Today in history 101

Here are some significant events that occurred on this day in history:

March 8th

• 1917: The United States declares war on Germany, entering World War I.
• 1965: The first spacewalk is performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who spends 12 minutes outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft.
• 1971: The first Earth Day is celebrated, marking the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
• 1983: The first mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, who calls a rival telecommunications company to declare that he is speaking from a cell phone.
• 1997: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 8,000 for the first time, marking a major milestone in the stock market.

Other notable events

• 1558: Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England, following the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I.
• 1862: The Battle of Hampton Roads takes place during the American Civil War, marking the first battle between ironclad warships.
• 1923: The first issue of Time magazine is published, featuring a cover story on Henry Ford.
• 1952: The first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, makes its maiden flight.
• 1980: The United States boycotts the Summer Olympics in Moscow, in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Birthdays

• 1874: Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist who discovered penicillin, was born.
• 1929: John Glenn, American astronaut and politician who became the first American to orbit the Earth, was born.
• 1942: Stevie Wonder, American musician and singer-songwriter, was born.

Deaths

• 1917: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, leading to the outbreak of World War I.
• 1984: Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was assassinated by her bodyguards.
• 2016: Harper Lee, American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, best known for her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", died at the age of 88.