20 maart
2007-03-20
43: Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso] born 1066: 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet (Yeomans & Kiang) 1312: Philip IV "the Fair," King of France, arrives in Vienne at the head of an army, which convinces to Pope to condemn the Templars 1345: A triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius ocurring on this day is (later) given as the reason for the Black Death 1503: The Saragossa Instruction: a series of measures to encourage New World Natives to adopt Christianity and a settled way of life 1602: United East India Company was chartered by States-General of Holland. During its 96-year history, it became one of the world's most powerful companies 1616: Walter Raleigh freed from Tower of London to look for gold in Guiana 1654: The "Committee of Triers" appointed by Cromwell 1727: Physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London 1784: Holland ceded Nagapatam, Madras, India, to Britain 1828: Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen born 1833: The United States and Siam (now Thailand) concluded a commercial treaty in Bangkok 1849: The Second Sikh War between Sikhs and Britain began in India 1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published. The book sold 300,000 copies in its first year. It was the first book to sell 1,000,000 copies 1896: The first computing scale company, Dayton Scales, was incorporated in Dayton, Ohio 1896: U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution 1897: The first intercollegiate basketball game that used five players per team was contested in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale defeated Pennsylvania by a score of 32-10 1904: Psychologist B.F. Skinner born 1915 - Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1997) 1916: The Allies agreed on the partitioning of Turkey 1922: Producer-director-comedian Carl Reiner born 1922: Actor Jack Kruschen born 1934: The first practical tests of radar were carried out at Kiel Harbor, Germany, by Dr. Rudolph Kuenhold 1950: Actor William Hurt born 1957: Actress Theresa Russell born 1958: Actress Holly Hunter born 1961: Rock musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) born 1969: John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar 1985: Libby Riddles of Teller, Alaska, became the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race, covering the distance from Anchorage to Nome in nearly 18 days 1987: The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients 1988: Eight-year-old DeAndra Anrig found herself airborne when the string of her kite was snagged by an airplane flying over Shoreline Park in Mountain View, California. (DeAndra was lifted ten feet off the ground and carried 100 feet until she let go; she was not seriously hurt.) 1996: The British government said that a rare brain disease that had killed 10 people was probably linked to so-called "mad cow disease." 2003: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq
