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Today (October 20)

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October 20

Iron Man was portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in 1962 and received his own title in 1968. Shortly after his creation, Iron Man became a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers, with Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp and the Hulk. Iron Man stories have been published consistently since the character's creation. Iron Man is the superhero persona of Tony Stark, a businessman and engineer who runs the weapons manufacturing company Stark Industries. When Stark was captured in a war zone and sustained a severe heart wound, he built his Iron Man armor and escaped his captors. Iron Man's suits grant him superhuman strength, flight, energy projection and other abilities. Robert Downey Jr. (pictured) portrayed Tony Stark from 2008 to 2019. His portrayal popularized the character, making Iron Man one of Marvel's most recognizable superheroes. (Full article...)

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October 20

Pope Pius XII

1939 – Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which critiqued ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism.
1951 – African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the victim of an on-field assault, eventually leading to changes in NCAA football rules that mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.
1967 – Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed an unidentified subject, which they claimed was Bigfoot, at Six Rivers National Forest in California.
1984 – The Spanish trawler Sonia sank in British waters after a five-hour chase by the Irish Naval Service patrol vessel Aisling, during which almost 600 shots were fired.
1991 – An earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Sennacherib (d. 681 BC)
Bálint Balassi (b. 1554)
Simon de Vos (b. 1603)
Stéphane Hessel (b. 1917)

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October 20

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. Originally native to Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and a large part of Asia, it is now found in most parts of the world and is the most widely distributed wild bird. It is closely associated with human habitation and resides in both urban and rural areas. The house sparrow is a small bird with a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. It is sometimes considered a pest but is also sometimes kept as a pet or used as a food item. This male house sparrow was photographed in Prospect Park, New York City, New York.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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Tomorrow (October 21)

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October 21

Meghan Trainor

Takin' It Back is the fifth major-label studio album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Epic Records released it on October 21, 2022. Trainor worked with producers including Federico Vindver and Gian Stone and featured artists like Teddy Swims and Natti Natasha. Inspired by the sound of her album Title (2015) after its title track went viral on TikTok, Takin' It Back is a doo-wop and bubblegum-pop album about motherhood and self-acceptance. Trainor promoted the latter with televised performances and two singles, "Bad for Me" and "Made You Look". The latter peaked at number 11 in the US and reached the top 10 in several other countries. Reviewers thought Takin' It Back showcased Trainor's maturity, growth, and musicality, but they were divided on whether it was a progression from her earlier work. The album debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. Its deluxe edition was supported by the single "Mother". (This article is part of two featured topics: Takin' It Back and Meghan Trainor albums.)

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October 21

Aftermath of the Seongsu Bridge disaster

1096 – First Crusade: At the Battle of Civetot, the Seljuk forces of Kilij Arslan destroyed the army of the People's Crusade as it marched toward Nicaea.
1867 – The first and second of three treaties were signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the United States federal government and several Native American tribes in the Great Plains, requiring them to relocate to areas in present-day western Oklahoma.
1941 – World War II: German soldiers massacred nearly 2,800 Serbs in Kragujevac in reprisal for insurgent attacks in the district of Gornji Milanovac.
1968 – At the height of the Japanese university protests, protesters occupied Shinjuku Station in Tokyo and clashed violently with police.
1994 – In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people were killed and 17 others injured when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapsed (pictured).

Birger Jarl (d. 1266)
Will Carleton (b. 1845)
Steph Davies (b. 1987)
May'n (b. 1989)

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October 21

Michael Giacchino

The 2017 American animated fantasy comedy-drama film Coco won 63 awards from 81 nominations. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film got particular recognition for its score, composed by Michael Giacchino (pictured). At the 90th Academy Awards, Coco won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. The film garnered two nominations at the 75th Golden Globe Awards, winning for Best Animated Feature Film. Coco also won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for both Best Animated Feature and Best Song. It was named one of the ten best films of 2017 by the National Board of Review. (Full list...)

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October 21

X-rays are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, with wavelengths shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays – roughly in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometres. X-rays were discovered by German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895, who named them X-radiation to signify an unknown type of radiation. X-rays can penetrate many solid substances such as construction materials and living tissue, and X-ray radiography is widely used in medical diagnostics. This medical significance was noticed by Röntgen shortly after he discovered X-rays; this print, titled Hand mit Ringen (Hand with Rings), is a print of his first medical X-ray, taken of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand in December 1895.

Print credit: Wilhelm Röntgen; restored by Yann Forget

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In two days (October 22)

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October 22

Ashley Tisdale

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is an interactive drama and survival horror video game, developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the third game of the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology and was released on 22 October 2021. Ashley Tisdale (pictured) was marketed as the game's lead. Set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the plot follows four Americans working for the US Armed Forces and one Iraqi Republican Guard who fall into a subterranean Akkadian temple where they must work together to survive the vampiric creatures that infest the area. The game features two single-player gameplay modes and two that are multiplayer, with one played online, while the other can be played locally. House of Ashes received mixed reviews from critics upon release. The fourth game in the series, The Devil in Me, was revealed in a teaser trailer at the end of House of Ashes, and released on 18 November 2022. (Full article...)

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October 22

Portrait of Caroline of Ansbach by Michael Dahl, c. 1730

1724 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of the church cantata Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Adorn yourself, O dear soul), based on the communion hymn of the same name, in Leipzig.
1727 – George II and Caroline of Ansbach (pictured) were crowned king and queen of Great Britain in Westminster Abbey.
1895 – At Gare Montparnasse in Paris, an express train derailed after overrunning the buffer stop and crashed through the station wall, with the locomotive landing on the street below.
1924 – The educational non-profit organization Toastmasters International was founded at a YMCA in Santa Ana, California.
2014 – In Ottawa, Canada, the downtown core was placed on lockdown after a series of shootings at Parliament Hill.

Charles Scott (d. 1813)
César Luis Menotti (b. 1938)
Joseph Cahill (d. 1959)
Oona King (b. 1967)

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October 22

Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso (22 October 1890 – 15 June 1970) was a Scottish politician and leader of the Liberal Party.

Photograph credit: Royal Air Force official photographer

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In three days (October 23)

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October 23

Wells Cathedral is an Anglican place of worship in Wells, Somerset, dedicated to Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a Roman Catholic cathedral from around 1175 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it became an Anglican cathedral when Henry VIII split from Rome. Its Gothic architecture is mostly inspired from Early English style of the late 12th to early 13th centuries. The stonework of its pointed arcades and fluted piers bears pronounced mouldings and carved capitals in a foliate, "stiff-leaf" style. The east end retains much ancient stained glass. Unlike many cathedrals of monastic foundation, Wells has many surviving secular buildings linked to its chapter of secular canons, including the Bishop's Palace and the 15th-century residential Vicars' Close. It is a Grade I listed building. (Full article...)

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October 23: Mole Day

Paulina Wright Davis

1798 – War of the Second Coalition: The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeated French troops and captured the town of Preveza at the Battle of Nicopolis.
1850 – The inaugural National Women's Rights Convention, presided over by American activist Paulina Wright Davis (pictured), began in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his biplane 14-bis for 50 metres (160 ft) at an altitude of about four metres (13 ft).
2001 – Grand Theft Auto III was released, helping to popularize open-world and mature-content video games.
2022 – Myanmar civil war: Burmese military forces launched airstrikes that killed at least 80 concertgoers in Kachin State.

Sweyn III of Denmark (d. 1157)
Ludwig Leichhardt (b. 1813)
Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg (b. 1832)
Josh Kirby (d. 2001)

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October 23

The hairy dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) is a species of European dragonfly in the hawker family, Aeshnidae. It is found in Europe and Asia Minor, as far east as the Caspian Sea, and resides close to water bodies containing plants with a flight season running from May to July. The hairy dragonfly is named for its hairy thorax, distinguishing it from other hawkers. With a typical length of around 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in), it has a long, narrow pterostigma and features coupled, oval-shaped markings on its abdomen, blue on males and yellow on females. This male hairy dragonfly on a fern was photographed in Burren National Park, County Clare, Ireland.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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In four days (October 24)

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October 24

Grayscale image of Umbriel from Voyager 2, January 1986

Umbriel is the third-largest moon of Uranus. It was discovered on October 24, 1851, by William Lassell. Named after a character in a 1712 poem by Alexander Pope, Umbriel is composed mainly of ice with a substantial fraction of rock. It may be differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. Its surface, the darkest among Uranian moons, appears to have been shaped mostly by impacts, but the presence of canyons suggests early endogenic processes. This shows Umbriel may have undergone an early endogenically driven resurfacing event that erased its older surface. Covered by numerous impact craters reaching 210 km (130 mi) in diameter, Umbriel is the second-most heavily cratered satellite of Uranus after Oberon. Like all moons of Uranus, Umbriel likely formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet just after its formation. The only close study of Umbriel was conducted by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in January 1986, which captured images of about 40% of its surface. (Full article...)

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October 24

Bust of Qutuz

1260 – Qutuz (bust pictured), the sultan of Egypt, was assassinated and replaced by fellow Mamluk leader Baybars.
1796 – War of the First Coalition: The Battle of Schliengen was fought between the French and Austrian armies, who both claimed victory.
1945 – The Charter of the United Nations entered into force after being ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of the other signatories.
1975 – In protest against wage discrepancy and unfair employment practices, 90 percent of Iceland's female population went on strike for a day.
2003 – The inaugural Afro-Asian Games opened in Hyderabad, with 2,040 athletes from 96 nations competing.

Tycho Brahe (d. 1601)
Peng Dehuai (b. 1898)
Letitia Woods Brown (b. 1915)
Regina Purtell (d. 1950)

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October 24

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (Egyptian: Ḏsr-ḏsrw meaning "Holy of Holies") is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, in around the 15th century BC. Located opposite the city of Luxor, the temple's three terraces rise above the desert floor and into the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut's tomb lies inside the same massif, capped by El Qurn, a pyramid for her mortuary complex. At the edge of the desert, 1 km (0.62 mi) east, connected to the complex by a causeway lies the accompanying valley temple. Across the river Nile, the whole structure points towards the monumental Eighth Pylon, Hatshepsut's most recognizable addition to the temple of Karnak. The temple's twin functions are identified by its axes: its main east-west axis served to receive the barque of Amun-Re at the climax of the festival, while its north-south axis represented the life cycle of the pharaoh from coronation to rebirth. This aerial photograph shows the temple viewed from the south-east.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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In five days (October 25)

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October 25

Yamashiro on her trials, 1916

The Fusō-class battleships were a pair of dreadnoughts built for the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War I. Fusō was launched in 1914, Yamashiro in 1915. During the 1930s, both ships underwent a series of modernizations and reconstructions. This increased their armor, replaced and upgraded their machinery, and rebuilt their superstructures into a distinctive pagoda mast style. Despite the expensive reconstructions, both vessels were considered obsolescent by the eve of World War II, and neither saw significant action in the early years of the war. In 1944 both underwent upgrades to their anti-aircraft suite before transferring to Singapore. Fusō and Yamashiro were the only two Japanese battleships at the Battle of Surigao Strait, the southernmost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and both were lost in the early hours of 25 October 1944 to torpedoes and naval gunfire. Only ten crewmembers from each ship survived. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battleships of Japan.)

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October 25

Terence MacSwiney

1415 – Hundred Years' War: The army of Henry V of England, consisting mostly of archers, unexpectedly defeated the numerically superior French cavalry at the Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day.
1760 – George III became King of Great Britain and Ireland, succeeding his grandfather George II.
1920 – Irish playwright and politician Terence MacSwiney (pictured) died after a hunger strike in Brixton Prison, bringing the Irish struggle for independence to international attention.
1927 – The Italian cruise liner SS Principessa Mafalda sank when a propeller shaft broke and fractured the hull, resulting in 314 deaths.
1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Abduction Convention, a multilateral treaty providing an expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to another, concluded at The Hague.

Magnus the Good (d. 1047)
Johann Strauss II (b. 1825)
Larry Itliong (b. 1913)
Nancy Cartwright (b. 1957)

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October 25

Quintonil

The Michelin Guide debuted in Mexico in 2024. The guides have been published by the French tire company Michelin since 1900. They were designed as a guide to tell drivers about eateries they recommended to visit and to subtly sponsor their tires, by encouraging drivers to use their cars more and therefore need to replace the tires as they wore out. Over time, the stars that were given out started to become more valuable. Inspectors visited five states – Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nuevo León, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo – and the capital city, Mexico City. Sixteen restaurants earned one star, and two, Pujol and Quintonil (pictured), received two. No restaurant earned three stars. (Full list...)

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October 25

USS Johnston was a Fletcher-class destroyer built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Lieutenant John V. Johnston, a navy officer during the American Civil War. The ship was laid down in May 1942 and was launched in March 1943, entering active duty later that year as part of the US Pacific Fleet. Johnston provided naval gunfire support for American ground forces during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in 1944 and again, after three months of patrol and escort duty in the Solomon Islands, during the recapture of Guam in July. Thereafter, Johnston was tasked with escorting escort carriers during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the liberation of the Philippines. On 25 October 1944, Johnston and various other ships were engaged by a large Imperial Japanese Navy flotilla, in what became known as the Battle off Samar. After engaging several Japanese capital ships and a destroyer squadron, Johnston was sunk with 187 dead. Johnston's wreck was discovered in 2019, and at a depth of more than 20,000 feet (6,100 m) below the surface, is one of the deepest shipwrecks ever surveyed. This photograph shows Johnston in Seattle in October 1943.

Photograph credit: uidentified US Navy photographer; restored by Adam Cuerden and Cobatfor

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In six days (October 26)

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October 26

Katy Perry (born October 25, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She released her debut album in 2001, then signed to Capitol Records in 2007. Perry rose to fame in 2008 with the release of the single "I Kissed a Girl". She has released seven studio albums, the most recent of which, 143, was in September 2024. Perry has the second-most US diamond certified singles for any female artist (6). She has received various accolades, including a Billboard Spotlight Award, four Guinness World Records, five Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards, a Brit Award, and a Juno Award. Perry is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 143 million units worldwide. She made her film debut voicing Smurfette in The Smurfs in 2011, released a documentary film in 2012, and launched her own shoe line, Katy Perry Collections, in 2017. Perry served as a judge on American Idol between 2018 and 2024. (Full article...)

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October 26

George W. Bush signing the Patriot Act into law

1597 – Japanese invasions of Korea: Thirteen Korean ships commanded by Admiral Yi Sun-sin defeated a far larger Japanese invading fleet at the Battle of Myeongnyang in the Myeongnyang Strait.
1813 – War of 1812: British forces and Mohawk allies under Charles de Salaberry repulsed an American attempt to invade Canada.
1905 – The Saint Petersburg Soviet held its first meeting, becoming the first elected body in Russia to represent workers.
2000 – Following protests against military leader Robert Guéï, Laurent Gbagbo became the president of Ivory Coast.
2001 – President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law (pictured), significantly expanding the authority of United States law enforcement agencies.

John Basset (b. 1518)
Carlo Collodi (d. 1890)
Masaharu Iwata (b. 1966)
Oro (d. 1993)

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October 26

The greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) is a species of goose in the family Anatidae. It is closely related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (A. erythropus). The greater white-fronted goose is migratory, breeding in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, and winters farther south in North America, Europe and Asia. The greater white-fronted goose has a length of 64–81 cm (25–32 in), a 130–165 cm (51–65 in) wingspan, and a mass of 1.93–3.31 kg (4 lb 4 oz – 7 lb 5 oz). The male is typically larger in size; both sexes are similar in appearance—greyish brown birds with light grey breasts dappled with dark brown to black blotches and bars. Both males and females also have a pinkish bill and orange legs and feet. This greater white-fronted goose was photographed during migration in the Central Valley of the US state of California.

Photograph credit: Frank Schulenburg

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In seven days (October 27)

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October 27

Hadji Ali (c. 1888–92 – 1937) was a vaudeville performance artist famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. Thought to be of Egyptian extraction, his feats included water spouting, smoke swallowing and nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience. The mainstay of Ali's act was "water spouting". After swallowing 60 to 100 glasses of water at a time, he spouted it in a continuous stream sometimes for up to one minute. Ali's most famous stunt, and the highlight of his act, was drinking water followed by kerosene, and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower and fire extinguisher as he expelled the two liquids onto a theatrical prop. Ali had a dedicated following on the vaudeville circuit in the United States and performed for heads of state, including Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. After he died in England his body was offered to Johns Hopkins for study, though the offer was declined. (Full article...)

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October 27

City Hall station in the 1900s

1904 – The first underground segment of the New York City Subway opened, connecting New York City Hall (station pictured) with Harlem.
1914 – World War I: The Royal Navy dreadnought HMS Audacious was sunk by a mine, but its loss was kept secret for four years.
1946 – Inter-religious riots in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families began in the Indian state of Bihar, resulting in 2,000 to 30,000 deaths.
1967 – American Catholic priest Philip Berrigan led a protest against the Vietnam War by pouring blood over Selective Service records in Baltimore, Maryland.
1993 – Widerøe Flight 744 suffered a controlled flight into terrain while on approach to Namsos Airport, Norway, killing two crew members and four passengers.

Abulfeda (d. 1331)
William Gillies (b. 1868)
Judy LaMarsh (d. 1980)
Li Keqiang (d. 2023)

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October 27

Acer negundo, also known as the box elder, is a species of maple in the family Sapindaceae, native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, ash-like compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or invasive species, and has been naturalized throughout much of the world. It is a fast-growing and fairly short-lived tree, growing up to 10–25 metres (35–80 feet) tall, with a trunk diameter of 30–50 centimetres (12–20 inches). The male and female flowers appear on separate plants, with males featuring clusters that generally have four flowers together, while females appear as a raceme. This female flower was photogrpahed in Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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