March 11
March 11 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 295 days remain until the year's end. It falls in winter (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Pisces.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On March 11 the Sun's declination is approximately -4.0°. At this latitude the Sun is south of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere shorter days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a March 11.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
No widely-observed holidays catalogued for this day in our base set. See the external almanacs above for region-specific observances.
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
- 1851 — Verdi's Rigoletto premiered in Venice. ↗(175 years ago)
- 1918 — The first cases of the so-called Spanish flu were observed at Fort Riley, Kansas. ↗(108 years ago)
- 1985 — Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ↗(41 years ago)
- 2004 — Coordinated bombings on commuter trains in Madrid killed 191 people. ↗(22 years ago)
- 2011 — A magnitude-9.1 earthquake and tsunami struck Tōhoku, Japan, killing more than 19,000 and triggering the Fukushima nuclear disaster. ↗(15 years ago)
Notable births
Notable deaths
- 1955 — Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist who discovered penicillin. ↗(71 years ago)
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (71) | 71 · prime |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (295) | 5 × 59 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 11032026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | -4.02° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 82 days |