308 Saint Eubulus (died), Israeli martyr
321 Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.
413 Heraclianus (died), Roman usurper
1274 Saint Thomas Aquinas (died), Italian priest and philosopher (born 1225)
1481 Baldassare Peruzzi (born), Italian architect and painter (death 1537)
1578 Margaret Douglas (died), English daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (born 1515)
161 Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by his adoptive sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (born 86).
1625 Johann Bayer (died), German lawyer and cartographer (born 1572)
1663 Tomaso Antonio Vitali (born) Italian violinist and composer (death 1745)
1671 Rob Roy MacGregor (born), Scottish outlaw (death 1734)
1678 Filippo Juvarra (born), Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Superga (death 1736)
1687 Jean Lebeuf (born), French historian (death 1760)
1693 Pope Clement XIII (born) (death 1769)
1724 Pope Innocent XIII (died) (born 1655)
1765 Nicéphore Niépce (born), French inventor, invented photography (death 1833)
1778 Charles De Geer (died), Swedish entomologist (born 1720)
1785 Alessandro Manzoni (born), Italian author and poet (death 1873)
1788 Antoine César Becquerel (born), French physicist (death 1878)
1792 John Herschel (born), English mathematician and astronomer (death 1871)
1799 Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
1814 Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.
1837 Henry Draper (born), American physician and astronomer (death 1882)
1841 William Rockhill Nelson (born), American businessman and publisher, founded The Kansas City Star (death 1915)
1849 Luther Burbank (born) American botanist (death 1926)
1850 Senator Daniel Webster gives his “Seventh of March” speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
1862 American Civil War: Union forces defeat Confederate troops at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
1866 Hans Fruhstorfer (born), German entomologist and explorer (death 1922)
1872 Piet Mondriaan (born), Dutch painter (death 1944)
1875 Maurice Ravel (born), French composer (death 1937)
1876 Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the telephone.
1900 The German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore.
1904 Ferdinand André Fouqué (died), French geologist and petrologist (born 1828)
1908 Anna Magnani (born), Italian actress (death 1973)
1909 Friedrich Amelung (died), German historian and businessman (born 1842)
1909 Léo Malet (born), French author (death 1996)
1912 Eerik Kumari (born), Estonian ornithologist (death 1984)
1912 Roald Amundsen announces that his expedition had reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
1917 Betty Holberton (born), American engineer and programmer (death 2001)
1920 Eddy Paape (born), Belgian illustrator (death 2012)
1922 Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya (born), Russian mathematician (death 2004)
1927 James Broderick (born), American actor (death 1982)
1928 Robert Abbe (died), American surgeon (born 1851)
1934 Willard Scott (born), American journalist, actor, and author
1936 World War II (Prelude to): In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
1938 Janet Guthrie (born), American race car driver
1942 Lucy Parsons (died), American activist (born 1853)
1942 Tammy Faye Messner (born), American evangelist, talk show host, and singer (death 2007)
1943 Chris White (born), English bass player and songwriter (The Zombies)
1944 Ranulph Fiennes (born), English soldier and explorer
1944 Stanley Schmidt (born), American author and journalist
1944 Townes Van Zandt (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (death 1997)
1945 Arthur Lee (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Love) (death 2006)
1945 Bob Herbert (born), American journalist
1945 John Heard (born), American actor
1945 World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen.
1946 Daniel Goleman (born), American psychologist and author
1946 Matthew Fisher (born), English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Procol Harum)
1946 Peter Wolf (born), American singer-songwriter (The J. Geils Band)
1950 Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.
1951 Korean War: Operation Ripper United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
1951 Rocco Prestia (born), American bass player (Tower of Power)
1952 Ernie Isley (born), American guitarist and songwriter (The Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley)
1953 Bernard Voyer (born), Canadian mountaineer and explorer
1954 Eva Brunne (born), Swedish clergywoman and world’s first lesbian bishop
1954 Otto Diels (died), German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1876)
1957 Wyndham Lewis (died), English author and painter (born 1882)
1960 Ivan Lendl (born), Czech tennis player
1960 Jim Spivey (born), American runner
1962 Peter Manley (born), English darts player
1964 Wanda Sykes (born), American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
1965 Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers are forcefully broken up in Selma, Alabama.
1965 Louise Mountbatten (died), German-Swedish wife of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (born 1889)
1967 Alice B. Toklas (died), American-French author (born 1877)
1968 Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnamese military begin Operation Truong Cong Dinh to root out Viet Cong forces from the area surrounding Mỹ Tho.
1969 Hideki Noda (born), Japanese race car driver
1970 Rachel Weisz (born), English actress
1973 Jason Bright (born), Australian race car driver
1973 Sébastien Izambard, French tenor (Il Divo)
1981 Kirill Kondrashin (died), Russian conductor (born 1914)
1982 Kate Michael (born), American model, Miss District of Columbia 2006
1983 Igor Markevitch (died), Ukrainian conductor and composer (born 1912)
1984 Paul Rotha (died), English historian and director (born 1907)
1985 The song “We Are the World” receives its international release.
1986 Jacob K. Javits (died), American politician, 58th New York State Attorney General (born 1904)
1989 Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
1994 Copyright Law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.
1999 Sidney Gottlieb (died), American chemist (born 1918)
1999 Stanley Kubrick (died), American director, screenwriter, and producer (born 1928)
2007 The British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.
2009 The Kepler space observatory, designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, is launched.
2009 The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and two civilians, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since The Troubles.
2013 Peter Banks (died), English guitarist and songwriter (Yes, The Syn, and Flash) (born 1947)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017