TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 11TH

1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.

1826 – University College London is founded under the name University of London.

1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931) is born.

1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (d. 1939) is born.

1936 – Burt Reynolds, American actor and director is born.

1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers.

1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term "robot".

1939 – A Lockheed P-38 Lightning flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes.

1943 – World War II: General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

1953 – Jeb Bush, American banker and politician, 43rd Governor of Florida is born.

1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower refuses a clemency appeal for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1964 – Sarah Palin, American activist and politician, 9th Governor of Alaska is born.

1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.

1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

1978 – Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1981 – Kelly Rowland, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (Destiny's Child) is born.

1990 – Buster Douglas, a 40:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title and cause one of the largest upsets in sports history.

1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.

2012 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (b. 1963) dies.

2015 – Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930) dies.