March 20
March 20 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 286 days remain until the year's end. It falls in spring (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Pisces.
Day of year
80
Days remaining
286
ISO week
12
Zodiac
Pisces
Season
Spring
Sun declination
-0.4°
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Wikipedia: this day →Britannica: this day →LoC: Today in History →History.com: this day →On-This-Day.com →BBC: On This Day →NYT: this day →Time and Date →NASA APOD archive →U.S. Naval Observatory →Wolfram|Alpha →Wikidata →Google Books →JSTOR →Internet Archive →
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Astronomy
Computed via Cooper's formula. Positive declination = Sun north of the celestial equator (Northern Hemisphere summer).
- The March equinox typically occurs around this date (often March 20), when the Sun crosses the celestial equator northward — equal day and night, and the start of astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- International Day of Happiness (UN)
- Independence Day — Tunisia (1956)
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
- 1602 — The Dutch East India Company was founded — sometimes cited as the first joint-stock corporation. ↗(424 years ago)
- 1854 — The Republican Party of the United States was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin (or March 1854 — date debated). ↗(172 years ago)
- 1916 — Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity. ↗(110 years ago)
- 1995 — The Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, killing 13. ↗(31 years ago)
Notable births
Notable deaths
- 1727 — Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist. ↗(299 years ago)
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (80) | 2^4 × 5 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (286) | 2 × 11 × 13 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 20032026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | -0.40° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 91 days |