Pope Francis succeeds Pope Benedict XVI. Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina became the 266th leader of the Catholic Church, which has 1.2 billion members around the world.

A series of unidentified lights appear over Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix Lights caused heated debate in the UFO community. It emerged later that some of the lights were caused by illumination flares dropped from a U.S. Air Force plane.

German troops liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków. Thousands of men, women and children were murdered by the nazis or deported to extermination camps. The horrific event is portrayed in the film, Schindler's List.

Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto is premiered. The German composer's opus 64 is one of the most frequently performed violin concertos in history.

Uranus is discovered. German-born British astronomer William Herschel is credited with the planet's discovery. It is the third largest planet by radius in the solar system.