Day in History

April 10

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:33:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1938: Anschluss approved in Austria In a controlled plebiscite in Austria this day in 1938, soon after Adolf Hitler's invasion of the country, 99.7 percent of Austrians approved the Anschluss (German: "Union")—the political unification of Austria and Germany.
SA troops guarding a Jewish-owned business in Vienna shortly after the Anschluss
Biography Of The Day
	Max von Sydow Swedish actor Max von Sydow, perhaps best known for his dour, brooding characterizations in films directed by Ingmar Bergman and whose film career spanned more than half a century, was born this day in 1929.
Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard in Pelle the Conqueror, which won the Oscar
More Events On This Day In History
2003	2003 Haiti officially recognized Vodou as a religion
2001	2001 The Netherlands passed a bill permitting euthanasia, the first such national law in the world.
	1988 After taking a decade to build, the Seto Great Bridge, spanning the Inland Sea in Japan, was opened to traffic.
	1973 Pakistan adopted its third constitution, shifting the role of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from president to prime minister.
1972	1972 The development, production, and stockpiling of biological weapons were outlawed by the Biological Weapons Convention, signed by more than 150 countries.
	1925 The first government led by French premier Édouard Herriot, a Radical Party leader who had been put into office by the left-wing coalition Cartel des Gauches, fell.
	1583 Hugo Grotius, the Dutch jurist and scholar whose legal masterpiece, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625; On the Law of War and Peace), was one of the first great contributions to modern international law, was born.

April 9

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:22:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	2003, by Ramzi Haidar2003: Fall of Baghdad Baghdad fell to U.S.-led forces on this day in 2003, several weeks after the start of the Iraq War, a conflict begun to oust Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein because of his supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Explosions illuminating the skies of Baghdad during the U.S.-led air bombardment of the city, March
Biography Of The Day
	Jørn Utzon Born this day in 1918, Danish architect Jørn Utzon is best known for his dynamic, imaginative, but problematic design for Australia's most famous building, the Sydney Opera House, a combination of lightness and monumentality.
The Sydney Opera House, Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour)
More Events On This Day In History
2001	2001 American Airlines officially completed its acquisition of Trans World Airlines and became the world's largest airline.
	1965 The Astrodome, an indoor stadium, opened in Houston, Texas, hosting its first baseball game.
	1963 An act of Congress conferred honorary U.S. citizenship on Sir Winston Churchill.
	1939 African American contralto Marian Anderson sang to an Easter Sunday crowd of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
	1898 Paul Robeson, a celebrated American singer, actor, and political activist, was born.
	1865 General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia of the Confederate States of America, signed a treaty of surrender at Appomattox Court House, ending the American Civil War.
	1682 René-Robert Cavelier, sieur (lord) de La Salle, claimed the Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana.
1388	1388 The Battle of Näfels culminated in a major victory for the Swiss Confederation in the first century of its struggle for self-determination against Habsburg overlordship.

April 8

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:03:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	Celebration of the Buddha's birth On this day practitioners of the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, especially those in Japan, celebrate the birth of the Buddha, who lived in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and founded Buddhism
Buddha statue at Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Ayutthaya, Thailand
Biography Of The Day
	Kofi Annan Ghanaian international civil servant Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations (from 1997) and corecipient with the United Nations of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, was born this day in 1938.
Kofi Annan, 1996
More Events On This Day In History
2003	2003 It was reported that springtails (Collembola), long thought to be among the oldest ancestors of insects, did not evolve as insects but rather evolved from a separate group that was formed even before crustaceans and insects diverged.
	1974 American baseball player Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run—breaking Babe Ruth's record, which had stood since 1935—and in 1976 completed his career with 755 home runs.
	1973 Pablo Picasso, perhaps the most influential artist of the 20th century, died in Mougins, France.
	1950 Jawaharlal Nehru of India concluded the Delhi Pact with Liaqat Ali Khan of Pakistan, providing for the safe passage of refugees displaced after the two countries severed relations in December 1949.
	1912 Sonja Henie, a Norwegian American figure skater who won the world amateur championship for women in 10 consecutive years (1927–36) and three gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games (1928, 1932, and 1936), was born.
	1859 German philosopher Edmund Husserl, founder of phenomenology, was born.
1838	1838 The Great Western, the earliest regular transatlantic steamer, embarked on its maiden voyage from Bristol, England, to New York City.

April 7

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:32:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1963: Jack Nicklaus's first Masters victory American professional golfer Jack Nicklaus, a dominating figure in world golf from the 1960s to the '80s and the winner of 73 PGA tour events in his career, won the Masters Tournament at age 23 on this day in 1963.
Jack Nicklaus blasting out of a sand trap during the second round of his record
Biography Of The Day
	Ravi Shankar Indian musician Ravi Shankar—a sitar virtuoso and composer who founded the National Orchestra of India and who was influential in stimulating Western appreciation of classical Hindustani music—was born this day in 1920.
Ravi Shankar, 1971
More Events On This Day In History
2001	2001 NASA launched the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which reached Mars in October and transmitted photos and other data back to scientists on Earth.
1994	1994 Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, part of the Tutsi minority, was assassinated by Hutu soldiers, which—with the prior deaths of Juvénal Habyarimana, president of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of Burundi—sparked civil war in Rwanda.
1947	1947 American industrialist Henry Ford died in Dearborn, Michigan.
	1939 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini made Albania a protectorate of his country, installing Italy's Victor Emmanuel III as king, while Albanian King Zog I went into exile.
1927	1927 The first public demonstration of a one-way videophone occurred between Herbert Hoover, then U.S. secretary of commerce, in Washington, D.C., and officials of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) in New York City.
	1922 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall secretly leased federal oil reserves to the Mammoth Oil Company in return for cash gifts in the Teapot Dome Scandal.
	1915 Billie Holiday, one of the greatest American jazz singers from the 1930s to the '50s, was born.
1449	1449 Felix V, the last antipope, abdicated.

April 6

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:39:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1896: Olympics revived Pierre, baron de Coubertin, a founder of the International Olympic Committee and its president from 1896 to 1925, realized his goal of reviving the Olympics when the first modern Games opened in Athens this day in 1896.
An official poster from the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens
Biography Of The Day
	Raphael Born this day in 1483 was Italian master painter and architect Raphael, whose work is admired for clarity of form and ease of composition and who is best known for his Madonnas and large figure compositions in the Vatican.
The Grand-Duke's Madonna, oil painting by Raphael, 1505; in the Pitti
More Events On This Day In History
	1909 American explorer Robert Edwin Peary led the first expedition to the North Pole.
1868	1868 The Japanese emperor Meiji issued the Charter Oath, which served to modernize the country during the Meiji Restoration.
1862	1862 Union troops clashed with Confederates in southwestern Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh, the second great engagement of the American Civil War.
	1830 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed by American prophet Joseph Smith at Fayette, New York.
1348	1348 The woman said to be Laura, the beloved muse of the Italian poet Petrarch, died.
	1199 Mortally wounded in battle, Richard I (the Lion-Heart) died at Châlus in the duchy of Aquitaine.

April 5

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:29:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1818: Battle of Maipú Chile's independence movement, led by José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins, won a decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Maipú, which left 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead on this day in 1818.
1818: Battle of Maipú
Biography Of The Day
	U.S. Department of StateColin Powell U.S. general and statesman Colin Powell, born this day in 1937, served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–93) and secretary of state (2001–05), the first African American to hold either position.
Colin Powell, 2001
More Events On This Day In History
2000	2000 Mori Yoshiro of the Liberal-Democratic Party became prime minister of Japan, replacing Obuchi Keizo, who had suffered a stroke earlier in the month and subsequently died.
1994	1994 American grunge rocker Kurt Cobain, leader of the band Nirvana, committed suicide.
	1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed Wilt Chamberlain as the all-time leading scorer in the National Basketball Association.
	1856 American educator and reformer Booker T. Washington was born in Virginia.
	1621 The Mayflower departed for England after having deposited 102 Pilgrims at what became the American colony of Plymouth (Massachusetts).
	1614 Powhatan Indian Pocahontas married Virginia planter and colonial official John Rolfe.
	1588 English philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes, best known for his publications on individual security and the social contract, was born.

April 4

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:17:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1968: Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the American civil rights movement who was in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city's sanitation workers, was assassinated by James Earl Ray.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Biography Of The Day
	Marguerite Duras French writer and film director Marguerite Duras, internationally known for her screenplays for Hiroshima mon amour and India Song and winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt for her novel L'Amant, was born this day in 1914.
Marguerite Duras
More Events On This Day In History
2000	2000 The government of South Korea ordered some 85 percent of the country's livestock markets closed in an attempt to end an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that had struck Asian livestock.
	1959 In West Africa the Mali Federation, a short-lived union between the autonomous territories of the Sudanese Republic and Senegal, led by Léopold Senghor, came into being.
	1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed, the founding member nations of this military alliance being Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
	1915 Muddy Waters, an American blues guitarist and singer who played a major role in creating the modern rhythm-and-blues style, was born.
1862	1862 In the American Civil War, Union forces under George B. McClellan began the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
	1850 With a population totaling about 1,600, Los Angeles was incorporated as an American city.
	1785 Bettina von Arnim, one of the outstanding women writers in modern German literature, was born in Frankfurt am Main.

April 3

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:35:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1948: Implementation of the Marshall Plan On this day in 1948, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed into law George C. Marshall's post-World War II plan to revive the economies of western and southern European countries so as to foster democracy in the region.
Harry S. Truman, 1945
Biography Of The Day
	Fazlur R. Khan Born this day in 1929 in Dacca, India (now Dhaka, Bangladesh), Bangladeshi American civil engineer Fazlur R. Khan was known for his innovations in high-rise building construction, and among his works is Chicago's Sears Tower.
The Sears Tower (right) in Chicago, designed by Fazlur R. Khan
More Events On This Day In History
1996	1996 Federal agents in Montana apprehended Theodore J. Kaczynski, an American terrorist known as the “Unabomber,” who had killed 3 persons and injured more than 20 with explosives sent through the U.S. postal system.
1946	1946 The Japanese army general Homma Masaharu was executed for forcing the Bataan Death March.
	1930 Helmut Kohl, who served as chancellor of West Germany (1982–90) and of reunified Germany (1990–98), was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Ger.
	1924 American stage and motion-picture actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
	1924 American singer and actress Doris Day was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1879	1879 Sofia, liberated from the Ottoman Empire by Russian troops, was named the capital of Bulgaria.
	1860 The Pony Express mail delivery system, which used continuous horse-and-rider relays along a 1,800-mile (2,900-km) route between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, was launched in the United States.

April 2

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:45:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	2005: Death of Pope John Paul II The bishop of Rome and the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978, Pope John Paul II, who was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first from a Slavic country, died in Vatican City this day in 2005.
John Paul II leaving a message at the Western Wall during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, March 26
Biography Of The Day
	Charlemagne Born this day c. 742, Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor and king of the Franks and the Lombards, united in one superstate practically all the Christian lands of western Europe and oversaw a cultural renaissance in his empire.
Charlemagne holding an orb and a sword
More Events On This Day In History
	1982 Argentine troops seized the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), precipitating the Falkland Islands War with Britain.
	1917 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.
	1914 British actor Sir Alec Guinness was born.
	1865 In the face of advancing Union forces, Confederate troops evacuated Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
	1681 King Charles II of England officially proclaimed the charter he had granted in March to William Penn for the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania in North America.
	1513 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth in the Americas, landed on the coast of Florida near the present-day city of St. Augustine.

April 1

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:31:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1999: Creation of Nunavut Created this day in 1999 by carving a vast region from Canada's Northwest Territories, the Canadian territory of Nunavut stretches across much of the Canadian Arctic and encompasses the traditional lands of the Inuit.
Creation of Nunavut
Biography Of The Day
	Sergey Rachmaninoff Sergey Rachmaninoff, who was born this day in 1873, was a great figure in Russian Romanticism and a leading piano virtuoso who is especially known for his piano concerti and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Sergey Rachmaninoff
More Events On This Day In History
	April Fool April Fools' Day, celebrated today with joking relationships and practical jokes, may have grown out of the medieval Feast of Fools, which was held on January 1.
2001	2001 The midair collision of a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet that was tailing it over the South China Sea resulted in the death of the Chinese pilot and the landing of the damaged American plane on Hainan Island, where its crew was detained for 11 days.
	1984 American entertainer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father in Los Angeles.
	1954 The United States Air Force Academy was created by an act of Congress and was later built in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1945	1945 U.S. troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa during World War II.
1918	1918 The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force was formed.
	1917 American composer and pianist Scott Joplin died in a mental institution in New York City.
	1578 English physician William Harvey, who discovered the true nature of the circulation of the blood, was born in Folkestone, Kent.

March 31

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:03:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1889: Eiffel Tower opened to public The 984-foot (300-metre) Eiffel Tower, a wrought iron technological masterpiece created by Gustave Eiffel to commemorate the French Revolution, was opened to the public at the Centennial Exposition in Paris this day in 1889.
Eiffel Tower, Paris
Biography Of The Day
	René Descartes René Descartes, born this day in 1596 and perhaps best known for the famous phrase “I think, therefore I am, was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher who has often been called the father of modern philosophy.
René Descartes, lithograph, 19th century.
More Events On This Day In History
	1980 American track-and-field legend Jesse Owens died in Phoenix, Arizona.
1918	1918 Clocks in the United States were set one hour ahead as daylight saving time went into operation for the first time.
1870	1870 Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
	1854 U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in Japan, ending that country's period of seclusion.
1732	1732 Composer Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria.
1521	1521 The first Roman Catholic mass in the Philippines was celebrated on the island of Limasawa.

March 30

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:46:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1981: Failed assassination attempt against U.S. President Ronald Reagan In Washington, D.C., on this day in 1981, barely two months after his inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassin John W. Hinckley, Jr.
U.S. government agents attending to the wounded after the assassination attempt on President Ronald
Biography Of The Day
	Vincent van Gogh Works of one of the greatest Post-Impressionists—Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, born this day in 1853—convey not only keen observations of nature but the anguish of a mental illness that eventually led to his suicide.
Detail of Sunflowers, oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
More Events On This Day In History
	2003 A law banning cigarette smoking in all places of employment, including restaurants and bars, went into effect in New York City.
2002	2002 Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1936–52), died in her sleep at Windsor Castle at age 101.
	1914 American blues vocalist and harmonica virtuoso Sonny Boy Williamson was born in Jackson, Tennessee.
1912	1912 The Treaty of Fès established the French protectorate in Morocco.
	1867 William H. Seward, secretary of state under U.S. President Andrew Johnson, signed the Alaska Purchase, a treaty ceding Russian North America to the United States for a price—$7.2 million—that amounted to about two cents per acre.
1856	1856 The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Crimean War.
	1840 The English dandy Beau Brummell died, destitute and mad, in Caen, France.
1282	1282 The people of Palermo massacred 2,000 French residents in the Sicilian Vespers, a revolt against the Angevin king Charles I.

March 29

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:14:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1867: Dominion of Canada created On this day in 1867, with the British North America Act, the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada were united as the Dominion of Canada, and the province of Canada was separated into Quebec and Ontario.
The arms of Canada, derived from the royal arms of the United Kingdom
Biography Of The Day
	Sam Walton Retail magnate Sam Walton, born this day in 1918, became one of the wealthiest individuals in American history, founding Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and developing it into the largest retail sales chain in the United States.
Sam Walton, 1988
More Events On This Day In History
	1973 American troops evacuated Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as the United States ended its involvement in the Vietnam War.
	1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death for turning over U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union.
	1943 British Conservative politician John Major, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997, was born.
1917	1917 Man o' War, perhaps the most famous American Thoroughbred in 20th-century horse racing, was foaled.
	1807 German astronomer Wilhelm Olbers discovered the minor planet Vesta, the brightest asteroid in the sky.
	1790 John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States (1841–45), was born.
	1461 Edward IV defeated Henry VI for the throne of England in the bloodiest battle of the York-Lancaster conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.

March 28

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:13:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1930: Constantinople renamed Istanbul Built as Byzantium about 657 BC, then renamed Constantinople in the 4th century AD after Constantine the Great made the city his capital, the Turkish city of Istanbul officially received its present name on this day in 1930.
The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) with its distinctive ensemble of six minarets, Istanbul
Biography Of The Day
	Fra Bartolomeo Painter Fra Bartolomeo, a prominent exponent of the High Renaissance style in early 16th-century Florence whose works include God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene (1509), was born this day in 1472.
God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene
More Events On This Day In History
1979	1979 At 4:00 AM an automatic valve mistakenly closed at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, culminating in radioactive leakage.
	1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington, D.C.
	1939 Francisco Franco, leader of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War, captured the capital city of Madrid en route to his overthrow of the democratic Spanish republic.
	1920 American motion-picture actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were wed.
1890	1890 American bandleader Paul Whiteman, called the “King of Jazz” for popularizing a musical style that helped to introduce jazz to mainstream audiences during the 1920s and '30s, was born.

March 27

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:58:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	47: Cleopatra reinstated as queen of Egypt The legendary Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, aided by her Roman lover Julius Caesar, was reinstated as coruler of Egypt (with her brother Ptolemy XIV) this day in 47 BC following a civil war with her brother Ptolemy XIII.
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator
Biography Of The Day
	Mstislav Rostropovich Born this day in 1927 in Azerbaijan was Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the best-known cellists of the 20th century and music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1994.
Mstislav Rostropovich, 1965
More Events On This Day In History
	1998 The drug Viagra from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in treating erectile dysfunction.
1977	1977 Two airplanes, a Pan Am 747 and a KLM 747, collided on a runway in the Canary Islands, killing 582.
	1958 Nikita Khrushchev replaced Nikolay Bulganin as premier of the Soviet Union.
	1886 German American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose rectilinear forms crafted in elegant simplicity epitomized the International style of architecture, was born.
1814	1814 At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka, Alabama) in the Creek War, Andrew Jackson and his 3,000 troops defeated the Creek Indians, slaughtering more than 800 warriors and imprisoning 500 women and children.
	1625 Upon the death of James I, Charles I ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland.
1351	1351 As part of the struggle between Charles of Blois (supported by the king of France) and John of Montfort (backed by the king of England) over succession to the duchy of Brittany, their knights waged the Battle of the Thirty near Ploërmel.

March 26

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:49:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1979: Signing of Israel-Egypt peace treaty The historic peace accord between Israel and Egypt, agreed to by Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sadat and negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978, was signed this day in 1979.
Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat (left), U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Biography Of The Day
	Robert Frost American poet Robert Frost, much admired for his depictions of New England rural life, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people, was born this day in 1874.
Robert Frost, 1954
More Events On This Day In History
	1992 Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison following a rape conviction in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1971	1971 Members of the Awami League set up a government-in-exile in Calcutta (Kolkata) and declared Bangladesh an independent state.
	1930 Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice, was born in El Paso, Texas.
1927	1927 The Mille Miglia, the famed automobile race across Italy, was inaugurated.
	1885 The first clash of the Riel Rebellion in Canada took place in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan.
	1827 Ludwig van Beethoven died of cirrhosis of the liver in Vienna.

March 25

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:55:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1306: Robert the Bruce crowned king of Scotland Robert the Bruce, crowned Scottish king at Scone this day in 1306, freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
Robert the Bruce, coloured engraving by an unknown artist, 1797
Biography Of The Day
	Aretha Franklin American singer Aretha Franklin, born this day in 1942 and crowned the “Queen of Soul,” defined the golden age of 1960s soul music with hits such as "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)," "Respect," and "Think."
Aretha Franklin, 1993
More Events On This Day In History
	1975 King Faysal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by his nephew.
1957	1957 The Treaties of Rome were signed, establishing the European Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.
	1918 French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.
	1911 A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killed 146 people, prompting the creation of health and safety legislation.
	1881 Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós.
1807	1807 The British Parliament abolished the slave trade in the British West Indies.
1305	1305 The Arena Chapel, containing frescoes by Giotto, was consecrated in Padua, Italy.

March 24

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:23:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1989: Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill On this day in 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling some 11 million gallons (41 million litres) of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska and creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
Worker cleaning a rock on the beach of Green Island, Alaska, after the Exxon
Biography Of The Day
	Harry Houdini American magician Harry Houdini, born this day in 1874, earned an international reputation for his daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs and from locked containers such as coffins and prison cells.
Harry Houdini as Harvey Hanford in the film The Grim Game, c. 1919
More Events On This Day In History
	2002 Film stars Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the second and third African Americans to win Academy Awards for performances in leading roles.
	1945 With the debut of the Billboard magazine pop album chart, American pianist and singer Nat King Cole's King Cole Trio became the first record album to appear at No. 1.
	1905 Pioneering French science-fiction author Jules Verne died in Amiens, France.
	1882 Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had isolated and grown the tubercle bacillus, which he believed to be the cause of all forms of tuberculosis.
1603	1603 King James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I following the death of Elizabeth I.

March 23

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:13:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1806: Lewis and Clark's return trip begun Having completed the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark this day in 1806 began their return to St. Louis, Missouri, where their journey had begun in May 1804.
Sacagawea (right) with William Clark (left) and Meriwether Lewis (centre) at Three Forks
Biography Of The Day
	Kurosawa Akira Born this day in 1910, Japanese director Kurosawa Akira won worldwide acclaim with subtle, brilliantly composed films, such as Rashomon (1950), that combined Japanese historic themes with a Western sense of action and drama.
Kurosawa Akira during the filming of Ran, 1985
More Events On This Day In History
2001	2001 Although designed for only 5 years of service, the Soviet/Russian space station Mir ended 15 years in orbit when it reentered Earth's atmosphere, falling into the South Pacific Ocean.
	1983 In a nationwide television address, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars, a proposed strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks.
1976	1976 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entered into force, incorporating almost all the international human rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
1933	1933 The German Reichstag, dominated by the Nazi Party and German National People's Party, voted to pass the Enabling Act, thereby assuring Nazi primacy, in a process that began with the Reichstag fire about a month prior.
1849	1849 At the Battle of Novara, during the first Italian War of Independence, outnumbered Austrian troops under Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky destroyed the poorly trained Italian troops of Charles Albert, king of Sardinia-Piedmont.
1775	1775 Patrick Henry, a major figure of the American Revolution, delivered the well-known speech featuring the phrase “give me liberty or give me death” at the second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church, Richmond.

March 22

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:20:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1622: Murder at Jamestown Opechancanough, brother of Chief Powhatan and his successor as the leader of the Powhatan Indian empire, led an attack on the Jamestown Colony this day in 1622, killing at least 347 colonists and initiating the Powhatan War.
Jamestown Fort in Virginia (U.S.), c. 1608
Biography Of The Day
	Andrew Lloyd Webber English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose works such as Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Phantom of the Opera helped revitalize British and American musical theatre in the late 20th century, was born this day in 1948.
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, 2005
More Events On This Day In History
1945	1945 The Arab League, a regional organization of Arab states in the Middle East, was organized in Cairo by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
1934	1934 The Augusta National Golf Club hosted the first Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia
1894	1894 The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association won ice hockey's first Stanley Cup.
	1832 German author and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar.
	1820 U.S. Navy Commissioner Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel.
	1765 The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, inflaming relations with the American colonies.
	1599 Anthony Van Dyck, after Peter Paul Rubens the most prominent Flemish painter of the 17th century, was born in Antwerp.

March 21

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:20:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1963: Closing of Alcatraz prison The U.S. federal prison on San Francisco Bay's Alcatraz Island, which had held some of the most dangerous civilian prisoners—including Al Capone and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”—was closed this day in 1963.
Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, California
Biography Of The Day
	Hans Hofmann German painter Hans Hofmann, born this day in 1880, was an influential art teacher and a pioneer in the use of improvisatory techniques whose work paved the way for American painters to develop Abstract Expressionism.
Hans Hofmann, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1960
More Events On This Day In History
	1965 American civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr., began a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1960	1960 About 70 black African demonstrators were killed by police during a protest in Sharpeville, Gauteng province, against South Africa's pass laws.
1918	1918 The Second Battle of the Somme began during World War I.
	1806 Mexican national hero Benito Juárez was born in San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca.
	1768 French mathematician Joseph Fourier was born in Auxerre.
	1556 Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake for violating heresy laws revised under the Roman Catholic queen Mary I, known as Bloody Mary.

March 20

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:09:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1995: AUM subway attack Top leaders of AUM Shinrikyo (Japanese: "AUM Supreme Truth"), a Japanese Buddhist sect founded in 1987 by Asahara Shoko, released nerve gas into a Tokyo subway this day in 1995, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.
Asahara Shoko (left), the leader of AUM Shinrikyo, with a top disciple, Yoshihiro Inoue, in Tokyo
Biography Of The Day
	Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton, whose Principia (1687) was one of the most important single works in the history of modern science and who was the culminating figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century, died this day in 1727.
Isaac Newton, portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1689
More Events On This Day In History
	2004 The U.S. Army announced that charges were being brought against six American soldiers in connection with the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war being held in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the Iraq War.
1987	1987 AZT (azidothymidine) became the first drug to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of AIDS.
	1854 A meeting of Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and Free-Soilers in Ripon, Wisconsin, proposed the formation of what became the Republican Party in the United States.
	1852 American author Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in book form.
	1828 Playwright Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway.
	1815 The Hundred Days—during which Napoleon, having ended his exile by escaping the island of Elba, would try to recapture his empire in France—began with Napoleon's arrival in Paris.
	1770 German lyric poet Friedrich Hölderlin was born in Lauffen am Neckar, Württemberg.
43	43 Roman poet Ovid was born in what is now Sulmona, Italy.

March 19

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:33:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1982: Conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom On this day in 1982, Argentine forces mobilized after a dispute between Argentine workers and British scientists on British-controlled South Georgia island, leading to Argentina's invasion of the Falklands two weeks later.
The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sinking after being torpedoed
Biography Of The Day
	Willem de Kooning Dutch American artist Willem de Kooning, a major exponent of Abstract Expressionism and Action painting whose series Woman I–VI caused a stir with its violent images and impulsive technique, died this day in 1997.
Abstract painting by Willem de Kooning, 1949
More Events On This Day In History
	2003 U.S. President George W. Bush ordered air strikes against Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, thus launching the Second Persian Gulf War to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
1996	1996 One of the worst fires in the history of the Philippines swept through a Manila discotheque, killing 159 of the 400 people in the nightclub, which was intended to hold no more than 35.
1920	1920 Józef Pilsudski was named marshal of Poland.
1918	1918 The U.S. Congress approved daylight saving time, a system for uniformly advancing clocks so as to extend daylight hours during conventional waking time (but its unpopularity forced its repeal in 1919).
	1860 William Jennings Bryan, a Democratic and Populist leader and a magnetic orator who ran unsuccessfully three times for the U.S. presidency (1896, 1900, 1908), was born.
1560	1560 In the Conspiracy of Amboise, French Huguenot aristocrats failed to overthrow the Roman Catholic house of Guise.
1452	1452 Frederick III became the last Holy Roman emperor to be crowned by a pope, Nicholas V.

March 18

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:26:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	2000: Election of Chen Shui-bian On this day in 2000, Chen Shui-bian, a leader of the proindependence movement that sought statehood for the Republic of China (Taiwan), was elected president of Taiwan, breaking the Nationalist Party's 55-year rule.
Chen Shui-bian, 2000
Biography Of The Day
	John Updike American writer John Updike, whose novels, short stories, and poems are known for their realistic but subtle depiction of “American, Protestant, small-town, middle-class” life, was born this day in 1932.
John Updike
More Events On This Day In History
1974	1974 Seven member countries of OPEC lifted a five-month oil embargo against the United States.
	1965 Soviet cosmonaut Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov became the first man to walk in space after passing through an air lock on the spacecraft Voskhod 2.
	1964 Speed skater Bonnie Blair, one of the most successful American women athletes in Olympic competition, was born in Cornwall, New York.
1906	1906 The first monoplane, constructed by the Romanian inventor Trajan Vuia, made a flight of 12 metres (40 feet).
	1902 Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso, one of the first musicians to document his voice on the gramophone, made his first phonograph recording.
1871	1871 The Commune of Paris, an insurrection of Parisians against the French government, began, lasting until May 28.
	1869 Neville Chamberlain, who was British prime minister from May 28, 1937, to May 10, 1940, and whose name is identified with the policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler's Germany, was born.
1766	1766 British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act of 1765 after violent protests from American colonists.

March 17

noreply@blogger.com (Abhi) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:45:00 +0000

On This Day In History
	1992: Vote to end apartheid On this day in 1992, nearly 69 percent of white South African voters backed F.W. de Klerk's reforms—which included the repeal of racially discriminatory laws—and effectively endorsed the dismantling of apartheid.
South Africa
Biography Of The Day
	Mia Hamm Two-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Mia Hamm, born this day in 1972, was the first global star in women's football (soccer), retiring with 158 goals in international play—the most by any player, male or female.
American footballer (soccer player) Mia Hamm dribbling during FIFA Women's World Cup competition
More Events On This Day In History
1938	1938 Poland issued an ultimatum to Lithuania in an attempt to settle the territorial dispute over the city of Vilnius.
	1917 Nat King Cole, an American musician who first came to prominence as a jazz pianist but who reached enormous popularity with his warm, relaxed, somewhat breathy-voiced ballad singing, was born.
	1905 Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, married her distant cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, later U.S. president.
	1861 In Turin, Italy, after more than 10 years of revolution led by such figures as Giuseppe Garibaldi, a parliament assembled and officially proclaimed the unified Kingdom of Italy.
1776	1776 British General William Howe evacuated Boston after a successful siege by American revolutionaries led by General George Washington.
	461 St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, died this day in 461, according to legend, and now his feast day is celebrated widely in Ireland and the United States.