Three dates to note for March 20:
In 1727, the alchemist, Treasury agent, and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton died. In a 1704 letter, reasoning from the Book of Daniel and from the passage of 1260 years since the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, he concluded the world should end around 2060.
In 1809, Mary Bateman of Leeds, England died. She had a magic chicken that laid eggs on which the message "Christ is Coming" was inscribed. The sensation created by this chicken ended suddenly, when Bateman was discovered forcing an egg up the hen's oviduct. On this date she was hanged for committing an unrelated poisoning.
In 1995, a cult named Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 11. The cult's leader, Shoko Asahara, believed the attack would help stimulate Armageddon by 1997.
