Today in History

Today is Tuesday, March 1, the 61st day of 2016. There are 305 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 1, 1966, the Soviet space probe Venera 3 impacted the surface of Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach another planet; however, Venera was unable to transmit any data, its communications system having failed.

On this date:

In 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was founded by Portuguese knight Estacio de Sa.

In 1790, President George Washington signed a measure authorizing the first U.S. Census.

In 1815, Napoleon, having escaped exile in Elba, arrived in Cannes, France, and headed for Paris to begin his "Hundred Days" rule.

In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state.

In 1890, J.P. Lippincott published the first U.S. edition of the Sherlock Holmes mystery "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)

In 1940, "Native Son" by Richard Wright was first published by Harper & Brothers.

In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the spectators' gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress. The United States detonated a dry-fuel hydrogen bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps.

In 1971, a bomb went off inside a men's room at the U.S. Capitol; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn blast.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton slapped economic sanctions on Colombia, concluding that Colombian authorities had not fully cooperated with the U.S. war on drugs. The Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new AIDS drug, saying ritonavir could prolong slightly the lives of severely ill patients.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, en route to India and Pakistan, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to show U.S. support for the country's fledgling democracy. Actor Jack Wild, who'd played the Artful Dodger in the 1968 movie musical "Oliver!," died in Bedfordshire, England, at age 53.

Five years ago: Yemen's embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused the U.S., his closest ally, of instigating the mounting protests against him, but the gambit failed to slow the momentum of his ouster (he later apologized to Washington). The House handily passed legislation to cut the federal budget by $4 billion and avert a partial shutdown of the government for two weeks. (The Senate passed the stopgap funding bill the next day.)

One year ago: Tens of thousands marched through Moscow in honor of slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who had been shot to death on Feb. 27. Minnie "Cuban Comet" Minoso, major league baseball's first black Latino star, died in Chicago. (There was some question about Minoso's age, but the medical examiner's office and the White Sox said he was 90.)

Today's Birthdays: Actor Robert Clary is 90. Singer Harry Belafonte is 89. Actor Robert Conrad is 81. Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 72. Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 72. Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 72. Actor Dirk Benedict is 71. Actor Alan Thicke is 69. Actor-director Ron Howard is 62. Actress Catherine Bach is 62. Country singer Janis Gill (aka Janis Oliver Cummins) (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 62. Actor Tim Daly is 60. Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 59. Rock musician Bill Leen is 54. Actor Bryan Batt is 53. Actor Maurice Bernard is 53. Actor Russell Wong is 53. Actor Chris Eigeman is 51. Actor John David Cullum is 50. Actor George Eads is 49. Actor Javier Bardem is 47. Actor Jack Davenport is 43. Rock musician Ryan Peake (Nickelback) is 43. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 42. Singer Tate Stevens is 41. Actor Jensen Ackles is 38. TV host Donovan Patton is 38. Rock musician Sean Woolstenhulme is 35. Actress Lupita Nyong'o is 33. Pop singer Kesha (formerly Ke$ha) is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sammie is 29. Pop singer Justin Bieber is 22.

Thought for Today: "The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change -- and we all instinctively avoid it." -- E.B. White, American writer (1899-1985).