1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years’ War.
1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.
1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins’ Ear) begins..
1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.
1826 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.
1845 – Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.
1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
1881 – Alexander II of Russia is assassinated.
1884 – The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885.
1900 – British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.
1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.
1933 – Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after the three-day national “bank holiday” mandated by the Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act.
1943 – German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory lead to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam.
1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.
1969 – Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d’état.
1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.
1992 – The Mw 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
1996 – The Dunblane massacre leads to the death of sixteen primary school children and one teacher in Dunblane, Scotland.
1997 – The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader.
2003 – An article in Nature identifies the Ciampate del Diavolo as 350,000-year-old hominid footprints.
2012 – The Sierre coach crash kills 28 people, including 22 children.
2013 – The 2013 papal conclave elects Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.
2016 – The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people.
2016 – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people.
Births on March 13
1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
1479 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (d. 1534)
1560 – William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, Dutch count (d. 1620)
1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (probable; d. 1652)
1599 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (d. 1621)
1615 – Innocent XII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1700)
1683 – Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, German botanist (d. 1741)
1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1797)
1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
1763 – Guillaume Brune, French general and diplomat (d. 1815)
1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (d. 1809)
1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1858)
1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (d. 1903)
1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
1862 – Paul Prosper Henrys, French general (d. 1943)
1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian-German painter (d. 1941)
1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
1880 – Josef Gočár, Czech architect (d. 1945)
1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)
1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
1886 – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
1888 – Paul Morand, French author and diplomat (d. 1976)
1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor and director (d. 1951)
1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
1899 – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 1978)
1900 – Andrée Bosquet, Belgian painter (d. 1980)
1900 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1902 – Hans Bellmer, German-French painter and sculptor (d. 1975)
1904 – Clifford Roach, Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (d. 1988)
1907 – Dorothy Tangney, Australian politician (d. 1985)
1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
1908 – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women’s Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
1910 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (d. 1973)
1911 – José Ardévol, Cuban composer and conductor (d. 1981)
1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (d. 2009)
1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1998)
1914 – Edward O’Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
1916 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (d. 2017)
1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (d. 2010)
1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer
1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
1929 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2014)
1933 – Mahdi Elmandjra, Moroccan economist and sociologist (d. 2014)
1933 – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (d. 2009)
1935 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (d. 2012)
1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer
1942 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns, English economist and academic
1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician and academic
1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
1947 – Lesley Collier, English ballerina and educator
1947 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist (d. 2018)
1947 – Lyn St. James, American race car driver
1949 – Ze’ev Bielski, Israeli politician
1949 – Sian Elias, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
1950 – Bernard Julien, Trinidadian cricketer
1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author (d. 2018)
1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
1952 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer and educator
1952 – Tim Sebastian, English journalist and author
1953 – Andy Bean, American golfer
1953 – Michael Curry, 27th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church
1954 – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Guyanese-English politician and diplomat
1954 – Robin Duke, Canadian actress and screenwriter
1955 – Bruno Conti, Italian footballer and manager
1955 – Glenne Headly, American actress (d. 2017)
1955 – Olga Rukavishnikova, Russian pentathlete
1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
1957 – John Hoeven, American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
1957 – Moses Hogan, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1958 – Mágico González, Salvadoran footballer
1958 – Rick Lazio, American lawyer and politician
1958 – Caryl Phillips, Caribbean-English author and playwright
1959 – Dirk Wellham, Australian cricketer
1960 – Adam Clayton, English-born Irish musician and songwriter
1960 – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
1963 – Vance Johnson, American football player
1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
1966 – Chico Science, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1967 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
1967 – Pieter Vink, Dutch footballer and referee
1970 – Tim Story, American director and producer
1971 – Annabeth Gish, American actress
1971 – Allan Nielsen, Danish international footballer, midfielder and manager
1972 – Common, American rapper and actor
1973 – Edgar Davids, Surinamese born Dutch international footballer midfielder and manager
1973 – Bobby Jackson, American basketball player and coach
1974 – Thomas Enqvist, Swedish tennis player and sportscaster
1975 – Mark Clattenburg, English football referee
1976 – Troy Hudson, American basketball player and rapper
1976 – Danny Masterson, American actor and producer
1978 – Tom Danielson, American cyclist
1978 – Kenny Watson, American football player
1979 – Johan Santana, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1979 – Cédric Van Branteghem, Belgian sprinter
1980 – Caron Butler, American basketball player
1982 – Nicole Ohlde, American basketball player
1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno, American swimmer
1984 – Geeta Basra, Indian actress
1985 – Alcides Araújo Alves, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Emile Hirsch, American actor
1986 – Neil Wagner, South African-New Zealand cricketer
1987 – Marco Andretti, American race car driver
1987 – Andreas Beck, German footballer
1988 – Furdjel Narsingh, Dutch footballer
1989 – Holger Badstuber, German footballer
1989 – Marko Marin, German footballer
1989 – Robert Wickens, Canadian racing driver
1990 – Anicet Abel, Malagasy footballer
1991 – Daniel Greig, Australian speed skater
1991 – Tristan Thompson, American basketball player
1994 – Gerard Deulofeu, Spanish footballer
1995 – Mikaela Shiffrin, American skier
1998 – Jay-Roy Grot, Dutch footballer
Deaths on March 13
1202 – Mieszko III the Old, king of Poland (b. c. 1121)
1271 – Henry of Almain, English knight (b. 1235)
1415 – Minye Kyawswa, Crown Prince of Ava (b. 1391)
1447 – Shah Rukh, Timurid ruler of Persia and Transoxania (b. 1377)
1573 – Michel de l’Hôpital, French politician (b. 1507)
1601 – Henry Cuffe, Politician (b. 1563)
1619 – Richard Burbage, English actor (b. 1567)
1711 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)
1719 – Johann Friedrich Böttger, German chemist and potter (b. 1682)
1800 – Nana Fadnavis, Indian minister and politician (b. 1742)
1808 – Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
1823 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (b. 1735)
1833 – William Bradley, English lieutenant and cartographer (b. 1757)
1842 – Henry Shrapnel, English general (b. 1761)
1854 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (b. 1773)
1873 – David Swinson Maynard, American physician, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1808)
1879 – Adolf Anderssen, German mathematician and chess player (b. 1818)
1881 – Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
1884 – Leland Stanford Jr., American son of Leland Stanford (b. 1868)
1885 – Giorgio Mitrovich, Maltese politician (b. 1795)
1901 – Benjamin Harrison, American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
1906 – Susan B. Anthony, American activist (b. 1820)
1912 – Eugène-Étienne Taché, Canadian engineer and architect, designed the Parliament Building (b. 1836)
1921 – Jenny Twitchell Kempton, American opera singer and educator (b. 1835)
1936 – Francis Bell, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1851)
1938 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and author (b. 1857)
1943 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1898)
1946 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (b. 1878)
1962 – Anne Acheson, Irish sculptor (d. 1882)
1965 – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (b. 1891)
1965 – Fan Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1882)
1971 – Rockwell Kent, American painter and illustrator (b. 1882)
1972 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941)
1975 – Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1976 – Ole Haugsrud, American sports executive (b. 1900)
1983 – Paul Citroen, German-Dutch illustrator and educator (b. 1896)
1990 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (b. 1903)
1995 – Odette Hallowes, French nurse and spy (b. 1912)
1996 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
1998 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
1998 – Hans von Ohain, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1911)
1999 – Lee Falk, American cartoonist, director, and producer (b. 1911)
1999 – Garson Kanin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
2001 – John A. Alonzo, American actor and cinematographer (b. 1934)
2001 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (b. 1895)
2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (b. 1900)
2004 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (b. 1905)
2006 – Robert C. Baker, American businessman, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
2006 – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
2006 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
2007 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
2009 – Betsy Blair, American actress (b. 1923)
2009 – Alan W. Livingston, American businessman (b. 1917)
2010 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
2011 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2014 – Reubin Askew, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of Florida (b. 1928)
2014 – Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, Irish businessman and politician (b. 1944)
2014 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (b. 1932)
2014 – Icchokas Meras, Lithuanian-Israeli author and screenwriter (b. 1934)
2015 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
2016 – Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (b. 1926)
2017 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (b. 1965)
2018 – Emily Nasrallah, Lebanese writer and women’s rights activist. (b. 1931)
538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.
1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
1689 – James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.
1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
1913 – The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.
1918 – Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.
1920 – The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.
1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people.
1930 – Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.
1933 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his “fireside chats”.
1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy and absorb Austria.
1940 – Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.
1942 – The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Japanese Empire in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.
1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
1950 – The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world’s deadliest air disaster.
1967 – Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the People’s Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.
1968 – Mauritius achieves independence from the United Kingdom.
1971 – The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
1989 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the world wide web.
1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more.
1993 – North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
2003 – The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
2004 – The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly: the first such impeachment in the nation’s history.
2009 – Financier Bernard Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.
2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
2014 – A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.
2019 – In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes.
Births on March 12
1270 – Charles, Count of Valois (d. 1325)
1515 – Caspar Othmayr, German Lutheran pastor and composer (d. 1553)
1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German poet and composer (d. 1676)
1613 – André Le Nôtre, French gardener and architect (d. 1700)
1626 – John Aubrey, English historian and philosopher (d. 1697)
1637 – Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and Albany (d. 1671)
1672 – Richard Steele, Irish-Welsh journalist and politician (d. 1729)
1685 – George Berkeley, Irish bishop and philosopher (d. 1753)
1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
1735 – François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, French politician and diplomat (d. 1821)
1753 – Jean Denis, French politician, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and historian (d. 1827)
1766 – Claudius Buchanan, Scottish theologian (d. 1815)
1781 – Frederica of Baden, Queen consort to Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1826)
1784 – William Buckland, English geologist and paleontologist; Dean of Westminster (d. 1856)
1795 – William Lyon Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Mayor of Toronto (d. 1861)
1795 – George Tyler Wood, American military officer and politician (d. 1858)
1806 – Jane Pierce, American wife of Franklin Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
1807 – James Abbott, Indian Army officer (d. 1896)
1815 – Louis-Jules Trochu, French military leader and politician (d. 1896)
1821 – John Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
1821 – Medo Pucić, Croatian writer and politician (d. 1882)
1823 – Katsu Kaishū, Japanese statesman (d. 1899)
1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, Russian-German physicist and academic (d. 1887)
1832 – Charles Boycott, English farmer and agent (d. 1897)
1834 – Hilary A. Herbert, Secretary of the Navy (d. 1919)
1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
1837 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist and academic (d. 1907)
1843 – Gabriel Tarde, French sociologist and criminologist (d. 1904)
1855 – Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (d. 1920)
1857 – William V. Ranous, American actor and director (d. 1915)
1858 – Adolph Ochs, American publisher (d. 1935)
1859 – Ernesto Cesàro, Italian mathematician (d. 1906)
1860 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian poet and author (d. 1895)
1863 – Gabriele D’Annunzio, Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1938)
1863 – Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian and Ukrainian mineralogist and chemist (d. 1945)
1864 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (d. 1922)
1874 – Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
1877 – Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of the Interior (d. 1946)
1878 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1903)
1880 – Henry Drysdale Dakin, English-American chemist and academic (d. 1952)
1881 – Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland (d. 1966)
1882 – Carlos Blanco Galindo, Bolivian politician (d. 1943)
1883 – Sándor Jávorka, Hungarian botanist (d. 1961)
1888 – Walter Hermann Bucher, German-American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1965)
1888 – Hans Knappertsbusch, German conductor (d. 1965)
1890 – Evert Taube, Swedish singer-songwriter and lute player (d. 1976)
1896 – Jesse Fuller, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1976)
1898 – Tian Han, Chinese playwright (d. 1968)
1898 – Luitpold Steidle, German army officer and politician (d. 1984)
1899 – Ramón Muttis, Argentine footballer (d. 1955)
1900 – Rinus van den Berge, Dutch athlete (d. 1972)
1900 – Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 19th President of Colombia (d. 1975)
1904 – Lyudmila Keldysh, Russian mathematician (d. 1976)
1905 – Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (d. 1982)
1907 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (d. 2007)
1908 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
1908 – David Marshall, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (d. 1995)
1909 – Petras Cvirka, Lithuanian author (d. 1947)
1910 – Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1980)
1910 – László Lékai, Archbishop of Esztergom and Cardinal (d. 1986)
1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican academic and politician, 49th President of Mexico (d. 1979)
1912 – Willie Hall, English international footballer (d. 1967)
1912 – Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (d. 2006)
1913 – Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
1913 – Agathe von Trapp, Hungarian-American singer and author (d. 2010)
1915 – Alberto Burri, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1995)
1915 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist (d. 1991)
1917 – Leonard Chess, American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (d. 1969)
1917 – Millard Kaufman, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1917 – Googie Withers, Indian-Australian actress (d. 2011)
1918 – Pádraig Faulkner, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (d. 2012)
1918 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (d. 1989)
1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (d. 2001)
1921 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
1922 – Jack Kerouac, American author and poet (d. 1969)
1922 – Lane Kirkland, American sailor and union leader (d. 1999)
1923 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater and cyclist (d. 2013)
1923 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (d. 2005)
1923 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2007)
1923 – Mae Young, American wrestler (d. 2014)
1925 – Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
1926 – George Ariyoshi, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii
1926 – Arthur A. Hartman, American career diplomat (d. 2015)
1926 – John Clellon Holmes, American author and professor (d. 1988)
1926 – David Nadien, American violinist (d. 2014)
1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (d. 2009)
1927 – Emmett Leith, professor of electrical engineering and co-inventor of three-dimensional holography (d. 2005)
1927 – Sudharmono, 5th Vice President of Indonesia (d. 2006)
1928 – Edward Albee, American director and playwright (d. 2016)
1929 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Acland, British former diplomat and Provost of Eton College
1931 – Józef Tischner, Polish priest and philosopher (d. 2000)
1932 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian basketball player (d. 2014)
1932 – Andrew Young, American pastor and politician, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
1933 – Myrna Fahey, American actress (d. 1973)
1933 – Barbara Feldon, American actress
1934 – Francisco J. Ayala, Spanish-American evolutionary biologist and philosopher
1936 – Virginia Hamilton, American children’s books author (d. 2002)
1936 – Michał Heller, Polish professor of philosophy
1936 – Eddie Sutton, American basketball player and coach
1937 – Zoltán Horvath, Hungarian sabre fencer
1937 – Zurab Sotkilava, Georgian operatic tenor (d. 2017)
1938 – Vladimir Msryan, Armenian actor, (d. 2010)
1938 – Johnny Rutherford, American race car driver and sportscaster
1938 – Juan Horacio Suárez, Argentine bishop
1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer (d. 2017)
1941 – Josip Skoblar, former Croatian footballer
1942 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player (d. 2020)
1943 – Ratko Mladić, Serbian general
1944 – Erwin Mueller, former American basketball player (d. 2018)
1945 – Anne Summers, Australian feminist writer, editor, publisher and public servant
1946 – Dean Cundey, American cinematographer and film director
1946 – Liza Minnelli, American actress, singer and dancer
1946 – Frank Welker, American voice actor and singer
1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German educator and politician
222 – Alexander Severus becomes emperor of Rome, replacing his cousin, 18-year-old Elagabalus. The bodies of the assassinated emperor and his mother, Julia Soaemias, are dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber.
1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona.
1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.
1649 – The Frondeurs and the French sign the Peace of Rueil.
1702 – The Daily Courant, England’s first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.
1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
1811 – During André Masséna’s retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, a division led by French Marshal Michel Ney fights off a combined Anglo-Portuguese force to give Masséna time to escape.
1824 – The United States Department of War creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1845 – Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.
1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
1872 – Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
1879 – Shō Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
1917 – World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
1941 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established with Bảo Đại as its ruler.
1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces establish control over Buôn Ma Thuột commune from the South Vietnamese army.
1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Siege: More than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel’s Operation Litani.
1981 – Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
1983 – Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear weapon.
1983 – Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.
1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union making Gorbachev the USSR’s de facto, and last, head of state.
1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.
1993 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
1999 – Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush-hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killing 192 people.
2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Sixteen are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
2012 – A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
2016 – At least 21 people are killed by flooding and mudslides in and around São Paulo, Brazil, following heavy rain.
2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus.
Births on March 11
1279 – Mary of Woodstock, daughter of Edward I of England (d. c.1332)
1503 – George Harper, English politician (d. 1558)
1530 – Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1573)
1544 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (d. 1595)
1634 – Nicholas Gassaway, English colonial military and political leader (d. 1691)
1738 – Benjamin Tupper, American general (d. 1792)
1745 – Bodawpaya, Burmese king (d. 1819)
1785 – John McLean, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Postmaster General (d. 1861)
1787 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
1806 – Louis Boulanger, French Romantic painter, lithographer and illustrator (d. 1867)
1811 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1877)
1815 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer (d. 1879)
1818 – Marius Petipa, French-Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1910)
1819 – Henry Tate, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Tate & Lyle (d. 1899)
1822 – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (d. 1900)
1854 – Jane Meade Welch, American journalist and lecturer (d. 1931)
1863 – Andrew Stoddart, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1915)
1870 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1946)
1872 – Kathleen Clarice Groom, Australian-English author and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1873 – David Horsley, English-American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1933)
1876 – Carl Ruggles, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
1878 – Umegatani Tōtarō II, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1927)
1880 – Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist and sociologist (d. 1943)
1884 – Lewi Pethrus, Swedish minister and hymn-writer (d. 1974)
1884 – Ömer Seyfettin, Turkish soldier, author, and educator (d. 1920)
1885 – Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver and journalist (d. 1948)
1887 – Raoul Walsh, American actor and director (d. 1980)
1887 – Kâzım Orbay, Turkish general and politician (d. 1964)
1890 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (d. 1974)
1893 – Wanda Gág, American author and illustrator (d. 1946)
1895 – Shemp Howard, American actor (d. 1955)
1896 – Olivério Pinto, Brazilian zoologist and physician (d. 1981)
1897 – Henry Cowell, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
1898 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)
1899 – James H. Douglas, Jr., American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (d. 1988)
1899 – Frederick IX of Denmark (d. 1972)
1900 – Hanna Bergas, German teacher who contributed to the rescue of Jewish children during WWII (d. 1987)
1903 – Ronald Syme, New Zealand historian and scholar (d. 1989)
1903 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (d. 1992)
1907 – Jessie Matthews, English actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
1908 – Matti Sippala, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1997)
1910 – Robert Havemann, German chemist and academic (d. 1982)
1911 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Egyptian-Scottish general and politician (d. 1996)
1913 – Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, German colonel and pilot (d. 1944)
1915 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (d. 2004)
1915 – J. C. R. Licklider, American computer scientist and psychologist (d. 1990)
1916 – Ezra Jack Keats, American author and illustrator (d. 1983)
1916 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
1920 – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1921 – Frank Harary, American mathematician and academic (d. 2005)
1921 – Jeff Stollmeyer, Trinidadian cricketer (d. 1989)
1921 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player (d. 1992)
1922 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek economist and philosopher (d. 1997)
1922 – José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor and director (d. 2009)
1922 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1976)
1923 – Louise Brough, American tennis player (d. 2014)
1925 – Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American biochemist and academic (d. 1983)
1925 – İlhan Selçuk, Turkish lawyer, journalist, and author (d. 2010)
1926 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (d. 1990)
1927 – Joachim Fuchsberger, German actor and television host (d. 2014)
1927 – Col Geelan, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1996)
1927 – Freda Meissner-Blau, Austrian activist and politician (d. 2015)
1927 – Robert Mosbacher, American sailor, businessman, and politician, 25th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
1927 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
1928 – Albert Salmi, American actor (d. 1990)
1929 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1929 – Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
1930 – David Gentleman, English illustrator and engraver
1930 – Claude Jutra, Canadian actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
1931 – Janosch, Polish-German author and illustrator
1931 – Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress and singer (d. 2015)
1931 – Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate
1932 – Leroy Jenkins, American violinist and composer (Revolutionary Ensemble) (d. 2007)
1932 – Nigel Lawson, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
1934 – Sam Donaldson, American journalist
1936 – Hollis Frampton, American director, screenwriter, and photographer (d. 1984)
1936 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2016)
1938 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 2011)
1939 – Lorraine Hunt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
1939 – Orlando Quevedo, Filipino cardinal
1940 – Alberto Cortez, Argentinian-Spanish singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
1942 – Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian and author (d. 2015)
1942 – Joel Steiger, American director, producer and screenwriter
1943 – Arturo Merzario, Italian race car driver
1945 – Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
1945 – Harvey Mandel, American guitarist
1946 – Mark Metcalf, American actor and producer
1947 – Geoff Hunt, Australian squash player
1947 – Tristan Murail, French composer and educator
1948 – Roy Barnes, American lawyer and politician, 80th Governor of Georgia
1949 – Griselda Pollock, South African-English historian and academic
1950 – Sam Kekovich, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1950 – Bobby McFerrin, American singer-songwriter, producer, and conductor
1950 – Jerry Zucker, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1951 – Andres Metspalu, Estonian geneticist and academic
1951 – Dominique Sanda, French model and actress
1952 – Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (d. 2001)
1953 – László Bölöni, Romanian-Hungarian footballer and manager
1953 – Derek Daly, Irish-American race car driver and sportscaster
1953 – Jimmy Iovine, American record producer and businessman, co-founded Interscope Records and Beats Electronics
1953 – Bernie LaBarge, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – David Newman, American composer and conductor
1954 – Gale Norton, American lawyer and politician, 48th United States Secretary of the Interior
1955 – Leslie Cliff, Canadian swimmer
1955 – Nina Hagen, German singer and actress
1955 – D. J. MacHale, American author, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Willie Banks, American triple jumper
1956 – Curtis Brown, American colonel, pilot and astronaut
1956 – Helen Rollason, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 1999)
1957 – The Lady Chablis, American drag queen performer (d. 2016)
1958 – Ian Horrocks, English computer scientist and academic
1958 – Tetsurō Oda, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1958 – James Pinkerton, American journalist and author
1958 – Anissa Jones, American child actress (d. 1976)
1958 – Flemming Rose, Danish journalist and author
1959 – Manuel Negrete Arias, Mexican footballer and coach
1959 – Nina Hartley, American pornographic actress/director, sex educator, sex-positive feminist, and author
1959 – Margus Oopkaup, Estonian actor
1959 – Dejan Stojanović, Serbian-American journalist and poet
1960 – Christophe Gans, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1960 – Junichi Sato, Japanese animator and director
1960 – Warwick Taylor, New Zealand rugby player
1961 – Elias Koteas, Canadian actor
1961 – Bruce Watson, Canadian-Scottish guitarist
1962 – Mary Gauthier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Matt Mead, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of Wyoming
1963 – Gary Barnett, English footballer and manager
1963 – Alex Kingston, English actress
1963 – David LaChapelle, American photographer and director
1964 – Peter Berg, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1964 – Vinnie Paul, American drummer, songwriter and producer (d. 2018)
1964 – Shane Richie, English actor and singer
1965 – Nigel Adkins, English footballer and manager
1965 – Jesse Jackson, Jr., American lawyer and politician
1965 – Wallace Langham, American actor
1965 – Jenny Packham, English fashion designer
1965 – Allan Vainola, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Robbie Brookside, English wrestler and trainer
1966 – John Thompson III, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Ilias Zouros, Greek basketball player and coach
1967 – John Barrowman, Scottish-American actor and singer
1967 – Brad Carson, American lawyer and politician, United States Under Secretary of the Army
1967 – Renzo Gracie, Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and trainer
1967 – Cynthia Klitbo, Mexican actress
1968 – Stéphane Bédard, Canadian lawyer and politician
1968 – Simone Buchanan, Australian actress
1968 – Lisa Loeb, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
1969 – Terrence Howard, American actor and producer
1969 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2006)
1970 – Andre Nickatina, American rapper and producer
1971 – Johnny Knoxville, American actor, stuntman, and producer
1971 – Martin Ručinský, Czech ice hockey player
1972 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
1973 – Martin Hiden, Austrian footballer and coach
1974 – Bobby Abreu, Venezuelan baseball player
1975 – João Barbosa, Portuguese racing driver
1975 – Shawn Springs, American football player
1976 – Thomas Gravesen, Danish footballer
1976 – Kotomitsuki Keiji, Japanese sumo wrestler
1977 – Becky Hammon, American-Russian basketball player and coach
1978 – Scott Calderwood, English-Scottish footballer and manager
1978 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
1978 – Albert Luque, Spanish footballer
1979 – Elton Brand, American basketball player
1979 – Fred Jones, American basketball player
1979 – Benji Madden, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Joel Madden, American singer-songwriter and producer
1979 – Keren Peles, Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist
1979 – Kirk Reynoldson, Australian rugby league player
1980 – Paul Scharner, Austrian footballer
1980 – Dan Uggla, American baseball player
1981 – Heidi Cortez, American businesswoman and author
1981 – Luke Johnson, English drummer and songwriter
1981 – LeToya Luckett, American singer-songwriter and actress
1982 – Brian Anderson, American baseball player
1982 – Thora Birch, American actress
1982 – Hasan Raza, Pakistani cricketer
1983 – Lucy DeVito, American actress
1985 – Paul Bissonnette, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Daniel Vázquez Evuy, Equatoguinean footballer
1985 – Cassandra Fairbanks, American journalist and activist
1985 – Luis Hernández, Mexican figure skater
1985 – Stelios Malezas, Greek footballer
1985 – Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer
1985 – Derek Schouman, American football player
1985 – Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Australian footballer
1985 – Hakuhō Shō, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 69th Yokozuna
1986 – Dario Cologna, Swiss skier
1986 – Mariko Shinoda, Japanese singer and actress
1987 – Marc-André Gragnani, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Tanel Kangert, Estonian cyclist
1987 – Ngonidzashe Makusha, Zimbabwean sprinter and long jumper
1987 – Colin Munro, South African-New Zealand cricketer
1988 – Fábio Coentrão, Portuguese footballer
1988 – Cecil Lolo, South African footballer (d. 2015)
1988 – Katsuhiko Nakajima, Japanese wrestler
1989 – Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (d. 2016)
1990 – Ayumi Morita, Japanese tennis player
1991 – Kamohelo Mokotjo, South African footballer
1992 – Austin Swift, American actor
1992 – KZ Tandingan, Filipina singer and rapper
1993 – Jodie Comer, British actress
1993 – Anthony Davis, American basketball player
1994 – Andrew Robertson, Scottish footballer
Deaths on March 11
222 – Elagabalus, Roman emperor (b. 203)
452 – Tai Wu Di, emperor of Northern Wei (b. 408)
638 – Sophronius of Jerusalem (b. 560)
857 – Eulogius of Córdoba, Spanish martyr and saint (b. 819)
1198 – Marie of France, Countess of Champagne (b. 1145)
1296 – John le Romeyn, Archbishop of York
1353 – Theognostus, metropolitan of Kiev and Moscow
1486 – Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1414)
1514 – Donato Bramante, Italian architect, designed the San Pietro in Montorio (b. 1444)
1575 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian theologian and reformer (b. 1520)
1602 – Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Italian organist and composer (b. 1550)
1607 – Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer and educator (b. 1543)
1646 – Stanisław Koniecpolski, Polish soldier and statesman (b. c. 1592)
1665 – Clemente Tabone, Maltese landowner and militia member (b. c. 1575)
1722 – John Toland, Irish philosopher and theorist (b. 1670)
1759 – John Forbes, Scottish general (b. 1710)
1820 – Benjamin West, American-English painter and academic (b. 1738)
1851 – Marie Louise Coidavid, Queen of Haiti (b. 1778)
1851 – George McDuffie, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)
1854 – Willard Richards, American journalist and religious leader (b. 1804)
1863 – Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, English general (b. 1803)
1869 – Vladimir Odoyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1803)
1870 – Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho (b. 1786)
1874 – Charles Sumner, American lawyer and politician (b. 1811)
1898 – William Rosecrans, American general and politician (b. 1819)
1898 – Tigran Chukhajian, Armenian composer and conductor (b. 1837)
1907 – Jean Casimir-Perier, French lawyer and politician, 6th President of France (b. 1847)
1908 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian journalist and author (b. 1846)
1908 – Benjamin Waugh, American minister and activist (b. 1839)
1915 – Thomas Alexander Browne, English-Australian author (b. 1826)
1920 – Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1865)
1927 – Xenophon Stratigos, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister of Transport (b. 1869)
1931 – F. W. Murnau, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1888)
1937 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American businessman, co-founded Texaco (b. 1860)
1944 – Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American journalist and historian (b. 1882)
1944 – Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
1949 – Anastasios Charalambis, Greek general and politician, 109th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1862)
1949 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (b. 1879)
1952 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (b. 1885)
1955 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
1955 – Oscar F. Mayer, German-American businessman, founded Oscar Mayer (b. 1859)
1957 – Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and explorer (b. 1888)
1958 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded The Lego Group (b. 1891)
1959 – Lester Dent, American author (b. 1904)
1960 – Roy Chapman Andrews, American paleontologist and explorer (b. 1884)
1965 – Harry Altham, English cricketer, historian and coach (b. 1888)
1967 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (b. 1882)
1968 – Haşim İşcan, Turkish educator and politician, 18th Mayor of İstanbul (b. 1898)
1969 – John Daly, Irish runner (b. 1880)
1969 – John Wyndham, English soldier and author (b. 1903)
1970 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (b. 1889)
1971 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor (b. 1906)
1971 – Whitney Young, American activist (b. 1921)
1977 – Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (b. 1893)
1978 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (b. 1939)
1980 – Chandra Bhanu Gupta, Indian politician, 4th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1902)
1982 – Edmund Cooper, English poet and author (b. 1926)
1982 – Horace Gregory, American poet, translator, and academic (b. 1898)
1983 – Will Glickman, American playwright (b. 1910)
241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.
947 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor.
1607 – Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia.
1629 – Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.
1735 – An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories.
1762 – French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1830 – The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.
1861 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
1873 – The first Azerbaijani play “The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran” prepared by Akhundov was performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov.
1876 – The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.
1891 – Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1906 – The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France.
1909 – By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
1933 – The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area leaving around 108 people dead.
1944 – Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.
1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1949 – Mildred Gillars (“Axis Sally”) is convicted of treason.
1952 – Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba.
1959 – Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama’s palace to prevent his removal.
1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacked rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.
1970 – Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
1975 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
1990 – In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.
2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
2017 – The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country’s Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
2019 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes, leading to all 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.
Births on March 10
1452 – Ferdinand II, king of Castile and León (d. 1516)
1503 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1564)
1536 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (d. 1572)
1604 – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-Dutch alchemist and chemist (d. 1670)
1628 – François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
1628 – Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician and biologist (d. 1694)
1656 – Giacomo Serpotta, Italian Rococo sculptor (d. 1732)
1653 – John Benbow, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1702)
1709 – Georg Wilhelm Steller, German botanist, zoologist, physician, and explorer (d. 1746)
1749 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian-American priest and poet (d. 1838)
1769 – Joseph Williamson, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1840)
1772 – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1829)
1777 – Louis Hersent, French painter (d. 1860)
1787 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1862)
1787 – William Etty, English painter and academic (d. 1849)
1788 – Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1857)
1788 – Edward Hodges Baily, English sculptor (d. 1867)
1789 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (d. 1850)
1795 – Joseph Légaré, Canadian painter and glazier, artist, seigneur and political figure (d. 1855)
1810 – Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet and lawyer (d. 1886)
1844 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (d. 1908)
1844 – Marie Euphrosyne Spartali, British Pre-Raphaelite painter (d. 1927)
1845 – Alexander III of Russia (d. 1894)
1846 – Edward Baker Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1850)
1849 – Hallie Quinn Brown, African-American educator, writer and activist (d. 1949)
1850 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (d. 1906)
1853 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1867 – Hector Guimard, French-American architect (d. 1942)
1867 – Lillian Wald, American nurse, humanitarian, and author, founded the Henry Street Settlement (d. 1940)
1870 – David Riazanov, Russian theorist and politician (d. 1938)
1873 – Jakob Wassermann, German-Austrian soldier and author (d. 1934)
1876 – Anna Hyatt Huntington, American sculptor (d. 1973)
1877 – Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican diplomat and president (1930-1932) (d. 1963)
1881 – Jessie Boswell, English painter (d. 1956)
1888 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1961)
1890 – Albert Ogilvie, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1939)
1892 – Arthur Honegger, French composer and educator (d. 1955)
1892 – Gregory La Cava, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1952)
1896 – Frederick Coulton Waugh, British cartoonist, painter, teacher and author (d. 1973)
12 BCE – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
845 – Execution of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium at Samarra.
961 – Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete.
1204 – The Siege of Château Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of England, who loses control of Normandy to King Philip II Augustus.
1323 – Treaty of Paris of 1323 is signed.
1454 – Thirteen Years’ War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to King Casimir IV of Poland who agrees to commit his forces in aiding the Confederation’s struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.
1665 – The first joint Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, publishes the first issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s longest-running scientific journal.
1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
1834 – York, Upper Canada, is incorporated as Toronto.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo: After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.
1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1882 – The Serbian kingdom is re-founded.
1899 – Bayer registers “Aspirin” as a trademark.
1902 – Real Madrid CF is founded.
1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
1921 – Portuguese Communist Party is founded as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International.
1930 – International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by the Comintern.
1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a “bank holiday”, closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.
1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, ends with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion, the bulk of the garrison of the town of Grevena, leading to its liberation a fortnight later.
1944 – World War II: Soviet Air Forces bomb an evacuated town of Narva in German-occupied Estonia, destroying the entire historical Swedish-era town.
1945 – World War II: Cologne is captured by American troops. On the same day, Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1951 – Cold War: The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
1953 – Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1957 – Ghana becomes the first Sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the British.
1964 – Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.
1964 – Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
1965 – Premier Tom Playford of South Australia loses power after 27 years in office.
1967 – Cold War: Joseph Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
1968 – Three rebels are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
1970 – An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
1983 – The first United States Football League games are played.
1984 – In the United Kingdom, a walkout at Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow signals the start of a strike that lasted almost a year and involved the majority of the country’s miners.
1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds, killing 193.
1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in Operation Flavius.
1992 – The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
2003 – Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashes at the Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board.
2008 – A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.
Births on March 6
1340 – John of Gaunt (d. 1399)
1405 – John II of Castile (d. 1454)
1459 – Jakob Fugger, German merchant and banker (d. 1525)
1475 – Michelangelo, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1564)
1483 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (d. 1540)
1493 – Juan Luis Vives, Spanish scholar and humanist (d. 1540)
1495 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and diplomat (d. 1556)
1536 – Santi di Tito, Italian painter (d. 1603)
1619 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French author and playwright (d. 1655)
1663 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop and poet (d. 1732)
1706 – George Pocock, English admiral (d. 1792)
1716 – Pehr Kalm, Swedish-Finnish botanist and explorer (d. 1779)
1724 – Henry Laurens, English-American merchant and politician, 5th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1792)
1761 – Antoine-François Andréossy, French general and diplomat (d. 1828)
1779 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, Swiss-French general (d. 1869)
1780 – Lucy Barnes, American writer (d. 1809)
1785 – Karol Kurpiński, Polish composer and conductor (d. 1857)
1787 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist and astronomer (d. 1826)
1806 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English-Italian poet and translator (d. 1861)
1812 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American businessman, co-founded the Waltham Watch Company (d. 1895)
1817 – Princess Clémentine of Orléans (d. 1907)
1818 – William Claflin, American businessman and politician, 27th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
1823 – Charles I of Württemberg (d. 1891)
1831 – Philip Sheridan, Irish-American general (d. 1888)
1834 – George du Maurier, French-English author and illustrator (d. 1896)
1841 – Viktor Burenin, Russian author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1926)
1849 – Georg Luger, Austrian gun designer, designed the Luger pistol (d. 1923)
1864 – Richard Rushall, British businessman (d. 1953)
1870 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer and conductor (d. 1954)
1871 – Afonso Costa, Portuguese lawyer and politician, 59th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1937)
1872 – Ben Harney, American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
1879 – Jimmy Hunter, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1962)
1882 – F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect, co-designed Villa Vizcaya (d. 1980)
1882 – Guy Kibbee, American actor and singer (d. 1956)
1884 – Molla Mallory, Norwegian-American tennis player (d. 1959)
1885 – Ring Lardner, American journalist and author (d. 1933)
1886 – Jam Handy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1983)
1886 – Nella Walker, American actress and vaudevillian (d. 1971)
1892 – Bert Smith, English international footballer, right half (d. 1969)
1893 – Furry Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
1893 – Ella P. Stewart, pioneering Black American pharmacist (d. 1987)
1895 – Albert Tessier, Canadian priest and historian (d. 1976)
1898 – Gus Sonnenberg, American football player and wrestler (d. 1944)
1900 – Gina Cigna, French-Italian soprano and actress (d. 2001)
1900 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (d. 1975)
1900 – Henri Jeanson, French journalist and author (d. 1970)
1903 – Empress Kōjun of Japan (d. 2000)
1904 – José Antonio Aguirre, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Basque Country (d. 1960)
1905 – Bob Wills, American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1975)
1906 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (d. 1959)
1909 – Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 1987)
1909 – Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Polish poet and author (d. 1966)
1910 – Ella Logan, Scottish-American singer and actress (d. 1969)
1912 – Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da’i al-Mutlaq (d. 2014)
1917 – Donald Davidson, American philosopher and academic (d. 2003)
1917 – Will Eisner, American illustrator and publisher (d. 2005)
1917 – Frankie Howerd, English comedian (d. 1992)
1918 – Howard McGhee, American trumpeter (d. 1987)
1920 – Lewis Gilbert, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1921 – Leo Bretholz, Austrian-American holocaust survivor and author (d. 2014)
1923 – Ed McMahon, American comedian, game show host, and announcer (d. 2009)
1923 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1968)
1924 – Ottmar Walter, German footballer (d. 2013)
1924 – William H. Webster, American lawyer and jurist, 14th Director of Central Intelligence
1926 – Ann Curtis, American swimmer (d. 2012)
1926 – Alan Greenspan, American economist and politician
1926 – Ray O’Connor, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 2013)
1926 – Andrzej Wajda, Polish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1927 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1927 – Gordon Cooper, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2004)
1927 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
1929 – Tom Foley, American lawyer and politician, 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2013)
1929 – David Sheppard, English cricketer and bishop (d. 2005)
1930 – Lorin Maazel, French-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2014)
1932 – Marc Bazin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 49th President of Haiti (d. 2010)
1932 – Bronisław Geremek, Polish historian and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008)
1933 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1933 – William Davis, German-English journalist and economist (d. 2019)
1933 – Augusto Odone, Italian economist and inventor of Lorenzo’s oil (d. 2013)
1934 – Red Simpson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1935 – Ron Delany, Irish runner and coach
1935 – Derek Kevan, English footballer (d. 2013)
1936 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (d. 2002)
1936 – Marion Barry, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia (d. 2014)
1936 – Choummaly Sayasone, Laotian politician, 5th President of Laos
1937 – Ivan Boesky, American businessman
1937 – Valentina Tereshkova, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut
1938 – Keishu Tanaka, Japanese politician, 17th Japanese Minister of Justice
1939 – Kit Bond, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Missouri
1939 – Adam Osborne, Thai-Indian engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (d. 2003)
1940 – Ken Danby, Canadian painter (d. 2007)
1940 – Joanna Miles, French-born American actress
1940 – R. H. Sikes, American golfer
1940 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (d. 2001)
1940 – Jeff Wooller, English accountant and banker
1941 – Peter Brötzmann, German saxophonist and clarinet player
1941 – Marilyn Strathern, Welsh anthropologist and academic
1942 – Ben Murphy, American actor
1944 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (d. 2015)
1944 – Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano and actress
1944 – Mary Wilson, American singer
1945 – Angelo Castro, Jr., Filipino actor and journalist (d. 2012)
1946 – David Gilmour, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Richard Noble, Scottish race car driver and businessman
1947 – Kiki Dee, English singer-songwriter
1947 – Dick Fosbury, American high jumper
1947 – Anna Maria Horsford, American actress
1947 – Rob Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and activist
1947 – Jean Seaton, English historian and academic
1947 – John Stossel, American journalist and author
1948 – Stephen Schwartz, American composer and producer
1949 – Shaukat Aziz, Pakistani economist and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan
1949 – Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer and manager
1950 – Arthur Roche, English archbishop
1951 – Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (d. 2004)
1952 – Denis Napthine, Australian politician, 47th Premier of Victoria
1953 – Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali banker and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Nepal
1953 – Carolyn Porco, American astronomer and academic
1953 – Phil Alvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Jeff Greenwald, American author, photographer, and monologist
1954 – Harald Schumacher, German footballer and manager
1955 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)
1955 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)
1956 – Peter Roebuck, English cricketer, journalist, and sportcaster (d. 2011)
1956 – Steve Vizard, Australian television host, actor, and producer
1960 – Sleepy Floyd, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Alison Nicholas, British golfer
1963 – D. L. Hughley, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Linda Pearson, Scottish sport shooter
1965 – Allan Bateman, Welsh rugby player
1965 – Jim Knight, English politician
1966 – Alan Davies, English comedian, actor and screenwriter
1967 – Julio Bocca, Argentinian ballet dancer and director
1967 – Connie Britton, American actress
1967 – Glenn Greenwald, American journalist and author
1967 – Shuler Hensley, American actor and singer
1968 – Moira Kelly, American actress and director
1971 – Darrick Martin, American basketball player and coach
1972 – Shaquille O’Neal, American basketball player, actor, and rapper
1972 – Jaret Reddick, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1973 – Michael Finley, American basketball player
1973 – Peter Lindgren, Swedish guitarist and songwriter
1973 – Greg Ostertag, American basketball player
1973 – Trent Willmon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Guy Garvey, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Matthew Guy, Australian politician
1974 – Brad Schumacher, American swimmer
1974 – Beanie Sigel, American rapper
1975 – Aracely Arámbula, Mexican actress and singer
1975 – Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Canadian pianist and conductor
1976 – Ken Anderson, American wrestler and actor
1977 – Nantie Hayward, South African cricketer
1977 – Giorgos Karagounis, Greek international footballer, midfielder
1977 – Shabani Nonda, DR Congolese footballer
1977 – Marcus Thames, American baseball player and coach
2014 – Martin Nesbitt, American lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Manlio Sgalambro, Italian philosopher, author, and poet (b. 1924)
2015 – Fred Craddock, American minister and academic (b. 1928)
2015 – Ram Sundar Das, Indian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1921)
2015 – Enrique “Coco” Vicéns, Puerto Rican-American basketball player and politician (b. 1926)
2016 – Nancy Reagan, American actress, 42nd First Lady of the United States (b. 1921)
2016 – Sheila Varian, American horse trainer and breeder (b. 1937)
2017 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (b. 1932)
2018 – Peter Nicholls, Australian science fiction critic and encyclopedist (b. 1939)
Holidays and observances on March 6
Christian feast day:
Chrodegang
Colette
Fridolin
Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba
Marcian of Tortona
William W. Mayo and Charles Frederick Menninger (Episcopal Church (USA))
Olegarius
March 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
European Day of the Righteous, commemorates those who have stood up against crimes against humanity and totalitarism with their own moral responsibility. (Europe)
Foundation Day (Norfolk Island), the founding of Norfolk Island in 1788.
Independence Day (Ghana), celebrates the independence of Ghana from the UK in 1957.
The Day of the Dude, celebrated by the adherents of Dudeism
363 – Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.
1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus’s book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.
1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa.
1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.
1860 – Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.
1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala.
1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.
1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.
1931 – The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed.
1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1936 – First flight of K5054, the first prototype Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom.
1940 – Six high-ranking members of Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung.
1943 – First Flight of the Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first combat jet aircraft.
1944 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR.
1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
1953 – Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
1960 – Indonesian President Sukarno dismissed the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaced with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members.
1963 – American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.
1965 – March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.
1966 – BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
1970 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
1978 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by “off the scale” gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world.
1982 – Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.
2003 – In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.
2012 – Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.
Births on March 5
1133 – Henry II of England (d. 1189)
1224 – Saint Kinga of Poland (d. 1292)
1324 – David II of Scotland (d. 1371)
1326 – Louis I of Hungary (d. 1382)
1340 – Cansignorio della Scala, Lord of Verona (d. 1375)
1451 – William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English Earl (d. 1491)
1512 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher (d. 1594)
1523 – Rodrigo de Castro Osorio, Spanish cardinal (d. 1600)
1527 – Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1603)
1539 – Christoph Pezel, German theologian (d. 1604)
1563 – John Coke, English civil servant and politician (d. 1644)
1575 – William Oughtred, English minister and mathematician (d. 1660)
1585 – John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)
1585 – Frederick I, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (d. 1638)
1637 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter and engineer (d. 1712)
1658 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French explorer and politician, 3rd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1730)
1693 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian and scholar (d. 1754)
1696 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)
1703 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1768)
1713 – Edward Cornwallis, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (d. 1776)
1713 – Frederick Cornwallis, English archbishop (d. 1783)
1723 – Princess Mary of Great Britain (d. 1773)
1733 – Vincenzo Galeotti, Italian-Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1816)
1739 – Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American colonel and physician (d. 1819)
1748 – Jonas Carlsson Dryander, Swedish botanist and biologist (d. 1810)
1748 – William Shield, English violinist and composer (d. 1829)
1750 – Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d’Ansse de Villoison, French scholar and academic (d. 1805)
1751 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech organist, composer, and educator (d. 1829)
1774 – Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse, Danish organist and composer (d. 1842)
1779 – Benjamin Gompertz, English mathematician and statistician (d. 1865)
1785 – Carlo Odescalchi, Italian cardinal (d. 1841)
1794 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (d. 1872)
1794 – Robert Cooper Grier, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1870)
1814 – Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian and academic (d. 1889)
1800 – Georg Friedrich Daumer, German poet and philosopher (d. 1875)
1815 – John Wentworth, American journalist and politician, 19th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1888)
1817 – Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist, academic, and politician, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (d. 1894)
1830 – Étienne-Jules Marey, French physiologist and chronophotographer (d. 1904)
1830 – Charles Wyville Thomson, Scottish historian and zoologist (d. 1882)
1834 – Félix de Blochausen, Luxembourgian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1915)
1834 – Marietta Piccolomini, Italian soprano (d. 1899)
1853 – Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)
1862 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (d. 1934)
1867 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 14th Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)
1869 – Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal (d. 1952)
1870 – Frank Norris, American journalist and author (d. 1902)
1870 – Evgeny Paton, French-Ukrainian engineer (d. 1953)
1871 – Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-Russian economist and philosopher (d. 1919)
1871 – Konstantinos Pallis, Greek general and politician, Minister Governor-General of Macedonia (d. 1941)
1873 – Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian skier and explorer (d. 1961)
1874 – Henry Travers, English-American actor (d. 1965)
1875 – Harry Lawson, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Victoria (d. 1952)
1876 – Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, English lawyer and politician, 8th Lord Chief Justice of England (d. 1947)
1876 – Elisabeth Moore, American tennis player (d. 1959)
1879 – William Beveridge, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic (d. 1963)
1879 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
1880 – Sergei Natanovich Bernstein, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1968)
1882 – Dora Marsden, English author and activist (d. 1960)
1883 – Pauline Sperry, American mathematician (d. 1967)
1885 – Marius Barbeau, Canadian ethnographer and academic (d. 1969)
1886 – Dong Biwu, Chinese judge and politician, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1975)
1886 – Freddie Welsh, Welsh boxer (d. 1927)
1887 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian guitarist and composer (d. 1959)
1894 – Henry Daniell, English-American actor (d. 1963)
1898 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1976)
1898 – Misao Okawa, Japanese super-centenarian (d. 2015)
1900 – Lilli Jahn, Jewish German doctor (d. 1944)
1900 – Johanna Langefeld, German guard and supervisor of three Nazi concentration camps (d. 1974)
1901 – Friedrich Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg (d. 1971)
1901 – Julian Przyboś, Polish poet, essayist and translator (d. 1970)
1904 – Karl Rahner, German priest and theologian (d. 1984)
1905 – László Benedek, Hungarian-American director and cinematographer (d. 1992)
1908 – Fritz Fischer, German historian and author (d. 1999)
1908 – Irving Fiske, American author and playwright (d. 1990)
1908 – Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
1910 – Momofuku Ando, Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, founded Nissin Foods (d. 2007)
1910 – Ennio Flaiano, Italian author, screenwriter, and critic (d. 1972)
1912 – Jack Marshall, New Zealand colonel, lawyer, and politician, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1988)
1915 – Henry Hicks, Canadian academic and politician, 16th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1990)
1915 – Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician and academic (d. 2002)
1918 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
1918 – Red Storey, Canadian football player, referee, and sportscaster (d. 2006)
1918 – James Tobin, American economist and academic (d. 2002)
1920 – José Aboulker, Algerian surgeon and activist (d. 2009)
1920 – Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)
1920 – Rachel Gurney, English actress (d. 2001)
1920 – Wang Zengqi, Chinese writer (d. 1997)
1921 – Elmer Valo, American baseball player and coach (d. 1998)
1922 – James Noble, American actor (d. 2016)
1922 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
1923 – Juan A. Rivero, Puerto Rican biologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Laurence Tisch, American businessman, co-founded the Loews Corporation (d. 2003)
1924 – Roger Marche, French footballer (d. 1997)
1927 – Jack Cassidy, American actor and singer (d. 1976)
1927 – Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, Scottish businessman and politician
1928 – J. Hillis Miller, American academic and critic
1929 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish race car driver (d. 2015)
1929 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1967)
1930 – John Ashley, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 2008)
1930 – Del Crandall, American baseball player and manager
1931 – Fred, French author and illustrator (d. 2013)
1931 – Barry Tuckwell, Australian horn player and educator (d. 2020)
1932 – Paul Sand, American actor
1933 – Walter Kasper, German cardinal and theologian
1934 – Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist and psychologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1935 – Letizia Battaglia, Italian photographer and journalist
1935 – Philip K. Chapman, Australian-American astronaut and engineer
1936 – Canaan Banana, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
1936 – Dale Douglass, American golfer
1936 – Dean Stockwell, American actor
1937 – Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian general and politician, 5th President of Nigeria
1938 – Paul Evans, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1938 – Lynn Margulis, American biologist and academic (d. 2011)
1938 – Fred Williamson, American football player, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – Samantha Eggar, English actress
1939 – Tony Rundle, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Tasmania
1939 – Benyamin Sueb, Indonesian actor and comedian (d. 1995)
1939 – Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer (d. 2010)
1939 – Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef
1940 – Tom Butler, English bishop
1940 – Ken Irvine, Australian rugby league player (d. 1990)
1940 – Graham McRae, New Zealand race car driver
1940 – Sepp Piontek, German footballer and manager
1941 – Des Wilson, New Zealand-English businessman and activist
1942 – Felipe González, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
1942 – Mike Resnick, American author and editor (d. 2020)
1942 – David Watkins, Welsh rugby player
1943 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1944 – Peter Brandes, Danish painter and sculptor
1944 – Roy Gutman, American journalist and author
1945 – Wilf Tranter, English footballer
1946 – Richard Bell, Canadian pianist (d. 2007)
1946 – Guerrino Boatto, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 2018)
1946 – Graham Hawkins, English footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1946 – Murray Head, English actor and singer
1947 – Clodagh Rodgers, Northern Irish singer and actress
1947 – Kent Tekulve, American baseball player and sportscaster
1948 – Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1984)
1948 – Eddy Grant, Guyanese-British singer-songwriter and musician
1948 – Richard Hickox, English conductor and scholar (d. 2008)
1948 – Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
1948 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2011)
1949 – Bernard Arnault, French businessman, philanthropist, and art collector
1949 – Franz Josef Jung, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Defence
1949 – Tom Russell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Rodney Hogg, Australian cricketer and coach
1952 – Petar Borota, Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2010)
1952 – Mike Squires, American baseball player and scout
1953 – Katarina Frostenson, Swedish poet and author
1953 – Michael J. Sandel, American philosopher and academic
1953 – Tokyo Sexwale, South African businessman and politician, 1st Premier of Gauteng
1954 – Marsha Warfield, American actress
1954 – João Lourenço, Angolan president
1955 – Penn Jillette, American magician, actor, and author
1956 – Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
1956 – Christopher Snowden, English engineer and academic
1957 – Mark E. Smith, English singer, songwriter and musician (d. 2018)
1957 – Ray Suarez, American journalist and author
1958 – Volodymyr Bezsonov, Ukrainian footballer and manager
1958 – Bob Forward, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Andy Gibb, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1988)
1959 – Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Armenia (d. 1999)
1960 – Paul Drayson, Baron Drayson, English businessman and politician, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology
1963 – Joel Osteen, American pastor, author, and television host
1964 – Bertrand Cantat, French singer-songwriter
1964 – Gerald Vanenburg, Dutch footballer and manager
1965 – José Semedo, Portuguese footballer and coach
1966 – Oh Eun-sun, South Korean mountaineer
1966 – Bob Halkidis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1966 – Michael Irvin, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
1966 – Aasif Mandvi, Indian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Zachery Stevens, American singer-songwriter
1968 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian businessman and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Hungary
1968 – Theresa Villiers, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1969 – Paul Blackthorne, English actor and producer
1969 – Danny King, English author and playwright
1969 – Moussa Saïb, Algerian footballer and manager
1969 – M.C. Solaar, Afro-French rapper
1970 – Mike Brown, American basketball player and coach
1970 – John Frusciante, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Yuu Watase, Japanese illustrator
1971 – Greg Berry, English footballer and coach
1971 – Jeffrey Hammonds, American baseball player and scout
1971 – Yuri Lowenthal, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Filip Meirhaeghe, Belgian cyclist
1971 – Mark Protheroe, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Yannis Anastasiou, Greek footballer and manager
1973 – Nelly Arcan, Canadian author (d. 2009)
1973 – Juan Esnáider, Argentinian footballer and manager
1973 – Ryan Franklin, American baseball player
1973 – Nicole Pratt, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
1973 – Špela Pretnar, Slovenian skier
1974 – Kevin Connolly, American actor and director
1974 – Jens Jeremies, German footballer
1974 – Eva Mendes, American model and actress
1975 – Luciano Burti, Brazilian race car driver and sportscaster
1975 – Sasho Petrovski, Australian footballer
1975 – Chris Silverwood, English cricketer and coach
1976 – Neil Jackson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
1976 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1976 – Paul Konerko, American baseball player
1976 – Norm Maxwell, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Taismary Agüero, Cuban-Italian volleyball player
1978 – Jared Crouch, Australian footballer
1978 – Mike Hessman, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Kimberly McCullough, American actress, singer, and dancer
1978 – Carlos Ochoa, Mexican footballer
1979 – Martin Axenrot, Swedish drummer
1979 – Lee Mears, English rugby player
1980 – Shay Carl, American businessman, co-founded Maker Studios
1981 – Barret Jackman, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Paul Martin, American ice hockey player
1982 – Dan Carter, New Zealand rugby player
1982 – Philipp Haastrup, German footballer
1983 – Édgar Dueñas, Mexican footballer
1984 – Branko Cvetković, Serbian basketball player
1984 – Guillaume Hoarau, French footballer
1985 – David Marshall, Scottish footballer
1985 – Brad Mills, American baseball player
1985 – Kenichi Matsuyama, Japanese actor
1986 – Alexandre Barthe, French footballer
1986 – Matty Fryatt, English footballer
1987 – Anna Chakvetadze, Russian tennis player
1987 – Chris Cohen, English footballer
1988 – Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba, Algerian footballer
1990 – Danny Drinkwater, English footballer
1990 – Mason Plumlee, American basketball player
1990 – Alex Smithies, English footballer
1991 – Ramiro Funes Mori, Argentinian footballer
1991 – Daniil Trifonov, Russian pianist and composer
1993 – El Hadji Ba, French footballer
1993 – Joshua Coyne, American violinist and composer
1993 – Harry Maguire, English footballer
1994 – Daria Gavrilova, Russian-Australian tennis player
1994 – Kyle Schwarber, American baseball player
1996 – Taylor Hill, American model
1996 – Emmanuel Mudiay, Congolese basketball player
1997 – Milena Venega, Cuban rower
1998 – Bo Bichette, American baseball player
1999 – Madison Beer, American singer, songwriter and producer.
2007 – Roman Griffin Davis, British actor, second youngest Golden Globe recipient.
Deaths on March 5
254 – Pope Lucius I (b. 200)
824 – Suppo I, Frankish nobleman
1239 – Hermann Balk, German knight
1410 – Matthew of Kraków, Polish reformer (b. 1335)
1417 – Manuel III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1364)
1534 – Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter and educator (b. 1489)
1539 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1487)
1599 – Guido Panciroli, Italian historian and jurist (b. 1523)
1611 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1533)
1622 – Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)
1695 – Henry Wharton, English writer and librarian (b. 1664)
1726 – Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1655)
1770 – Crispus Attucks, American slave (b. 1723)
1778 – Thomas Arne, English composer and educator (b. 1710)
1815 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologist (b. 1734)
1827 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1749)
1827 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1745)
1829 – John Adams, English sailor and mutineer (b. 1766)
1849 – David Scott, Scottish historical painter (b. 1806)
1876 – Marie d’Agoult, German-French historian and author (b. 1805)
1893 – Hippolyte Taine, French historian and critic (b. 1828)
1895 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1831)
1895 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, English general and scholar (b. 1810)
1907 – Friedrich Blass, German philologist, scholar, and academic (b. 1843)
1925 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1859)
1927 – Franz Mertens, Polish-Austrian mathematician and academic (b. 1840)
1929 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick (b. 1854)
1934 – Reşit Galip, Turkish academic and politician, 6th Turkish Minister of National Education (b. 1893)
1935 – Roque Ruaño, Spanish priest and engineer (b. 1877)
1940 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher and academic (b. 1868)
1944 – Max Jacob, French poet and author (b. 1876)
1945 – Lena Baker, African American maid and murderer (b. 1900)
1947 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1883)
1950 – Edgar Lee Masters, American poet, author, and playwright (b. 1868)
1950 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (b. 1907)
1953 – Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1897)
1953 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1891)
1953 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1878)
1955 – Antanas Merkys, Lithuanian lawyer and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Lithuania (b. 1888)
1963 – Patsy Cline, American singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
1963 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1913)
1963 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)
1965 – Chen Cheng, Chinese general and politician, 27th Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1897)
1965 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1904)
1966 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet, author, and translator (b. 1889)
1967 – Mischa Auer, Russian-American actor (b. 1905)
1967 – Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian political scientist and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1882)
1967 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)
1971 – Allan Nevins, American journalist and author (b. 1890)
1973 – Robert C. O’Brien, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
1974 – John Samuel Bourque, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1894)
1974 – Billy De Wolfe, American actor (b. 1907)
1974 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American businessman (b. 1888)
1976 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1889)
1977 – Tom Pryce, Welsh race car driver (b. 1949)
1980 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (b. 1912)
1981 – Yip Harburg, American songwriter and composer (b. 1896)
1982 – John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)
1984 – Pierre Cochereau, French organist and composer (b. 1924)
1984 – Tito Gobbi, Italian operatic baritone (b. 1913)
1984 – William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)
1988 – Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian and actor (b. 1933)
1990 – Gary Merrill, American actor and director (b. 1915)
1995 – Vivian Stanshall, English singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1943)
1996 – Whit Bissell, American character actor (b. 1909)
1997 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American writer (b. 1909)
1997 – Jean Dréville, French director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1999 – Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (b. 1922)
2000 – Lolo Ferrari, French dancer, actress and singer (b. 1963)
2005 – David Sheppard, English cricketer and bishop (b. 1929)
2008 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German computer scientist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Charles B. Pierce, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
2010 – Richard Stapley, British actor and writer (b. 1923)
473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
1575 – Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani’s army at the Battle of Tukaroi.
1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.
1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.
1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
1849 – The Territory of Minnesota is created.
1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, concludes.
1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.
1865 – Opening of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.
1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene literature and articles of immoral use” through the mail.
1875 – Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette.
1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano.
1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.
1891 – Shoshone National Forest is established as the first national forest in the US and world.
1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.
1913 – Thousands of women march in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C.
1918 – Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.
1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.
1924 – The 407-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished, when Caliph Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman Caliphate is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk.
1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy.
1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India.
1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Luleå, Sweden.
1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.
1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.
1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila.
1945 – World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.
1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records “Rocket 88”, often cited as “the first rock and roll record”, at Sam Phillips’s recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
1953 – A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11.
1958 – Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.
1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.
1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.
1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers’ national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.
1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.
1986 – The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom.
1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
2005 – James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.
2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.
2005 – Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006 where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur.
2013 – A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a predominately Shia Muslim area.
Births on March 3
1455 – John II of Portugal (d. 1495)
1455 – Ascanio Sforza, Catholic cardinal (d. 1505)
1506 – Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja (d. 1555)
1520 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian theologian and reformer (d. 1575)
1583 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English-Welsh soldier, historian, and diplomat (d. 1648)
1589 – Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1676)
1606 – Edmund Waller, English poet and politician (d. 1687)
1652 – Thomas Otway, English playwright and author (d. 1685)
1678 – Madeleine de Verchères, Canadian rebel leader (d. 1747)
1756 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (d. 1836)
1778 – Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1841)
1793 – William Macready, English actor and manager (d. 1873)
1800 – Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1862)
1803 – Thomas Field Gibson, English manufacturer who aided the welfare of the Spitalfields silk weavers (d. 1889)
1805 – Jonas Furrer, Swiss politician (d. 1861)
1816 – William James Blacklock, English-Scottish painter (d. 1858)
1819 – Gustave de Molinari, Dutch-Belgian economist and theorist (d. 1912)
1825 – Shiranui Kōemon, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1879)
1831 – George Pullman, American engineer and businessman, founded the Pullman Company (d. 1897)
1839 – Jamsetji Tata, Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (d. 1904)
1841 – John Murray, Canadian-Scottish oceanographer and biologist (d. 1914)
1845 – Georg Cantor, Russian-German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1918)
1847 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-American engineer and academic, invented the telephone (d. 1922)
1860 – John Montgomery Ward, American baseball player and manager (d. 1925)
1866 – Fred A. Busse, American lawyer and politician, 39th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1914)
1868 – Émile Chartier, French philosopher and journalist (d. 1951)
1869 – Henry Wood, English conductor (d. 1944)
1871 – Maurice Garin, Italian-French cyclist (d. 1957)
1873 – William Green, American union leader and politician (d. 1952)
1880 – Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1962)
1880 – Yōsuke Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1946)
1882 – Elisabeth Abegg, German anti-Nazi resistance fighter (d. 1974)
1882 – Charles Ponzi, Italian businessman (d. 1949)
1883 – Cyril Burt, English psychologist and geneticist (d. 1971)
1883 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (d. 1977)
1887 – Lincoln J. Beachey, American pilot (d. 1915)
1891 – Damaskinos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 1949)
1893 – Beatrice Wood, American illustrator and potter (d. 1998)
1895 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1895 – Matthew Ridgway, American general (d. 1993)
1898 – Emil Artin, Austrian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1962)
1900 – Edna Best, British stage and film actress, appeared on early television in 1938 (d. 1974)
1902 – Ruby Dandridge, African-American film and radio actress (d. 1987)
1901 – Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (d. 2011)
1903 – Vasily Kozlov, Belarusian general and politician (d. 1967)
1906 – Artur Lundkvist, Swedish poet and critic (d. 1991)
1911 – Jean Harlow, American actress (d. 1937)
1911 – Hugues Lapointe, Canadian lawyer and politician, 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1982)
1913 – Margaret Bonds, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1913 – Harold J. Stone, American actor (d. 2005)
1914 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter and sculptor (d. 1973)
1916 – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (d. 2006)
1917 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian physicist and academic (d. 1952)
1918 – Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1920 – Julius Boros, American golfer and accountant (d. 1994)
1920 – James Doohan, Canadian-American actor and soldier (d. 2005)
1920 – Ronald Searle, English-French soldier and illustrator (d. 2011)
1921 – Diana Barrymore, American actress (d. 1960)
1922 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
1923 – Barney Martin, American police officer and actor (d. 2005)
1923 – Doc Watson, American bluegrass singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2012)
1924 – Tomiichi Murayama, Japanese soldier and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Japan
1926 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (d. 1995)
1927 – Pierre Aubert, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
1930 – Ion Iliescu, Romanian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Romania
1934 – Peter Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, English politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1934 – Jimmy Garrison, American bassist and educator (d. 1976)
1935 – Mal Anderson, Australian tennis player
1935 – Michael Walzer, American philosopher and academic
1935 – Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (d. 2015)
1939 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (d. 2003)
1939 – M. L. Jaisimha, Indian cricketer (d. 1999)
1940 – Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian author and journalist
1940 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer, founded Perry Ellis (d. 1986)
1940 – Jean-Paul Proust, French-Monacan police officer and politician, 21st Minister of State of Monaco (d. 2010)
1941 – Mike Pender, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – George Miller, Australian director, producer, and screenwriter
1945 – Hattie Winston, American actress
1947 – Clifton Snider, American author, poet, and critic
1947 – Jennifer Warnes, American singer-songwriter and producer
1948 – Snowy White, English guitarist
1949 – Ron Chernow, American historian, journalist, and author
1949 – Bonnie J. Dunbar, American engineer, academic, and astronaut
1949 – Jesse Jefferson, American baseball player (d. 2011)
1950 – Kamal Ahmed Majumder, Bangladeshi politician
1951 – Andy Murray, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1951 – Heizō Takenaka, Japanese economist and politician
1952 – Rudy Fernandez, Filipino actor and producer (d. 2008)
1953 – Robyn Hitchcock, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Zico, Brazilian footballer and coach
1954 – Keith Fergus, American golfer
1954 – John Lilley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Édouard Lock, Moroccan-Canadian dancer and choreographer
1955 – Darnell Williams, English-American actor and director
1956 – Zbigniew Boniek, Polish footballer and manager
1956 – John Fulton Reid, New Zealand cricketer
1957 – Stephen Budiansky, American historian, journalist, and author
1957 – Thom Hoffman, Dutch actor and photographer
1958 – Miranda Richardson, English actress
1959 – Ira Glass, American radio host and producer
1959 – Duško Vujošević, Montenegrin basketball player and coach
1960 – Neal Heaton, American baseball player and coach
1961 – Mary Page Keller, American actress and producer
1961 – John Matteson, American biographer
1961 – Perry McCarthy, English race car driver
1961 – Fatima Whitbread, English javelin thrower
1962 – Glen E. Friedman, American photographer
1962 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American heptathlete and long jumper
1962 – Herschel Walker, American football player and mixed martial artist
1963 – Martín Fiz, Spanish runner
1963 – Khaltmaagiin Battulga, 5th President of Mongolia
1964 – Raúl Alcalá, Mexican cyclist
1964 – Laura Harring, Mexican-American model and actress, Miss USA 1985
1964 – Glenn Kulka, Canadian ice hockey player and wrestler
1965 – Dragan Stojković, Serbian footballer and manager
1966 – Tone Lōc, American rapper, producer, and actor
1966 – Timo Tolkki, Finnish guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1968 – Brian Cox, English keyboard player and physicist
1968 – Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player
1970 – Julie Bowen, American actress
1970 – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer and coach
1971 – Charlie Brooker, English journalist, producer, and author
1971 – Tyler Florence, American chef and author
1972 – Darren Anderton, English international footballer, midfielder and sportscaster
1973 – Xavier Bettel, Luxembourger lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Luxembourg
1973 – Matthew Marsden, English actor and martial artist
1974 – David Faustino, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1976 – Fraser Gehrig, Australian footballer
1976 – Isabel Granada, Filipino-Spanish actress (d. 2017)
1976 – Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Estonian politician, 28th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.
986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks.
1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë.
1458 – George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.
1476 – Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchâtel.
1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England.
1498 – Vasco da Gama’s fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.
1561 – Mendoza, Argentina, is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro del Castillo.
1657 – Great Fire of Meireki: A fire in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, caused more than 100,000 deaths; it lasted three days
1717 – The Loves of Mars and Venus is the first ballet performed in England.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units arrest the Royal Governor of Georgia James Wright and attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in the Battle of the Rice Boats.
1791 – Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
1808 – The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
1811 – Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.
1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.
1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.
1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, begins.
1865 – East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand.
1867 – The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.
1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.
1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.
1896 – The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
1901 – United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
1901 – The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
1919 – The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
1933 – The film King Kong opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.
1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.
1941 – World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joins the Axis Pact.
1943 – World War II: Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected the President of North Vietnam.
1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
1955 – Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
1961 – John F. Kennedy announces the creation of the Peace Corps in a nationally televised broadcast.
1962 – In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d’état.
1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.
1965 – The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
1968 – Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.
1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.
1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
1977 – Libya becomes the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People’s Congress adopted the “Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People”.
1978 – Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
1989 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.
1992 – Start of the war in Transnistria.
1992 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the United Nations.
1995 – Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.
1995 – Yahoo! is incorporated.
1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
2004 – War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
2012 – A tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.
2017 – The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson were officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.
Births on March 2
480 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian Christian saint (d. 543 or 547)
1316 – Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
1409 – Jean II, Duke of Alençon (d. 1476)
1432 – Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach, countess consort of Hanau (d. 1457)
1453 – Johannes Engel, German doctor, astronomer and astrologer (d. 1512)
1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
1481 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
1545 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (d. 1613)
1577 – George Sandys, English traveller, colonist and poet (d. 1644)
1628 – Cornelis Speelman, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1684)
1651 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer and poet (d. 1730)
1705 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1793)
1740 – Nicholas Pocock, English naval painter (d.1821)
1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (d. 1794)
1769 – DeWitt Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
1770 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (d. 1826)
1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American physician and politician, 15th United States Secretary of War (d. 1851)
1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1863)
1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian-Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1844)
1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
1816 – Alexander Bullock, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
1817 – János Arany, Hungarian journalist and poet (d. 1882)
1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1884)
1829 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, lawyer, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1906)
1836 – Henry Billings Brown, American lawyer and judge (d. 1913)
1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer, art collector, and philanthropist (d. 1914)
1846 – Marie Roze, French soprano (d. 1926)
1849 – Robert Means Thompson, American commander, lawyer, and businessman (d. 1930)
1859 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (d. 1916)
1860 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (d. 1961)
1862 – John Jay Chapman, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1933)
1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
1878 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American sailor and race car driver (d. 1944)
1886 – Willis H. O’Brien, American animator and director (d. 1962)
1886 – Kurt Grelling, German logician and philosopher (d. 1942)
1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (d. 1950)
1901 – Grete Hermann, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1984)
1902 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (d. 1972)
1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist and academic (d. 1974)
1904 – Dr. Seuss, American children’s book writer, poet, and illustrator (d. 1991)
1905 – Marc Blitzstein, American composer and songwriter (d. 1964)
1905 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic (d. 1985)
1908 – Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
1909 – Mel Ott, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1958)
1912 – Henry Katzman, American pianist, composer, and painter (d. 2001)
1913 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch television host and author (d. 1971)
1913 – Mort Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1958)
1914 – Martin Ritt, American actor and film director (d. 1990)
1915 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Ceylon (d. 2010)
1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1986)
1917 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (d. 1967)
1917 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
1919 – Eddie Lawrence, American actor, singer, and playwright (d. 2014)
1919 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
1921 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2006)
1921 – Ernst Haas, Austrian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
1922 – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
1922 – Bill Quackenbush, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1999)
1922 – Frances Spence, American computer programmer (d. 2012)
1923 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (d. 1999)
1923 – Robert H. Michel, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
1923 – Dave Strack, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
1924 – Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
1924 – Renos Apostolidis, Greek philologist, author, and critic (d. 2004)
1926 – Bernard Agré, Ivorian cardinal (d. 2014)
1926 – Murray Rothbard, American economist and historian (d. 1995)
1927 – Roger Walkowiak, French cyclist and economist (d. 2017)
1930 – John Cullum, American actor and singer
1930 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (d. 2007)
1930 – Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish journalist and translator (d. 2011)
1934 – Dottie Rambo, American singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1935 – Gene Stallings, American football player and coach
1936 – Haroon Ahmed, Pakistani-English engineer and academic
1936 – John Tusa, Czech-English journalist and academic
1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian soldier and politician, 5th President of Algeria
1938 – Ricardo Lagos, Chilean economist, lawyer, and politician, 33rd President of Chile
1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1938 – Clark Gesner, American author and composer (d. 2002)
1939 – Jan Howard Finder, American author and academic (d. 2013)
1940 – Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer (d. 2019)
1941 – John Cornell, Australian actor, director, and producer
1941 – David Satcher, American admiral and physician, 16th Surgeon General of the United States
1942 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
1942 – Claude Larose, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian architect and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Iran
1942 – Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2013)
1942 – Derek Woodley, English footballer (d. 2002)
1943 – George Layton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1943 – Peter Straub, American author and poet
1943 – Robert Williams, American painter and cartoonist
1945 – Derek Watkins, English trumpet player and composer (d. 2013)
1947 – Nelson Ned, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1947 – Harry Redknapp, English footballer and manager
1948 – Larry Carlton, American guitarist and songwriter
1948 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1995)
1948 – Jeff Kennett, Australian journalist and politician, 43rd Premier of Victoria
1948 – Carmen Lawrence, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Western Australia
1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (d. 1983)
1952 – Mark Evanier, American author and screenwriter
1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress and comedian
1953 – Russ Feingold, American lawyer and politician
1954 – Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1955 – Dale Bozzio, American pop-rock singer-songwriter
1955 – Jay Osmond, American singer, drummer, actor, and TV/film producer
1955 – Ken Salazar, American lawyer and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Interior
1955 – Steve Small, Australian cricketer
1956 – John Cowsill, American musician, songwriter, and producer
1956 – Mark Evans, Australian rock bass player
1957 – Hossein Dehghan, Iranian general and politician, Iranian Minister of Defense
1957 – Dito Tsintsadze, Georgian film director and screenwriter
1957 – Mark Dean, American inventor and computer engineer
1958 – Kevin Curren, South African-American tennis player
1958 – Ian Woosnam, English-Welsh golfer
1959 – Larry Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – Simone Young, Australian conductor, director, and composer
1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1962 – Paul Farrelly, English journalist and politician
1962 – Tom Nordlie, Norwegian footballer and coach
1962 – Brendan O’Connor, Australian politician, Australian Minister for Employment
1962 – Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Gabriele Tarquini, Italian race car driver
1963 – Alvin Youngblood Hart, American singer and guitarist
1963 – Anthony Albanese, Australian politician, 15th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1963 – Vidyasagar (composer), Indian composer, musician and singer
1964 – Laird Hamilton, American surfer and actor
1964 – Mike Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1987)
1965 – Ron Gant, American baseball player and journalist
1965 – Lembit Öpik, Northern Irish politician
1966 – Ann Leckie, American author
1966 – Simon Reevell, English lawyer and politician
1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor and producer
1970 – James Purnell, English politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1970 – Ciriaco Sforza, Swiss footballer and manager
1970 – Wibi Soerjadi, Dutch pianist and composer
1971 – Dave Gorman, English comedian, author and television presenter
1971 – Method Man, American rapper, record producer and actor
1972 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentinian footballer and manager
1973 – Dejan Bodiroga, Serbian basketball player
1973 – Trevor Sinclair, English footballer and manager
1974 – Hayley Lewis, Australian swimmer and television host
1975 – Daryl Gibson, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Dominique Canty, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter and producer
1977 – Stephen Parry, English swimmer and sportscaster
1977 – Andrew Strauss, South African-English cricketer
1978 – Gabby Eigenmann, Filipino actor and singer
1978 – Lee Hodges, English footballer and manager
1978 – Tomáš Kaberle, Czech ice hockey player
1979 – Damien Duff, Irish international footballer, winger
1979 – Gayatri Asokan, Indian playback singer
1979 – Jim Troughton, English cricketer
1979 – Nicky Weaver, English footballer
1980 – Chris Barker, English footballer and manager (d. 2020)
1980 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress and screenwriter
1981 – Lance Cade, American wrestler (d. 2010)
1981 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
1982 – Kevin Kurányi, German footballer
1982 – Henrik Lundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
1982 – Ben Roethlisberger, American football player
1982 – Corey Webster, American football player
1983 – Deuce, American singer-songwriter and producer
1983 – Lisandro López, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Jay McClement, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Glen Perkins, American baseball player
1983 – Ryan Shannon, American ice hockey player
1985 – Reggie Bush, American football player
1985 – Suso Santana, Spanish footballer
1986 – Jonathan D’Aversa, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Jonas Jerebko, Swedish basketball player
1988 – Édgar Andrade, Mexican footballer
1988 – James Arthur, English singer-songwriter
1988 – Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012
1988 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver
1988 – Chris Rainey, American football player
1988 – Geert Arend Roorda, Dutch footballer
1989 – Alemão, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Toby Alderweireld, Belgian international footballer, defender
1989 – André Bernardes Santos, Portuguese footballer
1989 – Marcel Hirscher, Austrian skier
1989 – Shane Vereen, American football player
1989 – Chris Woakes, English cricketer
1990 – Rauno Alliku, Estonian footballer
1990 – Malcolm Butler, American football player
1990 – Josh McGuire, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Tiger Shroff, Indian actor
1991 – Nick Franklin, American baseball player
1992 – Jack Stockwell, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Ange-Freddy Plumain, French footballer
1997 – Becky G, American singer and actress
2010 – Hailey Dawson, American with a 3D-printed robotic hand
2016 – Prince Oscar, duke of Skåne and prince of Sweden
Deaths on March 2
274 – Mani, Persian prophet and founder of Manichaeism (b. 216)
672 – Chad of Mercia, English bishop and saint (b. 634)
986 – Lothair, king of West Francia (b.941)
968 – William, archbishop of Mainz (b. 929)
1009 – Mokjong, king of Goryeo (b. 980)
1127 – Charles the Good, Count of Flanders (b. 1084)
1316 – Marjorie Bruce, Scottish daughter of Robert the Bruce (b. 1296)
1333 – Wladyslaw I, king of Poland (b. 1261)
1589 – Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal and diplomat (b. 1520)
1619 – Anne of Denmark, queen of Scotland (b. 1574)
1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (b. 1662)
1755 – Louis de Rouvroy, French duke and diplomat (b. 1675)
1791 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (b. 1703)
1793 – Carl Gustaf Pilo, Swedish-Danish painter and academic (b. 1711)
1797 – Horace Walpole, English historian and politician (b. 1717)
1829 – Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Mexican revolutionary (b. ca. 1773)
1830 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, German physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (b. 1755)
1835 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
1840 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (b. 1758)
1855 – Nicholas I, Russian emperor (b. 1796)
1864 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (b. 1842)
1865 – Carl Sylvius Völkner, German-New Zealand priest and missionary (b. 1819)
1880 – John Benjamin Macneill, Irish engineer (b. 1790)
509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
86 BC – Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters Athens, removing the tyrant Aristion who was supported by troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus ending the Siege of Athens and Piraeus.
293 – Emperor Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesars. This is considered the beginning of the Tetrarchy, known as the Quattuor Principes Mundi (“Four Rulers of the World”).
317 – Crispus and Constantine II, sons of Roman Emperor Constantine I, and Licinius Iunior, son of Emperor Licinius, are made Caesares.
350 – Vetranio is asked by Constantina, sister of Constantius II, to proclaim himself Caesar.
834 – Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. After his re-accession to the throne, his eldest son Lothair I flees to Burgundy.
1457 – The Unitas Fratrum is established in the village of Kunvald, on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. It is to date the second oldest Protestant denomination.
1476 – Forces of the Catholic Monarchs engage the combined Portuguese-Castilian armies of Afonso V and Prince John at the Battle of Toro.
1562 – Sixty-three Huguenots are massacred in Wassy, France, marking the start of the French Wars of Religion.
1565 – The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded.
1628 – Writs issued in February by Charles I of England mandate that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date.
1633 – Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu.
1642 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine), becomes the first incorporated city in the United States.
1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.
1700 – Sweden introduces its own Swedish calendar, in an attempt to gradually merge into the Gregorian calendar, reverts to the Julian calendar on this date in 1712, and introduces the Gregorian calendar on this date in 1753.
1713 – The siege and destruction of Fort Neoheroka begins during the Tuscarora War in North Carolina, effectively opening up the colony’s interior to European colonization.
1781 – The Articles of Confederation goes into effect in the United States.
1790 – The first United States census is authorized.
1793 – French Revolutionary War: Battle of Aldenhoven during the Flanders Campaign.
1796 – The Dutch East India Company is nationalized by the Batavian Republic.
1803 – Ohio becomes the 17th state of The United States.
1805 – Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial by the U.S. Senate.
1811 – Leaders of the Mamluk dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali.
1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.
1815 – Georgetown University’s congressional charter is signed into law by President James Madison.
1836 – A convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.
1845 – United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
1852 – Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
1854 – German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; two years later his remains are found in a canal near Charlottenburg.
1867 – Nebraska becomes the 37th U.S. state; Lancaster, Nebraska is renamed Lincoln and becomes the state capital.
1868 – The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
1870 – Marshal F. S. López dies during the Battle of Cerro Corá thus marking the end of the Paraguayan War.
1872 – Yellowstone National Park is established as the world’s first national park.
1873 – E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York begins production of the first practical typewriter.
1881 – The first Minnesota State Capitol burns down.
1886 – The Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore is founded by Bishop William Oldham.
1893 – Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
1896 – Battle of Adwa: An Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War.
1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
1901 – The Australian Army is formed.
1910 – The deadliest avalanche in United States history buries a Great Northern Railway train in northeastern King County, Washington, killing 96 people.
1914 – The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union.
1917 – The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.
1919 – March 1st Movement begins in Korea under Japanese rule.
1921 – The Australian cricket team captained by Warwick Armstrong becomes the first team to complete a whitewash of The Ashes, something that would not be repeated for 86 years.
1921 – Following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in the RSFSR, the Kronstadt rebellion began, with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks.
1932 – Charles Lindbergh’s son is kidnapped.
1936 – The Hoover Dam is completed.
1939 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explodes at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94.
1941 – World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces land on Java, the main island of the Dutch East Indies, at Merak and Banten Bay (Banten), Eretan Wetan (Indramayu) and Kragan (Rembang).
1946 – The Bank of England is nationalised.
1947 – The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.
1949 – Indonesian Army recaptures and occupies for six hours its capital city Yogyakarta from the Dutch.
1950 – Cold War: Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by disclosing top secret atomic bomb data.
1953 – Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later.
1954 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
1954 – Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.
1956 – The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
1956 – Formation of the East German Nationale Volksarmee.
1958 – Samuel Alphonsus Stritch is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first U.S. member of the Roman Curia.
1961 – United States President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
1961 – Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections.
1964 – Villarrica Volcano begins a strombolian eruption causing lahars that destroy half of the town of Coñaripe.
1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface.
1966 – The Ba’ath Party takes power in Syria.
1971 – President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
1972 – The Thai province of Yasothon is created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani Province.
1973 – Black September storms the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, resulting in the assassination of three Western hostages.
1974 – Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
1981 – Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
1983 – First collection of twelve Swatch models was introduced in Zürich, Switzerland.
1990 – Steve Jackson Games is raided by the United States Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
1991 – Uprisings against Saddam Hussein begin in Iraq, leading to the death of more than 25,000 people mostly civilian.
1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1998 – Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
2002 – The Envisat environmental satellite successfully launches aboard an Ariane 5 rocket to reach an orbit of 800 km (500 mi) above the Earth, which was the then-largest payload at 10.5 m long and with a diameter of 4.57 m.
2003 – Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
2003 – The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
2005 – In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution of juveniles found guilty of murder is unconstitutional.
2006 – English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.
2007 – Tornadoes break out across the southern United States, killing at least 20 people, including eight at Enterprise High School.
2008 – The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections, as a result ten people are killed.
2014 – Thirty-five people are killed and 143 injured in a mass stabbing at Kunming Railway Station in China.
Births on March 1
1105 – Alfonso VII, king of León and Castile (d. 1157)
1261 – Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester (d. 1326)
1389 – Antoninus of Florence, Italian archbishop and saint (d. 1459)
1432 – Isabella of Coimbra (d. 1455)
1456 – Vladislaus II of Hungary (d. 1516)
1547 – Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher and lexicographer (d. 1628)
1554 – William Stafford, English courtier and conspirator (d. 1612)
1577 – Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland (d. 1635)
1597 – Jean-Charles della Faille, Flemish priest and mathematician (d. 1652)
1611 – John Pell, English mathematician and linguist (d. 1685)
1629 – Abraham Teniers, Flemish painter (d. 1670)
1647 – John de Brito, Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr (d. 1693)
1657 – Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1740)
1683 – Tsangyang Gyatso, sixth Dalai Lama (d. 1706)
1683 – Caroline of Ansbach, British queen and regent (d. 1737)
1732 – William Cushing, American lawyer and judge (d. 1810)
1760 – François Buzot, French lawyer and politician (d. 1794)
1769 – François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (d. 1796)
1807 – Wilford Woodruff, American religious leader, 4th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1898)
1810 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1849)
1812 – Augustus Pugin, English architect, co-designed the Palace of Westminster (d. 1852)
1817 – Giovanni Duprè, Italian sculptor and educator (d. 1882)
1821 – Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German bishop and academic (d. 1896)
1835 – Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1919)
1837 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 1920)
1842 – Nikolaos Gyzis, Greek painter and academic (d. 1901)
1848 – Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Irish-American sculptor and academic (d. 1907)
1852 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1923)
1863 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and set designer (d. 1930)
1870 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and academic (d. 1944)
1876 – Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian businessman (d. 1942)
1880 – Lytton Strachey, British writer and critic (d. 1932)
1886 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian-Swiss painter, poet, and playwright (d. 1980)
1888 – Ewart Astill, English cricketer and billiards player (d. 1948)
1888 – Fanny Walden, English cricketer and umpire, international footballer, outside right (d. 1949)
1889 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese historian and philosopher (d. 1960)
1890 – Theresa Bernstein, Polish-American painter and author (d. 2002)
1891 – Ralph Hitz, Austrian-American hotelier (d. 1940)
1892 – Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese author and educator (d. 1927)
1893 – Mercedes de Acosta, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1968)
1896 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1960)
1896 – Moriz Seeler, German playwright and producer (d. 1942)
1899 – Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, German SS officer (d. 1972)
1904 – Paul Hartman, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1973)
1904 – Glenn Miller, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1944)
1905 – Doris Hare, Welsh-English actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2000)
1906 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2000)
1909 – Eugene Esmonde, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 1942)
1909 – Winston Sharples, American pianist and composer (d. 1978)
1910 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
1910 – David Niven, English soldier and actor (d. 1983)
1912 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (d. 2003)
1912 – Boris Chertok, Polish-Russian engineer and academic (d. 2011)
1914 – Harry Caray, American sportscaster (d. 1998)
1914 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and literary critic (d. 1994)
1917 – Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
1918 – João Goulart, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Brazil (d. 1976)
1918 – Gladys Spellman, American educator and politician (d. 1988)
1920 – Max Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)
1921 – Cameron Argetsinger, American race car driver and lawyer (d. 2008)
1921 – Terence Cooke, American cardinal (d. 1983)
1921 – Richard Wilbur, American poet, translator, and essayist (d. 2017)
1922 – William Gaines, American publisher (d. 1992)
1922 – Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli general and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1924 – Arnold Drake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1924 – Deke Slayton, American soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1993)
1926 – Robert Clary, French-American actor and author
1926 – Cesare Danova, Italian-American actor (d. 1992)
1926 – Pete Rozelle, American businessman and commissioner of the National Football League (d. 1996)
1926 – Allan Stanley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2013)
1927 – George O. Abell, American astronomer, professor at UCLA, science popularizer, and skeptic (d. 1983)
1927 – Harry Belafonte, American singer-songwriter and actor
1927 – Robert Bork, American lawyer and scholar, United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
1928 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (d. 2016)
1929 – Georgi Markov, Bulgarian journalist and author (d. 1978)
1930 – Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (d. 1980)
1934 – Jean-Michel Folon, Belgian painter and sculptor (d. 2005)
1934 – Joan Hackett, American actress (d. 1983)
1935 – Robert Conrad, American actor, radio host and stuntman (d. 2020)
1936 – Jean-Edern Hallier, French author (d. 1997)
1939 – Leo Brouwer, Cuban guitarist, composer, and conductor
1939 – Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Pakistani author
1940 – Robin Gray, Australian politician, 37th Premier of Tasmania
1940 – Robert Grossman, American painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2018)
1941 – Robert Hass, American poet
1942 – Richard Myers, American general
1943 – Gil Amelio, American businessman
1943 – José Ángel Iribar, Spanish footballer and manager
1943 – Rashid Sunyaev, Russian-German astronomer and physicist
1944 – Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal
1944 – John Breaux, American lawyer and politician
1944 – Roger Daltrey, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1944 – Mike d’Abo, English singer
1945 – Dirk Benedict, American actor and director
1946 – Gerry Boulet, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
1946 – Jim Crace, English author and academic
1947 – Alan Thicke, Canadian-American actor and composer (d. 2016)
1951 – Sergei Kourdakov, Russian-American KGB agent (d. 1973)
1952 – Dave Barr, Canadian golfer
1952 – Nevada Barr, American actress and author
1952 – Leigh Matthews, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster
1952 – Jerri Nielsen, American physician and explorer (d. 2009)
1952 – Martin O’Neill, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1953 – Sinan Çetin, Turkish actor, director, and producer
1953 – Carlos Queiroz, Portuguese footballer and manager
1954 – Catherine Bach, American actress
1954 – Ron Howard, American actor, director, and producer
1954 – Rod Reddy, Australian rugby league player and coach
1956 – Tim Daly, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian politician, 6th President of Lithuania
1958 – Nik Kershaw, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1958 – Wayne B. Phillips, Australian cricketer and coach
1959 – Nick Griffin, English politician
1961 – Mike Rozier, American football player
1962 – Russell Coutts, New Zealand sailor
1962 – Mark Gardner, American baseball player
1962 – Bill Leen, American bass player and producer
1963 – Bryan Batt, American actor and singer
1963 – Maurice Benard, American actor
1963 – Ron Francis, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1964 – Clinton Gregory, American singer-songwriter and fiddler
1964 – Paul Le Guen, French footballer and manager
1965 – Booker T, American wrestler and sportscaster
1965 – Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey
1966 – Paul Hollywood, English chef
1966 – Zack Snyder, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – George Eads, American actor
1967 – Aron Winter, Suriname-Dutch footballer and manager
1969 – Javier Bardem, Spanish actor and producer
1970 – Jason V Brock, American author, filmmaker, artist, scholar and musician
1971 – Thomas Adès, English pianist, composer, and conductor
1971 – Ivan Cleary, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Jack Davenport, English actor
1973 – Anton Gunn, American academic and politician
1973 – Chris Webber, American basketball player and sportscaster
1983 – Anthony Tupou, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Naima Mora, American model and actress
1984 – Alexander Steen, Canadian-Swedish ice hockey player
1985 – Andreas Ottl, German footballer
1986 – Big E, American wrestler
1987 – Kesha, American singer-songwriter and actress
1988 – Yang Hyeon-jong, South Korean baseball player
1989 – Tenille Tayla, Australian professional wrestler
1989 – Carlos Vela, Mexican footballer
1992 – Tom Walsh, New Zealand athlete
1993 – Nathan Brown, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Michael Conforto, American baseball player
1993 – Kurt Mann, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Josh McEachran, English footballer
1994 – Justin Bieber, Canadian singer-songwriter
1994 – Tyreek Hill, American football player
1996 – Lizzie Arnot, Scottish footballer
1999 – Brogan Hay, Scottish footballer
Deaths on March 1
492 – Felix III, pope of the Catholic Church
589 – David, Welsh bishop and saint
965 – Leo VIII, pope of the Catholic Church
977 – Rudesind, Galician bishop (b. 907)
991 – En’yū, Japanese emperor (b. 959)
1058 – Ermesinde of Carcassonne, countess and regent of Barcelona (b. 972)
1131 – Stephen II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1101)
1233 – Thomas, count of Savoy (b. 1178)
1244 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr, Welsh noble, son of Llywelyn the Great (b. 1200)
1320 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Chinese emperor (b. 1286)
1383 – Amadeus VI, count of Savoy (b. 1334)
1510 – Francisco de Almeida, Portuguese soldier and explorer (b. 1450)
1546 – George Wishart, Scottish minister and martyr (b. 1513)
1620 – Thomas Campion, English poet and composer (b. 1567)
1633 – George Herbert, English poet and orator (b. 1593)
1643 – Girolamo Frescobaldi, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1583)
1661 – Richard Zouch, English judge and politician (b. 1590)
1666 – Ecaterina Cercheza, princess consort of Moldavia (b. 1620)
1697 – Francesco Redi, Italian physician and poet (b. 1626)
1734 – Roger North, English lawyer and author (b. 1653)
1768 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and author (b. 1694)
1773 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect, designed the Palace of Caserta (b. 1700)
1792 – Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1747)
1792 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1731)1841 – Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1764)
1862 – Peter Barlow, English mathematician and physicist (b. 1776)
1875 – Tristan Corbière, French poet and educator (b. 1845)
1882 – Theodor Kullak, German pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1818)
1884 – Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician and academic (b. 1820)
1906 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author (b. 1833)
1911 – Jacobus Henricus van ‘t Hoff, Dutch-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
1914 – Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto, English soldier and politician, 8th Governor General of Canada (b. 1845)
1920 – John H. Bankhead, American lawyer and politician (b. 1842)
1922 – Pichichi, Spanish footballer (b. 1892)
1932 – Frank Teschemacher, American Jazz musician (b. 1906)
1936 – Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian author and poet (b. 1871)
1938 – Gabriele D’Annunzio, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1863)
1940 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (b. 1878)
1942 – George S. Rentz, American commander (b. 1882)
1943 – Alexandre Yersin, Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist (b. 1863)
1952 – Mariano Azuela, Mexican physician and author (b. 1873)
1966 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish-German physicist and academic (b. 1903)
1974 – Bobby Timmons, American pianist and composer (b. 1935)
1976 – Jean Martinon, French conductor and composer (b. 1910)
1978 – Paul Scott, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1920)
1979 – Mustafa Barzani, Iraqi-Kurdistan politician (b. 1903)
1980 – Wilhelmina Cooper, Dutch-American model and businesswoman, founded Wilhelmina Models (b. 1940)
1980 – Dixie Dean, English footballer (b. 1907)
1983 – Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-English journalist and author (b. 1905)
1984 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)
1988 – Joe Besser, American comedian and actor (b. 1907)
1989 – Vasantdada Patil, Indian politician, 5th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1917)
1991 – Edwin H. Land, American scientist and businessman, co-founded the Polaroid Corporation (b. 1909)
1995 – Georges J. F. Köhler, German biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1946)
1998 – Archie Goodwin, American author and illustrator (b. 1937)
2004 – Mian Ghulam Jilani, Pakistani general (b. 1914)
2006 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (b. 1947)
2006 – Jack Wild, English actor (b.1952)
2010 – Kristian Digby, English television host and director (b. 1977)
2012 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist and publisher (b. 1969)
2012 – Germano Mosconi, Italian journalist (b. 1932)
2013 – Bonnie Franklin, American actress, dancer, and singer (b. 1944)
2014 – Alain Resnais, French director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2015 – Minnie Miñoso, Cuban-American baseball player and coach (b. 1922)
2018 – María Rubio, Mexican television, film and stage actress (b. 1934)
2019 – Mike Willesee, Australian journalist and producer (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances on March 1
Beer Day, marked the end of beer prohibition in 1989 (Iceland)
Christian feast day:
Agnes Tsao Kou Ying (one of the Martyr Saints of China)
Albin
David
Eudokia of Heliopolis
Pope Felix III
Leoluca
Luperculus
Monan
Rudesind
Suitbert
March 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commemoration of Mustafa Barzani’s Death (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Earliest day on which Casimir Pulaski Day can fall, while March 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in March. (Illinois)
Earliest day on which Children’s Day can fall, while March 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in March. (New Zealand)
Earliest day on which Grandmother’s Day can fall, while March 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in March. (France)
Earliest day on which Laetare Sunday can fall, while April 4 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
Carnaval de la Laetare (Stavelot)
Mothering Sunday (United Kingdom)
Heroes’ Day (Paraguay)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.
National “Cursed Soldiers” Remembrance Day (Poland)
National Pig Day (United States)
Remembrance Day (Marshall Islands)
Saint David’s Day or Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant (Wales and Welsh communities)
Samiljeol (South Korea)
Self-injury Awareness Day
Southeastern Europe celebration of the beginning of spring:
Baba Marta Day (Bulgaria)
Mărțișor (Romania and Moldova)
The final day (fourth or fifth) of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith)
380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity.
425 – The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
907 – Abaoji, a Khitan chieftain, is enthroned as Emperor Taizu, establishing the Liao dynasty in northern China.
1560 – The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland.
1594 – Henry IV is crowned King of France.
1617 – Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
1626 – Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after leading the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
1700 – The island of New Britain is discovered by Europeans.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.
1801 – Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
1809 – Action of 27 February 1809: Captain Bernard Dubourdieu captures HMS Proserpine.
1812 – Argentine War of Independence: Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.
1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
1844 – The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
1870 – The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.
1881 – First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.
1898 – King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.
1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé at the Battle of Paardeberg.
1900 – The British Labour Party is founded.
1900 – Fußball-Club Bayern München is founded.
1902 – Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.
1916 – Ocean liner SS Maloja strikes a mine near Dover and sinks with the loss of 155 lives.
1921 – The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.
1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. that the National Labor Relations Board has no authority to force an employer to rehire workers who engage in sit-down strikes.
1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.
1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies.
1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
1943 – In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest.
1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
1962 – Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm.
1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
1964 – The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
1971 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions.
1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.
1976 – The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
1988 – Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom.
1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated”.
2002 – Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair’s handling of the evacuation.
2002 – Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims.
2004 – A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack kills 116.
2004 – Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.
2007 – The Chinese Correction: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in ten years.
2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after.
2013 – A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured.
2015 – Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated.
Births on February 27
272 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (d. 337)
1343 – Alberto d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara (d. 1393)
1427 – Ruprecht, Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1480)
1500 – João de Castro, Portuguese nobleman and fourth viceroy of Portuguese India (d. 1548)
1535 – Min Phalaung, Burmese monarch (d. 1593)
1567 – William Alabaster, English poet (d. 1640)
1572 – Francis II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1632)
1575 – John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1616)
1622 – Carel Fabritius, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
1630 – Roche Braziliano, Dutch pirate (d. 1671)
1659 – William Sherard, English botanist (d. 1728)
1667 – Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł, Prussian-Lithuanian wife of Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine (d. 1695)
1689 – Pietro Gnocchi, Italian composer, director, historian, and geographer (d. 1775)
1703 – Lord Sidney Beauclerk, English politician (d. 1744)
1711 – Constantine Mavrocordatos, Ottoman ruler (d. 1769)
1724 – Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1767)
1732 – Jean de Dieu-Raymond de Cucé de Boisgelin, French cardinal (d. 1804)
1746 – Louis-Jérôme Gohier, French politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 1830)
1748 – Anders Sparrman, Swedish physician and activist (d. 1820)
1767 – Jacques-Charles Dupont de l’Eure, French lawyer and politician, 24th Prime Minister of France (d. 1855)
1779 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English businessman, founded Hazlehurst & Sons (d. 1842)
1789 – Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, Chilean lawyer and politician, Chilean Minister of National Defense (d. 1818)
1795 – José Antonio Navarro, American merchant and politician (d. 1871)
1799 – Edward Belcher, British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer (d. 1877)
1799 – Frederick Catherwood, British artist, architect and explorer (d. 1854)
1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (d. 1882)
1809 – Jean-Charles Cornay, French missionary and saint (d. 1837)
1816 – William Nicholson, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Victoria (d. 1865)
1847 – Ellen Terry, English actress (d. 1928)
1848 – Hubert Parry, English composer and historian (d. 1918)
1859 – Bertha Pappenheim, Austrian-German activist and author (d. 1936)
1863 – Joaquín Sorolla, Spanish painter (d. 1923)
1863 – George Herbert Mead, American sociologist and philosopher (d. 1930)
1864 – Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1935)
1867 – Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (d. 1947)
1867 – Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Swedish composer and critic (d. 1942)
1869 – Alice Hamilton, American physician and academic (d. 1970)
1872 – Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Romanian politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1950)
1875 – Vladimir Filatov, Russian-Ukrainian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1956)
1877 – Adela Verne, English pianist and composer (d. 1952)
1877 – Joseph Grinnell, American zoologist and biologist (d. 1939)
1878 – Alvan T. Fuller, American businessman and politician, 50th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1880 – Xenophon Kasdaglis, Greek-Egyptian tennis player (d. 1943)
1881 – Sveinn Björnsson, Danish-Icelandic lawyer and politician, 1st President of Iceland (d. 1952)
1881 – L. E. J. Brouwer, Dutch mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1966)
1886 – Hugo Black, American captain, jurist, and politician (d. 1971)
1887 – Pyotr Nesterov, Russian captain, pilot, and engineer (d. 1914)
1888 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist and psychologist (d. 1974)
1888 – Lotte Lehmann, German-American soprano and actress (d. 1976)
1890 – Mabel Keaton Staupers, American nurse and advocate (d. 1989)
1891 – David Sarnoff, American businessman, founded RCA (d. 1971)
1892 – William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
1895 – Miyagiyama Fukumatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1943)
1897 – Marian Anderson, American singer (d. 1993)
1899 – Charles Herbert Best, American-Canadian physiologist and biochemist, co-discovered Insulin (d. 1978)
1901 – Marino Marini, Italian sculptor and academic (d. 1980)
1901 – Kotama Okada, Japanese religious leader (d. 1974)
1902 – Lúcio Costa, French-Brazilian architect and engineer, designed Gustavo Capanema Palace (d. 1998)
1902 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 1999)
1902 – John Steinbeck, American journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
1903 – Reginald Gardiner, English-American actor and singer (d. 1980)
1903 – Hans Rohrbach, German mathematician (d. 1993)
1903 – Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Belorussian-American rabbi and philosopher (d. 1993)
1904 – James T. Farrell, American author and poet (d. 1979)
1904 – André Leducq, French cyclist (d. 1980)
1904 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1996)
1905 – Franchot Tone, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1968)
1907 – Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
1907 – Momčilo Đujić, Serbian-American priest and commander (d. 1999)
1910 – Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
1910 – Peter De Vries, American journalist and author (d. 1993)
1910 – Genrikh Kasparyan, Armenian chess player and composer (d. 1995)
1910 – Kelly Johnson, American engineer, co-founded Skunk Works (d. 1990)
1911 – Oscar Heidenstam, English bodybuilder (d. 1991)
1912 – Kusumagraj, Indian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1999)
1912 – Lawrence Durrell, Indian-French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1990)
1913 – Paul Ricœur, French philosopher and academic (d. 2005)
1913 – Kazimierz Sabbat, Polish soldier and politician, President of Poland (d. 1989)
1913 – Irwin Shaw, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1915 – Denis Whitaker, Canadian general, football player, and businessman (d. 2001)
1917 – John Connally, American lieutenant and politician, 61st United States Secretary of Treasury (d. 1993)
1920 – Reg Simpson, English cricketer (d. 2013)
1921 – Theodore Van Kirk, American soldier, pilot, and navigator (d. 2014)
1922 – Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch historian, author, and scholar (d. 1977)
1923 – Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist, composer, and actor (d. 1990)
1925 – Pia Sebastiani, Argentine pianist and composer (d. 2015)
1925 – Kenneth Koch, American poet, playwright and professor (d. 2002)
1926 – David H. Hubel, Canadian-American neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1927 – Peter Whittle, English-New Zealand mathematician and theorist
1928 – René Clemencic, Austrian composer, recorder player, harpsichordist, conductor and clavichord player
1929 – Jack Gibson, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2008)
1929 – Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
1929 – Patricia Ward Hales, British tennis player (d. 1985)
1930 – Jovan Krkobabić, Serbian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2014)
1930 – Peter Stone, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2003)
1930 – Paul von Ragué Schleyer, American chemist and academic (d. 2014)
1930 – Joanne Woodward, American actress
1932 – Dame Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress and humanitarian (d. 2011)
1932 – David Young, Baron Young of Graffham, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
1933 – Raymond Berry, American football player and coach
1933 – Malcolm Wallop, American politician (d. 2011)
1934 – Vincent Fourcade, French interior designer (d. 1992)
1934 – Ralph Nader, American lawyer, politician, and activist
1935 – Mirella Freni, Italian soprano and actress (d. 2020)
1935 – Uri Shulevitz, American author and illustrator
1936 – Sonia Johnson, American feminist activist and author
1936 – Ron Barassi, Australian footballer and coach
1936 – Roger Mahony, American cardinal
1937 – Barbara Babcock, American actress
1938 – Jake Thackray, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist (d. 2002)
1939 – Don McKinnon, English-New Zealand farmer and politician, 12th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
1939 – Peter Revson, American race car driver (d. 1974)
1940 – Pierre Duchesne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 28th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
1940 – Howard Hesseman, American actor
1940 – Bill Hunter, Australian actor (d. 2011)
1941 – Paddy Ashdown, British captain and politician (d. 2018)
1942 – Jimmy Burns, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 – Charlayne Hunter-Gault, American journalist
1942 – Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, German footballer (d. 2011)
1943 – Mary Frann, American actress (d. 1998)
1943 – Morten Lauridsen, American composer and conductor
1943 – Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazilian footballer and manager
1944 – Ken Grimwood, American author (d. 2003)
1944 – Graeme Pollock, South African cricketer and coach
1944 – Sir Roger Scruton, English philosopher and writer (d. 2020)
1947 – Alan Guth, American physicist and cosmologist
1947 – Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist and conductor
1950 – Annabel Goldie, Scottish lawyer and politician
1950 – Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, English rabbi and politician
1951 – Carl A. Anderson, 13th Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus
1951 – Lee Atwater, American journalist, activist and political strategist (d. 1991)
1951 – Walter de Silva, Italian car designer
1951 – Steve Harley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Gavin Esler, Scottish journalist and author
1953 – Ian Khama, English-Botswanan lieutenant and politician, 4th President of Botswana
1953 – Stelios Kouloglou, Greek journalist, author, director and politician
1954 – Neal Schon, American rock guitarist and singer-songwriter
1956 – Belus Prajoux, Chilean tennis player
1957 – Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Kevin Curran, American screenwriter and television producer (d. 2016)
1957 – Robert de Castella, Australian runner
1957 – Adrian Smith, English guitarist and songwriter
1957 – Timothy Spall, English actor
1958 – Naas Botha, South African rugby player and sportscaster
1958 – Maggie Hassan, American politician, 81st Governor and United States Senator of New Hampshire
1960 – Andrés Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
1960 – Johnny Van Zant, American singer-songwriter
1961 – James Worthy, American basketball player and sportscaster
1962 – Adam Baldwin, American actor
1963 – Nasty Suicide, Finnish musician and pharmacist
1964 – Jeffrey Pasley, American educator and academic
1965 – Noah Emmerich, American actor
1965 – Pedro Chaves, Portuguese race car driver
1966 – Donal Logue, Canadian actor and director
1966 – Oliver Reck, German footballer and manager
1966 – Baltasar Kormákur, Icelandic actor, director, and producer
1967 – Dănuț Lupu, Romanian footballer
1967 – Jony Ive, English industrial designer, former chief design officer (CDO) of Apple
1968 – Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
1969 – Gareth Llewellyn, Welsh rugby union player
1969 – Juan E. Gilbert, American computer scientist, inventor, and academic
1970 – Kent Desormeaux, American jockey
1970 – Patricia Petibon, French soprano and actress
1971 – Sara Blakely, American businesswoman, founded Spanx
1971 – Derren Brown, English magician and painter
1971 – David Rikl, Czech-English tennis player
1971 – Roman Giertych, Polish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
1971 – Rozonda Thomas, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (TLC)
1973 – Peter Andre, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
1973 – Mark Taylor, Welsh rugby player and manager
1974 – Carte Goodwin, American lawyer and politician
1975 – Aitor González, Spanish racing driver
1975 – Prodromos Korkizoglou, Greek decathlete
1976 – Sergei Semak, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager
1976 – Ludovic Capelle, Belgian cyclist
1978 – James Beattie, English footballer and manager
1978 – Kakha Kaladze, Georgian footballer and politician
1978 – Emelie Öhrstig, Swedish skier and cyclist
1978 – Simone Di Pasquale, Italian ballet dancer
1980 – Chelsea Clinton, American journalist and academic
1980 – Scott Prince, Australian rugby league player
1981 – Josh Groban, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1981 – Natalie Grandin, English-South African tennis player
1981 – Élodie Ouédraogo, Belgian sprinter
1982 – Ali Bastian, English actress
1982 – Pat Richards, Australian rugby league player
2003 – John Lanchbery, English-Australian composer and conductor (b. 1923)
2003 – Fred Rogers, American minister and television host (b. 1928)
2004 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian and academic (b. 1928)
2004 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and journalist (b. 1910)
2006 – Otis Chandler, American publisher (b. 1927)
2006 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American general and author (b. 1908)
2006 – Linda Smith, English comedian and author (b. 1958)
2007 – Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, German general (b. 1914)
2008 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American author and journalist, founded the National Review (b. 1925)
2008 – Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1929)
2008 – Ivan Rebroff, German vocalist of Russian descent with four and a half octave range (b. 1931)
2010 – Nanaji Deshmukh, Indian educator and activist (b. 1916)
2011 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (b. 1901)
2011 – Necmettin Erbakan, Turkish engineer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1926)
2011 – Duke Snider, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1926)
2011 – Gary Winick, American director and producer (b. 1961)
2012 – Ma Jiyuan, Chinese general (b. 1921)
2012 – Tina Strobos, Dutch physician and psychiatrist (b. 1920)
2012 – Helga Vlahović, Croatian journalist and producer (b. 1945)
2013 – Van Cliburn, American pianist (b. 1934)
2013 – Ramon Dekkers, Dutch mixed martial artist and kick-boxer (b. 1969)
2013 – Dale Robertson, American actor (b. 1923)
2013 – Adolfo Zaldívar, Chilean lawyer and politician (b. 1943)
2014 – Aaron Allston, American game designer and author (b. 1960)
2014 – Terry Rand, American basketball player (b. 1934)
2015 – Boris Nemtsov, Russian academic and politician, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1959)
2015 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor (b. 1931)
2015 – Julio César Strassera, Argentinian lawyer and jurist (b. 1933)
2016 – Yi Cheol-seung, South Korean lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
2016 – James Z. Davis, American lawyer and judge (b. 1943)
2018 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1959)
2019 – France-Albert René, Seychellois politician, 2nd President of Seychelles (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances on February 27
Christian feast day:
Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
George Herbert (Anglicanism)
Honorina
Leander
February 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The second day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (Note: this observance is only on this date in the Gregorian calendar if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it does not in all years)
Doctors’ Day (Vietnam)
Independence Day (Dominican Republic), celebrates the first independence of Dominican Republic from Haiti in 1844.
