Gandhi begins the Salt March against British salt tax (1930), and United States halts travel from Europe over COVID-19 (2020). Born on this day: Mitt Romney, Gustav Kirchhoff and Liza Minnelli. Died: Sun Yat-sen, St. Gregory the Great and Sir William Bragg.
30 events, 71 births and 72 deaths on this date.
Gandhi set out on foot with followers to walk roughly 400 kilometres to the sea, where they would make salt without paying the British tax. The simple act of defiance drew huge crowds into the independence movement.
Elliott & Fry · Public domainThe American government barred most people arriving from Europe, as the coronavirus spread quickly across the continent. It was one of the first large restrictions on international movement during the pandemic.
The Bolshevik government moved Russia's seat of power back from Saint Petersburg, which had held the role for most of the time since 1713. Moscow has remained the capital ever since, through the Soviet era to today.
North Korea said it would leave the global nuclear non-proliferation pact and barred international inspectors from its atomic sites. The move raised alarm worldwide about the country's nuclear ambitions and its commitment to international rules.
After nearly 160 years of British rule, the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius became an independent nation. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who led the independence movement, became its first prime minister.
Mauritius cut its ties to the British crown and adopted a republican constitution, yet stayed in the Commonwealth of Nations. The move marked a clear break with the colonial past while keeping close links with other former British territories.
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Mitt Romney is an American businessman and former politician who was the Republican nominee in the 2012 US presidential election. He had earlier served as governor of Massachusetts and as a senator for Utah, having co-founded the private equity firm Bain Capital.
Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Gustav Kirchhoff, a German physicist, is remembered for the rules that govern how current flows through electrical circuits. He also coined the term "black body" and helped lay the groundwork for spectroscopy.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Liza Minnelli is an American actress and singer, daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, known for her Academy Award-winning role as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. She has won four Tony Awards, including two for Broadway musicals she starred in.
John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Sun Yat-sen was a physician turned revolutionary who helped overthrow the Qing dynasty and founded the Republic of China. He died in Beijing, still pressing for a national assembly and an end to unequal treaties.
上海波尔照相馆 · Public domain
Gregory was a former Roman prefect who became pope and reshaped the Western Church, sending missionaries to England and writing more than any pope before him. He is remembered as one of the four Great Latin Church Fathers.
anonymous · Public domain
British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his son Lawrence, the only father and son to do so. Their work used X-rays to map the arrangement of atoms inside crystals, a method that still underpins modern crystallography.
Nobel foundation · Public domain
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