February 20, 2008

230 years ago
1778

Died on this date
Laura Bassi, 66. Italian physicist. Dr. Bassi became the first woman to obtain a doctorate in science, which was awarded by the University of Bologna in 1732. She began teaching at that university a month later, becoming the first salaried female teacher at a university. Dr. Bassi was Italy's most important popularizer of Newtonian physics, and was the University of Bologna's Chairman of Experimental Physics from 1776 until her death.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Margaret Brown. U.S. crime victim. Miss Brown, a governess in New York City, was robbed of $9,000 and set afire, and burned to death in a wood near Bernardsville, New Jersey.

60 years ago
1948

At the movies
Relentless, directed by George Sherman, and starring Robert Young and Marguerite Chapman, opened in theatres.



Politics and government
11 non-Communist ministers resigned from the Czechoslovakian cabinet in protest against the recent assignment of important police offices to Communists.

52 Southern Democratic U.S. Congressmen, meeting in Washington, adopted a resolution warning national party leaders against incorporating a civil rights plank in the 1948 party platform.

Economics and finance
The U.K. and U.S.A. formally approved France's efforts to integrate the Saar into the French economy.

Labour
Congress of Industrial Organizations leaders ordered International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Presidnt Harry Bridges to stop supporting the third-party U.S. presidential campaign of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace and opposing the Marshall Plan, threatening otherwise to suspend Mr. Bridges from his post as regional CIO director in northern California.

Oil
The U.S. Commerce Department imposed licensing requirements on all crude exports in an effort to ease the domestic oil shortage.

Boxing
Terry Young (61-14-5) won a 10-round split decision over former world lightweight champion Beau Jack (71-12-4) in a welterweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.

50 years ago
1958

Diplomacy
Sudan complained to the United Nations Security Council that "a huge infiltration of Egyptians" had taken place "into the area of northern Sudan claimed by Egypt, backed by a concentration of Egyptian troops on the border."

Defense
The British government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan announced the closure of Sheerness Docks on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent; it was one of the oldest naval dockyards in the United Kingdom.

Politics and government
Soviet foreign aid chief Mikhail Pervukhin, downgraded in the 1957 purge of Vyacheslav Molotov's "anti-party" group, replaced Georgi Pushkin as U.S.S.R. Ambassador to East Germany.

Crime
The Illinois Parole and Prison Board, in a split decision, granted parole to Nathan Leopold, who at the age of 19, had, with Richard Loeb, kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago in 1924.

Scandal
Former Teamsters union President Dave Beck was sentenced in Seattle by Washington Superior Court to up to 15 years in prison for stealing $1,900 from his union. Mr. Beck's son was fined $2,000 for keeping $4,650 from the sale of two union-owned automobiles.

Horse racing
In Santa Anita, California, jockey Eddie Arcaro rode his 4,000th career winner.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)--John Fred and his Playboy Band (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Vise

Wojeck, starring John Vernon, on CBC
Tonight's episode: Fair Egypt



Prescription: Murder, starring Peter Falk, Gene Barry, and Nina Foch, on CBS

This made-for-television movie was the first of two that served as pilots for the subsequent series Columbo.



Died on this date
Anthony Asquith, 65. U.K. film director. Mr. Asquith, the son of Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, directed such movies as Pygmalion (1938); The Winslow Boy (1948); The Browning Version (1951); and The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964).

War
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee began a week of hearings into facts concerning the August 1964 incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, in which North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked two U.S. destroyers. The incident prompted the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, leading to active U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara testified behind closed doors, and issued a public statement after his appearance, declaring that intelligence reports of a "highly classified and unimpeachable nature" had established that the second Gulf of Tonkin attack on August 4, 1964 had taken place.

Politics and government
Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson gave his first televised address to the nation, telling Canadians that he would table a confidence motion the next day to prove his Liberal Party still had control of Parliament.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Mull of Kintyre--Wings (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): UFO--Pink Lady (10th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Unlimited Citations--Café Crème

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Sì, la vita è tutta un quiz--Renzo Arbore (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): (I've Had) The Time of My Life--Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France (SNEP): Boys (Summertime Love)--Sabrina (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car--Billy Ocean

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): I Should Be So Lucky--Kylie Minogue

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Seasons Change--Exposé

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 What Have I Done to Deserve This?--Pet Shop Boys (with Dusty Springfield)
2 Could've Been--Tiffany
3 Hungry Eyes--Eric Carmen
4 Seasons Change--Exposé
5 Father Figure--George Michael
6 Need You Tonight--INXS
7 She's Like the Wind--Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser)
8 Say You Will--Foreigner
9 Don't Shed a Tear--Paul Carrack
10 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley

Singles entering the chart were What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong (#73); Give Me All Your Love by Whitesnake (#81); I Want You so Bad by Heart (#82); Winter Games by David Foster (#83); Magic Carpet Ride by Bardeux (#84); Prove Your Love by Taylor Dayne (#85); Pamela by Toto (#86); Fishnet by Morris Day (#87); Going Back to Cali by LL Cool J (#88); Ever Since the World Began by Tommy Shaw (#89); and All Right Now by Pepsi and Shirlie (#90). It's a Wonderful World had originally been released in 1967; it hadn't charted in the U.S.A., but had spent 4 weeks at #1 in the U.K. in the spring of 1968. It was re-released as a single after being featured in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). Winter Games was the theme of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Could've Been--Tiffany (3rd week at #1)
2 Need You Tonight--INXS
3 Hazy Shade of Winter--Bangles
4 Crying--Roy Orbison and k.d. lang
5 Candle in the Wind--Elton John
6 Pump Up the Volume--M/A/R/R/S
7 The Way You Make Me Feel--Michael Jackson
8 Pop Goes the World--Men Without Hats
9 Got My Mind Set on You--George Harrison
10 When a Man Loves a Woman--Luba

Singles entering the chart were Devil Inside by INXS (#94); Check it Out by John Cougar Mellencamp (#97); Never Give Up by Blvd. (#99); and Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car by Billy Ocean (#100).

Died on this date
Bob O'Farrell, 91. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. O'Farrell was a catcher with the Chicago Cubs (1915-1925, 1934); St. Louis Cardinals (1925-1928, 1933, 1935); New York Giants (1928-1932); and Cincinnati Reds (1934), batting .273 with 51 home runs and 549 runs batted in in 1,492 games. He was named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1926, when he hit .293 with 7 homers and 68 RBIs in 147 games, helping the Cardinals win their first World Series championship. Mr. O'Farrell batted 0 for 3 in 3 games with the Cubs in their 1918 World Series loss to the Boston Red Sox, and hit .304 with no homers and 2 RBIs in 7 games in the 1926 World Series, for a total of .269 in 10 games. He managed the Cardinals in 1927, leading them to a 92-61 record and a second-place finish, 1½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mr. O'Farrell managed the Reds in 1934, but was fired on July 26 with the team in last place with a record of 30-60-1, and rejoined the Cubs 11 days later. He finished his playing career in the minor leagues in 1938, and operated a recreation hall in Waukegan, Illinois.

Europeana
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, an administrative unit within Azerbaijan, voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia.

Olympics
Brian Boitano of the United States edged Brian Orser of Canada to win the gold medal in men's figure skating at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary. In men's hockey, Canada defeated France 9-5 at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary. The French team was so bad that they were popularly known as "Les Miserables."