1345: Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars came into alignment. Medieval scholars believed this phenomenon brought forth the Black Death. The Black Death was a pandemic covering Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and killed around 25 million people. The actual cause was the bacterium Yersinia pestis spread by fleas, rats, and other animals.
1800: Electric Battery Discovered
Alessandro Volta reports his discovery of the electric battery in a letter to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London.
1854: Republican Party Founded
Anti-slavery activists within the US Whig political party opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Act forms a new Republican Party; notable politicians who switched allegiance include Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison.
You will also like...
1852: American author Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in book form.
1930: Colonel Harland Sanders founded KFC in North Corbin, Kentucky.
1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson of the USA notifies Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
1966: The football World Cup (Jules Rimet trophy) was stolen whilst being exhibited at Central Hall in London.
1969: John Lennon, a leader of the seminal British rock group the Beatles, married Japanese artist and musician Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
1974: An attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne in the Mall by a gunman who fired six shots, and then tried to drag her out of the car. He fled as passers-by joined her bodyguard and police to foil the attempt, and was later caught. Ian Ball, who was charged with attempted murder, claimed he did it to highlight the lack of mental care facilities.
1984: Nigeria’s Major-General Babatunde Idiagbon who served as the 6th Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters under the military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari from 1983 to 1985 launches a campaign on ‘National Consciousness and Enlightenment’
1992: A First Lady Goes Shoplifting
The exclusive and expensive shop in Miami was called Look. But when Felicidad Noriega, wife of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, came calling on this day she decided to do more than just “look”. She was arrested after she and a friend were caught snipping buttons from 10 jackets on display at the shop, owned by the Burdines department store chain. Both women were charged with shoplifting $305 worth of buttons. They left without paying and were arrested outside by the store’s security staff.
1995: Tokyo subways are attacked with sarin gas
Several packages of deadly sarin gas are set off in the Tokyo subway system killing twelve people and injuring over 5,000 on March 20, 1995. Sarin gas was invented by the Nazis and is one of the most lethal nerve gases known to man. The gas attack was instituted by the Aum Shinrikyo (which means Supreme Truth) cult. The Supreme Truth had thousands of followers all over Japan who believed in their doomsday prophecies.
2008: Fidelis Omeni, an official of the Ministry of Environment said, Nigeria was suspended from the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for alleged breaches of its provisions.
2020: American country music singer Kenny Rogers, whose numerous hits included Lady and The Gambler, died at age 81.
Births on This Day, March 20
Ruby Rose, 38 years
Ruby Rose Langenheim is an Australian model, actress, disc jockey, and television presenter. She was a presenter on MTV Australia, followed by several high-profile modelling gigs, including Maybelline New York in Australia.
Shelton Jackson, 67 years
Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues.
B. F. Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990)
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
Considering free will to be an illusion, Skinner saw human action as dependent on consequences of previous actions, a theory he would articulate as the principle of reinforcement: If the consequences of an action are bad, there is a high chance the action will not be repeated; if the consequences are good, the probability of the action being repeated becomes stronger. He died at the age of 86.
Kindly like, comment, follow, and share.
