March 4 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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A parliamentary crisis opens the way to rule by decree in Austria

This Week in History

Jean-Bertrand Aristide leaves the Haitian presidency

Czechoslovakia adopts its first permanent constitution

Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico opens in Vicenza

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Politics

A parliamentary crisis opens the way to rule by decree in Austria

War & Conflict

Dutch commanders surrender Java to Japan

Space

A Saturn IB flies for the first time

Technology

Schawlow and Townes receive an optical maser patent

History

Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations

Tang-era cargo from the Belitung wreck goes on display

Asian youth activists gather in Calcutta

Crime & Justice

An Ovechkin family group hijacks Aeroflot Flight 3739

A shooting strikes a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Hamburg

Schoolgirls are abducted in Jangebe

Science

A total eclipse shares the sky with Hale–Bopp

Scottish researchers announce Dolly the sheep

Nature’s February 15 issue carries a draft human genome sequence

Medicine & Health

The Bundaberg vaccine contamination disaster unfolds

Researchers identify the bacterium behind Legionnaires’ disease

Hong Kong Begins a Mass Poultry Cull Against Bird Flu

Nature & Disasters

A solar halo over Stockholm inspires a famous city view

The Messina Earthquake

The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami

Exploration

La Salle is killed by members of his own expedition

Soviet scientists establish North Pole-1 on drifting ice

Amundsen's Team Reaches the South Pole

Sport

The Montreal Canadiens Are Founded

FC Barcelona Is Founded

Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV and Retires From the Lakers

Art & Literature

Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico opens in Vicenza

Gürdal Duyar’s Güzel İstanbul is removed

Farmers uncover the Terracotta Army near Xi’an

Music

Verdi’s Nabucco premieres at La Scala

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado opens in London

Sofia Gubaidulina’s Johannes-Ostern premieres in Hamburg

Film & TV

Kinemacolor is shown to a London audience

Alam Ara opens in Bombay

Jafar Panahi’s Taxi wins the Golden Bear

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

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The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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My Birthday in History

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