EVENTS:
- 1849 – New Roman Republic established
- 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
- 1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
- 1969 – First test flight of the Boeing 747.
- 1971 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
- 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- 2013 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes southwest Colombia causing major disruption to the region and injuring at least 15 people.
- 2016 – Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. At least ten people are dead, one person is missing and presumed dead, about 80 are injured.
- 2018 – 2018 Winter Olympics : opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.
- 2020 – Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis.
- 2021 – Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.
BIRTHS:
- 1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- 1922 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1922 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014)
- 1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
- 1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian linguist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster
- 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Jimmy Smith, American football player
- 1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1974 – Brad Maynard, American football player
- 1982 – Chris Weale, English footballer and manager
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Earliest day on which Clean Monday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of Great Lent. (Eastern Christianity)
- Earliest day on which People’s Sunday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent. (Malta)
