On this day in history

March 2

28 births · 17 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

86th Academy Awards

12 years ago

Born this day

1931

Mikhail Gorbachev

Would be 95

Photo (modified): Leo Medvedev/Лев Леонидович Медведев · CC BY-SA 4.0

Oldest record

1752nd

Mani

death anniversary

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Famous births28

1316 · 710 yrs

Robert II of Scotland

Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, he was named Robert Stewart.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1459 · 567 yrs

Adrian VI

Pope Adrian VI (Latin: Hadrianus VI; Italian: Adriano VI; German: Hadrian VI.; Dutch: Adrianus/Adriaan VI), born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): After Jan van Scorel · Public domain

1760 · 266 yrs

Camille Desmoulins

Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (French:; 2 March 1760 – 5 April 1794) was a French journalist, politician and prominent figure of the French Revolution. He is best known for playing an instrumental role in the events that led to the Storming of the Bastille.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MediaDied aged 34

View profile Photo (modified): Unidentified painter · Public domain

1793 · 233 yrs

Sam Houston

Samuel Houston (HEW-stən; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American military general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution in which the Republic of Texas seceded from Mexico.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1810 · 216 yrs

Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 1878 until his death in 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign and third-longest verified reign of any pope, behind those of St.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 93

View profile Photo (modified): Braun et Compagnie · Public domain

1817 · 209 yrs

János Arany

János Arany (Hungarian pronunciation:; archaic English: John Arany; 2 March 1817 – 22 October 1882) was a Hungarian poet, writer, translator and journalist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Miklós Barabás · Public domain

1820 · 206 yrs

Multatuli

Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March 1820 – 19 February 1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli (from Latin multa tulī, "I have suffered much"), was a Dutch writer best known for his satirical novel Max Havelaar (1860), which denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): César Mitkiewicz · Public domain

1824 · 202 yrs

Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 60

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1876 · 150 yrs

Pius XII

Pope Pius XII (Italian: Pio XII; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Michael Pitcairn · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel ( sooss GHY-zəl, zoyss -⁠; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American children's author, illustrator, animator, and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 122

View profile Photo (modified): Al Ravenna, New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer · Public domain

1919 · 107 yrs

Jennifer Jones

Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 107

View profile Photo (modified): Studio Publicity · Public domain

1926 · 100 yrs

Murray Rothbard

Murray Newton Rothbard (US:; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 100

View profile Photo (modified): Ludwig von Mises Institute · CC BY 3.0

Showing 12 of 28

Famous deaths17

AD 274 · 1752 yrs

Mani

Mani (c. April AD 216 – 2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277) was an Iranian prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a religion most prevalent in late antiquity. Mani was born in or near Ctesiphon (south of modern Baghdad) in Mesopotamia, at the time part of the Parthian Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Mladifilozof · Public domain

1791 · 235 yrs

John Wesley

John Wesley (28 June 1703 – 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a principal leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the ongoing independent Methodist movement.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 87

View profile Photo (modified): George Romney · Public domain

1797 · 229 yrs

Horace Walpole

Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was a British Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 79

View profile Photo (modified): Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1835 · 191 yrs

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis II and I (German: Franz II; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (as Francis II) from 1792 to 1806, and the first Emperor of Austria (as Francis I) from 1804 to 1835.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Friedrich von Amerling · Public domain

1840 · 186 yrs

Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (German:; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German astronomer. He found a convenient method of calculating the orbit of comets, and in 1802 and 1807, discovered the second and the fourth asteroids Pallas and Vesta.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 81

View profile Photo (modified): Rudolph Suhrlandt · Public domain

1855 · 171 yrs

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I (6 July 1796 – 2 March 1855) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1825 to 1855. He was the third son of Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I. Nicholas's 29-year reign began with the failed Decembrist revolt.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Franz Krüger · Public domain

1895 · 131 yrs

Berthe Morisot

Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (English: mor-ee-ZOH, French:; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1895 · 131 yrs

Isma'il Pasha

Isma'il Pasha (Arabic: إسماعيل باشا Ismā‘īl Bāshā; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1930 · 96 yrs

D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation and industrialisation, while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author Unknown author (passport office) · Public domain

1939 · 87 yrs

Howard Carter

Howard Carter (9 May 1874 – 2 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who became known for discovering the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Chicago Daily News, Inc., photographer · Public domain

1949 · 77 yrs

Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay; Bengali pronunciation:; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of United Provinces, after India's independence. She played an important role in the Indian independence movement against the British Raj.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 147

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1974 · 52 yrs

Salvador Puig Antich

Salvador Puig Antich (Catalan pronunciation:; 30 May 1948 – 2 March 1974) was a Spanish militant anarchist from Catalonia. His execution for involvement in a bank robbery and shooting a police officer dead became a cause célèbre in Francoist Spain for Catalan autonomists, pro-independence supporters, and anarchists.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 78

View profile Photo (modified): Joan Carles Torres · CC BY 2.0

Showing 12 of 17

Events5

1944 · 82 yrs

16th Academy Awards

The 16th Academy Awards were held on March 2, 1944, to honor the films of 1943. This was the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the first ceremony without a banquet as part of the festivities.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1969 · 57 yrs

Sino-Soviet border conflict

The Sino-Soviet border conflict, also known as the Sino-Soviet crisis, was a seven-month undeclared military conflict between the Soviet Union and China in 1969, following the Sino-Soviet split.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2008 · 18 yrs

2008 Russian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008. Incumbent president Vladimir Putin was ineligible to run for a third term.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2014 · 12 yrs

86th Academy Awards

The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2025 · 1 yrs

97th Academy Awards

The 97th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2024.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

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