On this day in:

1478 George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence died. Brother of Edward IV whom he was accused of plotting against. He was thrown into prison and secretly executed in the Tower of London. The rumor is that he was drowned in a butt (large cask) of malmsey wine.

1626 Francesco Redi was born (died March 1, 1697). He was the first to demonstrate that maggots were not spontaneously generated, but actually came from the eggs of flies.

1871 Harry Brearley was born. Brearley was an English metallurgist who invented stainless steel in 1913.

1885 The 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain was published.

1930 At the St. Louis International Air Exposition, a Guernsey cow named 'Elm Farm Ollie' became the first cow to fly in an airplane, and the first cow to be milked while flying.

1930 The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde William Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

1937 'Black Blizzard' dust storms peril crops and health in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

1950 John Hughes was born (died Aug 11, 2009). Film director and screenwriter. 'The Breakfast Club' (1985); 'Home Alone' (1990); 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' (1987).

1968 Actress Molly Ringwald was born. Two of her movies were 'The Breakfast Club' (1985) and 'In the Weeds' (2000).

1973 The 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' rock concert radio show debuted.

1979 Low altitude areas of the Sahara desert recorded their first snowfall in living memory.

2005 A ban on Fox Hunting with dogs became effective in England and Wales.