March 8
is the 67th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (68th in
Leap years). There are 298 days remaining.
*
1618 -
Johannes Kepler discovers the
third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but later on
May 15 confirms the discovery).
*
1702 - Very unexpectedly,
Anne Stuart, the sister of the childless
Mary II, becomes
Queen of
England,
Scotland and
Ireland after the death of
William III of Orange from injuries he suffered in a fall from his horse.
*
1782 -
Gnadenhütten massacre: Almost 100
Native Americans in
Gnadenhutten,
Ohio had their
skulls crushed with a
mallet by
Pennsylvanian
militiamen in a
mass murder.
*
1844 -
King Oscar I ascends to the throne of
Sweden-Norway.
*
1862 -
American Civil War: The iron-clad
CSS Virginia (formerly
USS Merrimack) is launched at
Hampton Roads,
Virginia.
*
1884 -
Susan B. Anthony testifies before the
Judiciary Committee of the
House of Representatives arguing for an amendment to the
U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote.
*
1899 - Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899, prequel for
Eintracht Frankfurt is founded
*
1906 -
Moro Crater Massacre:
U.S. troops occupying the
Philippines massacre about 600 men, women and children taking refuge in a crater.
*
1911 -
International Women's Day is celebrated for the first time.
*
1917 - The
February Revolution breaks out in
Russia (
February 23 O.S.).
* 1917 - The
United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit
filibusters.
*
1918 - The first case of
Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating pandemic.
*
1921 -
Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato is assassinated while exiting the
parliament building in
Madrid.
*
1936 - The first
stock car race is held in
Daytona Beach,
Florida.
*
1942 -
World War II: The
Dutch surrender to
Japanese forces on
Java.
* 1942 -
World War II:
Japan captures
Rangoon,
Burma.
*
1943 -
World War II:
Japanese troops counter-attack
American forces on
Hill 700 in
Bougainville in a battle that will last five days.
*
1948 - The
United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violated the
Constitution.
*
1950 - The
Soviet Union claims to have an
atomic bomb.
*
1952 -
Antoine Pinay becomes
Prime Minister of
France.
*
1957 -
Egypt re-opens the
Suez Canal.
*
1965 -
Vietnam War: 3,500
United States Marines arrive in
South Vietnam, becoming the first
American combat troops in
Vietnam.
*
1966 -
Vietnam War:
Australia announces it is going to substantially increase its number of troops in
Vietnam.
* 1966 - A bomb planted by young
Irish protesters destroys
Nelson's Pillar in
Dublin.
*
1971 -
Joe Frazier defeats
Muhammad Ali in the first of three epic bouts.
Frazier defends the world
Heavyweight title in a star-studded
Madison Square Garden.
*
1974 -
Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in
Paris,
France.
*
1983 -
President Ronald Reagan calls the
Soviet Union an
evil empire.
*
1985 - A
car-bombing in Beirut in front of the mosque kills 85 people and injures 175.
*
1999 -
Oklahoma City bombing: The
Supreme Court of the United States upholds the murder convictions of
Timothy McVeigh.
*
2000 -
A collision between two
Tokyo Metro trains kills 5 people.
*
2004 - A new
constitution is signed by
Iraq's Governing Council.
*
2005 - Large pro-Syrian rally in Riad Al Solh square in Beirut mainly organized by
Hezbollah.
*
1286 -
John III, Duke of Brittany (d.
1341)
*
1514 -
Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (d.
1562)
*
1545 -
Yi Sun Sin, Korean admiral (d.
1598)
*
1560 -
Don Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer (d.
1613)
*
1659 -
Isaac de Beausobre, French protestant pastor (d.
1738)
*
1712 -
John Fothergill, English physician (d.
1780)
*
1714 -
Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, German composer (d.
1788)
*
1726 -
Richard Howe, British admiral (d.
1799)
*
1746 -
André Michaux, French botanist (d.
1802)
*
1748 -
William V of Orange,
Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
*
1799 -
Simon Cameron,
U.S. Secretary of War (d.
1889)
*
1814 -
Ede Szigligeti, Hungarian dramatist (d.
1878)
*
1822 -
Ignacy Lukasiewicz, Polish inventor (d.
1882)
*
1827 -
Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (d.
1875)
*
1830 -
João de Deus, Portuguese poet (d.
1896)
*
1841 -
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.,
U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d.
1935)
*
1856 -
Bramwell Booth, the 2nd General of
The Salvation Army (d.
1929)
* 1856 -
Tom Roberts, Australian artist (d.
1931)
*
1859 -
Kenneth Grahame, English author (d.
1932)
*
1865 -
Frederic Goudy, American type designer (d.
1947)
*
1872 -
Anna Held, Polish-born actress and singer (d.
1918)
*
1879 -
Otto Hahn,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1968)
*
1886 -
Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1972)
*
1902 -
Louise Beavers, American actress (d.
1962)
*
1907 -
Constantine Karamanlis, Greek politician (d.
1998)
*
1909 -
Claire Trevor, American actress (d.
2000)
*
1911 -
Alan Hovhaness, American composer (d.
2000)
*
1912 -
Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (d.
2003)
*
1914 -
Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (d.
1987)
*
1915 -
Tapio Rautavaara, Finnish athlete, actor, and singer (d.
1979)
*
1916 -
John Seybold, American economist and
computer typesetting pioneer (d.
2004)
*
1918 -
Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d.
1990)
*
1921 -
Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
*
1922 -
Shigeru Mizuki, Japanese soldier and mangaka
*
1925 -
Warren Bennis, American educator and author
*
1927 -
Dick Hyman, American pianist, conductor, and composer
*
1928 -
Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (d.
1990)
*
1930 -
Bob Grim, baseball player (d.
1996)
*
1931 -
John McPhee, American writer and professor
* 1931 -
Neil Postman, American cultural critic
*
1936 -
Gábor Szabó, Hungarian guitarist (d.
1982)
*
1937 -
Juvénal Habyarimana,
President of Rwanda (d.
1994)
*
1938 -
Pete Dawkins, American football player
*
1939 -
Jim Bouton, baseball player, author, and entrepreneur
* 1939 -
Lidia Skoblikova, Russian skater
* 1939 -
Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
*
1940 -
Susan Clark, Canadian actress
*
1942 -
Dick Allen, Baseball player
*
1943 -
Lynn Redgrave, English actress
*
1944 -
Sergey Nikitin, Russian composer
* 1944 -
Pepé Romero, Spanish guitarist
*
1945 -
Jim Chapman, American politician
* 1945 -
Micky Dolenz, American musician (
The Monkees)
* 1945 -
Anselm Kiefer, German painter
*
1946 -
Randy Meisner, American musician (
The Eagles)
* 1946 -
Linda Kelliher Samets, American entrepreneur
*
1947 -
Mike Allsup, American musician (
Three Dog Night)
* 1947 -
Carole Bayer Sager, American composer
*
1952 -
George Felix Allen, U.S. Senator from Virginia
*
1954 -
Cheryl Baker, British singer (
Bucks Fizz)
* 1954 -
David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
*
1956 -
John Kapelos, Canadian actor
*
1957 -
Cynthia Rothrock, American actress and martial artist
*
1958 -
Gary Numan, British singer
*
1959 -
Aidan Quinn, American actor
*
1961 -
Camryn Manheim, American actress
* 1961 -
Larry Murphy, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1963 -
Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
* 1963 -
Lorelei, American fetish model, photographer
*
1965 -
Fátima Lopes, Portuguese fashion designer
*
1968 -
Michael Bartels, German race car driver
* 1968 -
Shawn Mullins, American musician
*
1969 -
Andrea Parker, American actress, ballet dancer
*
1970 -
Jason Elam, American football player
*
1972 -
Angie Hart, Australian pop singer
* 1972 -
Fergal O'Brien, Irish snooker player
*
1973 -
Boris Kodjoe, Austrian model
*
1976 -
Hines Ward, American football player
* 1976 -
Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
* 1976 -
Juan Encarnacion, baseball player
*
1977 -
James Van Der Beek, American actor
*
1979 -
Tom Chaplin, English singer (
Keane)
*
1981 -
Michael Beauchamp, Australian footballer
*
1983 -
Charles Coventry, Zimbabwean cricketer
*
1991 -
Devon Werkheiser, American actor
*
1992 -
Charlie Ray, American actress
*
1126 - Queen
Urraca of Castile (b.
1082)
*
1144 -
Pope Celestine II*
1202 - King
Sverre of Norway*
1223 -
Wincenty Kadłubek, Polish chronicler (b.
1161)
*
1641 -
Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer (b.
1587)
*
1674 -
Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny, French writer (b.
1597)
*
1702 - King
William III of England (b.
1650)
*
1731 -
Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b.
1688)
*
1757 -
Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (b.
1701)
*
1771 -
Louis August le Clerc, French-born sculptor (b.
1688)
*
1844 - King
Charles XIV of Sweden, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, French Napoleonic general (b.
1763)
*
1869 -
Hector Berlioz, French composer (b.
1803)
*
1874 -
Millard Fillmore, 13th
President of the United States (b.
1800)
*
1887 -
Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (b.
1813)
* 1887 -
James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (b.
1820)
*
1889 -
John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (b.
1803)
*
1923 -
Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1837)
*
1930 -
William Howard Taft,
President of the United States,
Chief Justice of the United States (b.
1857)
*
1941 -
Sherwood Anderson, American author, (b.
1876)
*
1942 -
José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (b.
1888)
*
1961 -
Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b.
1879)
*
1971 -
Harold Lloyd, American actor (b.
1893)
*
1972 -
Erich von dem Bach, Nazi official (b.
1899)
*
1973 -
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, American musician (
Grateful Dead) (b.
1945)
*
1975 -
George Stevens, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b.
1904)
*
1976 -
Alfons Rebane, Estonian military commander (b.
1908)
*
1983 -
William Walton, English composer (b.
1902)
*
1985 -
Edward Andrews, American actor (b.
1914)
*
1988 -
Amar Singh Chamkila, Punjabi folk singer (b.
1961)
* 1988 -
Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (b.
1918)
*
1993 -
Billy Eckstine, American musician (b.
1914)
*
1998 -
Ray Nitschke, American football player (b.
1936)
*
1999 -
Peggy Cass, American actress and comedian (b.
1924)
* 1999 -
Joe DiMaggio,
baseball player (b.
1914)
*
2001 -
Edward Winter, American actor (b.
1937)
*
2003 -
Adam Faith, English singer and actor (b.
1940)
* 2003 -
Karen Morley, American actress (b.
1909)
*
2004 -
Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (b.
1948)
*
2005 -
Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen leader (b.
1951)
* 2005 -
César Lattes, Brazilian physicist (b.
1924)
*
Albania,
Romania -
Mother's Day.
*
Hudson's Birthday -
The Second Coming Of Christmas.
Liturgical feasts
*
Catholicism**
Saint John of God.
**
Saint Cyrillus of Africa**
Saint Humfried of Terwaan**
Saint Philemon (d. 305)
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMarch 7 -
March 9 -
February 8 -
April 8 --
listing of all days
