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March 30 is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 276 days remain until the end of the year.

History archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

EVENTS

1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is "depolarized" by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.

1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.

1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.

1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.

1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.

1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.

1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre ($4.19/km2), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.

1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.

1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover the first clay tablet with hieroglyphic writing in a script later called Linear B.

1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.

1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.

1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

2023 – Donald Trump becomes the first former United States president to be indicted by a grand jury.

BIRTHS

1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)

1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)

1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)

1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)

1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)

1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)

1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)

1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)

1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)

1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1945 – Eric Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter

1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver and team owner, founded Jordan Grand Prix

1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host

1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer-songwriter

DEATHS

1472 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)

1587 – Ralph Sadler, English politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1507)

1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)

1955 – Harl McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899)

1986 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)

2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)

2007 – John Roberts, Canadian political scientist, academic, and politician, 46th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1933)

2013 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (b. 1934)

2013 – Edith Schaeffer, Chinese-Swiss religious leader and author, co-founded L'Abri (b. 1914)

2020 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)

2021 – G. Gordon Liddy, chief operative in the Watergate scandal (b. 1930)

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