THURSDAY, FEBUARY 11, 2010

Today is Thursday, February 11, the 42nd day of 2010. There are 323 days left in the year.

660 B.C. _ Traditional founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno

1531 _ Henry VIII recognized as supreme head of the Church in England

1808 _ Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

1809 _ Robert Fulton patents the steamboat

1810 _ Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria

1812 _ Massachusetts Governor Gerry signs a redistricting bill _ the first ``gerrymander"

1814 _ Norway's independence proclaimed

1843 _ Giuseppe Verdi's Opera ``I Lombardi" premieres in Milan

1971 _ U.S., U.K., USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons

1990 _ Nelson Mandela (political prisoner-27 years) freed in South Africa