On This Day: March 6

This is the 65th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: dinosaur fossils

The first dinosaur fossils found in the United States were three-toed footprints discovered in 1802 in sandstone near South Hadley, Massachusetts. Pliny Moody found the tracks, which were so much like those of birds that they did not think much of them. But Edward Hitchcock, a professor at Amherst College believed the tracks were those of large, flightless birds. His analysis was published in 1858 and was the first scholarly work on fossil footprints.

Holidays

Ghana: Independence Day (from Britain, 1957).

Feast day of Saints Baldred and Billfrith, St. Chrodegang, St. Colette, St. Conon, St.. Cyneburga, St Fridolin, and St. Tibba.

Events

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan discovered Guam.

1834 - The city of York in Canada was incorporated as Toronto.

1836 - Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna recaptured the Alamo, ending a 13-day siege.

1857 - In its "Dred Scott" decision, the Supreme Court held that Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

1884 - Over 100 suffragists, led by Susan B. Anthony, presented President Chester A. Arthur with a demand that he voice support for female suffrage.

1899 - Aspirin was patented by chemist Felix Hoffman.

1930 - Clarence Birdseye's first frozen foods went on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1946 - France recognized Vietnam as a free state within the French Indochina Federation.

1981 - Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."

1992 - The Michelangelo computer virus was designed to infect MS-DOS systems and remain dormant until March 6, the birthday of Renaissance artist Michelangelo.

1997 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal Web site.

1997 - Picasso's painting Tęte de Femme is stolen from a London art gallery, and is recovered a week later.

2007 - Former White House aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr., was found guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Births

1475 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian Renaissance artist.

1619 - Cyrano De Bergerac, French soldier, author.

1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, British poet.

1885 - Ring Lardner, American sports reporter, humorist, writer.

1908 - Lou Costello, American comedian, partner of Bud Abbott.

1937 - Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova, Russian, the first woman to orbit the earth.

1946 - David Gilmour, British musician, best known as the lead guitarist in the 70s rock band, Pink Floyd.

1947 - Rob Reiner, American actor, comedian, and film producer.

1972 - Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player.

1979 - Ryan Nyquist, BMX rider from Los Gatos, California.

Deaths

1836 - Davy Crockett (whose family name was originally De Crocketagne), 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician.

1888 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist.

1950 - Albert Lebrun, President of France.

1982 - Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum), a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher.

1986 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist typically associated with the American Southwest and particularly New Mexico where she settled later in life.

1997 - Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica.

2006 - Kirby Puckett, American baseball Hall of Famer.