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