On this day in 2025 - 3/13/2025
- 17GEN4
- Mar 13
- 2 min read
On this day in 2025 - 3/13/2025
Thursday
3/13/2025 - On this day in 2025
Trump 47 Day 53
NEWS 3/13/2025 - On this day in:
1781: Astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun. Initially mistaking it for a comet, Herschel’s find expanded our understanding of the solar system. It was the first planet discovered with a telescope, a big leap from naked-eye astronomy.
1865: During the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America reluctantly authorized the use of enslaved African Americans as soldiers. Facing dire manpower shortages, this late and desperate measure saw little practical effect before the Confederacy’s collapse a month later.
1881: Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, was assassinated in St. Petersburg. A bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary group Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) killed him after several failed attempts. His death stalled reforms and hardened autocratic rule under his successors.
1925: Tennessee passed the Butler Act, prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. This set the stage for the Scopes "Monkey" Trial later that year, a landmark clash between science and religious fundamentalism that drew global attention.
1930: The discovery of Pluto was officially announced by the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Once considered the ninth planet, Pluto’s status shifted to a dwarf planet in 2006, but its discovery marked a milestone in exploring the solar system’s edges.
1943: In World War II, German forces began liquidating the Krakow Ghetto in Poland. Over two days, thousands of Jews were killed or deported to death camps, a grim chapter in the Holocaust’s systematic atrocities.
1969: Apollo 9 splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean, concluding a successful 10-day mission. It tested the Lunar Module in Earth orbit, paving the way for the Apollo 11 moon landing later that year.
1996: A gunman killed 16 children and their teacher in the Dunblane school massacre in Scotland. The deadliest mass shooting in UK history, it led to strict gun control laws, including a near-total handgun ban.
2013: Pope Francis was elected as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, he became the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, signaling a shift toward a more global and pastoral papacy.
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