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This day in history

This day in history: 24 March

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

402 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 24 March.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: OpenAI announces that their flagship Sora app and API are shutting down.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Catherine of Vadstena

Christian feast day: Hildelith of Barking

Christian feast day: Mac Cairthinn of Clogher

Christian feast day: March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Maria Karłowska

Christian feast day: Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism)

Christian feast day: Paul Couturier (Church of England)

Christian feast day: Walter Hilton (Church of England)

Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina)

International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims

National Tree Planting Day (Uganda)

World Tuberculosis Day (International)

Events

2026OpenAI announces that their flagship Sora app and API are shutting down.

2024The 2024 Senegalese presidential election is held following anti-government protests.

2023An EF4 tornado strikes the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City, Mississippi, causing mass destruction.

2018Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

2018Syrian civil war: The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Syrian National Army (SNA) take full control of Afrin District, marking the end of the Afrin offensive.

2015Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

2008Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

1999A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel, creating an inferno that kills 39 people.

1999Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.

1998A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.

1998Dr. Rüdiger Marmulla performs the first computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

1998Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, open fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.

1992Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-45.

1990Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the last ship of Indian Peace Keeping Force leaving Sri Lanka.

1989In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.

1986The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.

1982Bangladeshi President Abdus Sattar is deposed in a bloodless coup led by Army Chief Lieutenant general Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who suspends the Constitution and imposes martial law.

1980El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

1977Morarji Desai becomes the prime minister of India, the first prime minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.

1976In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a seven-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.

1972Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath.

1949Hanns Albin Rauter, a chief SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands, is convicted and executed for crimes against humanity.

1946A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.

1944German troops massacre 335 Italian civilians in Rome.

1944World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.

1939The 1939 Liechtenstein putsch takes place; approximately 40 members of the VBDL starting from Nendeln march towards Vaduz with the intention of overthrowing the government and provoking Liechtenstein's annexation into Germany.

1934The Tydings–McDuffie Act is passed by the United States Congress, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.

1927Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defence of the foreign citizens within the city.

1922The McMahon killings take place in Belfast. Six Catholic civilians are shot dead, two others wounded and a female family member assaulted. Police were suspected as being responsible, but no one was prosecuted.

1921The 1921 Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, becoming the first international women's sports event.

1900Carnegie Steel Company is formed in New Jersey; its capitalization of $160 million is the largest to date.

1900Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1882Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.

1878The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.

1870A Chilean prospecting party led by José Díaz Gana discovers the silver ores of Caracoles in the Bolivian portion of Atacama Desert, leading to the last of the Chilean silver rushes and a diplomatic dispute over its taxation between Chile

1869The last of Tītokowaru's forces surrender to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.

1860Sakuradamon Incident: Japanese chief minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke is assassinated by rōnin samurai outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle.

1854President José Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.

1832In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.

1829The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.

Born on this day

2004Gonzalo García, Spanish footballer

2001Clara Burel, French tennis player

1999Katie Swan, English tennis player

1998Christopher Briney, American actor

1998Damar Hamlin, American football player

1998Ethel Cain, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and model

1997Mina, Japanese singer and dancer

1996Myles Turner, American basketball player

1995Enzo Zidane, French-Spanish footballer

1993Daniel Sazonov, Finnish politician

1991Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player

1991Nick Browne, English cricketer

1990Aljur Abrenica, Filipino actor

1990Alyssa Healy, Australian cricketer

1990JonTron, American YouTuber

1990Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress

1990Lacey Evans, American wrestler

1990Starlin Castro, American baseball player

1989Zyzz, Russian-Australian bodybuilder and internet personality (died 2011)

1988Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete

1988Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer

1988Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer

1988Matt Todd, New Zealand rugby union player

1988Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer

1987Billy Jones, English footballer

1987Ramires, Brazilian footballer

1987Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer

1987Yuma Asami, Japanese actress and singer

1985CJ Perry, American wrestler, manager, and actress

1985Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and singer

1984Adrian D'Souza, Indian field hockey player

1984Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French-Cameroonian footballer

1984Chris Bosh, American basketball player

1984Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner

1984Park Bom, South Korean singer

1984Philipp Petzschner, German tennis player

1983Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer

1983Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player

1983Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer

1983T. J. Ford, American basketball player

Died on this day

2026Biruté Galdikas, Canadian primatologist and conservationist (born 1946)

2026Mel Schilling, Australian TV personality and coach (born 1972)

2026Tracy Kidder, American writer (born 1945)

2025Dick Carlson, American journalist and diplomat (born 1941)

2024Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer, mountain guide, and businessman (born 1929)

2023Gordon Moore, American businessman, engineer and co-founder of Intel Corporation (born 1929)

2023Pradeep Sarkar, Indian writer and director (born 1955)

2022Dagny Carlsson, Swedish blogger and influencer (born 1912)

2021Jessica Walter, American actress and voice artist (born 1941)

2020Albert Uderzo, French comic book artist (born 1927)

2020Manu Dibango, Cameroonian musician and songwriter (born 1933)

2019Joseph Pilato, American film and voice actor (born 1949)

2018Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (born 1924)

2018Rim Banna, Palestinian singer, composer, arranger and activist (born 1966)

2016Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1949)

2016Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (born 1947)

2015notable deaths of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash:

2015Yehuda Avner, English-Israeli diplomat (born 1928)

2014David A. Trampier, American illustrator (born 1954)

2014John Rowe Townsend, English author and scholar (born 1922)

2014Oleksandr Muzychko, Ukrainian activist (born 1962)

2013Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (born 1926)

2013Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow, English diplomat (born 1912)

2013Gury Marchuk, Russian physicist, mathematician, and academic (born 1925)

2013Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, academic, and politician (born 1938)

2013Mohamed Yousri Salama, Egyptian dentist and politician (born 1974)

2013Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (born 1972)

2012Nick Noble, American singer-songwriter (born 1926)

2012Paul Callaghan, New Zealand physicist and academic (born 1947)

2010Jim Marshall, American photographer (born 1936)

Quote of the day

“Only the educated are free.”

Epictetus

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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