March 8

is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in Leap years). There are 298 days remaining.

Events

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.

Births

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)
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
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

Deaths

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)

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Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Liturgical feasts

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