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