What Happened on March 7?

March 7 is when Alexander Graham Bell received the most valuable patent ever — the telephone! It's also when Monopoly was born and the day a mysterious cloth called the Shroud of Turin went on public display.

• 1876 — Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone

  The 29-year-old teacher of the deaf received U.S. Patent No. 174,465 for 'transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically' — often called the most valuable patent in history. Read the full story →

• 1933 — Charles Darrow plays his first game of Monopoly

  On this evening in 1933, an unemployed heating salesman played the board game he'd assembled by hand — launching the best-selling board game in history. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Luther Burbank (1849–1926) · Janet Guthrie (1938) · Rachel Weisz (1970) · Bryan Cranston (1956)

Days & observances

National Cereal Day