March 7

March 7 is the 66th day of the year (67th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 299 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

Events

• 161 – Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by his adoptive sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
• 238 – Roman subjects in the province of Africa revolt against Maximinus Thrax and elect Gordian I as emperor.
• 321 – Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.
• 1277 – Stephen Tempier, bishop of Paris, condemns 219 philosophical and theological theses.
• 1573 – A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–73) and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands.
• 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
• 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.
• 1827 – Brazilian marines unsuccessfully attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina.
• 1827 – Shrigley abduction: Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future politician in colonial New Zealand.
• 1850 – Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces defeat Confederate troops at the Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas.
• 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the "telephone".
• 1900 – The German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore.
• 1902 – Second Boer War: In the Battle of Tweebosch, a Boer commando led by Koos de la Rey inflicts the biggest defeat upon the British since the beginning of the war.
• 1912 – Roald Amundsen announces that his expedition had reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.
• 1914 – Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania to begin his reign as King.
• 1936 – Prelude to World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
• 1945 – World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen.
• 1950 – Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy.
• 1951 – Korean War: Operation Ripper: United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
• 1957 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 124 is adopted.
• 1965 – Bloody Sunday: a group of 600 civil rights marchers is brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.
• 1967 – Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (MPRS), Indonesian provisional parliament, revoked Sukarno's mandate as President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnamese military begin Operation Truong Cong Dinh to root out Viet Cong forces from the area surrounding Mỹ Tho.
• 1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivers his historic speech at Suhrawardy Udyan.
• 1985 – The song "We Are the World" receives its international release.
• 1986 – Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.
• 1987 – Lieyu massacre: Taiwanese military massacre of 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees at Donggang, Lieyu, Kinmen.
• 1989 – Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
• 2006 – The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.
• 2007 – The British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.
• 2009 – The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and two civilians at Massereene Barracks, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since the end of The Troubles.
• 2009 – The Kepler space observatory, designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, is launched.

Births

• 189 – Publius Septimius Geta, Roman emperor (d. 211)
• 1481 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1537)
• 1507 – Magdalena of Saxony (d. 1534)
• 1556 – Guillaume du Vair, French lawyer and author (d. 1621)
• 1671 – Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish outlaw (d. 1734)
• 1678 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, designed the Basilica of Superga (d. 1736)
• 1693 – Pope Clement XIII (d. 1769)
• 1715 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German soldier and poet (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (d. 1725)
• 1730 – Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, French soldier and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1807)
• 1765 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, invented photography (d. 1833)
• 1785 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian author and poet (d. 1873)
• 1788 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and biochemist (d. 1878)
• 1792 – John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871)
• 1811 – Increase A. Lapham, American botanist and author (d. 1875)
• 1837 – Henry Draper, American physician and astronomer (d. 1882)
• 1841 – William Rockhill Nelson, American businessman and publisher, founded The Kansas City Star (d. 1915)
• 1849 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and author (d. 1926)
• 1850 – Champ Clark, American lawyer and politician, 41st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1921)
• 1850 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Austrian-Czech sociologist and politician, 1st President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1937)
• 1857 – Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
• 1872 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (d. 1944)
• 1873 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (d. 1959)
• 1875 – Maurice Ravel, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1937)
• 1878 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (d. 1927)
• 1885 – Milton Avery, American painter (d. 1965)
• 1885 – John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, English admiral (d. 1971)
• 1886 – Virginia Pearson, American actress (d. 1958)
• 1888 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-American journalist and author (d. 1977)
• 1888 – Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, Dutch lawyer and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1978)
• 1900 – Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg (d. 1950)
• 1902 – Heinz Rühmann, German actor and director (d. 1994)
• 1904 – Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1969)
• 1904 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer (d. 1942)
• 1908 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
• 1911 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian journalist and author (d. 1987)
• 1912 – Adile Ayda, Turkish engineer and diplomat (d. 1992)
• 1913 – Dollard Ménard, Canadian general (d. 1997)
• 1915 – Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
• 1917 – Janet Collins, American ballerina and choreographer (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Betty Holberton, American engineer and programmer (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Olga Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian journalist and author (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Bill Boedeker, American football player (d. 2014)
• 1925 – Rene Gagnon, American soldier (d. 1979)
• 1927 – James Broderick, American actor and director (d. 1982)
• 1929 – Dan Jacobson, South African-English author and critic (d. 2014)
• 1930 – Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and politician
• 1930 – Robert Trotter, Scottish actor and photographer (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer and accountant (d. 1998)
• 1933 – Ed Bouchee, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1934 – Willard Scott, American journalist, actor, and author
• 1934 – Ekrem Bora, Turkish film actor (d. 2012)
• 1936 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (d. 2013)
• 1936 – Georges Perec, French author and screenwriter (d. 1982)
• 1938 – David Baltimore, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1939 – Danyel Gérard, French singer-songwriter
• 1940 – Rudi Dutschke, German activist (d. 1979)
• 1940 – Daniel J. Travanti, American actor
• 1941 – Piers Paul Read, English historian and author
• 1942 – Michael Eisner, American businessman
• 1942 – Tammy Faye Messner, American evangelist, singer, and talk show host (d. 2007)
• 1943 – Chris White, English bass player and songwriter (The Zombies)
• 1944 – Ranulph Fiennes, English soldier and explorer
• 1944 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1945 – John Heard, American actor and producer
• 1945 – Bob Herbert, American journalist
• 1945 – Arthur Lee, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Love) (d. 2006)
• 1945 – Elizabeth Moon, American lieutenant and author
• 1946 – Matthew Fisher, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Procol Harum)
• 1946 – Daniel Goleman, American psychologist and author
• 1946 – Peter Wolf, American singer-songwriter (The J. Geils Band)
• 1947 – Helen Eadie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
• 1947 – Richard Lawson, American actor and producer
• 1947 – Walter Röhrl, German race car driver
• 1949 – Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician, Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare
• 1949 – Genyo Takeda, Japanese businessman
• 1950 – Iris Chacón, Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1950 – Billy Joe DuPree, American football player
• 1950 – Franco Harris, American football player and businessman
• 1950 – J. R. Richard, American baseball player and minister
• 1951 – Rocco Prestia, American bass player (Tower of Power)
• 1952 – William Boyd, Ghanaian-English author and screenwriter
• 1952 – Ernie Isley, American guitarist and songwriter (The Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley)
• 1952 – Viv Richards, Caribbean cricketer and footballer
• 1952 – Lynn Swann, American football player, sportscaster, and politician
• 1954 – Eva Brunne, Swedish bishop
• 1955 – Anupam Kher, Indian actor, singer, director, and producer
• 1955 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
• 1956 – Bryan Cranston, American actor, director, and producer
• 1956 – Andrea Levy, English author
• 1957 – Robert Harris, English journalist and author
• 1957 – Mark Richards, Australian surfer
• 1957 – Tomás Yarrington, Mexican economist and politician, Governor of Tamaulipas
• 1958 – Rick Bass, American author and activist
• 1958 – Rik Mayall, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1958 – Merv Neagle, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
• 1959 – Tom Lehman, American golfer
• 1959 – Donna Murphy, American actress and singer
• 1959 – Nick Searcy, American actor and director
• 1960 – Joe Carter, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1960 – Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player and coach
• 1960 – Jim Spivey, American runner and coach
• 1961 – Mary Beth Evans, American actress and producer
• 1961 – David Rutley, English businessman and politician
• 1962 – Irma Adlawan, Filipino actress
• 1962 – Taylor Dayne, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1963 – Mike Eagles, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1963 – E. L. James, English author
• 1964 – Bret Easton Ellis, American author and screenwriter
• 1964 – Wanda Sykes, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
• 1965 – Jean-Pierre Barda, French-Swedish singer and actor (Army of Lovers)
• 1965 – Steve Beuerlein, American football player and sportscaster
• 1965 – Cameron Daddo, Australian actor and producer
• 1965 – Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer
• 1966 – Terry Carkner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1966 – Atsushi Sakurai, Japanese singer-songwriter (Buck-Tick and Schwein)
• 1966 – Joy Tanner, American-Canadian actress
• 1967 – Muhsin al-Ramli, Iraqi author, poet, translator, and academic
• 1967 – Ruthie Henshall, English actress, singer, and dancer
• 1967 – Ai Yazawa, Japanese author and illustrator
• 1968 – Jeff Kent, American baseball player
• 1969 – Shin Ae-ra, South Korean actress
• 1969 – Warrel Dane, American singer-songwriter (Nevermore and Sanctuary)
• 1969 – Massimo Lotti, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Hideki Noda, Japanese race car driver
• 1970 – Rachel Weisz, English-American actress and producer
• 1971 – Peter Sarsgaard, American actor
• 1971 – Matthew Vaughn, English director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 – Craig Polla-Mounter, Australian rugby league player
• 1973 – Jason Bright, Australian race car driver
• 1973 – Sébastien Izambard, French tenor and producer (Il Divo)
• 1973 – Işın Karaca, English-Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1973 – Ray Parlour, English footballer
• 1974 – Antonio de la Rúa, Argentinian lawyer
• 1974 – Hugo Ferreira, Angolan-American singer-songwriter (Tantric)
• 1974 – Jenna Fischer, American actress and director
• 1975 – T. J. Thyne, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1977 – Paul Cattermole, English singer and actor (S Club 7)
• 1977 – Hiroki Hasegawa, Japanese actor
• 1977 – Ronan O'Gara, Irish rugby player and coach
• 1978 – Jaqueline Jesus, Brazilian psychologist and activist
• 1979 – Rodrigo Braña, Argentinian footballer
• 1979 – Amanda Somerville, American singer-songwriter (Aina and Kiske/Somerville)
• 1980 – Murat Boz, Turkish singer-songwriter
• 1980 – Eric Godard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Laura Prepon, American actress and producer
• 1981 – Brent Kite, Australian rugby league player
• 1982 – Kate Michael, American model, Miss District of Columbia 2006
• 1983 – Manucho, Angolan footballer
• 1983 – Taylor Tankersley, American baseball player
• 1983 – Sebastián Viera, Uruguayan footballer
• 1984 – Mathieu Flamini, French footballer
• 1984 – Jacob Lillyman, Australian rugby league player
• 1984 – Lindsay McCaul, American singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Andre Fluellen, American football player
• 1985 – Cameron Prosser, Australian swimmer
• 1986 – Ben Griffin, Australian footballer
• 1987 – Hatem Ben Arfa, French footballer
• 1987 – Niclas Bergfors, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1988 – Larry Asante, American football player
• 1990 – Choi Jong-hoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist (F.T. Island)
• 1990 – Taylor Jardine, American singer-songwriter (We Are the In Crowd)
• 1990 – Lefteris Matsoukas, Greek footballer
• 1991 – Michele Rigione, Italian footballer
• 1992 – Bel Powley, English actress
• 1993 – Denisa Allertová, Czech tennis player
• 1993 – Robbie Thomson, Scottish footballer
• 1994 – An-Sophie Mestach, Belgian tennis player
• 1995 – Jerome Binnom-Williams, English footballer
• 1996 – Liam Donnelly, Northern Irish footballer

Deaths

• 161 – Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor (b. 86)
• 413 – Heraclianus, Roman politician
• 1226 – William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1176)
• 1274 – Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italian priest and philosopher (b. 1225)
• 1550 – William IV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1493)
• 1578 – Margaret Douglas, English daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (b. 1515)
• 1625 – Johann Bayer, German lawyer and cartographer (b. 1572)
• 1724 – Pope Innocent XIII (b. 1655)
• 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1680)
• 1778 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (b. 1720)
• 1810 – Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood, English admiral (b. 1750)
• 1838 – Robert Townsend, American spy (b. 1753)
• 1904 – Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist and petrologist (b. 1828)
• 1913 – Pauline Johnson, Canadian poet and author (b. 1861)
• 1920 – Jaan Poska, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1866)
• 1928 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (b. 1851)
• 1932 – Aristide Briand, French journalist and politician, Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• 1934 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (b. 1875)
• 1938 – Andreas Michalakopoulos, Greek politician, 116th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
• 1949 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player, physician, and politician (b. 1884)
• 1952 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1893)
• 1954 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• 1957 – Wyndham Lewis, English author and painter (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Govind Ballabh Pant, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Louise Mountbatten, German-Swedish wife of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (b. 1889)
• 1967 – Alice B. Toklas, American memoirist (b. 1877)
• 1969 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 2nd Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1891)
• 1974 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor (Lecuona Cuban Boys) (b. 1906)
• 1975 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1895)
• 1975 – Ben Blue, Canadian-American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1901)
• 1976 – Wright Patman, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1893)
• 1981 – Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
• 1982 – Ida Barney, American astronomer, mathematician, and academic (b. 1886)
• 1983 – Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor and composer (b. 1912)
• 1986 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York State Attorney General (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Divine, American drag queen performer, actor, and singer (b. 1945)
• 1991 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1997 – Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Stanley Kubrick, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Charles Gray, English actor and singer (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903)
• 2004 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941)
• 2005 – John Box, English production designer and art director (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Debra Hill, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1950)
• 2006 – Gordon Parks, American photographer, director, and composer (b. 1912)
• 2006 – Ali Farka Touré, Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
• 2007 – Ronnie Wells, American singer and educator (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Jang Ja-yeon, South Korean actress (b. 1982)
• 2010 – Mary Josephine Ray, Canadian-American super-centenarian (b. 1895)
• 2012 – Ravi, Indian director and composer (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Włodzimierz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Peter Banks, English guitarist and songwriter (Yes, The Syn, and Flash) (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Sybil Christopher, Welsh actress (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Damiano Damiani, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Frederick B. Karl, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Claude King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Anatoly Borisovich Kuznetsov, Russian actor and director (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Tamás Nádas, Hungarian pilot (b. 1969)
• 2014 – Ned O'Gorman, American poet and educator (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Victor Shem-Tov, Israeli lawyer and politician, 8th Israeli Minister of Health (b. 1915)
• 2015 – G. Karthikeyan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
• 2015 – F. Ray Keyser, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 72nd Governor of Vermont (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1935)
• 2016 – Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (b. 1951)
• 2016 – Michael White, Scottish-American producer and manager (b. 1936)
• 2016 – Quentin Young, American physician and activist (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Blessed José Olallo
  • Blessed Leonid Feodorov (Russian Greek Catholic Church)
  • Perpetua and Felicity
  • Pierre-Henri Dorie, Siméon-François Berneux (part of The Korean Martyrs)
  • March 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Liberation of Sulaymaniyah (Iraqi Kurdistan)
• Teacher's Day (Albania)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History