History Today: When Virginia Woolf wrote her last words and drowned

On this day in 1941, author Virginia Woolf, whose novels left a lasting impact on literature, died by drowning near her home in East Sussex, England. She was best known for her works Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927).

If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, History Today will be your one-stop destination to explore key events.

On March 28, 1979, the United States witnessed its worst commercial nuclear accident when a partial meltdown occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

More recently, on this day in 2024, FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges.

Let’s take a look at these events in detail:

Virginia Woolf drowns herself

English author Virginia Woolf drowned herself in Rodmell, near Lewes, where she and her husband, Leonard Sidney Woolf, had a country home on this day in 1941.

A leading modernist writer, Woolf’s novels challenged traditional storytelling with their nonlinear narratives. She also wrote unconventional essays on artistic theory, literary history, women’s writing, and power dynamics.

Known for her distinctive style, she experimented with biographical writing, crafted vivid short stories, and exchanged a lifetime of brilliant letters with friends and family.

But what led her to take her own life?

Woolf battled severe mental health struggles throughout her life. She suffered from deep depression and was briefly institutionalised.

On 28 March 1941, at the age of 59, she died by suicide.

Many experts believe Woolf exhibited symptoms that would now be classified as bipolar disorder - fluctuating between extreme depression, manic episodes, and psychosis.

“I feel certain I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do,” Woolf wrote in her suicide note.

Her husband later confirmed that she had been struggling with depression for an extended period.

Over the course of her career, Woolf authored fifteen highly regarded books, each reflecting different aspects of her intellectual and literary explorations. This led critics to describe her as “the multiple Mrs Woolf.”

America’s worst nuclear accident 

On this day in 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear power station experienced the most severe accident in the history of the American nuclear industry.

The incident, which resulted in the partial meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor, was caused by a combination of mechanical failures and human error. A malfunctioning valve led to a loss of coolant, causing the reactor’s fuel to overheat and begin melting.

Three auxiliary pump valves, which should have remained open, were closed. This series of technical malfunctions and operational mistakes escalated what initially seemed like a minor issue into the worst nuclear accident in the 22 years since the United States began using nuclear power.

By the early hours of the morning, the reactor’s core had reached temperatures exceeding 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit - just 1,000 degrees short of a full meltdown. In a worst-case scenario, this could have led to the core melting completely, releasing deadly radiation across the surrounding region, with potentially catastrophic consequences.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has maintained that, although some radiation was released during the incident, the levels were too low to pose health risks. Several studies over the years have supported this conclusion.

However, a 2017 study by researchers at Penn State suggested otherwise. It found that a specific type of thyroid cancer in patients who had lived near the site at the time of the accident could be linked to exposure to low-level radiation.

Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced

On this day in 2024, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for organising a large-scale fraud that deceived hundreds of thousands of customers.

His downfall followed the collapse of FTX, once among the world’s leading digital currency exchanges.

During sentencing, Judge Lewis Kaplan warned that Bankman-Fried “will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk.”

Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud related to FTX’s failure. Once regarded as a major figure in the financial sector, he was convicted of misappropriating customer funds and deceiving investors and creditors.

Prosecutors revealed that, since 2017, tens of thousands of individuals and companies globally lost billions after Bankman-Fried misused FTX customer funds.

He had assured users their money was secure, yet instead funnelled it into illegal political donations, bribes to Chinese officials, high-risk investments, luxury real estate purchases in the Caribbean, and an extravagant lifestyle.

Judge Kaplan rejected the argument that Bankman-Fried should receive leniency due to the potential recovery of funds by some investors. He pointed out that customers lost approximately $8 billion, investors were defrauded of $1.7 billion, and lenders faced losses of $1.3 billion.

This Day, That Year

1854: Britain and France declared war on Russia.

1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, passed away in Washington, DC, at the age of 78.

1986: Lady Gaga, Oscar-winning songwriter, singer, actress, and style icon known for hits like ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Born This Way’, is born.

2009: The H1N1 influenza pandemic, first reported on April 17, 2009, had one of its earliest known cases with symptom onset on March 28.

2017: The world’s largest known dinosaur footprints, measuring 1.7 metres, were discovered in Western Australia