March 13

March 13 is the 72nd day of the year (73rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 293 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 624 – Battle of Badr: a key battle between Muhammad's army – the new followers of Islam and the Quraish of Mecca. The Muslims won this battle, known as the turning point of Islam, which took place in the Hejaz region of western Arabia.
• 874 – The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.
• 1138 – Cardinal Gregorio Conti is elected Antipope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II.
• 1591 – Battle of Tondibi: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi Dynasty led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.
• 1639 – Harvard College is named for clergyman John Harvard.
• 1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the Itza Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
• 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
• 1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in a coup d'état.
• 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers to return fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African American troops.
• 1881 – Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
• 1884 – The Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins, ending on January 26, 1885.
• 1897 – San Diego State University is founded.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
• 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
• 1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory.
• 1933 – Great Depression: Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandates a "bank holiday".
• 1938 – World News Roundup is broadcast for the first time on CBS Radio in the United States.
• 1940 – The Russo-Finnish Winter War ends.
• 1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
• 1954 – Battle of Điện Biên Phủ: Viet Minh forces attack the French.
• 1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.
• 1962 – Lyman Lemnitzer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers a proposal, called Operation Northwoods, regarding performing terrorist attacks upon Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The proposal is scrapped and President John F. Kennedy removes Lemnitzer from his position.
• 1963 – Police in Phoenix, Arizona arrest Ernesto Miranda and charge him with kidnap and rape. His conviction is ultimately set aside by the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona
• 1964 – American Kitty Genovese is murdered, reportedly in view of neighbors who did nothing to help her, prompting research into the bystander effect.
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
• 1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.
• 1985 – The Kenilworth Road riot takes place at an association football match at Kenilworth Road in Luton, England with disturbances before, during and after an F.A. Cup 6th Round tie between Luton Town F.C. and Millwall F.C..
• 1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.
• 1991 – The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
• 1992 – An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500 in Erzincan, eastern Turkey.
• 1996 – Dunblane massacre: in Dunblane, Scotland, 16 Primary School children and 1 teacher are shot dead by a spree killer, Thomas Watt Hamilton who then committed suicide.
• 1997 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
• 1997 – The Phoenix lights are seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television.
• 2003 – Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy.
• 2008 – Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.
• 2013 – Pope Francis is elected in the papal conclave to succeed Pope Benedict XVI.

Births

• 1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
• 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (d. 1652)
• 1615 – Pope Innocent XII (d. 1700)
• 1683 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English philosopher (d. 1744)
• 1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
• 1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal (d. 1797)
• 1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
• 1733 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist, minister, and philosopher (d. 1804)
• 1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
• 1753 – Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, French wife of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1821)
• 1762 – Anine Frölich, Danish ballerina (d. 1784)
• 1763 – Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune, French marshal (d. 1815)
• 1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
• 1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (d. 1809)
• 1777 – Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (d. 1864)
• 1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
• 1782 – Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (d. 1863)
• 1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
• 1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
• 1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (d. 1903)
• 1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
• 1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
• 1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
• 1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (d. 1941)
• 1870 – Henri Étiévant, French actor and director (d. 1953)
• 1870 – William Glackens, American painter (d. 1938)
• 1870 – Albert Meyer, Swiss politician (d. 1953)
• 1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
• 1884 – Hugh Walpole, English author (d. 1941)
• 1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
• 1886 – Albert William Stevens, American army officer and photographer (d. 1949)
• 1888 – Paul Morand, French author (d. 1976)
• 1889 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian politician (d. 1918)
• 1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor (d. 1951)
• 1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
• 1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
• 1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
• 1899 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 1981)
• 1899 – Jan Lechoń, Polish poet (d. 1956)
• 1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
• 1900 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
• 1906 – Evald Tipner, Estonian football, ice hockey and bandy player (d. 1947)
• 1907 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian and author (d. 1986)
• 1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist (d. 2002)
• 1910 – Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Danish actor (d. 1985)
• 1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter (d. 1987)
• 1911 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (d. 1986)
• 1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
• 1913 – Lambros Konstantaras, Greek actor (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author (d. 2009)
• 1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and broadcaster (d. 1998)
• 1914 – Edward O'Hare, American pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
• 1916 – Lindy Boggs, American politician
• 1918 – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast Communications
• 1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
• 1923 – William F. Bolger, American politician, 65th United States Postmaster General (d. 1989)
• 1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek military officer (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer
• 1925 – Ray Martin, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Robert Denning, American interior designer (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
• 1929 – Peter Breck, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1929 – Joseph Mascolo, American actor
• 1930 – Jan Howard, American singer-songwriter
• 1933 – Mike Stoller, American songwriter and producer
• 1933 – Gero von Wilpert, German literary scientist and author (d. 2009)
• 1934 – Barry Hughart, American author
• 1935 – Leslie Parrish, American actress
• 1936 – Nana Meskhidze, Georgian painter (d. 1997)
• 1938 – Erma Franklin, American singer (d. 2002)
• 1938 – Robert Gammage, American politician (d. 2012)
• 1938 – Tochinoumi Teruyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 49th Yokozuna
• 1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1940 – Christopher Gable, English actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 1998)
• 1940 – Jacqueline Sassard, French actress
• 1940 – Candi Staton, American singer
• 1941 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
• 1941 – Donella Meadows, American scientist and author (d. 2001)
• 1942 – Marshall Chess, American record producer
• 1942 – Dave Cutler, American software developer
• 1942 – Geoffrey Hayes, English actor
• 1942 – Scatman John, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1999)
• 1942 – Herman Wijffels, Dutch economist and politician
• 1943 – André Téchiné, French director and screenwriter
• 1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician
• 1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli soldier (d. 1976)
• 1947 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist
• 1948 – Robert S. Woods, American actor
• 1949 – Sian Elias, New Zealand politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
• 1949 – Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese race car driver (d. 1974)
• 1949 – Julia Migenes, American soprano and actress
• 1949 – Emmy Verhey, Dutch violinist
• 1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American journalist
• 1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, screenwriter, and director
• 1952 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
• 1953 – Ridley Pearson, American author
• 1953 – Deborah Raffin, American actress and producer (d. 2012)
• 1954 – Robin Duke, Canadian actress
• 1955 – Bruno Conti, Italian footballer and manager
• 1955 – Glenne Headly, American actress
• 1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
• 1956 – Jamie Dimon, American businessman
• 1956 – Davor Slamnig, Croatian guitarist and author (Buldožer)
• 1957 – John Hoeven, American politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
• 1957 – Moses Hogan, American composer and arranger of choral music (d. 2003)
• 1958 – Linda Robson, English actress
• 1959 – Kathy Hilton, American actress and fashion designer
• 1960 – Yuri Andrukhovych, Ukrainian poet and author
• 1960 – Adam Clayton, English-Irish bass player and songwriter (U2 and Automatic Baby)
• 1960 – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
• 1962 – Terence Blanchard, American trumpet player and composer
• 1963 – Fito Páez, Argentinian singer-songwriter, pianist, and director
• 1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
• 1964 – João Gordo, Brazilian singer-songwriter (Ratos de Porão)
• 1965 – Cees Geel, Dutch actor
• 1965 – Gigi Rice, American actress
• 1967 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
• 1967 – Pieter Vink, Dutch football referee
• 1968 – Christopher Collet, American actor
• 1968 – Akira Nogami, Japanese wrestler and actor
• 1969 – Christopher Coke, Jamaican drug lord
• 1970 – Tim Story, American director and producer
• 1971 – Annabeth Gish, American actress
• 1971 – Tracy Wells, American actress
• 1972 – Common, American rapper and actor (Soulquarians)
• 1972 – Khujo, American rapper (Goodie Mob and The Lumberjacks)
• 1972 – Augenijus Vaškys, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1973 – Edgar Davids, Dutch footballer
• 1973 – David Draiman, American singer-songwriter (Disturbed and Device)
• 1973 – Bobby Jackson, American basketball player and coach
• 1974 – Thomas Enqvist, Swedish tennis player
• 1975 – Chris Ashworth, American actor
• 1975 – Glenn Lewis, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1976 – James Dewees, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (The Get Up Kids, Leathermouth, Coalesce, and Reggie and the Full Effect)
• 1976 – Troy Hudson, American basketball player
• 1976 – Danny Masterson, American actor
• 1977 – Momo Sylla, Guinean footballer
• 1977 – Kay Tse, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
• 1978 – Tom Danielson, American cyclist
• 1978 – Kenny Watson, American football player
• 1979 – Johan Santana, Venezuelan-American baseball player
• 1979 – Dainius Saulėnas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1979 – Cédric Van Branteghem, Belgian sprinter
• 1980 – Caron Butler, American basketball player
• 1980 – Molly Stanton, American actress
• 1981 – Toccara Jones, American model and actress
• 1981 – Stephen Maguire, Scottish snooker player
• 1981 – April Matson, American actress and singer
• 1982 – Jeremy Curl, Anglo-Irish explorer, author and photographer
• 1982 – Nicole Ohlde, American basketball player
• 1982 – Adam Thomson, New Zealand rugby player
• 1983 – Dan Lupu, Romanian actor
• 1983 – George Rose, Australian rugby player
• 1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno, American swimmer
• 1984 – Rachael Bella, American actress
• 1984 – Pieter Custers, Dutch archer
• 1984 – Steve Darcis, Belgian tennis player
• 1984 – Noel Fisher, Canadian actor
• 1984 – Chiaki Kyan, Japanese model
• 1984 – Yuuka Nanri, Japanese voice actress and singer (Tiaraway and FictionJunction)
• 1984 – Künter Rothberg, Estonian judoka
• 1984 – Rieneke Terink, Dutch swimmer
• 1984 – Marc Zwiebler, German badminton player
• 1985 – Alcides Araújo Alves, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Emile Hirsch, American actor
• 1985 – Matt Jackson, American wrestler
• 1985 – Ben Lowe, Australian rugby player
• 1985 – Austin Scott, American football player
• 1986 – Shunsuke Daito, Japanese actor
• 1987 – Marco Andretti, American race car driver
• 1987 – Andreas Beck, German footballer
• 1987 – Rosela Gjylbegu, Albanian singer
• 1988 – Furdjel Narsingh, Dutch footballer
• 1988 – Sadie West, American porn actress
• 1989 – Holger Badstuber, German footballer
• 1989 – Marko Marin, German footballer
• 1989 – Harry Melling, English actor
• 1991 – Eli Kim, American-South Korean singer (U-KISS)
• 1991 – Le Quang Liem, Vietnamese chess player
• 1991 – Tristan Thompson, Canadian basketball player
• 1991 – Aaron Woods, Australian rugby player
• 1992 – Kaya Scodelario, English actress
• 1999 – Wiktoria Gąsiewska, Polish actress

Deaths

• 600 – Leander of Seville, Spanish bishop (b. 534)
• 1271 – Henry of Almain (b. 1235)
• 1395 – John Barbour, Scottish poet (b. 1320)
• 1447 – Shahrukh Mirza, Persian ruler (b. 1377)
• 1516 – Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1456)
• 1569 – Louis, Prince of Condé (b. 1530)
• 1573 – Michel de l'Hôpital, French politician (b. 1507)
• 1604 – Arnaud d'Ossat, French cardinal and diplomat (b. 1537)
• 1619 – Richard Burbage, English actor (b. 1567)
• 1711 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)
• 1719 – Johann Friedrich Böttger, German alchemist (b. 1682)
• 1767 – Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (b. 1731)
• 1773 – Philibert Commerson, French historian and explorer (b. 1727)
• 1778 – Charles le Beau, French historian and author (b. 1701)
• 1800 – Nana Fadnavis, Indian minister and politician (b. 1742)
• 1803 – William Emes, English gardener (b. 1729)
• 1808 – Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
• 1833 – William Bradley, British naval officer and cartographer (b. 1757)
• 1842 – Henry Shrapnel, English army officer (b. 1761)
• 1854 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (b. 1773)
• 1873 – David Swinson Maynard, American doctor and businessman (b. 1808)
• 1879 – Adolf Anderssen, German chess player (b. 1818)
• 1881 – Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
• 1884 – Leland Stanford, Jr., American son of Leland Stanford (b. 1868)
• 1901 – Benjamin Harrison, American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
• 1906 – Susan B. Anthony, American activist (b. 1820)
• 1911 – John J. Toffey, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1844)
• 1912 – Eugène-Étienne Taché, Canadian engineer and architect, designed the Parliament Building (b. 1836)
• 1912 – Hugo Treffner, German educator, founded the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium (b. 1845)
• 1914 – Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, Pakistani physician and scholar (b. 1841)
• 1918 – César Cui, Russian composer and critic (b. 1835)
• 1925 – Lucille Ricksen, American actress (b. 1909)
• 1938 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (b. 1857)
• 1941 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (b. 1881)
• 1943 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American author (b. 1898)
• 1955 – Tribhuvan of Nepal (b. 1906)
• 1960 – Yosef Zvi HaLevy, Israeli rabbi and judge (b. 1874)
• 1963 – Austin Dobson, English race car driver (b. 1912)
• 1964 – Kitty Genovese, American murder victim (b. 1935)
• 1964 – Friedrich Lahrs, German architect (b. 1880)
• 1965 – Corrado Gini, Italian statistician and sociologist (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (b. 1891)
• 1965 – Fan S. Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1882)
• 1972 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941)
• 1975 – Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
• 1981 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish industrialist and chairman of Ford of Britain (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Louison Bobet, French cyclist (b. 1925)
• 1983 – Paul Citroen, German-Dutch illustrator and educator (b. 1896)
• 1988 – John Holmes, American porn actor (b. 1944)
• 1990 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Karl Münchinger, German conductor (b. 1915)
• 1995 – Leon Day, American baseball player (b. 1916)
• 1995 – Odette Hallowes, French-English nurse and agent (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
• 1998 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
• 1998 – Bill Reid, Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Hans von Ohain, German engineer (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Lee Falk, American cartoonist, director, and producer (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Garson Kanin, American screenwriter and director (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Anton Raadik, Estonian boxer (b. 1917)
• 1999 – Bidu Sayão, Brazilian-American soprano (b. 1902)
• 2001 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (b. 1895)
• 2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900)
• 2002 – Eugen Sacharias, German-Estonian architect (b. 1906)
• 2004 – Vilayat Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (b. 1905)
• 2006 – Robert C. Baker, American chef, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
• 2006 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Peter Tomarken, American game show host (b. 1942)
• 2007 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
• 2009 – Test, Canadian-American wrestler (b. 1975)
• 2009 – Betsy Blair, American-English actress (b. 1923)
• 2010 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
• 2010 – He Pingping, Chinese dwarf (b. 1988)
• 2011 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
• 2013 – Richard Davey, Australian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Cartha DeLoach, American FBI agent and author (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Ducky Detweiler, American baseball player and manager (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Tore Lokoloko, Papua New Guinean politician, 2nd Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Veer Bhadra Mishra, Indian environmentalist (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Gerard Sithunywa Ndlovu, South African bishop (b. 1939)
• 2013 – Nelson Ne'e, Solomon Islander politician (b. 1954)
• 2013 – Perween Rahman, Pakistani activist (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Rolf Schult, German actor (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Władysław Stachurski, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1945)
• 2013 – Malachi Throne, American actor (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Euphrasia of Constantinople
  • Gerald of Mayo
  • Leander of Seville
  • Leticia
  • Nicephorus
  • Roderick
  • Sabinus of Hermopolis
• Kasuga Matsuri (Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara, Japan)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to March 13.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada