On this day, March 11

1901 Andrew Carnegie sold his steel interests to J.P. Morgan, receiving value of $492 million for them.

1918 What are believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kan.; 46 would die. (The worldwide outbreak of influenza claimed an estimated 20 million to 40 million lives.)

1942 As Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, where he vowed on March 20, “I shall return” — a promise he kept more than 2½ years later.

1948 Judge William H. McNaugher ruled invalid a 1947 city ordinance to sell the historic Diamond Market House. He held that the city had no right to sell because it never legally owned the property, which was laid out in 1784 as a “public square” by John Penn and John Penn Jr.

1960 An announcement was made of the departure in 1961 of Dr. Jonas Salk from the University of Pittsburgh. He would become the head of a research institute in San Diego.

2004 Ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

2011 A magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. 2019 Airlines in Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner after the second devastating crash of one of the planes in five months; Boeing said it had no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Alyssa Brown

Today’s birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 89. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson, 86. Singer Bobby McFerrin, 70. Movie director Jerry Zucker, 70. Actor-director Peter Berg, 58. Actress Alex Kingston, 57. Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., 55. Actor John Barrowman, 53. Singer Lisa Loeb, 52. Actor Terrence Howard, 51. Actor Johnny Knoxville, 49. Actor David Anders, 39. Singer LeToya, 39. Actress Thora Birch, 38. TV personality Melissa Rycroft, 37. Actor Rob Brown, 36. Actress Jodie Comer, 27.

Thought for today: “It’s all right to hesitate if you then go ahead.” — Bertholt Brecht, German poet and dramatist (1898-1956).