On this day: 2 March

Selected events and births on 2 March, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1484 – The College of Arms, one of the few remaining official heraldic authorities in Europe, was incorporated by royal charter in the City of London. Read more: College of Arms Heraldic authority Royal charter
• 1791 – French inventor Claude Chappe and his brothers first demonstrated the semaphore telegraph, a system to convey information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting crossarms. Read more: Claude Chappe Optical telegraph
• 1877 – The Electoral Commission awarded twenty disputed electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes, thus assuring his victory in the 1876 U.S. presidential election. Read more: Electoral Commission (United States) United States Electoral College Rutherford B. Hayes
• 1901 – U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation and once the world's largest producer of steel, was founded by financier J. P. Morgan. Read more: U.S. Steel J. P. Morgan
• 1919 – Communist, revolutionary-socialist, and syndicalist delegates met in Moscow to establish the Communist International. Read more: Communism Revolutionary socialism Syndicalism
• 1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, the precursor of the United Steel Workers of America, had a major success when it signed a collective-bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel. Read more: Steel Workers Organizing Committee United Steelworkers Collective bargaining
• 1962 – Playing for the Philadelphia Warriors, American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks, which remains an NBA record. Read more: Golden State Warriors Wilt Chamberlain Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game
• 1965 – The Sound of Music (poster pictured) was released in American theatres; it became the highest-grossing film until 1971. Read more: The Sound of Music (film) List of highest-grossing films
• 1969 – The maiden flight of Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic jet, was conducted in Toulouse, France using a prototype aircraft with the registration F-WTSS. Read more: Concorde Supersonic aircraft Toulouse
• 1970 – The Rhodesian monarchy was abolished by the government of Rhodesia, which declared the internationally unrecognised country to be a republic. Read more: Queen of Rhodesia Rhodesia
• 1995 – Researchers at Fermilab in Illinois announced the discovery of the top quark, the most massive of all observed elementary particles. Read more: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Top quark Elementary particle
• 2014 – The Oscar selfie, considered to be one of the most influential photographs of all time, was taken at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony. Read more: Oscar selfie 86th Academy Awards
• 2017 – A naming ceremony for the chemical elements moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson took place at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Read more: Chemical element Moscovium Tennessine

Born on this day

• 1938 – Ricardo Lagos, Chilean economist, lawyer, and politician, 33rd President of Chile Read more: Ricardo Lagos President of Chile
• 1941 – David Satcher, American admiral and physician, 16th Surgeon General of the United States Read more: David Satcher Surgeon General of the United States
• 1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian architect and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Iran Read more: Mir-Hossein Mousavi Prime Minister of Iran
• 1948 – Jeff Kennett, Australian journalist and politician, 43rd Premier of Victoria Read more: Jeff Kennett Premier of Victoria
• 1948 – Carmen Lawrence, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Western Australia Read more: Carmen Lawrence Premier of Western Australia
• 1955 – Ken Salazar, American lawyer and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Interior Read more: Ken Salazar United States Secretary of the Interior
• 1962 – Brendan O'Connor, Australian politician, Australian Minister for Employment Read more: Brendan O'Connor (politician) Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
• 1963 – Anthony Albanese, Australian politician, 31st Prime Minister of Australia Read more: Anthony Albanese Prime Minister of Australia
• 1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter (Coldplay) Read more: Chris Martin Coldplay
• 1988 – Laura Kaeppeler, American beauty queen, Miss America 2012 Read more: Laura Kaeppeler Miss America 2012
• 2006 – Windy Zhan, Hong Kong singer and actress Read more: Windy Zhan
• 2016 – Prince Oscar, Duke of Skåne Read more: Prince Oscar, Duke of Skåne

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / March 2 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.