# On this day: March 24

March 24 is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years), with 282 days left until the end of the year.

## March 24 in one line

Headline entries for March 24, from Wikipedia: in 2015, The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately crashed the aircraft, an Airbus A320, in a mass murder–suicide in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; born 1954: Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (died 1992); died 1905: Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1828). In 2026 it is a Tuesday, in 2027 a Wednesday.

## Events on March 24

- 1199 King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England)
- 1387 Hundred Years' War: An English fleet led by Richard Fitzalan attacked 250 to 360 French, Flemish and Castilian vessels in the Battle of Margate. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Margate)
- 1603 James VI of Scotland succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland as James I, uniting the realms under a single monarch. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I)
- 1794 In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%9Bciuszko's_proclamation)
- 1860 Japanese chief minister Ii Naosuke was assassinated by rōnin samurai upset with his role in opening Japan to foreign powers. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakuradamon_Incident_(1860))
- 1882 German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Koch)
- 1898 The Winton Motor Carriage Company, one of the first American car companies, sold its first unit. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winton_Motor_Carriage_Company)
- 1900 Robert Anderson Van Wyck, mayor of New York City, broke ground for a new underground Rapid Transit Railroad that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_City_Subway)
- 1921 The inaugural Women's Olympiad, the first international women's sports event, opened at the International Sporting Club of Monaco in Monte Carlo. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_Women's_Olympiad)
- 1922 Irish War of Independence: In Belfast, two men wearing police uniforms broke into a house and murdered a Catholic family in what was believed to be a reprisal for the deaths of two policemen the day before. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMahon_killings)
- 1934 The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tydings%E2%80%93McDuffie_Act)
- 1939 Members of the German National Movement in Liechtenstein attempted to overthrow the government and provoke Liechtenstein's annexation into Nazi Germany. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_National_Movement_in_Liechtenstein)
- 1944 German troops massacre 335 Italian civilians in Rome. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeatine_massacre)
- 1944 World 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. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III)
- 1964 Royal assent was given to Prince Edward Island's Provincial Flag Act, which outlined the design of its provincial flag. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Prince_Edward_Island)
- 1976 In 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. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Argentine_coup_d'%C3%A9tat)
- 1977 Morarji Desai becomes the prime minister of India, the first prime minister not to belong to Indian National Congress. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Congress)
- 1980 One day after making a plea to Salvadoran soldiers to stop carrying out the government's repression, Archbishop Óscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero)
- 1989 In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill)
- 1992 Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-45. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-45)
- 1999 Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia)
- 2002 At the 74th Academy Awards, Halle Berry became the first African American to win Best Actress, winning for her role as Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halle_Berry)
- 2006 Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus as an actress whose alter ego is the titular character, premiered. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Montana)
- 2008 Led by Jigme Thinley, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party won 45 of 47 seats in the country's first National Assembly election. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bhutanese_National_Assembly_election)
- 2015 The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately crashed the aircraft, an Airbus A320, in a mass murder–suicide in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525)
- 2018 Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkland_high_school_shooting)

## Born on March 24

- 1494 Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (died 1555) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgius_Agricola)
- 1834 William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (died 1896) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris)
- 1835 Joseph Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet (died 1893) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Stefan)
- 1874 Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor (died 1926) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini)
- 1874 Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd president of the Italian Republic (died 1961) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Einaudi)
- 1884 Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1966) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Debye)
- 1893 Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (died 1960) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Baade)
- 1897 Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (died 1957) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich)
- 1903 Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Butenandt)
- 1911 Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (died 2006) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Barbera)
- 1917 John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kendrew)
- 1921 Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (died 2010) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Smyslov)
- 1926 Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Fo)
- 1930 Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (died 1980) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen)
- 1944 Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th prime minister of Serbia [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vojislav_Ko%C5%A1tunica)
- 1944 R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor (died 2018) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Lee_Ermey)
- 1949 Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th prime minister of Sri Lanka [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranil_Wickremesinghe)
- 1954 Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (died 1992) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Orozco_Maestre)
- 1956 Steve Ballmer, American businessman [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer)
- 1961 Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanis_Varoufakis)
- 1969 Ilir Meta, Albanian politician, incumbent president of Albania [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilir_Meta)
- 1973 Jim Parsons, American actor [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Parsons)

## Died on March 24

- 809 Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (born 763) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_al-Rashid)
- 1455 Pope Nicholas V (born 1397) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Nicholas_V)
- 1603 Elizabeth I of England (born 1533) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I)
- 1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (born 1807) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow)
- 1905 Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1828) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne)
- 1946 Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (born 1892) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Alekhine)
- 1953 Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom, Empress Consort of India (born 1867) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Teck)
- 1976 Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (born 1887) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery)
- 1980 Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (born 1917) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero)
- 2002 César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Milstein)
- 2016 Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (born 1947) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Cruyff)
- 2016 Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1949) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Shandling)
- 2018 Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (born 1924) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lys_Assia)
- 2023 Gordon Moore, American businessman, engineer and co-founder of Intel Corporation (born 1929) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Moore)

## Holidays and observances

- Christian feast day: Catherine of Vadstena [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Vadstena)
- Christian feast day: Hildelith of Barking [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildelith)
- Christian feast day: Mac Cairthinn of Clogher [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Cairthinn_of_Clogher)
- Christian feast day: Maria Karłowska [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Kar%C5%82owska)
- Christian feast day: Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero)
- Christian feast day: Paul Couturier (Church of England) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Couturier)
- Christian feast day: Walter Hilton (Church of England) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hilton)
- Christian feast day: March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics))
- Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Remembrance_for_Truth_and_Justice)
- International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_truth)
- National Tree Planting Day (Uganda) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbor_Day)
- World Tuberculosis Day (International) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tuberculosis_Day)

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — “March 24”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24) — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/March 24”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/March_24) — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence)](https://github.com/vacanza/holidays) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article [“March 24”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24) and the articles it links to ([authors and history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24?action=history)), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for March 24 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.

## March 24 in the calendar

| Year | Weekday | ISO week | Moon (UTC) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | Tuesday | 2026-W13 | 🌒 Waxing Crescent |
| 2027 | Wednesday | 2027-W12 | 🌖 Waning Gibbous |
| 2028 | Friday | 2028-W12 | 🌘 Waning Crescent |
| 2029 | Saturday | 2029-W12 | 🌔 Waxing Gibbous |
| 2030 | Sunday | 2030-W12 | 🌖 Waning Gibbous |

Moon phases are for the day in UTC; at the edges of a phase your local date can differ.

## Public holidays on March 24

- [🇦🇷 Argentina](https://whathappen.today/holidays/argentina/): National Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (2026 and 2027)

[Today's holidays in 28 countries →](https://whathappen.today/holidays/)

## Nearby dates

[← March 23](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/march-23/) · [March 25 →](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/march-25/)

[All 366 days](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/)

Last updated: 15 October 2026

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Web page: https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/march-24/