12 Farvardin 1403

Events

• 1174 (852 years ago) A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks.
• 1774 (252 years ago) American Revolution: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
• 1814 (212 years ago) The Sixth Coalition occupies Paris after Napoleon's Grande Armée capitulates.
• 1933 (93 years ago) The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.
• 1942 (84 years ago) World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
• 1966 (60 years ago) The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
• 1991 (35 years ago) Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1992 (34 years ago) The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow.

Births

• 1596 (430 years ago) René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (died 1650)
• 1675 (351 years ago) Pope Benedict XIV,
• 1685 (341 years ago) Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (died 1750)
• 1732 (294 years ago) Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1809)
• 1890 (136 years ago) William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971)
• 1914 (112 years ago) Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)
• 1948 (78 years ago) Al Gore, American soldier and politician, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Prize laureate
• 1971 (55 years ago) Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor

Deaths

• 1547 (479 years ago) Francis I, French king (born 1494)
• 1631 (395 years ago) John Donne, English lawyer and poet (born 1572)
• 1855 (171 years ago) Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (born 1816)
• 1917 (109 years ago) Emil von Behring, German physiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)
• 1980 (46 years ago) Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper (born 1913)
• 1995 (31 years ago) Selena, American singer-songwriter (born 1971)
• 2016 (10 years ago) Imre Kertész, Hungarian author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929)
• 2016 (10 years ago) Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-born English architect and academic, designed the Bridge Pavilion (born 1950)

All 496 events, births and deaths of March 31