31 March

René Descartes
31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650
French mathematician, philosopher and scientist. Founder of modern philosophy. » more

Johann Sebastian Bach
31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750
German composer of renown. » more

Joseph Haydn
31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809
Austrian composer. » more

Alfred Hunt
31 March 1855 – 27 April 1899
American Metallurgist who founded what is now Alcoa (aluminium producer). » more

Sergei Diaghilev
31 March 1872 – 19 August 1929
Russian founder of the Ballets Russes. » more

Jules Pascin
31 March 1885 – 5 June 1930
Belgian Expressionist artist. Paintings can be seen in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp; Museum of Modern Art & Brooklyn Museum, New York; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. » more

William Bragg
31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971
Australian physicist who researched X-ray techniques and X-ray diffraction. Nobel laureate. » more

William Lederer
31 March 1912 – 5 December 2009
American author who wrote ‘The Ugly American’. » more

John Fowles
31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005
English author who wrote ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’. » more

Al Gore
31 March 1948
American Vice President and presenter of the environmental advocacy film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. » more

Today’s Quote
You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
 … James Lane Allen

Today’s No. 1 Hit
1977 – Rich Girl by Daryl Hall & John Oates.

Today’s events
31 March 1889 – The inauguration of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
31 March 1903 – The first powered flight, by New Zealand aviator Richard Pearse (New Zealand).
31 March 1921 – Establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force.
31 March 1951 – The first UNIVAC I computer (pioneer commercial computer) installed (US Census Bureau).
31 March 1959 – The Dalai Lama is granted political asylum in India.
31 March 2007 – The first ‘Earth Hour’, in Sydney Australia.