1749 – Was born Pierre Simon Laplace — French astronomer, physician and mathematician.
1776 - Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
1920 - Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920; affects the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.
1930 - Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
1970 - Gediz earthquake; A 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes western Turkey, killing 1,086 and injured 1,260.
2005 – Earthquake (8.7) in Sumatra.
2005 - Sumatra earthquake; rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the fourth strongest earthquake since 1965.