Human Saga

On August 20

On August 20, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Ronald Ross proves mosquitoes transmit malaria (1897).

On this day

20 August 1897Ronald Ross proves mosquitoes transmit malariaScience, technology & invention

On 20 August 1897, while working in Secunderabad in British India, the army surgeon Ronald Ross dissected an Anopheles mosquito that had fed days earlier on a malaria patient and found the malarial parasite developing within cells of the…

Also this week in history (Aug 17 – Aug 23)

22 August 1791The Haitian Revolution begins in Saint-DomingueSocial & demographic

On the night of 22 August 1791, following a clandestine vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman associated with the leader Dutty Boukman, enslaved people across the northern plain of Saint-Domingue rose in revolt, burning plantations and seizing…

23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943Battle of StalingradMilitary & conflict

The Battle of Stalingrad was fought from 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943 between German and Soviet forces for control of the city on the Volga.

23 August 1514Battle of ChaldiranMilitary & conflict

On 23 August 1514 the Ottoman Sultan Selim I crushed the Safavid army of Shah Ismail I at Chaldiran in northwestern Iran.

18 August 1920 (certified 26 August)Nineteenth Amendment grants US women the voteSocial & demographic

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the denial of the right to vote on the basis of sex.

19 August 19531953 Iranian coup d'état (Operation Ajax)Politics & governance

On 19 August 1953 Iran's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, was overthrown in a coup organised by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6, under the codename Operation Boot) and the American Central…

22 August 1948Founding of the World Council of ChurchesReligion & ideology

On 22 August 1948, representatives of 147 churches from 44 countries gathered in Amsterdam to inaugurate the World Council of Churches (WCC), a fellowship of churches affirming Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.

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