Daylight Saving Time
Women's History
March History
March Birthdays
March Madness
March Trivia
St. Patrick's Day
200
This Founding Father of the United States is frequently credited with inventing Daylight Saving Time.
Who is Benjamin Franklin?
In point of fact, Franklin actually wrote the proposal as something of a joke. He did write a satirical piece, published (in French) in the April 26, 1784 edition of the Journal de Paris, in which he claims credit for discovering the fact that the sun begins shining from the moment it rises, something that the locals, who sleep till noon, would never have means of knowing. To save on wasteful candles, Franklin recommends taxing people who use shutters, and ringing bells or firing cannons every morning at sunup to force people to adjust their days according to the availability of sunlight.
200
This woman was the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic ocean.
Who is Amelia Earhart?
As a child, Amelia Earhart spent hours playing with sister Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle, and sledding downhill. Some biographers have characterized the young Amelia as a tomboy. The girls kept worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad they gathered in a growing collection. In 1904, with the help of her uncle, Amelia Earhart constructed a home-made ramp that was fashioned after a roller coaster she had seen on a trip to St. Louis, Missouri, and secured it to the roof of the family tool shed. After her well-documented first flight, she emerged from the broken wooden box that had served as a sled with a bruised lip, a torn dress and a "sensation of exhilaration", saying: "Oh, Pidge, it's just like flying!"
200
On March 24, 1989, this oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska, resulting in 11 million gallons of oil leaking into the natural habitat over a stretch of 45 miles.
What is the Exxon Valdez?
The oil killed:
- An estimated 250,000 seabirds
- 2,800 sea otters
- 300 harbor seals
- 250 bald eagles
- As many as 22 killer whales
- Billions of salmon and herring eggs
200
This artist, born March 30th, in Zundert, Netherlands, painted over 2100 works in his 10-year career, including Starry Night, inspired by the view from his asylum bedroom.
Who was Vincent Van Gogh?
Van Gogh struggled with mental illness throughout his life, and is well known for having cut his ear off during a mental break. He died by suicide in 1890, but his sister-in-law was instrumental in advocating for his work (much criticized during his lifetime).
200
This many teams participate in March Madness.
What is 68?
200
This fragrant yellow flower is the flower of March.
What is a daffodil?
Daffodils are also known as Narcissus. The exact origin of the name Narcissus is unknown, but it is often linked to a Greek word (ancient Greek ναρκῶ narkō, "to make numb") and the myth of the youth of that name who fell in love with his own reflection.
200
St. Patrick was said to have driven this animal out of Ireland.
What are snakes?
According to most experts snakes most likely haven’t lived in Ireland since before the last Ice Age.
Historians and theologians now consider it a parable, or allegory, for Saint Patrick driving Paganism from Ireland.
400
This was the first year Daylight Saving Time was observed in the United States.
What is 1918?
Standard time was instituted in 1883 by railroads and legally codified in the 1918 Standard Time Act.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) was first implemented in the U.S. on March 31, 1918, through the Standard Time Act to conserve fuel and energy for World War I.
400
This scientist became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for physics in 1903.
Who was Marie Curie?
She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.
400
On March 31st, 1889, this iconic French landmark opened in Paris with the designer and a few hardy companions ascending the tower's stairs and raising an enormous French tricolor on the structure’s flagpole.
What is the Eiffel Tower?
Although initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, it has since become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world The tower received 5,889,000 visitors in 2022. The Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument with an entrance fee in the world: 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.
400
This American playwright was born in Mississippi and was famous for, The Glass Menagerie, Night of the Iguana, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof .
Who was Tennessee Williams?
His real name was Thomas Lanier Williams III. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.
400
This team won the 2025 championship.
Who are the Florida Gators?
They defeated the Houston Cougars 65-63 in the championship game on April 7, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas. This victory marked Florida's third national championship in program history and their first since 2007.
400
This March birthstone is a dark green gemstone with red or orange spots, so don't worry, it's not as morbid as it sounds.
What is Bloodstone?
Also known as heliotrope. The name heliotrope derives from ancient beliefs about the manner in which the mineral reflects light. Pliny the Elder (1st century) mentioned first that magicians used it as a stone of invisibility. Damigeron (4th century) wrote about its property to make rain, solar eclipses, and its special virtue in divination and preserving health and youth.
400
The European Government recognizes and protects these creatures.
What are leprechauns?
Leprechauns have been protected since 2009 in a European Directive. This directive also protects all the other flora and fauna located "The Sliabh Foy Loop" in Ireland.
600
This was the president who signed the Standard Time Act into law.
Who was Woodrow Wilson?
It defined five time zones for the continental United States and authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to define the limits of each time zone.
The latest amendment, part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, extends DST by four or five weeks by moving the uniform start date for DST to the second Sunday in March and the end date to the first Sunday in November (effective 2007). The Department of Energy was required to report to Congress the impact of the DST extension by December 1, 2007 (nine months after the statute took effect). The report, released in October 2008, reported a nationwide electricity savings of 0.03% for the year of 2007.
600
In 1976 this barrier-breaking journalist became the first woman co-anchor of a network evening news program.
Who was Barbara Walters?
She joined the staff of the network's Today show in the early 1960s as a writer and segment producer of women's-interest stories. Her popularity with viewers led to her receiving more airtime, and in 1974 she became co-host of the program, the first woman to hold such a position on an American news program. During 1976, she continued to be a pioneer for women in broadcasting while becoming the first American female co-anchor of a network evening news program, alongside Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News.
600
March 1st, 1961, President John F. Kennedy created this organization which sends American Volunteers to developing countries.
What is the Peace Corps?
As of 2015, more than 240,000 Americans had joined the Peace Corps and served in 142 countries
600
This inventor of the telephone was born on March 3rd, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Who is Alexander Graham Bell?
The first telephone conversation in history was made in Boston, the U.S. between Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson on March 10, 1876. "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," said Bell into his experimental telephone to Watson who was in another room but out of earshot.
600
This team has won the most NCAA championships.
What is UCLA?
In all of college sports, it doesn't get much better than UCLA's reign through the ‘60s and ‘70s. From 1964 to 1975, UCLA had an overall record of 335-22, a win percentage of .938. Over 12 years. Through it all, the Bruins picked up 10 national championships, including seven in a row.
600
The name for this March birthstone comes from the Latin words for 'water', and 'of the sea'.
What is Aquamarine?
It has historically been used a symbol for youth and happiness due to its color, which has also, along with its name, made Western culture connect it with the ocean. Ancient tales have claimed that aquamarine came from the treasure chests of mermaids, which led to sailors using this gemstone as a lucky charm to protect against shipwreck.
600
There was a Great Famine in Ireland. This Irish crop diminished significantly leading to a mass exodus.
What are potatoes?
This was due both because of a blight, and the poverty of the Irish people and dependence on only potatoes due to British policies.
The population of Ireland on the eve of the famine was about 8.5 million; by 1901, it was just 4.4 million, and the current population of Ireland and Northern Island is just 7.2 million people.
Today around 9.2% of Americans, or 30.7 million people, identify as having Irish ancestry.
800
This is the number of American states that do not observe DST.
What is 2?
Hawaii and Arizona
In Arizona, the Navajo nation does use daylight savings time in multiple communities. It's technically possible to travel through Arizona and have to reset your clock 12 different times.
19 states have enacted legislation to potentially observe year round daylight savings time, though this contingent on federal law and surrounding states also making the change.
800
At 17 years old, this woman became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”
Who is Malala Yousafzai?
As a teenager, she spoke out against the Taliban's ban on girls' education in Pakistan. In 2012, the Taliban shot her in the head while she was riding the bus home from school. She survived and has continued to advocate for women's education rights.
800
On March 30th, 1981, this newly-elected president was shot in the chest while walking to his limousine following a speech at a Washington, D.C. hotel.
Who is Ronald Reagan?
He was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as Reagan was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton hotel. Hinckley believed the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
800
This German-born physicist and mathematician who developed the "world's most famous equation" was born March 14th, 1879.
Who is Albert Einstein?
E=mc2 (mass–energy equivalence formula)
The formula defines the energy (E) of a particle in its rest frame as the product of mass (m) with the speed of light squared (c2). Because the speed of light is a large number and it is squared, the formula implies that a small amount of mass corresponds to an enormous amount of energy.
800
Which move was banned from the NCAA from 1967 - 1976?
What is the Slam Dunk?
The NCAA said that the ban was issued due to injury concerns, and also that the slam dunk wasn't a skillful shot. However, many people believe that the real reason NCAA banned it was because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who couldn't be stopped from dunking.
800
A day in the ancient Roman calendar that meant misfortune and doom.
What are the Ides of March, or March 15th?
According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar on the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "Well, the Ides of March are come", implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, they are come, but they are not gone."
800
This meat is popular to eat around St. Patrick's day.
What is Corned Beef?
Before the wave of 19th century Irish immigration to the United States, many ethnic Irish immigrants did not consume corned beef dishes. The popularity of corned beef compared to back bacon among the Irish immigrant population may have been due to corned beef being considered a luxury product in their native land, while it was cheap and readily available in the United States.
The Jewish population produced similar corned beef brisket, also smoking it into pastrami. Irish immigrants often purchased corned beef from Jewish butchers.
1000
This US government department governs the “regulating, fostering, and promoting the widespread and uniform adoption and observance of standardized time”.
What is the US Department of Transportation?
1000
In 1987 this woman became the first female artist inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Who is Aretha Franklin?
Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.
1000
On March 28th, 1979, a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor occurred at this nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, becoming the worst nuclear accident in the United States.
What was Three Mile Island?
The accident heightened nuclear safety concerns among the general public and led to new regulations for the nuclear industry. TMI-1 was restarted in 1985, then retired in 2019 due to operating losses. It is expected to return to service in either 2027 or 2028 as part of a deal to power Microsoft data centers.
1000
This world-famous illusionist and "escapologist" was born Erik Weisz on March 26th, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary.
Who is Harry Houdini?
Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as Harry "Handcuff" Houdini on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it.
The bronze casket Houdini created for his "buried alive" stunt was used to transport his body from Detroit to New York following his death on Halloween.
1000
This practice associated with major sports games used to be illegal in most US States.
What is Sports Betting?
On May 14, 2018, the sports betting prohibition era ended, with a resounding Supreme Court decision that struck down PASPA and set the country on a path to widespread legal sports betting.
Expansion of the legal sports betting market and growing trust in legal wagering is expected to draw more than $3 billion in bets on the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments this year, a 54% increase over the past three years.
1000
According the tradition, March "comes in like a lion, and ________"
What is "Go out like a lamb"?
The saying most likely started as a reference to astronomy, referencing the position of the constellations Leo (a lion) and Aries (a ram, or lamb) in the night sky.
Some may be familiar with a reverse version of the proverb: “March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion.”
Western states can have incredible temperature swings this month as the polar jet stream moves from it’s preferred position near Canada over the winter to a more southerly route during the spring. This tends to cause many states in the Western US to experience some of their heavier snowfalls from the end of March and into April – thus the lion (and the harsh weather it represents) coming at the end of the month.
1000
This city dyes its river each year for St. Patrick's day.
What is Chicago?
The “greening” of the Chicago River is a tradition that goes back to 1962, and was actually born from an effort to clean up the waterway at its most polluted. According to Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade website, Stephen Bailey, business manager of the local plumber union, came across a plumber whose normally white overalls were stained green. That plumber was part of a team pouring small amounts of green dye into the sewers to detect where waste was leaking into the river
The encounter with the overalled plumber inspired Bailey, childhood friend of then-mayor Richard J. Daley and chairman of this nascent St. Patrick's Day Parade, to have the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 union dump this tracer dye into the Chicago River as part of the holiday celebration. The plumbers’ union still manages the dyeing today.