MARCH 13, 1930 - The same day 149 years later, Clyde Tombaugh, an astronomer working in the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, announced the discovery of Pluto. The announcement of a ninth planet in our solar system made headlines across the globe. The Lowell Observatory, who had the right to name the new object, received over 1000 suggestions from all over the world, ranging from "Atlas" to "Zymal." It was an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England who suggested Pluto, the name of the Roman god of the underworld. She told her father that she thought it appropriate for such a presumably dark and cold world. In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet.

MARCH 15, 44 B.C. - Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Gaius Longinus and Marcus Brutus. Caesar's quest for greater power had created tension between himself and the Senate and a conspiracy was hatched to overthrow the ruler. On the "Ides of March," Caesar appeared at a session of the Senate. The attack was initiated when Tillius Cimber presented Caesar with a petition to recall his exiled brother. While Caesar was thus distracted, Servilius Casca drew his dagger made a glancing thrust at the emperor's neck. The other conspirators quickly rushed in and joined the attack. The assassination angered much of Rome's middle and lower classes, among whom Caesar was immensely popular, and led to civil war and ultimately the downfall of the Roman Empire.