TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Feb. 18, 1977

The space shuttle prototype Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its debut “flight” above Edwards Air Force Base in California.

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 (both were shot to death on Feb. 22).

1930

Photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a “dwarf planet”) was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

1943

Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Chinese leader, addressed members of the Senate and then the House, becoming the first Chinese national to address both houses of the U.S. Congress.

1953

“Bwana Devil,” the movie that heralded the 3D fad of the 1950s, had its New York opening.

1960

The 8th Winter Olympic Games were formally opened in Squaw Valley, California, by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.