Events in History

• 363 – Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.

• 1046 – Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.

• 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.

• 1689 – Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham is named Secretary of State for the Northern Department.

• 1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

• 1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including a black man named Crispus Attucks, and a boy, are killed by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later.

• 1784 – Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney is named President of the Board of Trade.

• 1824 – First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.

• 1836 – Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.

• 1848 – Louis Antoine Garnier-Pages is named French minister of Finance.

• 1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle 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 – A court of impeachment is organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson.

• 1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito receives its première performance at La Scala.

• 1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.

• 1894 – Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery becomes First Lord of the Treasury.

• 1904 – Nikola Tesla, in Electrical World and Engineer, describes the process of the ball lightning formation.

• 1912 – Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

• 1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.

• 1940 – Members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.

• 1942 – United States Navy Seabees established.

• 1943 – First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.

• 1946 – Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.

• 1946 – Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.

• 1949 – The Jharkhand Party is founded in India.

• 1953 – Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died at age 73.

• 1958 – The Explorer 2 spacecraft launches and fails to reach Earth orbit.

• 1960 – The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis originates when Alister Hardy publicly announces his idea that ape-human divergence may have been due to a coastal phase.

• 1965 – March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.

• 1966 – BOAC Flight 911 crashes on Mount Fuji, Japan, killing 124.

• 1970 – The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.

• 1973 – Donald DeFreeze, the future Symbionese Liberation Army leader, escapes from Vacaville Prison.

• 1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.

• 1975 – First meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club

• 1978 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

• 1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios 2 all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.

• 1979 – Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.

• 1982 – Venera 14, a Soviet satellite, arrives at the planet Venus.

• 1984 – 6,000 Miners in the United Kingdom begin their historic strike at Cortonwood Colliery.

• 1988 – Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands is restored and revised.

• 1991 – big uprising started in ranye town in as sulimanye parizgiraq,therefore de facto independesy for kurds in iraq.

• 1999 – Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.

• 2001 – In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

• 2003 – In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.

Births

• 1133 – King Henry II of England (d. 1189)

• 1324 – King David II of Scotland (d. 1371)

• 1326 – Louis I of Hungary, the King of Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia, Jerusalem and Sicily from 1342 and of Poland (d. 1382)

• 1512 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (d. 1594)

• 1563 – John Coke, English politician (d. 1644)

• 1575 – William Oughtred, English mathematician (d. 1660)

• 1585 – John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)

• 1658 – Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (d. 1730)

• 1693 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (d. 1754)

• 1696 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)

• 1703 – Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)

• 1713 – Edward Cornwallis, English military officer (d. 1776)

• 1713 – Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1783)

• 1723 – Princess Mary of Great Britain (d. 1773)

• 1739 – Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American physican and statesman (d. 1819)

• 1748 – Jonas C. Dryander, Swedish botanist (d. 1810)

• 1748 – William Shield, English musician (d. 1829)

• 1750 – Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, French classical scholar (d. 1805)

• 1794 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist (d. 1872)

• 1794 – Robert Cooper Grier, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1870)

• 1814 – Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian (d. 1889)

• 1815 – John Wentworth, American politician (d. 1888)

• 1817 – Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist (d. 1894)

• 1836 – Charles Goodnight, American cattle rancher (d. 1929)

• 1853 – Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)

• 1862 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (d. 1934)

• 1867 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)

• 1869 – Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal and archbishop (d. 1952)

• 1870 – Frank Norris, American writer (d. 1902)

• 1871 – Rosa Luxemburg, Socialist revolutionary (d. 1919)

• 1873 – Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian explorer and cross-country skier (d. 1961)

• 1874 – Henry Travers, British actor (d. 1965)

• 1879 – Sir William Beveridge, British economist (d. 1963)

• 1882 – Dora Marsden, British editor, writer (d. 1960)

• 1883 – Marius Barbeau, French Canadian ethnographer and folklorist (d. 1969)

• 1886 – Dong Biwu, High-ranking member of the Communist Party of China (d. 1975)

• 1887 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)

• 1897 – Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)

• 1898 – Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 1976)

• 1898 – Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-Shek (d. 2003)

• 1904 – Karl Rahner, German theologian (d. 1984)

• 1908 – Irving Fiske, American writer, playwright, (d. 1990)

• 1908 – Sir Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)

• 1914 – Philip Farkas, American horn player and teacher (d. 1992)

• 1915 – Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician (d. 2002)

• 1918 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager

• 1918 – Red Storey, Canadian football player and ice hockey referee (d. 2006)

• 1918 – James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)

• 1920 – José Aboulker, Jewish Communist

• 1920 – Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)

• 1921 – Elmer Valo, American baseball player (d. 1998)

• 1922 – James Noble, American actor

• 1922 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer and film director (d. 1975)

• 1923 – Laurence Tisch, American investor (d. 2003)

• 1927 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (d. 1976)

• 1929 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish rally driver

• 1930 – Del Crandall, American baseball player

• 1931 – Fred Othon Aristidès, French comics artist

• 1931 – Barry Tuckwell, Australian horn virtuoso

• 1933 – Jef Eygel, Belgian basketball player (d. 2005)

• 1933 – Tommy Tucker, American blues singer and pianist (d. 1982)

• 1934 – Daniel Kahneman, Israeli economist, Nobel laureate

• 1934 – James B. Sikking, American actor

• 1935 – Philip K. Chapman, Australian astronaut and scientist

• 1936 – Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)

• 1936 – Dean Stockwell, American actor

• 1937 – Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, President of Nigeria

• 1938 – Paul Evans, American singer and songwriter

• 1938 – Fred Williamson, American football player and actor

• 1939 – Samantha Eggar, English actress

• 1939 – Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer

• 1939 – Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef

• 1940 – Malcolm Hebden, English actor

• 1942 – Felipe González, Prime Minister of Spain

• 1942 – Mike Resnick, American science fiction author

• 1943 – Billy Backus, American boxer

• 1944 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (d. 1998)

• 1944 – Peter Brandes, Danish artist

• 1944 – Roy Gutman, American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner

• 1946 – Murray Head, British actor and singer

• 1946 – Lova Moor, French singer and dancer

• 1946 – Richard Bell, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 2007)

• 1947 – Eddie Hodges, American actor and singer

• 1947 – Clodagh Rodgers, Irish singer

• 1947 – Kent Tekulve, American baseball player

• 1948 – Eddy Grant, Guyana-born singer

• 1948 – Richard Hickox, English musical conductor

• 1948 – Elaine Paige, English singer and actress

• 1948 – Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1984)

• 1949 – Franz Josef Jung, German federal minister of defence

• 1951 – Giorgos Ninios, Greek actor

• 1952 – Alan Clark, English keyboardist (Dire Straits)

• 1954 – Marsha Warfield, American actress, comedienne

• 1955 – Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian

• 1955 – Julien Dray, French politician

• 1956 – Adriana Barraza, Mexican actress

• 1956 – Teena Marie, American singer

• 1956 – Marco Paolini, Italian stage actor, dramaturge and author

• 1957 – Mark E. Smith, English singer (The Fall)

• 1957 – Ray Suarez, American journalist and author

• 1958 – Andy Gibb, English-born Australian singer and teen idol (d. 1988)

• 1959 – Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian politician (d. 1999)

• 1959 – David Fury, American television writer and producer

• 1960 – David Tibet, English musician (Current 93)

• 1962 – Jonathan Penner, American reality show contestant

• 1962 – Charlie and Craig Reid, Scottish musicians (The Proclaimers)

• 1963 – Joel Osteen, senior pastor of Lakewood Church and best selling author

• 1966 – Michael Irvin, American football player

• 1966 – Bob Halkidis, Canadian hockey player

• 1966 – Aasif Mandvi, Indian-born American actor and comedian

• 1968 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian Prime Minister

• 1969 – Paul Blackthorne, British actor

• 1969 – Danny King, British author

• 1969 – Moussa Saïb, former Algerian footballer

• 1969 – MC Solaar, French rapper

• 1970 – John Frusciante, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

• 1970 – Lisa Robin Kelly, American actress

• 1971 – Jeffrey Hammonds, American baseball player

• 1971 – Evil Jared Hasselhoff, American musician (Bloodhound Gang)

• 1971 – Yuri Lowenthal, American actor/author/painter

• 1971 – Filip Meirhaeghe, Belgian mountainbiker

• 1971 – Scott Mosier, American producer

• 1972 – Brian Grant, American basketball player

• 1972 – Luca Turilli, Italian musician (Rhapsody)

• 1973 – Yannis Anastasiou, Greek footballer

• 1973 – Ryan Franklin, American baseball player

• 1974 – Kevin Connolly, American television actor and comedian

• 1974 – Jens Jeremies, German footballer

• 1974 – Matt Lucas, English comedian

• 1974 – Eva Mendes, American actress

• 1975 – Jolene Blalock, American actress

• 1975 – Sasho Petrovski, Australian soccer player

• 1975 – Niki Taylor, American model

• 1975 – Luciano Burti, Brazilian racing driver

• 1976 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player

• 1976 – Paul Konerko, American baseball player

• 1976 – Katerina Matziou, Greek actress

• 1976 – Tim Sylvia, American mixed martial artist

• 1977 – Bryan Berard, American ice hockey player

• 1977 – Mike MacDougal, American baseball player

• 1977 – Wally Szczerbiak, American basketball player

• 1978 – Jared Crouch, Australian rules footballer

• 1978 – Mike Hessman, American baseball player

• 1978 – Kimberly McCullough, American actress

• 1978 – Papoose, American rapper

• 1979 – Tang Gonghong, Chinese weightlifter

• 1981 – Barret Jackman, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1981 – Paul Martin, American ice hockey player

• 1981 – Shugo Oshinari, Japanese actor

• 1981 – Andreas Wiig, Norwegian snowboarder

• 1982 – Daniel Carter, New Zealand rugby player

• 1982 – Giorgia Palmas, Italian television personality and model

• 1984 – Ryan Crowley, Australian rules footballer

• 1985 – Brad Mills, American Baseball Player

• 1985 – Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Japanese actor

• 1985 – Whitney Port, American reality TV star

• 1986 – Matty Fryatt, English footballer

• 1987 – Anna Chakvetadze, Russian tennis player

• 1988 – Trevor Carson, Northern Irish footballer

• 1988 – Bjarni Viðarsson, Icelandic footballer

• 1989 – Sterling Knight, American actor

• 1989 – Jake Lloyd, American actor

• 1990 – Alex Smithies, English footballer (Huddersfield Town)

Deaths

• 1534 – Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (b. 1489)

• 1539 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India (b. 1487)

• 1592 – Michael Coxcie, Flemish painter (b. 1499)

• 1611 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1533)

• 1622 – Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)

• 1695 – Henry Wharton, English writer (b. 1664)

• 1726 – Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician

• 1770 – Crispus Attucks a free black American

• 1776 – Yeongjo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1694)

• 1778 – Thomas Arne, English composer (b. 1710)

• 1815 – Franz Mesmer, Austrian developer of hypnotism (b. 1734)

• 1827 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (b. 1749)

• 1827 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (b. 1745)

• 1829 – John Adams, last surviving HMS Bounty mutineer (b. 1766)

• 1849 – David Scott, Scottish painter (b. 1806)

• 1876 – Marie d'Agoult, German-born writer (b. 1805)

• 1893 – Hippolyte Taine, French historian (b. 1828)

• 1895 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian writer (b. 1831)

• 1895 – Henry Rawlinson, British soldier and scholar (b. 1810)

• 1903 – George Francis Robert Henderson, British soldier (b. 1854)

• 1904 – John Lowther du Plat Taylor, founder of the Army Postal Corps and the Post Office Rifles (b. 1829)

• 1907 – Friedrich Blass, German classical scholar (b. 1843)

• 1925 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (b. 1859)

• 1926 – Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (b. 1841)

• 1927 – Franz Mertens, German mathematician (b. 1840)

• 1929 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-born American automobile pioneer (b. 1854)

• 1931 – Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, Anglican Clergyman prosecuted and imprisoned for ritualist activities (b. 1839)

• 1940 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b. 1868)

• 1944 – Max Jacob, French poet and writer (b. 1876)

• 1945 – Lena Baker, American murderer (b. 1901)

• 1947 – Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (b. 1883)

• 1953 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer, (b. 1891)

• 1953 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1878)

• 1953 – Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (b. 1897)

• 1955 – Antanas Merkys, President of Lithuania (b. 1888)

• 1963 – Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932)

• 1963 – Cowboy Copas, American singer (b. 1913)

• 1963 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American singer (b. 1921)

• 1965 – Chen Cheng, Chinese politician (b. 1897)

• 1965 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player (b. 1904)

• 1966 – Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (b. 1889)

• 1967 – Georges Vanier, Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)

• 1973 – Michael Jeffery, British music manager (b. 1933)

• 1974 – Billy De Wolfe, American actor (b. 1907)

• 1974 – Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (b. 1888)

• 1977 – Tom Pryce, Welsh Formula One driver (b. 1949)

• 1977 – Jansen Van Vuuren, Dutch volunteer safety marshal at the 1977 South African Grand Prix

• 1980 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (b. 1912)

• 1980 – Winifred Wagner, German opera producer (b. 1897)

• 1981 – Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)

• 1982 – John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)

• 1984 – Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (b. 1915)

• 1984 – William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)

• 1988 – Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian (b. 1933)

• 1990 – Gary Merrill, American film actor (b. 1915)

• 1993 – Cyril Collard, French author and filmmaker (b. 1957)

• 1995 – Vivian Stanshall, English musician (Bonzo Dog Band) (b. 1943)

• 1995 – Gregg Hansford, Australian motorcycle and touring car racer (b. 1952)

• 1996 – Whit Bissell, American actor (b. 1909)

• 1997 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American diet author (b. 1909)

• 1999 – Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)

• 2000 – Lolo Ferrari, French pornographic actress (b. 1962)

• 2004 – Walt Gorney, American actor (b. 1912)

• 2006 – Richard Kuklinski, American Mafia hit man (b. 1935)

• 2007 – Jack Frost (preacher), American sea captain and pastor (b. 1952)

• 2008 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American professor of computer science (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• Learn from Lei Feng Day in China.

• Approximate beginning of month of jīngzhé in Chinese calendar.

• St Piran's Day – Cornwall's national day.

• Feast of St. Ciarán Saighir, patron of the Diocese of Ossory, in Irish calendar.

• Saint Theophile (d. 195)

• Saint Olivia (d. 308)

• March 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)