TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Feb. 18, 2001

Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1546

Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.

1861

Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

1913

Mexican President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President Jose Maria Pino Suarez were arrested during a military coup.

1930

Photographic evidence of Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.