On this day, March 8

1618 German astronomer Johannes Kepler devised his third law of planetary motion.

1817 The New York Stock & Exchange Board, which had its beginnings in 1792, was formally organized; it later became known as the New York Stock Exchange.

1948 The Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Ill., public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.

1971 Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali by decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York. Silent film comedian Harold Lloyd died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 77.

1983 In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Fla., President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

1999 Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Fla., at age 84.

2000 President Bill Clinton submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. (The U.S. and China signed a trade pact in November 2000.)

2004 Iraq’s Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution.

2008 President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.

2016 Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ urbane producer who guided the band’s swift, historic transformation from rowdy club act to musical and cultural revolutionaries, died at age 90.

Today’s birthdays: Jazz musician George Coleman, 88. Actor-director Micky Dolenz (The Monkees), 78. Singer-musician Randy Meisner, 77. Pop singer Peggy March, 75. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice, 70. NBC News anchor Lester Holt, 64. Actor Leon, 62. Country-rock singer Shawn Mullins, 55. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr., 47. Actor James Van Der Beek, 46.