1909 – ‘Futurism’ was launched
It was on 20 February 1909 when Italian author Filippo Tommaso Marinetti coined the term ‘Futurism’ in his Manifesto of Futurism, which was published on the front page of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro.
1943 – Paricut?n volcano erupted
One of the youngest volcanoes on Earth, Paricut?n which is located in Mexico’s Michoac?n state, started erupting in an open field on 20 February 1943. The volcano’s eruption buried two villages and hundreds of homes.
1962 – John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth
It was on 20 February 1962, when astronaut John H Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as a part of his three-orbit Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. In 4 hours and 55 minutes, Glenn circled the planet thrice in his space capsule ‘Friendship 7’. Nearly four decades after this, the astronaut also became the oldest human ever to travel in space.