This Day in History

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March 8

Today is International Women's Day.


Events

1618 – Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.

1655 – John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England's North American colonies where a crime was not committed.

1702 – Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.

1782 – Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.

1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is founded.

1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license.

1917 – International Women's Day protests in St. Petersburg mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23rd in the Julian calendar).

1924 – A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.

1936 – Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.

1949 – Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is condemned to prison for treason.

1965 – Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War.

1966 – Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, destroyed by a bomb.

1971 – The Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali commences. Frazier wins in 15 rounds via unanimous decision.

1974 – Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.

1978 – The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.

1979 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.

2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

2017 – The Azure Window in Gozo, Malta, collapses after a severe storm.

Births

1495 – John of God, 1841 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1848 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson (developed the roller coaster), 1865 – Frederic Goudy (created fonts Copperplate Gothic and Goudy Old Style), 1899 – Elmer Keith, 1910 – Claire Trevor, 1921 – Alan Hale, Jr., 1922 – Ralph H. Baer (Magnavox Odyssey), 1922 – Cyd Charisse, 1927 – Dick Hyman, 1940 – Susan Clark (Webster), 1943 – Lynn Redgrave, 1945 – Micky Dolenz(The Monkees), 1946 – Randy Meisner(Poco, The Eagles), 1947 – Carole Bayer Sager♪ ♫, 1958 – Gary Numan♪ ♫, 1959 – Aidan Quinn, 1961 – Camryn Manheim, 1976 – Freddie Prinze, Jr., 1977 – James Van Der Beek

Deaths

1550 – John of God, 1723 – Christopher Wren, 1874 – Millard Fillmore (13th POTUS), 1887 – Henry Ward Beecher (Beecher's Bibles), 1917 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, 1930 – William Howard Taft (27th POTUS), 1971 – Harold Lloyd, 1973 – Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (The Grateful Dead), 1999 – Peggy Cass (game show panelist To Tell The Truth, Match Game), 1999 – Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, 2001 – Edward Winter (M*A*S*H series), 2009 – Hank Locklin♪ ♫, 2011 – Mike Starr(Alice In Chains), 2016 – George Martin