2012: A tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities
2002: U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
1998: Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
1995: Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.
1989: Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
1983: Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
1978: Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
1917: The enactment of the Jones-Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
1903: In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
1901: The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
1901: United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
1896: Ethiopian victory over the Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa.
537: Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.