Today is the 78th day of 2016 and the 88th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1850, the American Express Company was founded.

In 1852, Henry Wells, William G. Fargo and a group of investors founded Wells, Fargo and Co.

In 1965, Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov made the first spacewalk.

In 1974, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

In 1990, two men stole 13 pieces valued at $300 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer; Peter Graves (1926-2010), actor; George Plimpton (1927-2003), author/actor; John Updike (1932-2009), author/critic; Charley Pride (1938- ), singer-songwriter; Bonnie Blair (1964- ), Olympic speed-skater; Queen Latifah (1970- ), actress/singer; Dane Cook (1972- ), comedian/actor; Adam Levine (1979- ), singer-songwriter/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: Among the 13 works stolen in Boston's Gardner Museum art theft in 1990 was "The Concert," a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is considered the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting in the world, with an estimated value of $200 million.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1991, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers retired Wilt Chamberlain's No. 13 jersey.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea." -- John Updike

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- number of NATO member countries that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).

Today is the 77th day of 2016 and the 87th day of winter.

In 1861, Italy -- excluding Rome and Venice -- was unified as a nation under King Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1905, Franklin D. Roosevelt married distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt.

In 1950, physics researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, announced the creation of californium, the radioactive 98th element.

In 1958, the United States launched the first solar-powered satellite, the Vanguard 1.

In 1995, the FDA licensed Varivax, the first chicken pox vaccine.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), engineer/inventor; Paul Green (1894-1981), playwright; Bobby Jones (1902-1971), golfer; Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), civil rights activist; Nat King Cole (1919-1965), singer; Kurt Russell (1951- ), actor; Gary Sinise (1955- ), actor; Rob Lowe (1964- ), actor; Billy Corgan (1967- ), singer-songwriter; Mia Hamm (1972- ), soccer player; Hozier (1990- ), singer-songwriter; John Boyega (1992- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Gottlieb Daimler is credited with building the first internal combustion motorcycle in 1885.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, six Major League Baseball players, including All-Star sluggers Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, appeared before a congressional hearing on steroid use.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true." -- Bayard Rustin

TODAY'S NUMBER: 13 -- elements in the periodic table that were identified before the year A.D. 1.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).

Today is the 76th day of 2016 and the 86th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1945, U.S. military forces declared the island of Iwo Jima secure after 25 days of fighting.

In 1968, U.S. Army soldiers massacred more than 300 civilians in the My Lai village in South Vietnam.

In 1988, Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy during the Iran-Contra affair.

In 1998, mass trials began in Rwanda for roughly 125,000 suspected perpetrators of the country's 1994 genocide.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Madison (1751-1836), fourth U.S. president; Henny Youngman (1906-1998), comedian; Pat Nixon (1912-1993), U.S. first lady; Jerry Lewis (1926- ), comedian; Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), U.S. senator; Chuck Woolery (1941- ), game show host; Erik Estrada (1949- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1954- ), singer-songwriter; Ozzie Newsome (1956- ), football player/executive; Gore Verbinski (1964- ), filmmaker; Lauren Graham (1967- ), actress; Blake Griffin (1989- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: James Madison was the shortest U.S. president, at 5 feet 4 inches tall. He is estimated to have weighed 100 lbs.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into the conspiracy to attack rival Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." -- James Madison

TODAY'S NUMBER: 400 -- current inhabitants (all Japanese soldiers) of the island formerly known as Iwo Jima. Japan formally reverted to the island's prewar name, Iwo To, in June 2007, prompted by the release of the Clint Eastwood movies "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Flags of Our Fathers" earlier that year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).