March 24
is the
83rd day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (84th in
Leap years). There are 282 days remaining.
*
1603 -
James VI of
Scotland also becomes
James I King of
England.
*
1765 -
American Revolutionary War: The
Kingdom of Great Britain passes the
Quartering Act that requires the
13 American colonies to house
British troops.
*
1832 - In
Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat,
tar and feather Mormon leader
Joseph Smith, Jr..
*
1837 -
Canada gives
African men the right to vote.
*
1868 -
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.
*
1878 - The
UK frigate
Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
*
1882 -
Robert Koch announces the discovery of the
bacterium responsible for
tuberculosis (
mycobacterium tuberculosis).
*
1898 -
Robert Allison of
Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an
American-built
automobile when he buys a
Winton automobile that was advertised in
Scientific American.
*
1900 -
New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "
Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link
Manhattan and
Brooklyn.
*
1923 -
Greece becomes a
republic.
*
1934 -
U.S. Congress passes
Tydings-McDuffie Act.
*
1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie
The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of
Stalag Luft III.
*
1959 - The
Party of the African Federation (
PFA) is launched by
Léopold Sédar Senghor and
Modibo Keita.
*
1965 -
NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic
television, brings images of the
Moon into ordinary homes before crash-
landing.
*
1972 - The
United Kingdom imposes "
Direct Rule" over
Northern Ireland.
*
1973 -
Kenyan track runner
Kip Keino defeats
Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in
Los Angeles, sanctioned by the
International Track Association.
* 1973 -
Rock band
Pink Floyd releases
The Dark Side of the Moon *
1976 -
Argentina's military forces depose president
Isabel Perón and start the
Proceso de Reorganización Nacional.
*
1980 -
Archbishop Ã"scar Romero is killed by right-wing terrorists while celebrating
Mass in
San Salvador.
*
1989 -
Exxon Valdez oil spill: In
Alaska's
Prince William Sound the
Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of
petroleum after running aground.
*
1990 -
Bob Hawke and the
ALP defeats
Andrew Peacock and the
Liberal Party of Australia in his final election as
Prime Minister of Australia.
*
1998 -
Jonesboro massacre: In
Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at
Westside Middle School; four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.
*
1999 -
Kosovo War:
NATO commences air bombardment against
Yugoslavia, marking the first time
NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
*
2003 - The
Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of
U.S. and
British soldiers from
Iraq.
*
2005 - The
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) is released in North America.
*
2006 - Long-term protests in
Belarus are broken by police. More than 400 detained.
* 2006 -
Pope Benedict XVI adds 15 men to the
College of Cardinals, in the first
consistory of his Pontificate.
*
1490 -
Georg Agricola, German scientist (d.
1555)
*
1607 -
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d.
1667)
*
1657 -
Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (d.
1725)
*
1693 -
John Harrison, British clockmaker (d.
1776)
*
1725 -
Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (d.
1813)
* 1725 -
Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (d.
1788)
*
1782 -
Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (d.
1836)
*
1796 -
John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (d.
1878)
*
1820 -
A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (d.
1891)
*
1830 -
Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet (d.
1889)
*
1834 -
William Morris, English writer and designer (d.
1896)
* 1834 -
John Wesley Powell, American explorer and environmentalist (d.
1902)
*
1835 -
Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d.
1893)
*
1855 -
Andrew Mellon, American financier (d.
1937)
* 1855 -
Olive Schreiner, South African writer (d.
1920)
*
1874 -
Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born magician (d.
1926)
*
1884 -
Peter Debye, Dutch chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1966)
*
1886 -
Edward Weston, American photographer (d.
1958)
*
1887 -
Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d.
1933)
*
1888 -
Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Bolshevik politician (d.
1922)
*
1889 -
Albert Hill, British athlete (d.
1969)
*
1893 -
Walter Baade, German astronomer (d.
1960)
*
1897 -
Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born psychotherapist (d.
1957)
*
1901 -
Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d.
1971)
*
1902 -
Thomas Dewey, American politician (d.
1971)
*
1903 -
Adolf Butenandt, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1995)
*
1906 -
Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Soviet singer (d.
1984)
*
1909 -
Clyde Barrow, notorious bank robber (d.
1934)
*
1910 -
Richard Conte, American actor (d.
1975)
*
1911 -
Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist
*
1915 -
Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d.
1963)
*
1916 -
Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American novelist
*
1917 -
John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d.
1997)
*
1919 -
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher
* 1919 -
Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d.
2005)
*
1923 -
Murray Hamilton, American actor (d.
1986)
*
1924 -
Norman Fell, American actor (d.
1998)
*
1926 -
Dario Fo, Italian writer,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1927 -
Martin Walser, German author
*
1928 -
Byron Janis, American pianist
*
1930 -
David Dacko, first
President of the Central African Republic (d.
2003)
* 1930 -
Steve McQueen, American actor, director, and producer (d.
1980)
*
1935 -
Peter Bichsel, Swiss writer
*
1936 -
David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist
*
1938 -
Holger Czukay, German musician (
Can)
* 1938 -
David Irving, British historian
*
1944 -
R. Lee Ermey, American actor
* 1944 -
Vojislav Koštunica,
Serbian Prime Minister
*
1945 -
Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist
* 1945 -
Curtis Hanson, American film director
*
1951 -
Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer
*
1953 -
Louie Anderson, American comedian
* 1953 -
Alfred Molina, British actor
*
1954 -
Robert Carradine, American actor
* 1954 -
Donna Pescow, American actress
*
1960 -
Kelly LeBrock, American actress
* 1960 -
Nena, German singer
* 1960 -
Barry Horowitz, Famous
jobber in the
WWF*
1962 -
Star Jones Reynolds, American television personality
*
1964 -
Annabella Sciorra, American actress
*
1965 -
Mark Calaway, American professional wrestler
*
1970 -
Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
* 1970 -
Sharon Corr, Irish musician (
The Corrs)
*
1973 -
Jacek BÄ…k, Polish footballer
*
1974 -
Chad Butler, American drummer (
Switchfoot)
* 1974 -
Alyson Hannigan, American actress
*
1975 -
Thomas Johansson, Swedish tennis player
*
1976 -
Aaron Brooks, American football player
* 1976 -
Peyton Manning, American football player
* 1976 -
Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer
*
1979 -
Graeme Swann, English
Cricket player
*
1981 -
Patrick Kisnorbo, Australian footballer
*
1984 -
Chris Bosh, American basketball player
*
1985 -
Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model
*
1988 -
Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean Legspinner
*
1990 -
Keisha Castle-Hughes, New Zealand-born child actress
*
809 -
Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (b.
763)
*
1284 - King
Hugh III of Cyprus*
1361 -
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, English soldier and diplomat
*
1381 -
Catherine of Sweden, Swedish saint
*
1455 -
Pope Nicholas V (b.
1397)
*
1563 -
Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b.
1514)
*
1575 -
Yosef Karo, Spanish-born rabbi (b.
1488)
*
1603 - Queen
Elizabeth I of England (b.
1533)
*
1653 -
Samuel Scheidt, German composer (b.
1587)
*
1773 -
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (b.
1694)
*
1776 -
John Harrison, English clockmaker (b.
1693)
*
1869 -
Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (b.
1779)
*
1881 -
Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist (b.
1817)
*
1882 -
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American author (b.
1807)
*
1887 -
Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and art critic (b.
1837)
*
1905 -
Jules Verne, French author (b.
1828)
*
1909 -
John Millington Synge, Irish playwright (b.
1871)
*
1915 -
Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (b.
1846)
*
1916 -
Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (drowned) (b.
1867)
*
1921 -
Larry McLean, baseball player (b.
1881)
*
1944 -
Orde Wingate, British soldier (b.
1903)
*
1946 -
Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b.
1892)
*
1950 -
James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (b.
1865)
*
1953 -
Mary of Teck,
queen consort to
George V of the United Kingdom (b.
1867)
*
1962 -
Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (b.
1899)
* 1962 -
Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b.
1884)
*
1972 -
Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish couturier (b.
1895)
*
1976 -
Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b.
1887)
*
1980 -
Ã"scar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador (b.
1917)
*
1984 -
Sam Jaffe, American actor (b.
1891)
*
1990 -
Ray Goulding, American comedian (b.
1922)
* 1990 -
An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (b.
1920)
*
1991 -
Sir John Kerr, 18th Governor General of Australia (b.
1914)
*
1993 -
John Hersey, American author (b.
1914)
*
1999 -
Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader (b.
1902)
* 1999 -
Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (b.
1912)
*
2002 -
César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1927)
*
2003 -
Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b.
1919)
*Ancient
Latvia -
Kazimiras Diena observed.
*
World Tuberculosis Day.
Liturgical feasts
*
Saint Simeon (died 1475)
*
Saint Catharine of Sweden (died 1381)
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMarch 23 -
March 25 -
February 24 -
April 24 --
listing of all days
