Ferdowsi completes the Shahnameh, Persia's national epic (1010), and Women's Day marches in Mexico turn violent (2021). Born on this day: Otto Hahn, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Cyd Charisse. Died: William Howard Taft, Millard Fillmore and Hector Berlioz.
30 events, 60 births and 60 deaths on this date.
After some 33 years of work, the poet Ferdowsi finished the Shahnameh, a Persian verse epic of around 50,000 couplets. It traces the history of Iran from myth to the Muslim conquest and remains central to Persian language and identity.
Attributed to Sultan Muhammad · Public domainDemonstrators across Mexico clashed with police during the 2021 women's rights protests, and in Mexico City alone 62 officers and 19 civilians were hurt. The holiday itself is meant to draw attention to issues such as violence against women.
A Spanish colonial officer wrote to King Philip II describing the Maya ruins at Copán, in what is now Honduras, the earliest surviving reference to the site. The letter marks the start of European written knowledge of the city.
Pictures sent back by the Voyager 1 probe, launched by NASA to study the outer Solar System, confirmed that Io, one of Jupiter's moons, has active volcanoes. The images came as the probe flew past Jupiter on its way onward to Saturn.
NASA/JPL · Public domain
An unsigned essay, which some historians credit to Thomas Paine, argued that enslaved people should be freed and slavery ended. It was among the earliest such appeals in the colonies, published weeks before fighting began.
Anne took the throne after the death of her brother-in-law William III, who had ruled alongside her late sister Mary. Her reign saw the Acts of Union join England and Scotland, creating Great Britain in 1707.
Michael Dahl · Public domain
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Otto Hahn was a German chemist who pioneered radiochemistry and is often called the father of nuclear chemistry. He and Lise Meitner discovered nuclear fission in 1938, and he alone received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for it.
Nobel Foundation · Public domain
A son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he worked as music shifted from the Baroque toward the Classical era. He was remembered for expressive keyboard music, and his essay on playing keyboard instruments was studied by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
After Johann Philipp Bach · Public domain
Cyd Charisse was an American ballet dancer who became a film star, best known for her dance partnerships with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Her long legs and fluid style made films such as Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon memorable.
Studio · Public domain
Taft was the only person to serve both as US president and as chief justice of the Supreme Court. He had hoped for the court's top seat for years before finally reaching it in 1921, eight years before his death.
Pach Brothers, restored by Adam Cuerden · Public domain
Fillmore was the thirteenth American president, serving from 1850 to 1853 after Zachary Taylor's death. He is remembered for helping pass the Compromise of 1850, a brief truce in the fight over slavery's expansion.
Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain
Berlioz was a French Romantic composer and conductor who defied his family's plans for medicine to write music. His Symphonie fantastique, inspired by his obsession with the actress Harriet Smithson, made his name.
Pierre Petit · Public domain
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