On this day: January 20

CIA Acknowledges Secret Human-Subjects Experiments

On January 20, 1977, the CIA publicly confirmed that it had conducted experiments involving unwitting civilians, acknowledging past programs that tested drugs and behavioral techniques on human subjects without informed consent.

Dead Sea Scrolls Go Public: First Major Exhibition Opens

Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered decades earlier in the Judean Desert, were publicly exhibited on January 20, 1948, marking a key moment in the manuscripts’ transition from archaeological finds to objects of scholarly and public attention.