On this day in history —

• Johannes Kepler discovers his Third Law of Planetary Motion (1618)
• In a Virginia court decision, African-American John Casor is declared to be a slave for life, the first American officially given that designation (1655)
• The Gnadenhütten Masssacre of Lenape Indians takes place in Ohio (1782)
• The New York Stock Exchange is established (1817)
• Aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive an airplane pilot’s license (1910)
• The State of Georgia asks Congress to declare the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution void in an attempt to maintain the institution of segregation (1957)
• The Ba’ath Party seizes power in Syria in the March 8 Revolution (1963)
• First broadcast of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1978)
• The compact disc is introduced (1979)
• Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire” (1983)

It’s the birthday of —

• Freddie Prinze, Jr., actor (1976)
• Hines Ward, football player (1976)
• Buck Williams, basketball player (1960)
• Jim Rice, baseball player (1953)
• Carol Bayer Sager, lyricist (1947)
• Mickey Dolenz, Monkee (1945)
• Lynn Redgrave, actress (1943)
• Dick Allen, baseball player (1942)
• Richard Fariña, writer (1937)
• Sue Ane Langdon, actress (1936)
• Cyd Charisse, dancer (1922)
• Ralph H. Baer, inventor of the home video game console (1922)
• Alan Hale, Jr., SS Minnow skipper (1918)
• Mississippi John Hurt, blues singer (1893)
• Otto Hahn, “father of nuclear chemistry” (1879)
• Kenneth Grahame, children’s author (1859)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court justice (1841)
• Anne Bonny, pirate of the Caribbean (1702)
• John of God, saint — born and died on March 8 (1495)

Deaths —

• Hank Locklin, country singer (2009)
• Ali Bongo, magician (2009)
• Abū ‘Abbās, PLO founder (2004)
• Joe DiMaggio, baseball player (1999)
• Peggy Cass, game show panelist (1999)
• Ray Nitschke, linebacker (1998)
• “Mad Jack” Churchill, who fought throughout World War II armed with a longbow and a broadsword (1996)
• Billy Eckstine, bandleader (1993)
• Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, grateful dead (1973)
• Harold Lloyd, clock hanger (1971)
• José Raúl Capablanca, chess player (1942)
• Sherwood Anderson, writer (1941)
• William Howard Taft, 27th President and 10th Chief Justice (1930)
• Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, airship designer (1917)
• Millard Fillmore, 13th President (1874)
• Hector Berlioz, composer (1869)
• King William III of England, Mary partner (1702)
• John of God, saint — born and died on March 8 (1550)

Holidays —

• International Women’s Day (cover image)
• Revolution Day (Syria)
• Women of Aviation Worldwide Week (week including March 8)
• Feast of Saint Philemon of Antinoë