On this day in history —

• Julius Caesar wins the Battle of Munda, final battle of the civil war, and his last victory before his assassination the following year (45 BCE)
• First Taranaki War between the British and the Maori begins (1860 CE)
• The united Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed (1860 CE)
• The National Gallery of Art opens in Washington, DC (1941 CE)
• The first of the Nazi camps designed purely for mass killing, the Bełżec Extermination Camp, opens (1942 CE)
• Eleven V-2 rockets fired at the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen finally results in its collapse nine days after its capture by the Allies (1945 CE)
• Element 98, Californium (Cf) is synthesized for the first time in a cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley (1950 CE)
• Vanguard 1, the second U.S. artificial satellite and the fourth overall, is launched (1964 CE)
• The Dalai Lama flees Tibet following the Tibetan uprising that began seven days earlier (1959 CE)
• The DSV Alvin recovers the last hydrogen bomb lost after a midair collision over the Mediterranean Sea (1966 CE)
• Golda Meir is elected Prime Minister of Israel, the third woman in history to be an elected head of state (1969 CE)
• Ethiopia loses the Battle of Afabet, resulting in independence for Eritrea (1988 CE)
• White voters in South Africa vote to support the ending of apartheid (1992 CE)

It’s the birthday of —

• Mia Hamm, soccer player (1972)
• Billy Corgan, pumpkin smasher (1967)
• Rob Lowe, actor (1964)
• Dana Reeve, Mrs. Superman (1961)
• Gary Sinese, actor (1955)
• Paul Overstreet, country singer (1955)
• Leslie-Anne Down, actress (1954)
• William Gibson, cyberpunk writer (1948)
• Pattie Boyd, groupie (1944)
• Kurt Russell, actor (1951)
• Patrick Duffy, actor (1949)
• John Sebastian, musician (1944)
• John Wayne Gacy, serial killer (1942)
• Paul Kantner, musician (1941)
• Rudolf Nureyev (Рудо́льф Нуре́ев), dancer (1938)
• Ken Mattingly, astronaut (1936)
• James Irwin, astronaut (1930)
• Nat King Cole, musician (1919)
• “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh, football player (1914)
• Brigitte Helm, Metropolis actress (1906)
• Bobby Jones, golfer (1902)
• Kate Greenaway, children’s book author (1846)
• Gottlieb Daimler, automobile pioneer (1834)
• Jim Bridger, Western explorer (1804)
• Roger B. Taney, chief justice (1777)
• King James IV of Scotland, monarch (1473)

Deaths —

• John Demjanjuk (Іван Дем’янюк), convicted concentration camp guard (2012)
• Ferlin Husky, country singer (2011)
• Oleg Cassini, fashion designer (2006)
• Ray Meyer, basketball coach (2006)
• Andre Norton, science fiction writer (2005)
• George F. Kennan, diplomat (2005)
• Helen Hayes, actress (2003)
• Pat Weaver, NBC executive and Sigourney’s father (2002)
• Ronnie Kray, mobster (1995)
• Grace Stafford, voice of “Woody Woodpecker” (1992)
• Capucine, actress (1990)
• Santo Trafficante, Jr., mobster (1987)
• Louis Kahn, architect (1974)
• Amos Alonzo Stagg, football coach (1965)
• Fred Allen, radio host (1956)
• Irène Joliot-Curie, scientist (1956)
• Christian Doppler, effect namesake (1853)
• Daniel Bernoulli, principle namesake (1782)
• Juraj Jánošík, highwayman, “Robin Hood of Slovakia” (1713)
• François de La Rochefoucauld, epigrammatist (1680)
• Marcus Aurelius, philosopher king (180)

Holidays —

• Saint Patrick’s Day (Irish diaspora, worldwide)
• Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)
• Liberalia (ancient Rome)
• National Muay Boran Day (Thailand)
• Feast of Joseph of Arimathea (Catholicism)