WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011

Today is Wednesday, March 9, the 68th day of 2011. There are 297 days left in the year.

1497 ― Nicolaus Copernicus first recorded astronomical observation,

1522 ― Marten Luther preaches his Invocavit

1562 ― Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)

1697 ― Czar Peter the Great begins tour of West-Europe

1791 ― George Hayward, U.S. surgeon, first to use ether

1796 ― Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais

1822 ― Charles M. Graham of New York patents artificial teeth

1842 ― Giuseppe Verdi's opera ``Nabucco" premieres in Milan

1918 ― Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party

1959 ― Barbie, the popular girls' doll, debuted, over 800 million sold