Today in History, March 30th:

240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.

1856 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War.

1858 - Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser.

1867 - Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this Seward’s Folly.

1870 - Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.

1927 - Peter Marshall is born.

1930 - John Astin is born.

1937 - Warren Beatty is born.

1962 - MC Hammer is born.

1968 - Celine Dion is born.

1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.

1986 - James Cagney died.

1997 - Five (channel) Begins broadcasting in the UK

2006 - Marcos Pontes is the first Brazilian astronaut in space.