Today is Saturday, March 30, the 89th day of 2013. There are 276 days left in the year.
239 B.C. ― First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1533 ― Henry VIII divorces his first wife, Catherine of Aragon
1778 ― Playwright Voltaire crowned with laurel wreath
1814 ― Britain and allies march into Paris after defeating Napoleon
1842 ― Ether was used as anesthetic for first time by Dr. Crawford Long (Jefferson, Ga.)
1858 ― Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia)
1867 ― U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 (2 cents an acre; “Seward's Folly”)
1953 ― Einstein announces revised unified field theory
1987 ― Vincent van Gogh's “Sunflowers" sells for record $39.7 million
1990 ― Jack Nicklaus made his debut in the “Seniors" golf tournament