2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.
1978 – President Soeharto inaugurated Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java.
1960 – Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.
1959 – The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
1945 – World War II: The first nocturnal incendiary attack on Tokyo inflicts damage comparable to that inflicted on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.
1944 – World War II: Japanese troops counter-attack American forces on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a five-day battle.
1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
1925 – Pink's War: The first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy begins.
1908 – Inter Milan was founded on Football Club Internazionale, following a schism from the Milan Cricket and Football Club.
1862 – American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.
1847 – Mexican–American War: The first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history is launched in the Siege of Veracruz.
1842 – The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.
1841 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
1815 – Francis Ronalds describes the first battery-operated clock in the Philosophical Magazine.
1796 – Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.
1500 – The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
Births
1987 – Bow Wow, American rapper, actor, and television host. Bow wow is onomatopoeia for a dog's bark.
1985 – Jesse Litsch, American baseball player. In March 2016, Litsch became the pitching coach for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
1984 – Julia Mancuso, American skier. Julia Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is a retired American World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist.
1983 – Clint Dempsey, American soccer player. ESPN, FOX Sports, and NBC Sports have each ranked Dempsey as the greatest American soccer player in history.
1983 – Wayne Simien, American basketball player. Wayne Anthony Simien Jr. (born March 9, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player, who last played with Spain's Cáceres Ciudad de Baloncesto.
1981 – Antonio Bryant, American football player. The Dallas Cowboys picked him in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft, and he played professionally for the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL.
1981 – Clay Rapada, American baseball player. He is currently the pitching coach for the Augusta Greenjackets, a single A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
1980 – Matthew Gray Gubler, American actor, model, and writer. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show Criminal Minds (2005–present), of which he has also directed eleven episodes.
1979 – Oscar Isaac, Guatemalan-American actor. In 2006, he portrayed Saint Joseph, husband of Mary, in The Nativity Story.
1972 – Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress. Holland's Opus (1995).
1972 – Travis Lane Stork, American physician. Travis Lane Stork (born March 9, 1972) is an American television personality and emergency physician best known for appearing on The Bachelor and as the host of the syndicated daytime talk show The Doctors.
1971 – Emmanuel Lewis, American actor. Emmanuel Darnell Lewis (born March 9, 1971) is an American actor and comedian, best known for playing the title character in the 1980s television sitcom Webster.
1969 – Kimberly Guilfoyle, American lawyer and journalist. Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle (/ˈɡɪlfɔɪl/; born March 9, 1969) is an American political analyst, journalist, attorney, and television news personality who co-hosted The Five on Fox News.
1966 – Brendan Canty, American drummer and songwriter. Brendan John Canty (born March 9, 1966 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi.
1966 – Michael Patrick MacDonald, Irish-American author and activist. He helped to start Boston's gun-buyback program, and founded the South Boston Vigil group, which works with survivor families and young people in Boston's anti-violence movement.
1965 – Benito Santiago, Puerto Rican-American baseball player. The five-time All-Star was considered the premier catcher in the National League (NL) during his tenure with the Padres.
1965 – Brian Bosworth, American football player and actor. Brian Keith Bosworth (born March 9, 1965), nicknamed "The Boz," is an American actor and former professional football player who played linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League (NFL).
1964 – Phil Housley, American ice hockey player and coach. Housley was the head coach of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres from 2017 until 2019.
1964 – Steve Wilkos, American police officer and talk show host. Steven John Wilkos (/ˈwɪlkoʊs/; born March 9, 1964) is an American television personality, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former law enforcement officer with the Chicago Police Department.
1963 – David Pogue, American journalist and author. David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology writer and TV science presenter.
1963 – Terry Mulholland, American baseball player. He threw left-handed and batted right-handed.
1961 – Darrell Walker, American basketball player and coach. At 6'4" (1.93 m) and 180 lb (82 kg), he played as a guard.
1961 – Mike Leach, American football player and coach. Mike Leach may refer to:
1961 – Rick Steiner, American wrestler. Robert Rechsteiner (born March 9, 1961) is an American real estate broker and semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Rick Steiner.
1960 – Finn Carter, American actress and photographer. She is best known for her role in the 1990 film Tremors.
1959 – Lonny Price, American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for his creation of the role of Charley Kringas in the Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along and for his New York directing work including Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, Company, and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert.
1958 – Linda Fiorentino, American actress. Fiorentino gained attention for her lead roles in the erotic thriller Jade (1995), the science-fiction action comedy film Men in Black (1997) and the fantasy comedy Dogma (1999).
1957 – PZ Myers, American biologist, author, and academic. Paul Zachary Myers (born March 9, 1957) is an American biologist who founded and writes the Pharyngula science-blog.
1956 – Mark Dantonio, American football player and coach. He's led the Michigan State Spartans to three Big Ten Conference championships, and eight victories over archrival Michigan in thirteen years.
1950 – Andy North, American golfer. Andrew Stewart North (born March 9, 1950) is an American professional golfer who had three wins on the PGA Tour, including the U.S.
1950 – Doug Ault, American baseball player and manager (d. 2004), was an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter who played for the Texas Rangers (1976) and Toronto Blue Jays (1977–1978, 1980). He is best known for playing in the Blue Jays first Major League Baseball (MLB) game on April 7, 1977, against the Chicago White Sox.
1948 – Eric Fischl, American painter and sculptor. He is known for his paintings depicting American suburbia from the 1970s and 1980s.
1948 – Jeffrey Osborne, American singer and drummer. Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American Grammy–nominated singer–songwriter, musician and lyricist.
1946 – Warren Skaaren, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1990), was an American screenwriter and film producer.
1943 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (d. 2008), was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time.
1943 – Charles Gibson, American journalist. Gibson was a host of Good Morning America from 1987 to 2006, and the anchor of World News with Charles Gibson from 2006 to 2009.
1942 – Mark Lindsay, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and producer. Mark Lindsay (born March 9, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders.
1941 – Jim Colbert, American golfer. James Joseph Colbert (born March 9, 1941) is an American professional golfer.
1940 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican-American actor (d. 1994), was a Puerto Rican actor who received international recognition. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school.
1936 – Marty Ingels, American actor and comedian (d. 2015), was an American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer and theatrical agent, who is best known as the co-star of the 1960s television series I'm Dickens, He's Fenster and for voicing Pac-Man in the 1982 Hanna-Barbera animated television series of the same name.
1936 – Mickey Gilley, American singer-songwriter and pianist. Among his biggest hits are "Room Full of Roses," "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time," and the remake of the Soul hit "Stand by Me".
1935 – Andrew Viterbi, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Qualcomm Inc. He is currently Presidential Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, which was named in his honor in 2004 in recognition of his $52 million gift.
1934 – Joyce Van Patten, American actress. Joyce Benignia Van Patten (born March 9, 1934) is an American stage, film, and television actress, best known for the wry, astringent, and neurotic characters she portrays.
1933 – Lloyd Price, American R&B singer-songwriter. Lloyd Price (born March 9, 1933) is an American R&B vocalist, known as "Mr.
1932 – Keely Smith, American singer and actress, was an American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo artist.
1932 – Walter Mercado, Puerto Rican-American astrologer and actor, was a Puerto Rican astrologer, actor, dancer, and writer, best known as a television personality for his shows as an astrologer. His astrological predictions shows aired for decades in Puerto Rico, Latin America and the United States.
1930 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (d. 2015), was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer. In the 1960s, he was one of the founders of free jazz, a term he invented for his album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation.
1930 – Taina Elg, Finnish-American actress and dancer. She has appeared on stage, television, and in film.
1928 – Gerald Bull, Canadian-American engineer and academic (d. 1990), was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for the Iraqi government.
1926 – Joe Franklin, American radio and television host (d. 2015), was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. His television series debuted in January 1951 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV), moving to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) in 1962, remaining there until 1993, one of the longest running uninterrupted careers in broadcasting history.
1924 – Ben Schadler, American professional basketball player (d. 2015). Schadler was selected in the 1947 BAA draft by the Chicago Stags after a collegiate career at Northwestern.
1923 – James L. Buckley, American lawyer, judge, and politician. James Lane Buckley (born March 9, 1923) is an American jurist, politician, civil servant, attorney, businessman, and author.
1923 – Walter Kohn, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016), was an American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998.
1921 – Carl Betz, American actor (d. 1978), was an American stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in a variety of television series, including the CBS soap opera Love of Life; however, he is best remembered for playing Donna Reed's television husband, Dr.
1918 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American sailor and politician, founded the American Nazi Party (d. 1967), was an American politician and neo-Nazi. In 1959, he was discharged from the United States Navy because of his political views and founded the American Nazi Party.
1918 – Mickey Spillane, American crime novelist (d. 2006), was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally.
1910 – Samuel Barber, American pianist and composer (d. 1981), was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century; music critic Donal Henahan stated, "Probably no other American composer has ever enjoyed such early, such persistent and such long-lasting acclaim."
1904 – Paul Wilbur Klipsch, American soldier and engineer, founded Klipsch Audio Technologies (d. 2002), was an American engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing a high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker. Unsatisfied with the sound quality of phonographs and early speaker systems, Klipsch used scientific principles to develop a corner horn speaker that sounded more lifelike than its predecessors.
1902 – Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978), was an American actor and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In California he befriended rising singer Woody Guthrie.
1833 – Frederick A. Schroeder, German-American businessman and politician, 18th Mayor of Brooklyn (d. 1899). As mayor of Brooklyn—before the city's merger with New York—and New York state senator, Schroeder earned a reputation for his fight against the political machine of the Brooklyn ring and for more efficient city government.
1824 – Amasa Leland Stanford, American businessman and politician, founded Stanford University (d. 1893), was an American industrialist and politician. He is the founder (with his wife, Jane) of Stanford University.
1820 – Samuel Blatchford, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1893). Blatchford (March 9, 1820 – July 7, 1893) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882, until his death.
1806 – Edwin Forrest, American actor and philanthropist (d. 1872), was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849.
Deaths
2016 – Clyde Lovellette, American basketball player and coach (b. 1929)
2013 – Merton Simpson, American painter and art collector (b. 1928)
2012 – Willye Dennis, American librarian and politician (b. 1926)
2011 – David S. Broder, American journalist and academic (b. 1929)
2010 – Doris Haddock, American activist and politician (b. 1910)
2007 – Brad Delp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1951)
2006 – Tom Fox, American activist (b. 1951)
2005 – Chris LeDoux, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
2004 – Rust Epique, American guitarist and painter (b. 1968)
2003 – Stan Brakhage, American director and cinematographer (b. 1933)
1997 – Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
1996 – George Burns, American actor and comedian (b. 1896)
1994 – Charles Bukowski, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1920)
1991 – Jim Hardin, American baseball player (b. 1943)
1989 – Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer (b. 1946)
1983 – Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
1974 – Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr., American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
1974 – Harry Womack, American singer (b. 1945)
1937 – Paul Elmer More, American journalist and critic (b. 1864)
1926 – Mikao Usui, Japanese spiritual leader, founded Reiki (b. 1865)
1925 – Willard Metcalf, American painter and academic (b. 1858)
Remind me of this day