March 16, 1926 Robert H. Goddard, American engineer and professor of physics, successfully tested the first liquid-propellant rocket. The era of space flight was beginning. Goddard’s groundbreaking research never received proper attention at home: the newspapers wrote about it often – even the New York Times — but, usually, to denigrate him. Not even the US army, despite various attempts by the professor, understood the enormous potential of the new technology. Those who immediately understood the value of his experiments were the German scientists, who would soon start rearming. On March 16, 1935, Hitler announced the reinstatement of compulsory conscription, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles: the Wehrmacht was born. Once Goddard understood Berlin’s warlike intentions, he refused to communicate with his German colleagues. But it seems that the young Wernher von Braun had his studies translated, which would prove to be fundamental for the development of the Nazi missile program (by Luigi Gaetani)
Born of the day
Pat Nixon, March 16, 1912, born Thelma Catherine Nixon, US first lady.
Antonio Guerra, March 16, 1920, also known as Tonino, poet, writer and screenwriter
Jerry Lewis, March 16, 1926, American comedian, actor, director
Franca Leosini, 16 March 1934, journalist and television presenter
Bernardo Bertolucci, March 16, 1941, director, screenwriter and film producer, Oscar for best director and best adapted screenplay 1988
Isabelle Huppert, March 16, 1953, French actress
Lauren Graham, March 16, 1967, American actress famous for her role as Lorelai Gilmore in the tv series Gilmore Girls
Alexandra Daddario, March 16, 1986, American actress
Valerio Aspromonte, 16 March 1987, fencer
Dead of the day
Selma Lagerlof, 16 March 1940, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature 1909
Tammi Terrell, born March 16, 1970, American singer
Jean Monnet, 16 March 1979, French politician among the founding fathers of the European Union
Giovanni Testori, 16 March 1993, writer, journalist and poet
Carmelo Bene, March 16, 2002, actor, director, playwright and poet
Frank Sinatra Junior, March 16, 2016, American singer and actor
Saint of the day
Saints Ilario and Taziano, respectively the second bishop of Aquileia and his deacon. They died martyred on the same day, March 16, 284, under the empire of Numerian. According to tradition, in 568, with the arrival of the Lombards, the patriarch of Aquileia took refuge in Grado, bringing with him the relics of the two martyrs