February 20: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

2020 A polymer note replaced the paper £20 note in the UK.

2018 Venezuela created its first virtual currency, called the petro, in hopes of saving its economy.

2018 For the first time in her life, at age 91, Queen Elizabeth II attended London Fashion Week.

2016 A John Lennon fan bought a lock of his hair for $35,000 at an auction in Dallas, Texas, USA.

2013 The first electric car charging network debuted in Estonia.

One hundred and sixty-five charging stations were installed across the country, each taking less than 30 minutes to charge a car.

2003 The Station nightclub in Rhode Island burned down, killing 100 people.

The fire started when Great White's pyrotechnics went out of control, igniting acoustic foam surrounding the stage and ceiling. One hundred people were killed, and another 230 people were injured.

1998 Fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest Olympic figure skating gold medalist.

Lipinski won gold while competing for the United States of America at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Her record was only broken in 2019.

1986 The Soviet Union launched the first module of its Mir space station.

Known as the core module, this first piece of the space station was the living module. Over the following years, six additional modules were launched into space and attached to the core module. The Mir space station operated for fifteen years before being decommissioned and returned to Earth in 2001.

1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit planet Earth.

Astronaut John Glenn orbited the planet three times during his five-hour trip in his Friendship 7 capsule.

1959 Jimi Hendrix played his first gig at Temple de Hirsch Synagogue, Seattle, USA.

Hendrix was fired for playing his guitar too wildly.

1943 American movie studio executives allowed the Office of War Information to review their scripts.

1935 Danish-Norwegian explorer Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1872 The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened for the first time in New York City.

1792 US President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act.

Once signed, the United States Post Office became a cabinet position under the presidency. The Postal Service later became an independent corporation in 1971.