TODAY IN HISTORY

On March 31, 1811, German scientist Robert Bunsen, inventor of the Bunsen burner, was born.

In 1880, Wabash, Indiana, became the first town in the world to be illuminated by electrical lighting.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1943, “Oklahoma!,” the first musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he was not seeking nomination for another term as president.

In 1975, “Gunsmoke” closed out 20 seasons on CBS with its final first-run episode, “The Sharecroppers.”

In 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu took office as Israel’s new prime minister after approval by the Knesset.