March 14
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March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year.
March 14, written 3-14 in the USA date format, is also an unofficial celebration for Pi Day derived from the common three-digit approximation for the number π: 3.14. It is usually celebrated at 1:59 PM (in recognition of the six-digit approximation: 3.14159). Some, using a twenty-four-hour clock rather than a twelve hour clock, say that 1:59 PM is actually 13:59 and celebrate it at 1:59 AM or 3:09 PM (15:09) instead. Parties have been held by mathematics departments of various schools around the world.
Events
- 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
- 1492 - Queen Isabella of Castille orders her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
- 1590 - Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne during the French Wars of Religion.
- 1647 - Thirty Years War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
- 1757 - On-board the HMS Monarch, Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty.
- 1794 - Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
- 1800 - Cardinal Barnaba Chiaramonti is elected Pope Pius VII
- 1869 - Defeat of Titokowaru.
- 1900 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard.
- 1903 - The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Columbian Senate would later reject the treaty.
- 1903 - Theodore Roosevelt issues an executive order making Pelican Island, in Florida, a “preserve and breeding ground for native birds,” marking the birth of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
- 1915 - World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the disastrous Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS Dresden is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.
- 1923 - Pete Parker does the first-ever complete radio broadcast of a hockey game in the world, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- 1939 - German troops fully occupy the Czechoslovak provinces of Bohemia and Moravia.
- 1951 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
- 1959 - J.R.D.A.C.I. founded at a congress in Treichville, Côte d'Ivoire.
- 1964 - A jury in Dallas, Texas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
- 1966 - Phillip Stephen Oakland (Budd); born known for his work as Seafront Manager for the people of Eastbourne.
- 1967 - The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1978 - The Israeli Defense Force, in retaliation for a terrorist attack three days earlier, invades and occupies southern Lebanon, under codename Operation Litani, resulting in the evacuation of at least 100,000 Lebanese, approximately 2,000 deaths, as well as the creation of United Nations Interim Forces In Lebanon (UNIFIL).
- 1979 - In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
- 1980 - In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.
- 1984 - Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.
- 1989 - Gun control: President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of assault rifles into the United States.
- 1991 - After 16 years in prison for allegedly bombing a pub in an Irish Republican Army attack, the "Birmingham Six" are freed when a court determines that the police fabricated evidence.
- 1994 - Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.
- 1995 - Manned space mission: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.
- 1996 - American President Bill Clinton commits $100 million to an anti-terrorism agreement with Israel to track down and root out terrorists.
- 1997 - The Chinese city of Chongqing (formerly Chunking) is upgraded to a centrally administered municipality
- 1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.
- 2004 - Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX.
- 2004 - Pope John Paul II becomes the second-longest serving pope in history.
- 2004 - Vladimir Putin is re-elected president of Russia, while the PSOE wins elections in Spain just days after terrorist attacks in Madrid.
- 2005 - The online statistics service SOTKAnet is opened for the public in Finland.
- 2005 - Mass Protest against Syrian influence in Lebanon takes place in Beirut as part of the Cedar Revolution.
Births
- 1638 - Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
- 1681 - Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767)
- 1804 - Johann Strauß, Sr., Austrian composer (d. 1849)
- 1813 - Joseph Philo Bradley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1892)
- 1823 - Théodore de Banville, French writer (d. 1891)
- 1835 - Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (d. 1910)
- 1844 - King Umberto I of Italy (d. 1900)
- 1853 - Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
- 1854 - Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1915)
- 1862 - Vilhelm Bjerknes, Russian physicist (d. 1961)
- 1869 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (d. 1951)
- 1879 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1882 - Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (d. 1969)
- 1885 - Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
- 1887 - Sylvia Beach, American publisher (d. 1962)
- 1903 - Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)
- 1912 - Les Brown, American band leader (d. 2001)
- 1914 - Bill Owen, British actor (d. 1999)
- 1914 - Lee Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)
- 1915 - Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 2005)
- 1916 - Horton Foote, American writer
- 1920 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
- 1925 - Francis A. Marzen, American Catholic prelate
- 1925 - William Clay Ford, Sr., Ford Motor Co. Director Emeritus, Detroit Lions Football Franchise Owner
- 1928 - Frank Borman, astronaut and airline executive
- 1933 - Michael Caine, British actor
- 1933 - Quincy Jones, American music producer and composer
- 1934 - Eugene Cernan, astronaut
- 1938 - Angus Maclise, American mystic, shaman, musician, and composer (d. 1979)
- 1941 - Wolfgang Petersen, German director
- 1945 - Jasper Carrott, British comedian
- 1946 - Steve Kanaly, American actor
- 1947 - Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian
- 1947 - Pam Ayres, British poet
- 1950 - Rick Dees, American disc jockey
- 1956 - Jonathan Bowen, British computer scientist
- 1957 - Andrew Robinson, British editor and author
- 1958 - Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- 1961 - Kirby Puckett, baseball player
- 1961 - Penny Johnson Jerald, American actress
- 1963 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- 1965 - Aamir Khan, Indian actor
- 1965 - Kevin Brown, baseball player
- 1965 - Kevin Williamson, American screenwriter
- 1976 - Catherine Dent, American actress
- 1976 - Merlin Santana, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1977 - Mervyn Colley, British kabbalist and ceremonial magician
- 1978 - Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
- 1979 - Chris Klein, American actor
- 1981 - Mei-Ting Sun, Chinese-born pianist
- 1983 - Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
- 1983 - Taylor Hanson, American musician (Hanson)
- 1986 - Jamie Bell, British actor
Deaths
- 752 - Pope Zacharias
- 1457 - Jingtai Emperor of China (b. 1428)
- 1471 - Sir Thomas Malory, English author
- 1647 - Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)
- 1648 - Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general (b. 1584)
- 1680 - René Le Bossu, French critic (b. 1631)
- 1682 - Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael, Dutch painter
- 1696 - Jean Domat, French jurist (b. 1625)
- 1698 - Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (b. 1622)
- 1748 - George Wade, British military leader (b. 1673)
- 1757 - John Byng, British admiral (executed) (b. 1704)
- 1791 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (b. 1725)
- 1803 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German writer (b. 1724)
- 1823 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (b. 1739)
- 1883 - Karl Marx, German political theorist (b. 1818)
- 1884 - Quintino Sella, Italian statesman (b. 1827)
- 1932 - George Eastman, American inventor (b. 1854)
- 1973 - Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (b. 1907)
- 1973 - Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
- 1975 - Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
- 1976 - Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
- 1977 - Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (b. 1917)
- 1989 - Edward Abbey, American author (b. 1927)
- 1991 - Howard Ashman, American lyricist (b. 1950)
- 1991 - Doc Pomus, American composer (b. 1925)
- 1995 - William Alfred Fowler, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1997 - Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b. 1907)
- 2002 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher
- 2002 - Cherry Wilder, New Zealand-born author (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Jack Goldstein, Canadian-born artist (b. 1945)
- 2003 - Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances
- Commonwealth Day (2005, second Monday in March)
- Japan - White Day: Japanese holiday similar to Valentines Day (men give gifts to women, as opposed to Valentine's Day, when women give gifts to men).
- Pi Day - unofficial holiday
- Roman Empire - Equirria, horse races in honor of Mars were held.
Other notes
- Microsoft Excel, a popular spreadsheet program, uses March 14th, 2001, in many recent versions as the sample date when editing date formatting.
External links
March 13 - March 15 - February 14 - April 14 -- listing of all days