On this day in history

March 20

28 births · 21 deaths · 7 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Iraq War

23 years ago

Born this day

1986

Lady Gaga

Turns 40

Oldest record

1823rd

Elagabalus

birth anniversary

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Famous births28

AD 203 · 1823 yrs

Elagabalus

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Varius Avitus Bassianus; c. 204 – 13 March 222), known as Elagabalus ( EL-ə-GAB-ə-ləs), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for religious controversy and alleged sexual debauchery.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 18

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Photo: José Luiz · CC BY-SA 4.0

1497 · 529 yrs

Atahualpa

Atawallpa, also Atahualpa or Ataw Wallpa (Classical Quechua: Ataw Wallpa, pronounced) (c.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 36

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Photo: anonymous · Public domain

1639 · 387 yrs

Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (30 March 1639 – 2 October 1709) was a Ukrainian military, political and civic leader who served as hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687–1709. His long and stable rule was marked by economical and political recovery from the Ruin.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 70

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1725 · 301 yrs

Abdul Hamid I

Abdülhamid I or Abdul Hamid I (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد اول, Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i evvel; Turkish: I. Abdülhamid; 20 March 1725 – 7 April 1789) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1774 to 1789.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 64

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Photo: Attribué à Ferdinando Tonioli · Public domain

1770 · 256 yrs

Friedrich Hölderlin

Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (UK:, US:; German:; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 73

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Photo: Franz Carl Hiemer · Public domain

1811 · 215 yrs

Napoleon II

Napoleon II (Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte; 20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) was the disputed Emperor of the French for 2 weeks in 1815. He was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 21

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Photo: Moritz Michael Daffinger · Public domain

1828 · 198 yrs

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen (Norwegian:; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 78

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Photo: Gustav Borgen · Public domain

1856 · 170 yrs

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency.

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TechnologyDied aged 59

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1873 · 153 yrs

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1 April 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 70

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Photo: Kubey-Rembrandt Studios · Public domain

1882 · 144 yrs

René Coty

Gustave Jules René Coty (French:; 20 March 1882 – 22 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic.

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PoliticsWould be 144

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Photo: SyntaxTerror · CC0

1904 · 122 yrs

B.F. Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in 1974.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyWould be 122

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Photo: Silly rabbit · CC BY 3.0

1911 · 115 yrs

Alfonso García Robles

Alfonso García Robles (20 March 1911 – 2 September 1991) was a Mexican diplomat and politician who, in conjunction with Sweden's Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 115

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Photo: Marcel Antonisse · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Showing 12 of 28

Famous deaths21

1619 · 407 yrs

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Matthias (24 February 1557 – 20 March 1619) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 to 1619, Archduke of Austria from 1608 to 1619, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 to 1618 and King of Bohemia from 1611 to 1617. His personal motto was Concordia lumine maior ("Unity is stronger in the light").

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 62

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Photo: Circle of Hans von Aachen · Public domain

1727 · 299 yrs

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) was an English polymath who was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, historian and inventor. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 84

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Photo: Godfrey Kneller · Public domain

1816 · 210 yrs

Maria I of Portugal

Dona Maria I (Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joana; 17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816), also known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816.

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RoyaltyDied aged 81

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Photo: Giuseppe Troni / Thomas Hickey · Public domain

1878 · 148 yrs

Robert Mayer

Julius Robert von Mayer (25 November 1814 – 20 March 1878) was a German physician, chemist, and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 63

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Photo: Friedrich Berrer · Public domain

1894 · 132 yrs

Lajos Kossuth

Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (Hungarian:; Hungarian: udvardi és kossuthfalvi Kossuth Lajos; Slovak: Ľudovít Košút; English: Louis Kossuth; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman, revolutionist and governor-president of the Hungarian State…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 91

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Photo: Southworth & Hawes · Public domain

1910 · 116 yrs

Nadar

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (French:; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar (French:) or Félix Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist who was a proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 89

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Photo: Nadar · Public domain

1925 · 101 yrs

George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), known as Lord Curzon, was a British statesman, Conservative politician, explorer and writer who served as Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and Foreign Secretary from 1919 to 1924.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 66

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Photo: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) · Public domain

1929 · 97 yrs

Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch ( FOSH, French:; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front during the First World War in 1918.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 77

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Photo: R. Melcy · Public domain

1931 · 95 yrs

Hermann Müller

Hermann Müller (18 May 1876 – 20 March 1931; ) was a German Social Democratic politician who served as foreign minister (1919–1920) and was twice chancellor of Germany (1920, 1928–1930) during the Weimar Republic. Müller rose quickly through the ranks of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) after joining it in 1893.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 150

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Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1962 · 64 yrs

C. Wright Mills

Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleWould be 110

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Photo: Institute for Policy Studies · CC BY 2.0

1968 · 58 yrs

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer (Danish:; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 137

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Photo: Erling Mandelmann · CC BY-SA 3.0

1990 · 36 yrs

Lev Yashin

Lev Ivanovich Yashin (Russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990) was a Soviet professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the sport, he is the only player in his position to win the Ballon d'Or.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 97

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Showing 12 of 21

Events7

1815 · 211 yrs

Hundred Days

The Hundred Days, commonly referred to as The War Of The Seventh Coalition or Napoleon’s Hundred days (French: les Cent-Jours IPA:) marked the period between Napoleon's return from ten months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1965 · 61 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1965

The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the 10th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 20 March 1965 at the Sala di Concerto della RAI in Naples, Italy, and presented by Renata Mauro.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1995 · 31 yrs

Tokyo subway sarin attack

The Tokyo subway sarin attack (Japanese: 地下鉄サリン事件, Hepburn: Chikatetsu sarin jiken; lit. 'subway sarin incident') was a domestic chemical terrorist attack perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

1996 · 30 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1996

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway, and presented by Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2003 · 23 yrs

Iraq War

The Iraq War (Arabic: حرب العراق, romanized: ḥarb al-ʿirāq), also referred to as the Second Gulf War (Gulf War II), was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States–led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2003 · 23 yrs

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2015 · 11 yrs

Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, March 20, 2015, with a magnitude of 1.0445. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Science

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