TODAY IN HISTORY: Quebec rejects women lawyers

In 1377, John Wycliffe went on trial in London's St. Paul's Cathedral after arguing against the sale of indulgences, the worship of saints and the veneration of relics. He was never convicted as a heretic.

In 1473, the founder of modern astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus, was born in Poland. His theory established the Sun as the centre of the planetary system.

In 1732, religious houses in New France were forbidden to shelter fugitives from justice.

In 1878, Thomas Edison was issued a U.S. patent for his phonograph, Edison had successfully tested a crude cylinder phonograph that recorded his voice on a piece of tinfoil wrapped around a cylinder. He had shouted into the mouthpiece of the instrument the nursery rhyme

“Mary Had a Little Lamb.” When he played back the recording, and a recognizable reproduction of his voice emerged, Edison was quoted as saying: "I was never so taken aback in my life."

In 1889, Saskatchewan Metis leader Gabriel Dumont was pardoned by the federal government for his actions during the 1885 Northwest Rebellion led by Louis Riel.

In 1897, in Stoney Creek, Ont., Adelaide Hunter Hoodless formed the Women's Institute, a group that spread throughout the English-speaking world. Hoodless was jolted out of her comfortable middle-class existence when her infant son died after drinking impure milk. She became devoted to educating women for motherhood and household management. Hoodless also helped found the National Council of Women, the Victorian

Order of Nurses and the national YWCA.

In 1906, Michigan doctor William Kellogg formed the Battle Creek Cornflake Company to make a breakfast cereal he had developed for patients suffering from mental disorders.

In 1920, shareholders of the Grand Trunk Railway ratified its sale to the federal government. It became part of the Canadian National Railway system.

In 1930, the Quebec legislature rejected a bill to admit women to the practice of law.

In 1945, U.S. Marines landed on the Japaneseheld island of Iwo Jima during the Second World War. The island was eventually taken on March 26 at a cost of more than 6,800 American lives.

In 1959, an agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.