On this date:

In 1571, Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer who confirmed Copernicus’ theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits, was born.

In 1789, the first stagecoach service in Upper Canada (now Ontario) began between Queenston and Fort Erie.

In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard “HMS Beagle.’’

In 1845, ether was administered during childbirth for the first time in Jefferson, Georgia. Dr. C.W. Long used it during the delivery of his wife’s second child.

In 1867, provincial legislatures in Ontario and Quebec held their first sessions, the first provinces to do so following Confederation.

In 1869, the first issue of the “Ottawa Free Press’’ was published.

In 1900, U.S. prohibitionist Carrie Nation staged her first hatchet raid on a saloon. She marched into a hotel bar in Wichita, Kan., smashed bottles and threw rocks at a nude painting of Cleopatra.

In 1927, Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, marking a victory by Josef Stalin in their power struggle.

In 1945, 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.

In 1958, American physicist James Van Allen reported the discovery of a second radiation belt around the Earth, in addition to one found earlier in the year.