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Josef Albers

Josef Albers

Josef Albers (March 19, 1888 - March 26, 1976), was a German artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century. Born in Bottrop, Westphalia, Albers studied art in Berlin, Essen, and Munich before enrolling as a student at the prestigious Weimar Bauhaus in 1920. He began teaching in the preliminary course of the Department of Design in 1922, and was promoted to Professor in 1925, the year the Bauhaus moved to Dessau. With the closure of the Bauhaus under Nazi pressure in 1933, Albers emigrated to the United States and joined the faculty of Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where he ran the painting program until 1949. At Black Mountain his students included Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Motherwell. In 1950 Albers left Black Mountain to head the Department of Design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut until he retired from teaching in 1958. In 1963 he published "Interaction of Color" which presented his theory that colors were governed by an internal and deceptive logic. Also during this time, he created the abstract album covers of band leader Enoch Light's Command LP records. Albers continued to paint and write, staying in New Haven with his wife, textile artist Anni Albers, until his death. Accomplished as a designer, photographer, typographer, printmaker and poet, Albers is best remembered for his work as an abstract painter and theorist. He favored a very disciplined approach to composition. Most famous of all are the dozens of paintings and prints that make up the series "Homage to the Square." In this rigorous series, begun in 1949, Albers explored chromatic interactions with flat colored squares arranged concentrically on the canvas. Albers' theories on art and education were formative for the next generation of artists. His own paintings form the foundation of both hard-edge abstraction and Op art.

External links

- [http://www.albersfoundation.org The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation] Albers, Josef Albers, Josef Albers, Josef Albers, Josef Albers, Josef

March 19

March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). There are 287 days remaining.

Events

- 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
- 1687 - Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
- 1831 - The City Bank of New York becomes the site of the first bank robbery in United States history ($245,000 taken).
- 1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
- 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later the Confederate forces have retreated from Greenville, North Carolina.
- 1915 - Pluto is photographed for the first time but was not recognized as a planet.
- 1916 - Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.
- 1918 - The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
- 1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919).
- 1932 - Sydney Harbour Bridge opens.
- 1931 - Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
- 1942 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association is established in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
- 1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship.
- 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
- 1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
- 1953 - Academy Awards are first televised.
- 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
- 1958 - A fire in a loft building in New York, New York kills 24 people.
- 1962 - Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire takes effect.
- 1963 - Saxophonist Stan Getz records Getz/Gilberto, including The Girl from Ipanema, sung by Astrud and João Gilberto.
- 1972 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
- 1978 - UN Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 were passed, calling upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory (Operation Litani), and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
- 1979 - The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
- 1981 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
- 1982 - Falklands War: Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.
- 1982 - Randy Rhoads is killed in a tragic plane accident. The brilliant guitarist was just 25.
- 1987 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL.
- 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.
- 2003 - The invasion of Iraq begins (with the time difference, it actually begins on March 20 at 0100 UTC)
- 2004 - Äänekoski bus disaster - A long-distance lorry and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
- 2004 - A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian Mig-15 in the 1950s is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew are left in place, pending further investigations.
- 2004 - Taiwanese president Chen Shui-ban is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20. See 3-19 Shooting Incident.

Births

- 1434 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1443)
- 1488 - Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (d. 1544)
- 1684 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
- 1721 - Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (d. 1771)
- 1734 - Thomas McKean, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1817)
- 1778 - Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
- 1813 - David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
- 1824 or 1828 - William Allingham, Irish author (d. 1889)
- 1848 - Wyatt Earp, American policeman and gunfighter (d. 1929)
- 1849 - Alfred von Tirpitz, German sailor (d. 1930)
- 1851 - William Henry Stark, Business leader (d. 1936)
- 1864 - Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
- 1865 - William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist, myrmecologist, pioneer in ethology (d. 1937)
- 1871 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (d. 1921)
- 1872 - Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (d. 1929)
- 1873 - Max Reger, German composer (d. 1916)
- 1883 - Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
- 1883 - Joseph Stilwell, U.S. general (d. 1946)
- 1888 - Josef Albers, German artist (d. 1976)
- 1891 - Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1974)
- 1892 - James Van Fleet, American general (d. 1992)
- 1894 - Moms Mabley, American comedienne (d. 1975)
- 1894 - Joe Venuti, American musician (d. 1978)
- 1900 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
- 1904 - John Sirica, American judge (d. 1992)
- 1905 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (d. 1981)
- 1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (d. 1962)
- 1909 - Louis Hayward, British actor (d. 1985)
- 1909 - Attilio Demaria, Argentinian footballer
- 1914 - Jay Berwanger, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1916 - Eric Christmas, British actor (d. 2000)
- 1916 - Irving Wallace, American novelist (d. 1990)
- 1917 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanisn pianist (d. 1950)
- 1920 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (d. 2002)
- 1921 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (d. 1984)
- 1923 - Pamela Britton, American actress (d. 1974)
- 1924 - Mary Wimbush, English actress (d. 2005)
- 1927 - Richie Ashburn, American baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1925 - Brent Scowcroft, United States National Security Advisor
- 1928 - Hans Küng, Swiss theologian
- 1928 - Patrick McGoohan, American-born actor
- 1930 - Ornette Coleman, American musician
- 1933 - Philip Roth, American author
- 1936 - Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
- 1937 - Clarence "Frogman" Henry, American musician
- 1937 - Egon Krenz, President of East Germany
- 1939 - Joe Kapp, American football player
- 1943 - Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 - Mario Monti, Italian politician
- 1944 - Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
- 1944 - Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian-born assassin
- 1947 - Glenn Close, American actress
- 1947 - Marinho Peres, Brazilian football player
- 1953 - Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52's) (d. 1985)
- 1955 - Bruce Willis, American actor
- 1962 - Ivan Calderon, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2003)
- 1964 - Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer
- 1969 - Connor Trinneer, American actor
- 1981 - Kolo Toure, Ivory Coast footballer

Deaths

- 1238 - Duke Henry I of Poland (b. 1163)
- 1263 - Hugh of St Cher, French cardinal
- 1279 - Emperor Bing of Song China (b. 1271)
- 1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland (b. 1241)
- 1330 - Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (executed) (b. 1301)
- 1406 - Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian (b. 1332)
- 1623 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556)
- 1637 - Peter Pazmany, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)
- 1649 - Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
- 1683 - Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist (b. 1612)
- 1687 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French explorer (b. 1643)
- 1697 - Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (b. 1665)
- 1711 - Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
- 1717 - John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish royalist
- 1721 - Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
- 1796 - Hugh Palliser, British naval officer and administrator (b. 1722)
- 1914 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
- 1930 - Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1848)
- 1939 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
- 1942 - Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist (b. 1855)
- 1943 - Frank Nitti, American gangster (b. 1883)
- 1944 - William Hale Thompson, American mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
- 1945 - Friedrich Fromm, German Nazi official (b. 1888)
- 1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b. 1875)
- 1950 - Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
- 1974 - Edward Platt, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1976 - Albert Dieudonné, French actor, screenwriter and novelist (b. 1889)
- 1976 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
- 1978 - Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
- 1980 - Tamara de Lempicka, Polish painter (b. 1898)
- 1982 - Randy Rhoads, American guitarist (Quiet Riot) (b. 1956)
- 1987 - Louis, 7th duc de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- 1989 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
- 1990 - Andrew Wood, American musician (Mother Love Bone) (b. 1966)
- 1997 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b. 1904)
- 1999 - Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2004 - Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (b. 1911)
- 2005 - John De Lorean, American automobile engineer (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

- Roman Catholicism and Church of England - Saint Joseph's Day for Saint Joseph of Nazareth, spouse of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
- Father's Day in Spain, Portugal, Belgium.
- Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain.
- The first day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
- The swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California.
- Mojoday in Discordianism

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/19 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/19 Today in History: March 19] ---- March 18 - March 20 - February 19 - April 19 -- listing of all days ko:3월 19일 ms:19 Mac ja:3月19日 simple:March 19 th:19 มีนาคม

March 26

March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). There are 280 days remaining.

Events

- 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1552 - Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru
- 1636 - Utrecht University is founded in The Netherlands
- 1707 - The Act of Union becomes law, making England and Scotland one country.
- 1808 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.
- 1812 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1839 - The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
- 1871 - The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
- 1881 - Domnitor Carol I of the Principality of Romania is proclaimed the first King of Romania.
- 1913 - Balkan War: Bulgarian forces take Adrianople.
- 1917 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
- 1937 - In Crystal City, Texas, spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye.
- 1942 - World War II: In Poland, Auschwitz receives its first female prisoners.
- 1943 - World War II: Battle of Komandorski Islands - In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
- 1953 - Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.
- 1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer III.
- 1958 - The African Regroupment Party (PRA) is launched at a meeting in Paris.
- 1971 - East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Liberation War begins.
- 1973 - The soap opera The Young and the Restless debuts on CBS television.
- 1975 - The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force.
- 1979 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in Washington, DC
- 1982 - A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC.
- 1995 - The Schengen Treaty goes into effect.
- 1996 - The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan for Russia.
- 1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.
- 1998 - Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
- 1999 - The "Melissa worm" infects e-mail systems around the world.
- 1999 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
- 2000 - The Seattle Kingdome is imploded to make room for a new stadium.
- 2000 - Presidential elections are held in Russia, and Vladimir Putin is elected President.
- 2001- The Final Edition of WCW Monday Nitro airs on TNT. Vince Mcmahon appeared on simulcast between WWE Raw and Nitro to give a speech about what he was going to do with WCW. This is the final show of WCW and the last night of wrestling on the turner networks to this date.
- 2003 - The Supreme Court of the United States hears oral arguments in Lawrence v. Texas.
- 2005 - The Revived Series of British Science Fiction Program Doctor Who begins Broadcasting on British Television

Births

- 1516 - Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565)
- 1554 - Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader (d. 1611)
- 1753 - Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (d. 1814)
- 1859 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (d. 1936)
- 1874 - Robert Frost, American poet (d. 1963)
- 1875 - Max Abraham, German physicist (d. 1922)
- 1875 - Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
- 1879 - Othmar Ammann, Swiss-born bridge engineer (d. 1965)
- 1884 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
- 1888 - Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse (d. 1948)
- 1904 - Joseph Campbell, American author (d. 1987)
- 1904 - Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
- 1905 - Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1997)
- 1911 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2003)
- 1911 - Tennessee Williams, American dramatist (d. 1983)
- 1913 - Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Toru Kumon, Japanese educator (d 1995)
- 1914 - William Westmoreland, U.S. general (d. 2005)
- 1916 - Christian B. Anfinsen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- 1916 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1917 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (d. 2001)
- 1919 - Strother Martin, American actor (d. 1980)
- 1923 - Bob Elliott, American comedian
- 1925 - Pierre Boulez, French composer and conductor
- 1930 - Gregory Corso, American poet (d. 2001)
- 1930 - Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- 1931 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director
- 1934 - Alan Arkin, American actor
- 1935 - Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine National Authority
- 1938 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 - James Caan, American actor
- 1940 - Nancy Pelosi, American politician
- 1942 - Erica Jong, American author
- 1943 - Bob Woodward, American journalist
- 1944 - Diana Ross, American singer (Supremes)
- 1946 - Johnny Crawford, American actor
- 1947 - Dar Robinson, American stunt man (d. 1986)
- 1948 - Steven Tyler, American musician (Aerosmith)
- 1949 - Vicki Lawrence, American actress and singer
- 1949 - Patrick Süßkind, German writer
- 1950 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer
- 1950 - Martin Short, Canadian comedian
- 1950 - Ernest Thomas, American actor
- 1951 - Carl Wieman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1953 - Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor
- 1954 - Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels
- 1956 - Charly McClain, American singer
- 1957 - Leeza Gibbons, American television host
- 1960 - Marcus Allen, American football player
- 1960 - Jennifer Grey, American actress
- 1961 - William Hague, British politician
- 1962 - John Stockton, American basketball player
- 1963 - Kyogoku Natsuhiko, Japanese writer
- 1968 - James Iha, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
- 1971 - Behzad Ghorbani, Iranian zoologist and sociobiologist
- 1976 - Amy Smart, American actress
- 1977 - Kevin Davies, English footballer
- 1982 - Mikel Arteta, Spanish footballer
- 1985 - Keira Knightley, English actress

Deaths

- 922 - Al-Hallaj, Persian Sufi teacher and writer
- 1212 - King Sancho I of Portugal (b. 1154)
- 1517 - Heinrich Isaac, Flemish composer
- 1546 - Thomas Elyot, English diplomat
- 1566 - Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer (b. 1510)
- 1679 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621)
- 1697 - Godfrey McCulloch, Scottish politican and murderer (executed) (b. 1640)
- 1726 - Sir John Vanbrugh, English dramatist and architect (b. 1664)
- 1772 - Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (b. 1704)
- 1776 - Samuel Ward, American politician (b. 1725)
- 1780 - Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1713)
- 1793 - John Mudge, English physician and inventor (b. 1721)
- 1814 - Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French inventor of the guillotine (b. 1738)
- 1827 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (b. 1770)
- 1892 - Walt Whitman, American poet (b. 1819)
- 1902 - Cecil Rhodes, English explorer and entrepreneur (b. 1853)
- 1910 - An Jung-geun, Japanese assassin of Ito Hirobumi (executed) (b. 1879)
- 1920 - William Chester Minor, American surgeon and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary (b. 1834)
- 1923 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (b. 1844)
- 1929 - Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (b. 1859)
- 1933 - Eddie Lang, American musician (b. 1902)
- 1940 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner (b. 1873)
- 1945 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863)
- 1958 - Phil Mead, English cricketer (b. 1887)
- 1959 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist (b. 1888)
- 1969 - John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937)
- 1973 - Noel Coward, English composer and playwright (b. 1899)
- 1976 - Josef Albers, German artist (b. 1888)
- 1976 - Lin Yutang, Chinese writer (b. 1895)
- 1983 - Anthony Blunt, British spy (b. 1907)
- 1984 - Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (b. 1922)
- 1987 - Eugen Jochum, German conductor (b. 1902)
- 1990 - Halston, American fashion designer (b. 1932)
- 1995 - Eazy-E, American rapper (b. 1963)
- 1996 - Edmund Muskie, American politician (b. 1914)
- 1996 - David Packard, American engineer and businessman (b. 1912)
- 1997 - Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader (b. 1931)
- 2000 - Alex Comfort, American author (b. 1920
- 2002 - Randy Castillo, Drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue
- 2003 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Jan Berry, American musician (Jan and Dean) (b. 1941)
- 2004 - Jan Sterling, American actress (b. 1921)
- 2005 - James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1912)
- 2005 - Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Split Enz and Crowded House) (b. 1959)
- 2005 - Marius Russo, baseball player (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

- Zoroastrianism - Prophet Zarthushtra's (Zoroaster's) Birthday
- Holi in Hinduism (2005)
- International Railway Workers Day [http://www.asu.asn.au/media/transport_travel/20020325_rail.html]
- Megan Day (Lithuania)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/26 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/26 Today in History: March 26] ---- March 25 - March 27 - February 26 - April 26 -- listing of all days ko:3월 26일 ms:26 Mac ja:3月26日 simple:March 26 th:26 มีนาคม

20th century

The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. Common usage sometimes regards it as lasting from 1900 to 1999, but this is incorrect since counting of calendar years begins with the year 1. The 20th century is also sometimes known as the nineteen hundreds (1900s). Decades are almost always considered as starting with the "0" year and named accordingly ("1960s", etc.). However, a number of arguments have been used to justify the common usage. One was advanced, erroneously, by Stephen Jay Gould. He claimed that the first decade had only nine years, thus contradicting the definition of decade equaled 10 years. Another argument is that the astronomical year numbering system for years does have a year zero, the year normally known as 1 BC. In 2000 the International Organization for Standardization clarified ISO 8601 to use the astronomical year numbering system, which could be interpreted as retrospectively endorsing all the people who had celebrated the new century a few months earlier. The term is also used to describe various periods that overlap with the calendar definition, most notably the Short twentieth century, which claims that the 20th Century spanned from 1914 to 1989, rendering the pre-WWI 1900s into the 19th Century and putting the 1990s at the beginning of the 21st Century. Indeed, the part of the 20th Century before World War I is quite identical to the late 1800s culturally and technologically and the 1990s decade pointed in many ways (such as the rise of the Internet) to the 21st Century and is seen by some as not being truly a part of the 20th Century.

Overview

The twentieth century saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social, ideological, and political innovations. Terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage and became an influence on the lives of everyday people. War reached an unprecedented scale and level of sophistication; in the Second World War (1939-1945) alone, approximately 57 million people died, mainly due to massive improvements in weaponry. The trends of mechanization of goods and services and networks of global communication, which were begun in the 19th century, continued at an ever-increasing pace in the 20th. In spite of the terror and chaos, the 20th century saw many attempts at world peace. As the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy said: :What kind of peace do we seek? I am talking about a genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living. Not merely peace in our time, but peace in all time. Our problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future, and we are all mortal. Virtually every aspect of life in virtually every human society changed in some fundamental way or another during the twentieth century and for the first time, any individual could influence the course of history no matter their background. Arguably, the 20th century re-shaped the face of the planet in more ways than any previous century.
- Death rates
- Infant mortality
- Infectious disease
- Life expectancy
- Maternal death rates
- Battles Scientific discoveries such as relativity and quantum physics radically changed the worldview of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than they had previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the preceding century that the last few details of knowledge were about to be filled in. For a more coherent overview of the historical events of the century, see The 20th century in review. The 20th century has sometimes been called, both within and outside the United States, the American Century, though this is a controversial term.

Important developments, events and achievements

Science and technology

- The assembly line and mass production of motor vehicles and other goods allowed manufacturers to produce more and cheaper products. This allowed the automobile to become the most important means of transportation.
- The invention of heavier-than-air flying machines and the jet engine allowed for the world to become "smaller". Space flight increased knowledge of the rest of the universe and allowed for global real-time communications via geosynchronous satellites.
- Mass media technologies such as film, radio, and television allow the communication of political messages and entertainment with unprecedented impact
- Mass availability of the telephone and later, the computer, especially through the Internet, provides people with new opportunities for near-instantaneous communication
- Applied electronics, notably in its miniaturized form as integrated circuits, made possible the above mentioned rise of mass media, telecommunications, ubiquitous computing, and all kinds of "intelligent" appliances; as well as many advances in natural sciences such as physics, by the use of exponentially growing calculation power (see supercomputer).
- The development of Nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides resulted in significantly higher agricultural yield.
- Advances in fundamental physics through the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics led to the development of nuclear weapons (known informally as "the Bomb" and dropped on the industrial town of Hiroshima and the historic one of Nagasaki), the nuclear reactor, and the laser. Fusion power was studied extensively but remained an experimental technology at the end of the century.
- Inventions such as the washing machine and air conditioning led to an increase in both the quantity and quality of leisure time for the middle class in Western societies.
- Most influential inventions in the 20th century: antibiotics, oral contraceptives, new plastics, transistors, Internet
- More...

Wars and politics

- Democratic nations began to extend voting privileges to all adults.
- Rising nationalism and increasing national awareness were among the causes of World War I, the first of two wars to involve all the major world powers including Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and the British Commonwealth. World War I led to the creation of many new countries, especially in Eastern Europe. Ironically, it was said by many to be the 'War to end all Wars'.
- The economic and political aftermath of World War I led to the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe, and shortly to World War II. This war also involved Asia and the Pacific, in the form of Japanese aggression against China and the United States. While the First World War mainly cost lives among soldiers, civilians suffered greatly in the Second -- from the bombing of cities on both sides, and in the unprecedented German genocide of the Jews and others, known as the Holocaust.
- During World War I, in Russia the Bolshevik putsch led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, Communism became a major force in global politics, spreading all over the world: notably, to Eastern Europe, China, Indochina and Cuba. This led to the Cold War and proxy wars with the western world, including wars in Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1957 - 75).
- The "fall of Communism" in the late 1980s freed Eastern and Central Europe from Soviet supremacy. It also led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into successor states, many rife with ethnic nationalism, and left the United States as the world's superpower.
- Through the League of Nations and, after World War II, the United Nations, international cooperation increased. Other efforts included the formation of the European Union, leading to a common currency in much of Western Europe, the euro around the turn of the millennium.
- The end of colonialism led to the independence of many African and Asian countries. During the Cold War, many of these aligned with the USA, the USSR, or China for defense.
- The creation of Israel, a Jewish state in a mostly Arab region of the world, fueled many conflicts in the region, which were also influenced by the vast oil fields in many of the Arab countries.
- The term Southeast Asia coined.

Culture and entertainment

- Movies, music and the media had a major influence on fashion and trends in all aspects of life. As many movies and music originate from the United States, American culture spread rapidly over the world.
- After gaining political rights in the United States and much of Europe in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new birth control techniques women became more independent throughout the century.
- Rock and Roll and Jazz styles of music are developed in the United States, and quickly become the dominant forms of popular music in America, and later, the world. The Beatles, a 1960s British Rock and Roll band, becomes one of the most successful acts of all time, and is credited, in their experimental later albums, with permanently changing what was thought possible in popular music.
- Modern art developed new styles such as expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.
- The automobile provided vastly increased transportation capabilities for the average member of Western societies in the early to mid-century, spreading even further later on. City design throughout most of the West became focused on transport via car. The car became a leading symbol of modern society, with styles of car suited to and symbolic of particular lifestyles.
- Sports became an important part of society, becoming an activity not only for the privileged. Watching sports, later also on television, became a popular activity.

Disease and medicine

- Although the availability and quality of medicine continued to improve, epidemic diseases continued to spread, aided by modern transportation. An influenza pandemic, the Spanish Flu, killed 25 million between 1918 and 1919, while AIDS is yet uncured and treatments remain too expensive for wide use in developing countries.
- Advances in medicine, such as the invention of antibiotics, decreased the number of people dying from diseases. Contraceptive drugs and organ transplantation were developed. The discovery of DNA molecules and the advent of molecular biology allowed for cloning and genetic engineering.

Natural resources and the environment

- The widespread use of petroleum in industry -- both as a chemical precursor to plastics and as a fuel for the automobile and airplane -- led to the vital geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The Middle East, home to many of the world's oil deposits, became a center of geopolitical and military tension throughout the latter half of the century. (For example, oil was a factor in Japan's decision to go to war against the United States in 1941, and the oil cartel, OPEC, used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s).
- A vast increase in fossil fuel consumption leads to depletion of natural resources, while air pollution has led to the develoment of an ozone hole and, many believe, global warming and both local and global climate change. The problem is increased by world-wide deforestation, also causing a loss of biodiversity. The problem of a depletion of natural resources is decreased by advances in drilling technology which led to a net increase in the amount of fossil fuel that is readily obtainable at the end of the century, as compared with the amount considered obtainable at the beginning of the century.

Significant people

Josef Albers

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March 19

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

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March 26

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

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20th century

Overview

Important developments, events and achievements

Science and technology

Wars and politics

Culture and entertainment

Disease and medicine

Natural resources and the environment

Significant people

World leaders

Scientists

Humanities

Business

Aerospace pioneers

Military leaders

Spiritual figures

Artists