March 8
Subject to Britannica's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Featured Event
© Aivolie/stock.adobe.com
A new bridge survives an extraordinary test
On this day in 1855, one of the heaviest trains in the world crossed a new bridge that had been built 200 feet above the Niagara River. Despite widespread skepticism about the safety of suspension bridges, John Roebling ambitiously aimed to build a double-decker one that would carry pedestrian traffic under a railway. After five years of work, his bridge was ready for testing. A 23-ton train crossed over the 825-foot-long bridge successfully—no swaying in sight. The next 25 years saw 50 trains crossing the bridge every week without incident. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
AP/Shutterstock.com
Born this day in 1939, Russian speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova was the first athlete to win four gold medals at a single Winter Olympic Games (1964) and the first winter competitor to earn six career gold medals.
Famous Birthdays
More on March 8
© Sue Wetjen/Dreamstime.com
Today
International Women’s Day, which honors the achievements of women and promotes women’s rights, is celebrated around the world.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski
2014
During a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared, prompting a massive search effort. Though some debris from the aircraft was found in 2015, the full wreckage was never located. [Read about seven puzzling plane disappearances.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1999
Baseball player Joe DiMaggio, who was one of the best all-around players in the history of the game, died. [Test your knowledge of baseball.]
Keystone—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1971
Joe Frazier retained his world heavyweight championship by winning a 15-round decision over former champion Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York City. [How much do you know about boxing?]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1942
Japanese troops captured Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) during World War II. [Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.]
© MedioImages/Getty Images
1917
The U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the rule of cloture—a method used to end debate and secure an immediate vote. [Take our quiz about the history of American politics.]
© Photos.com/Getty Images
1917
Rioting in Petrograd (today St. Petersburg) marked the beginning of the February RevolutionRead Leon Trotsky’s essay on Vladimir Lenin]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1841
U.S. Supreme Court justice and legal historian Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who advocated judicial restraint, arguing that speech could be limited only if it was a “clear and present danger,” was born in Boston. [Why are there nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court?]
Justin Guariglia—xPACIFICA/Redux
1817
The New York Stock Exchange was formally created; it became one of the world’s largest marketplaces for securities and other exchange-traded investments. [Test your knowledge of economics.]
Yale University Art Gallery, (1720.2)
1702
Anne became the last Stuart monarch of Great Britain, having earlier acquiesced to the Act of Settlement of 1701, which designated the Hanoverian descendants of King James I as her successors.