Important Events From This day in History – 13 March

Today in History

• 2013 Pope Francis succeeds Pope Benedict XVI

  Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected as the 266th leader of the Catholic Church, which has 1.2 billion members worldwide.

• 1997 A series of unidentified lights appeared over Phoenix, Arizona

  The Phoenix Lights sparked heated debate among UFO enthusiasts. Later, it was discovered that some of the lights were caused by illumination flares dropped by a US Air Force plane.

• 1943 German troops liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków

  Thousands of men, women, and children were murdered or deported to extermination camps by the Nazis. The heinous event is depicted in the film Schindler’s List.

• 1845 Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is premiered

  The German composer’s opus 64 is one of the most frequently performed violin concertos in history.

• 1781 Uranus is discovered

  William Herschel, a German-born British astronomer, is credited with discovering the planet. It is the solar system’s third-largest planet in terms of radius.