FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011

Today is Friday, February 11, the 42nd day of 2011. There are 323 days left in the year.

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

1790 ― Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition of slavery

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

1809 ― Robert Fulton patents the steamboat

1810 ― Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria

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

1854 ― Major streets lit by coal gas for first time

1889 ― Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; first Diet convenes in 1890

1896 ― Oscar Wildes ``Salome” premieres in Paris

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