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

Events

Up to 19th century

• 483 - St. Felix becomes Pope.
• 874 - The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Apostles, Constantinople.
• 1138 - Cardinal Gregory is elected anti-pope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II.
• 1639 - Harvard University is named for a clergyman named John Harvard.
• 1781 - William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus.
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America reluctantly agrees 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 1 March in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
• 1884 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
• 1900 - Boer Wars: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.

20th century

1900s-1970s

• 1921 - Mongolia declares its independence from China.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution.
• 1933 - Great Depression: Banks in the United States begin to re-open after the Presidentially mandated "bank holiday".
• 1940 - Winter War ended.
• 1943 - World War II: In Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
• 1943 - Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
• 1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu: Viet Minh forces attack French.
• 1957 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery.
• 1964 - A young woman, Kitty Genovese was murdered in front of multiple witnesses who all failed to help her in an incident which shocks the world and prompts investigation into the Bystander effect.
• 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
• 1971 - In New York City, Rock group The Allman Brothers Band record a concert that will be released as their classic live album At Fillmore East

1990s

• 1991 - The United States Justice Department announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1,000 million for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
• 1992 - In eastern Turkey, an earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500.
• 1993 - The Great Blizzard of 1993 strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Québec.
• 1996 - The Dunblane Massacre.
• 1997 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.

21st century

• 2003 - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy.

Births

Up to 19th century

• 1615 - Pope Innocent XII, (d. 1700)
• 1733 - Joseph Priestley, scientist, minister, (d. 1804)
• 1741 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, (d. 1790)
• 1763 - Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French soldier, (d. 1815)
• 1764 - Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, obtainer of a popular bergamot tea recipe, (d. 1845)
• 1781 - Karl Friedrich Schinkel, master builder, (d. 1841)
• 1784 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (d. 1842)
• 1798 - Abigail Fillmore, First Lady of the United States, (d. 1853)
• 1855 - Percival Lowell, astronomer, (d. 1916)
• 1860 - Hugo Wolf, composer, (d. 1903)
• 1864 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian impressionist painter, (d. 1941)
• 1880 - Frank Thiess, writer, (d. 1977)
• 1884 - Oskar Loerke, lyricist, narrator and essayist, (d. 1941)
• 1884 - Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist, (d. 1941)
• 1900 - George Seferis, Nobel prize-winning poet, (d. 1971)

20th century

• 1908 - Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist, (d. 2002)
• 1910 - Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt, Danish actor, (d. 1985)
• 1911 - L. Ron Hubbard, author, (d. 1986)
• 1913 - William Casey, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, (d. 1987)
• 1914 - Edward O'Hare, US pilot, (d. 1943)
• 1934 - Barry Hughart, fantasy author
• 1935 - Michael Walzer, Philosopher
• 1938 - Erma Franklin, singer (d. 2002)
• 1939 - Neil Sedaka, singer
• 1942 - Dave Cutler, software engineer
• 1947 - Beat Richner, pediatrician in Cambodia, cellist
• 1949 - Julia Migenes, soprano
• 1950 - William H. Macy, actor
• 1952 - Wolfgang Rihm, composer
• 1954 - The Baroness Amos, British politician, first black woman in the UK Cabinet
• 1956 - Dana Delany, actress
• 1960 - Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
• 1967 - Billy Corgan, musician, songwriter
• 1973 - David Draiman, musician, songwriter
• 1974 - Cillian Murphy, musician

Deaths

Up to the 19th century

• 1619 - Richard Burbage, actor (b. 1567)
• 1808 - King Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
• 1842 - Henry Shrapnel, soldier, inventor (b. 1761)
• 1881 - Tsar Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
• 1884 - Leland Stanford, Jr., namesake of Stanford University (b. 1868)

20th century

• 1901 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
• 1906 - Susan B. Anthony, civil rights and women's suffrage activist (b. 1820)
• 1938 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Soviet politician and intellectual (b. 1888)
• 1938 - Clarence Darrow, attorney (b. 1857)
• 1943 - Stephen Vincent Benét, author (b. 1898)
• 1955 - Tribhuvan of Nepal, King (b. 1906)
• 1965 - Corrado Gini, statistician (b. 1884)
• 1965 - Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, poet and political figure (b. 1882)
• 1972 - Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (b. 1941)
• 1975 - Ivo Andrić, Nobel prize winning writer (b. 1892)
• 1990 - Bruno Bettelheim, child psychologist, psychiatrist
• 1991 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (b. 1915)
• 1995 - Leon Day, baseballer (b. 1916)
• 1996 - Krzysztof Kieslowski, film director (b. 1941)
• 1998 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
• 1998 - Risen Star, race horse (b. 1985)
• 1999 - Garson Kanin, writer, director

Holidays and observances

• Feast of Saint Nicephorus (Roman and Greek churches)

March 12 - March 14 - February 13 - April 13 -- listing of all days