Zaha Hadid

Born

October 31, 1950
Baghdad, Iraq

Died

March 31, 2016 (aged 65)
Miami, Florida

American director Jules Dassin, a master of film noir perhaps best known for the influential heist film Rififi (1955), died at age 96. (2008)

The USS Missouri—site of the Japanese surrender in 1945, formally ending World War II—was decommissioned for a second and final time; it was the last U.S. battleship still in service. (1992)

American track-and-field legend Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, died at age 66. (1980)

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ended a televised speech about the Vietnam War by announcing that he would not seek reelection, stunning viewers. (1968)

American politician Al Gore, who served as vice president (1993–2001) in the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton and lost the disputed 2000 presidential election, was born. (1948)

Canadian-born American ice hockey player Gordie Howe—one of the game’s greatest players, known for both his scoring ability and his toughness—was born in Floral, Saskatchewan, Canada. (1928)

Clocks in the United States were set one hour ahead as Daylight Saving Time went into operation for the first time. (1918)

Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (1870)

U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in Japan, ending that country’s period of seclusion. (1854)

Composer Joseph Haydn, one of the most important figures in the development of the Classical style in music during the 18th century, was born in Rohrau, Austria. (1732)

French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher René Descartes, widely considered the father of modern philosophy and perhaps best known for the famous phrase “I think, therefore I am,” was born. (1596)