What happened on March 8? There are more than 293 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About March 8
March 8 is the 68th day of the year 2024. There are 298 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday. This day falls under the 10th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Springfield, Massachusetts 01133 sunrise occured at 06:11 AM and sunset occured at 05:50 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Pisces. The modern birthstone for this month is Aquamarine while the mystical birthstone is Jade.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 327 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For March 8
- 1010Ferdowsi completes his Shāhnāmeh.
- 1126Following the death of his mother Urraca, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of Castile and León.
- 1618Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
- 1655John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in England’s North American colonies.
- 1702Anne Stuart, sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
- 1722The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at The Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into anarchy.
- 1736Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.
- 1775An 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.
- 1777Regiments from Ansbach and Bayreuth, sent to support Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, mutiny in the town of Ochsenfurt.
- 1782Gnadenhütten 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 Indians.
- 1817The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
- 1844King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
- 1862American Civil War: The iron-clad Ship CSS (formerly USS Merrimack) is launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
- 1868Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai near Osaka.
- 1910French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.
- 1911International Women’s Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.
- 1916World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.
- 1917International Women’s Day protests in St. Petersburg mark the beginning of the February Revolution (so named because it was February on the Julian calendar).
- 1917The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
- 1920The Arab Kingdom of Syria, the first modern Arab state to come into existence, is established.
- 1921Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- 1924The Castle Gate mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.
- 1936Daytona Beach Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.
- 1937Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.
- 1942World War II: The Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java.
- 1949Mildred Gillars (“Axis Sally”) is condemned to prison for treason
- 1957Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal after the Suez Crisis.
- 1957Ghana joins the United Nations.
- 1957The 1957 Georgia Memorial to Congress, which petitions the U.S. Congress to declare the ratification of the 14th & 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution null and void, is adopted by the U.S. state of Georgia.
- 1963The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council of the Revolutionary Command.
- 1966A bomb planted by young Irish protesters destroys Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin.
- 1974Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
- 1978The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.
- 1979Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.
- 1983President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an “evil empire”.
- 1985A failed assassination attempt on Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon, kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.
- 1999The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2004A new constitution is signed by Iraq’s Governing Council.
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Who Were Born On March 8?
- 1286John III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1341)
- 1293Beatrice of Castile, queen of Portugal (d. 1359)
- 1495John of God, Portuguese-born friar and saint (d. 1550)
- 1514Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1562)
- 1566Don Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer (d. 1613)
- 1659Isaac de Beausobre, French Protestant pastor (d. 1738)
- 1702Anne Bonny, Irish-American pirate (d. 1782)
- 1712John Fothergill, English physician (d. 1780)
- 1714Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (d. 1788)
- 1726Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, Royal Navy admiral of the fleet (d. 1799)
- 1746André Michaux, French botanist (d. 1802)
- 1748William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (d. 1806)
- 1783Hannah Van Buren, wife of Martin Van Buren (d. 1819)
- 1799Simon Cameron, 26th U.S. Secretary of War (d. 1889)
- 1804Alvan Clark, American telescope maker and astronomer (d. 1887)
- 1814Ede Szigligeti, Hungarian dramatist (d. 1878)
- 1822Ignacy Lukasiewicz, Polish inventor (d. 1882)
- 1827Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (d. 1875)
- 1830João de Deus, Portuguese poet (d. 1896)
- 1841Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1935)
- 1847John Lister, English politician (d. 1933)
- 1856Bramwell Booth, the 2nd General of The Salvation Army (d. 1929)
- 1856Colin Campbell Cooper, American Impressionist painter (d. 1937)
- 1859Kenneth Grahame, English author (d. 1932)
- 1865Frederic Goudy, American type designer (d. 1947)
- 1872Anna Held, Polish actress and singer (d. 1918)
- 1879Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
- 1886Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1972)
- 1891Sam Jaffe, American actor (d. 1984)
- 1892Juana de Ibarbourou, Uruguayan poet (d. 1979)
- 1892Mississippi John Hurt, American blues singer and guitarist (d. 1966)
- 1896Charlotte Whitton, Canadian politician (d. 1975)
- 1897Damerla Rama Rao, Indian artist, (d. 1925)
- 1899Elmer Keith, American firearms developer (d. 1984)
- 1900Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
- 1902Jennings Randolph, America politician, United States Senator from West Virginia (d. 1998)
- 1902Louise Beavers, American actress (d. 1962)
- 1907Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (d. 1998)
- 1910Bernard Benjamin, British statistician (d. 2002)
- 1910Claire Trevor, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1911Alan Hovhaness, American composer (d. 2000)
- 1912Preston Smith, America politician, 40th Governor of Texas (d. 2003)
- 1914Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (d. 1987)
- 1915Tapio Rautavaara, Finnish athlete, actor, and singer (d. 1979)
- 1916John W. Seybold, American businessman, father of computer typesetting (d. 2004)
- 1920Douglass Wallop, American novelist and playwright (d. 1985)
- 1921Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d. 1990)
- 1921Fritz Luchsinger, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1983)
- 1922Carl Furillo, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1922Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (d. 2008)
- 1922Ralph H. Baer, German-born American inventor
- 1922Shigeru Mizuki, Japanese soldier and manga artist
- 1922Yevgeny Matveyev, Russian actor and film director (d. 2003)
- 1924Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2010)
- 1925Warren Bennis, American educator and author
- 1926Francisco Rabal, Spanish actor (d. 2001)
- 1927Dick Hyman, American pianist and composer
- 1929Hebe Camargo, Brazilian television presenter, actress and singer
- 1930Bob Grim, American baseball player (d. 1996)
- 1931John McPhee, American writer and professor
- 1931Neil Adcock, South African Cricket player
- 1931Neil Postman, American cultural critic (d. 2003)
- 1933Evelyn Margaret Ay, American beauty pageant winner (d. 2008)
- 1933Luca Ronconi, Italian theater and opera director
- 1934Marv Breeding, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- 1936Gábor Szabó, Hungarian guitarist (d. 1982)
- 1937Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (d. 1994)
- 1937Richard Farina, American folksinger (d. 1966)
- 1938Bruno Pizzul, Italian sports journalist
- 1938Pete Dawkins, American football player
- 1939Jim Bouton, American baseball player and author
- 1939Lidia Skoblikova, Russian skater
- 1939Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
- 1940Susan Clark, Canadian actress
- 1941Andrei Mironov, Soviet actor (d. 1987)
- 1942Ann Packer, British athlete
- 1942Dick Allen, American baseball player
- 1943Dionysis Simopoulos, Greek physicist and astronomer
- 1943Lynn Redgrave, English actress (d. 2010)
- 1944Buzz Hargrove, Canadian labour leader
- 1944Palito Ortega, Argentine singer and actor
- 1944Pepe Romero, Spanish guitarist
- 1944Sergey Nikitin, Russian composer
- 1945Anselm Kiefer, German painter
- 1945Bruce Broughton, American composer
- 1945Jim Chapman, American politician
- 1945Micky Dolenz, American musician (The Monkees)
- 1946Randy Meisner, American musician (The Eagles)
- 1947Carole Bayer Sager, American composer
- 1947Florentino Pérez, Spanish football executive
- 1947Mike Allsup, American musician (Three Dog Night)
- 1948Gyles Brandreth, British broadcaster and former Conservative Member of Parliament
- 1948Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
- 1948Peggy March, American pop singer
- 1949Antonello Venditti, Italian singer-songwriter
- 1949Karel Lismont, Belgian athlete
- 1950Dimitris Spentzopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1950Richard Ouzounian, Canadian/American theatre director and critic
- 1952George Felix Allen, American politician, 67th Governor of Virginia
- 1953Don Werner, American baseball player
- 1953Jim Rice, American baseball player
- 1954Bob Brozman, American musician
- 1954Cheryl Baker, British singer (Bucks Fizz)
- 1954David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
- 1955Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
- 1956John Kapelos, Canadian actor
- 1956Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (d. 1989)
- 1957Billy Childs, composer/pianist
- 1957Bob Stoddard, American baseball player
- 1957Clive Burr, British musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1957Cynthia Rothrock, American actress
- 1957John Butcher, American baseball player
- 1958Gary Numan, British singer
- 1958Nick Capra, American baseball player
- 1959Aidan Quinn, American actor
- 1959Lester Holt, American television journalist
- 1960Buck Williams, American basketball player
- 1960Max Metzker, Australian swimmer
- 1961Camryn Manheim, American actress
- 1961Larry Murphy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961Mark Salas, American baseball player
- 1962Kim Ung-Yong, Korean child prodigy
- 1963Mike Lalor, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964Cheryl James, American performer (Salt-n-Pepa)
- 1964Kate Betts, American fashion editor
- 1964Lance McCullers, American baseball player
- 1964Thomas Bezucha, American screenwriter and director
- 1965Fátima Lopes, Portuguese fashion designer
- 1965Kenny Smith, American basketball player
- 1967Joel Johnston, American baseball player
- 1968Ellen Forney, American cartoonist
- 1968Jim Dougherty, American baseball player
- 1968Michael Bartels, German race car driver
- 1968Shawn Mullins, American musician
- 1970Andrea Parker, American actress, ballet dancer
- 1970Jason Elam, American football player
- 1971Kit Symons, Welsh footballer
- 1972Angie Hart, Australian pop singer
- 1972Fergal O'Brien, Irish snooker player
- 1972Georgios Georgiadis, Greek footballer
- 1973Anneke van Giersbergen, Dutch singer (The Gathering)
- 1973Boris Kodjoe, Austrian model
- 1973Justin Thompson, American baseball player
- 1973Kurt Mollekens, Belgian racing car driver
- 1973Mark Lukasiewicz, American baseball player
- 1974Mike Moriarty, American baseball player
- 1975Fardeen Khan, Indian actor
- 1975Mauro Briano, Italian footballer
- 1975Peggy Zina, Greek singer
- 1976Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
- 1976Gaz Coombes, English singer (Supergrass)
- 1976Hines Ward, American football player
- 1976Juan Encarnacion, American baseball player
- 1976Ryan Freel, American baseball player
- 1977James Van Der Beek, American actor
- 1977Johann Vogel, Swiss footballer
- 1978Mohammed Bouyeri, Dutch-Moroccan assassin
- 1978Nick Zano, American actor
- 1979Andy Ross, American guitarist (OK Go)
- 1979João Martins, Portuguese artist
- 1979Tom Chaplin, English singer (Keane)
- 1980Charli Delaney, Australian singer (Hi-5)
- 1980Stephen Milne, Australian rules footballer
- 1981Joost Posthuma, Dutch professional cyclist
- 1981Michael Beauchamp, Australian footballer
- 1981Timothy Jordan II, American musician (The All American Rejects, Jonezetta) (d. 2005)
- 1982Craig Stansberry, American baseball player
- 1982Kat Von D, Mexican-born tattoo artist
- 1982Leonidas Kampantais, Greek footballer
- 1982Nicolas Armindo, French race car driver
- 1983André Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1983Mark Worrell, American baseball player
- 1984Dave Moffatt, Canadian musician
- 1984Rafik Djebbour, Algerian footballer
- 1984Ross Taylor, New Zealand cricketer
- 1984Sasha Vujačić, Slovenian basketball player
- 1985Ewa Sonnet, Polish model and pop singer
- 1986Princess Tsuguko of Takamado, Japanese princess
- 1988Armanti Edwards, American college football player
- 1989Robbie Hummel, American basketball player
- 1990Ben Tozer, English footballer
- 1990Kristinia DeBarge, American R&B singer
- 1990Petra Kvitová, Czech tennis player
- 1991Devon Werkheiser, American actor
- 1992Charlie Ray, American actress
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Who Died On March 8?
- 1126Urraca of León (b. 1082)
- 1144Pope Celestine II
- 1223Wincenty Kadłubek, Polish chronicler (b. 1161)
- 1550John of God, Portuguese-born friar and saint (b. 1495)
- 1641Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer (b. 1587)
- 1674Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny, French writer (b. 1597)
- 1702William III of England (b. 1650)
- 1731Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1688)
- 1757Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1701)
- 1771Louis August le Clerc, French-born sculptor (b. 1688)
- 1819Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American doctor, Massachusetts militia officer, member of the Massachusetts legislature (b. 1739)
- 1844Charles XIV John of Sweden (b. 1763)
- 1855William Poole, American criminal, member of New York City’s Bowery Boys gang (b. 1821)
- 1869Hector Berlioz, French composer (b. 1803)
- 1872Cornelius Krieghoff, Canadian painter (b. 1815)
- 1874Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (b. 1800)
- 1887Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman (b. 1813)
- 1887James Buchanan Eads, American engineer (b. 1820)
- 1889John Ericsson, Swedish inventor (b. 1803)
- 1907Marinos Antypas, Greek lawyer and journalist, one of the country’s first socialists (b. 1872)
- 1917Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German aircraft manufacturer (b. 1838)
- 1923Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch Nobel laureate (b. 1837)
- 1923Krišjānis Barons, Latvian writer (b. 1835)
- 1930Edward Terry Sanford, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1865)
- 1930William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (b. 1857)
- 1935Hachiko, world-famous dog (b. 1923)
- 1937Howie Morenz, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
- 1941Sherwood Anderson, American author (b. 1876)
- 1942José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (b. 1888)
- 1945Frederick Bligh Bond, English architect, illustrator, archaeologist and psychical researcher (b.1864)
- 1951Martha Beck, American convicted murderer (b. 1920)
- 1951Raymond Fernandez, American convicted murderer (d. 1914)
- 1957Othmar Schoeck, Swiss composer and conductor (b. 1886)
- 1961Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879)
- 1971Harold Lloyd, American actor (b. 1893)
- 1972Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, German Nazi official (b. 1899)
- 1973Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, American musician (b. 1945)
- 1975George Stevens, American director (b. 1904)
- 1976Alfons Rebane, Estonian military commander (b. 1908)
- 1981Joseph Henry Woodger, British theoretical biologist (b. 1894)
- 1983William Walton, English composer (b. 1902)
- 1985Edward Andrews, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1986Kersti Merilaas, Estonian author, poet (b. 1913)
- 1988Amar Singh Chamkila, Punjabi folk singer (b. 1961)
- 1988Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (b. 1918)
- 1988Werner Hartmann, German physicist (b. 1912)
- 1991John Bellairs, American mystery author (b. 1938)
- 1993Billy Eckstine, American musician (b. 1914)
- 1995Ingo Schwichtenberg, German drummer (b. 1965)
- 1996Jack Churchill, eccentric British soldier (b.1906)
- 1998Ray Nitschke, American football player (b. 1936)
- 1999Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
- 1999Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1914)
- 1999Peggy Cass, American actress and comedian (b. 1924)
- 1999William Wrigley III, President of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (b. 1933)
- 2001Edward Winter, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2003Adam Faith, English singer and actor (b. 1940)
- 2003Karen Morley, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2004Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (b. 1948)
- 2004Robert Pastorelli, American actor (b. 1954)
- 2005Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen leader (b. 1951)
- 2005César Lattes, Brazilian physicist (b. 1924)
- 2006Brian Barratt-Boyes, New Zealand heart surgeon (b. 1924)
- 2007John Inman, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2007John Vukovich, American baseball player and coach (b. 1947)
- 2007Viky Vanita, Greek actress (b. 1948)
- 2008Carol Barnes, former ITV news presenter (b. 1944)
- 2009Ali Bongo, British magician (b. 1929)
- 2009Zbigniew Religa, Minister of Health of the Republic of Poland (b. 1938)
- 2011Mike Starr (musician), American Musician (b. 1966)
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