-5 using the Fujita-Pearson scale and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes and damaged 7,000 others. This photograph was used in the article “Real-life Twister,” from the September 1999 Airman Magazine. Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
In 1996, the first formal review of the 1980 Geneva Convention on Inhumane Weapons takes place
As a result of the review, the signatories agreed to restrict the use of land mines over the next decade.
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, Group of Governmental Experts of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, 2nd session, Geneva. 27 August 2018. Photo by Violaine Martin
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher is elected prime minister of Britain
Margaret Thatcher was the first woman in Europe to hold the position of Prime Minister and later became the longest continuously serving PM of the UK since 1827.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Work provided by Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
In 1978, the first spam e-mail is sent out
The email was sent out over ARPANET, a precursor to the modern internet. It promoted a new computer model to hundreds of users.
Greek PM Mitsotakis inaugurated the German pavilion at TIF highlighting Germany's role as a major investor, while German Vice Chancellor Habeck praised Greece's economic growth