Today:
1618 – Johannes Kepler formulated his third law of planetary motion, which describes the relationship between a planet’s orbital period and its distance from the Sun.
1702 – Anne became Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland following the death of her brother-in-law, King William III.
1782 – The Gnadenhutten massacre occurred in Ohio, where a group of Pennsylvania militiamen killed 96 Christian Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans.
1862 – The Battle of Pea Ridge ended in the American Civil War, securing Missouri for the Union and solidifying Union control of the border states.
1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman in the world to receive a pilot’s license.
1917 – The February Revolution began in Russia as workers in Petrograd went on strike, leading to the eventual abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.
1917 – The U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting cloture, allowing a supermajority vote to end debate on legislation.
1942 – The Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) surrendered to Japan during World War II, marking a significant victory for Japan in the Pacific theater.
1971 – The Fight of the Century took place between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden, with Frazier winning by unanimous decision.
2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, leading to one of the greatest aviation mysteries in history.