This Day In History, March 7th.
Five Historical Events That Happened on March 7th.
321 – Emperor Constantine I issues a decree establishing Sunday as the Roman Empire's day of rest.
Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his invention of the telephone in 1876.
1936 - Nazi Germany retakes the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
1965 - A march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, by a group of civil rights activists led by John Lewis, demands voting rights for African Americans.
NASA launches the Kepler space observatory in 2009 with the goal of discovering Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy.
This Day In History, March 7th: 321 - Emperor Constantine I issues a decree.
On March 7, 321, Roman Emperor Constantine I issued a decree establishing Sunday as the Roman Empire's day of rest. The "Dies Solis" (Day of the Sun) decree stated that "all judges, city dwellers, and craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun." This was a significant change, as the Romans had previously observed a variety of different days of rest, and it contributed to the establishment of Sunday as the Christian day of worship. The decree had significant economic implications as well, as it allowed employees to take a day off each week without penalty.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for his invention of the telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for his invention of the telephone on March 7, 1876. Bell's invention transformed communication by allowing people to communicate over long distances, and it paved the way for many other significant advances in the field of telecommunications. The patent was one of many that Bell received during his lifetime, and it contributed to his reputation as one of the most important inventors of his time.
1936 - Nazi Germany violates the Treaty of Versailles.
On March 7, 1936, Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, violated the Treaty of Versailles by retaking the Rhineland. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, imposed strict limits on Germany's military power and barred the country from remilitarizing the Rhineland. Hitler, on the other hand, saw the Rhineland as a critical strategic area and natural defense against France, so he ordered German troops to occupy the region. The move was a risky gamble because it could have elicited a military response from France and Britain, but they chose not to act, allowing Hitler to consolidate and expand his power.
1965 - A group of civil rights activists march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand voting rights for African Americans.
The march from Selma to Montgomery, also known as the Voting Rights March, was a watershed moment in the American civil rights movement. The march was organized in response to the disenfranchisement of African American voters in the southern United States by civil rights activists and leaders such as John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., and James Bevel.
On March 7, 1965, the march began, and state and local law enforcement officials met it with violence and brutality. The marchers were attacked by police with clubs, tear gas, and other forms of violence as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The incident, dubbed Bloody Sunday, was caught on national television and sparked outrage as well as public support for civil rights movements.
2009 - The Kepler space observatory is launched by NASA.
The Kepler space observatory was a NASA mission designed to find Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 7, 2009.
Kepler used a photometer to measure the brightness of over 150,000 stars in a small region of the Milky Way. The goal was to detect the slight dimming of a star's brightness caused by a planet passing in front of it, a phenomenon known as a transit.
Kepler discovered thousands of exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, during its mission. Some of these planets were discovered to be in the habitable zone, which is the region around a star where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist on the surface, a necessary component of life as we know it.