Today is Saturday, March 9, the 68th day of 2013. 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
1842 ― Giuseppe Verdi's opera “Nabucco” premieres in Milan
1897 ― Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (Berlin)
1932 ― Former Chinese emperor Henry Pui installed as head of Manchuria
1953 ― Josef Stalin buried in Moscow