February 20 in History

• 1872

  February 20, 1872:

  New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art opens to the public for the first time.

• 1909

  February 20, 1909:

  The term “futurism” is used for the first time by author Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in Le Fiagro, a newspaper in Paris.

• 1919

  February 20, 1919:

  Afghan leader Habibullah Khan is assassinated.

• 1943

  February 20, 1943:

  Paricutin, a volcano in Mexico’s Michoacán state erupts and goes on to bury two villages.

• 1952

  February 20, 1952:

  The film, “The African Queen” is released.

• 1962

  February 20, 1962:

  Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. becomes the first American to orbit earth.

• 1985

  February 20, 1985:

  The sale of contraceptives in Ireland is legally approved by the government.

• 1986

  February 20, 1986:

  The core module of Mir, a Soviet Union space station, is launched.

• 1998

  February 20, 1998:

  Tara Lipinski, an American figure skater, wins a gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games, making her figure skating’s youngest gold medalist.

• 2003

  February 20, 2003:

  A Rhode Island nightclub called the Station catches fire, killing 100 people.