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).

Today is the 75th day of 2016 and the 85th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 44 B.C., Roman emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

In 1820, Maine was admitted as the 23rd U.S. state.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent 4,800 U.S. troops into Mexico to capture revolutionary Pancho Villa.

In 1985, the computer manufacturing company Symbolics registered the first Internet domain name.

In 2011, security forces opened fire on protestors in Damascus, marking the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh U.S. president; Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933- ), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Judd Hirsch (1935- ), actor; Phil Lesh (1940- ), musician; Sly Stone (1943- ), singer-songwriter; Bobby Bonds (1946-2003), baseball player; Dee Snider (1955- ), singer-songwriter; Bret Michaels (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Mike Tomlin (1972- ), football coach; Eva Longoria (1975- ), actress; will.i.am (1975- ), rapper/record producer; Jai Courtney (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The salary of the chief justice of the United States was $4,000 in 1789. Chief Justice John Roberts' salary is currently $260,700.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1962, the NBA's Wilt Chamberlain became the first and only player to score 4,000 points in a single season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Dissents speak to a future age. It's not simply to say, 'My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.' But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow." -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2 -- Ranking of "The Godfather," which opened this day in 1972, on the 10th anniversary edition of the American Film Institute's "100 Years ... 100 Movies" list of the greatest American movies of all time. Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" ranked No. 1.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (March 15).