Anniversaries 31 March

Birth

Guru Angad Dev3

The second Guru of Sikhism 1504–1552

René Descartes47

French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist 1596–1650

Andrew Marvell35

English metaphysical poet and politician 1621–1678

Joseph Haydn3

Austrian composer 1732–1809

Edward FitzGerald13

English poet and writer 1809–1883

Thomas Gold Appleton1

American artist 1812–1884

Mary Abigail Dodge3

American writer 1833–1896

Andrew Lang10

Scots poet, novelist and literary critic 1844–1912

Scott Joplin6

American composer, musician, and pianist 1868–1917

Alexandra Kollontai32

Soviet diplomat 1872–1952

Sergei Diaghilev1

Russian art critic 1872–1929

Jack Johnson (boxer)2

American boxer 1878–1946

Heinrich Neuhaus2

Soviet musician 1888–1964

Shin'ichirō Tomonaga2

Japanese physicist 1906–1979

Freddie Green1

American musician 1911–1987

Octavio Paz71

Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Lite… 1914–1998

Shoichi Yokoi1

Japanese World War II Soldier 1915–1997

Sam Hinton4

folk singer, artist, marine biologist 1917–2009

Leo Buscaglia84

Motivational speaker, writer 1924–1998

John Fowles120

British writer 1926–2005

Eduardo Martínez Somalo1

cardinal of the Catholic Church 1927–2021

Cesar Chavez37

American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activi… 1927–1993

John Jakes7

American historical novelist and fantasy writer 1932

Tullio De Mauro1

Italian linguist 1932–2017

Kamala Surayya12

Indian author 1934–2009

Carlo Rubbia1

Italian particle physicist 1934

Walter E. Williams34

American economist, commentator, and academic 1936

Marge Piercy5

American novelist and poet 1936

Barney Frank17

American politician, former member of the House of Represen… 1940

Michael Savage43

U.S. radio talk show host, Commentator, and Author 1942

Judith Lewis Herman6

American psychiatrist 1942

Christopher Walken18

American actor 1943

Angus King19

United States Senator from Maine 1944

Eliyahu M. Goldratt10

Israeli physicist and management guru 1947–2011

Domenico Mogavero1

Catholic bishop 1947

Gregory J. Studerus1

Roman Catholic priest 1948

Al Gore127

45th Vice President of the United States 1948

Enrique Vila-Matas1

Spanish writer 1948

Charles Gauci3

Bishop of Darwin 1952

Angus Young10

Scottish Australian guitarist 1955

Franco Coppola1

Italian bishop and apostolic nuncio 1957

Ian McDonald30

British science fiction novelist 1960

Kent Beck13

software engineer 1961

Olli Rehn1

Finnish politician 1962

Teresa Kok4

Malaysian politician 1964

Matt Dillahunty20

American activist 1969

Ewan McGregor4

British actor 1971

Ze Frank26

American online performance artist 1972

Peter Rollins1

British writer 1973

Anthony B3

Jamaican deejay and singer 1976

Chloé Zhao4

Chinese film director, screenwriter, and film producer 1982

Robert Agresta8

1983

Death

Francis I of France1

King of France 1494–1547

John Donne115

English poet 1572–1631

Isaac Newton171

British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern c… 1643–1727

Thomas Adam3

clergyman, religious writer 1701–1784

Olaudah Equiano7

African abolitionist 1745–1797

Pierre Sonnerat2

French botanist (1748-1814) 1748–1814

John Constable53

English Romantic painter 1776–1837

John C. Calhoun15

7th Vice President of the United States 1782–1850

Antoine Augustin Cournot5

French economist and mathematician 1801–1877

Allan Kardec13

systematizer of Spiritism 1804–1869

Charlotte Brontë83

English novelist and poet 1816–1855

John Godfrey Saxe24

American poet 1816–1887

Robert Payne Smith1

Dean of Canterbury 1818–1895

J. P. Morgan6

American financier, banker, philanthropist and art collector 1837–1913

Jean-Marie Guyau4

French writer and philosopher 1854–1888

Jessie Ackermann4

Second Woman's Christian Temperance Union round-the-world m… 1857–1951

Christian Morgenstern21

German author 1871–1914

Knute Rockne6

American college football player and college football coach… 1888–1931

Enid Bagnold1

English dramatist, playwright, memoirist 1889–1981

Semyon Timoshenko10

Soviet military commander 1895–1970

Rodion Malinovsky5

Soviet military commander and politician 1898–1967

Christina Stead4

Twentieth-century expatriate Australian novelist 1902–1983

Walter Schellenberg6

German general 1910–1952

Jesse Owens24

American track and field athlete 1913–1980

Ivan Kostov Nikolov2

Bulgarian mineralogist 1913–2004

Bella Abzug4

American politician 1920–1998

Roland W. Schmitt1

American academic 1923–2017

Arthur D. Hall18

American electrical engineer 1925–2006

Imre Kertész61

Hungarian writer 1929–2016

James Rosenquist3

American artist 1933–2017

Zaha Hadid2

Iraqi-British architect 1950–2016

Brandon Lee1

American actor and martial artist 1965–1993

Selena10

Mexican-American singer, songwriter, actress, and fashion d… 1971–1995