February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar . There are 314 days remaining until the end of the year (315 in leap years ). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).
Events
1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clashed in the Battle of Parabiago .1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark .1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey .1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas .1792 – The Postal Service Act , establishing the United States Post Office Department , is signed by United States President George Washington .1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.1810 – Andreas Hofer , Tirolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon 's forces, is executed.1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of PÃo de Tristán during the Battle of Salta .1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville Teatro Argentina in Rome.1835 – Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake.1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.1864 – American Civil War : Battle of Olustee : The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.1865 – End of the Uruguayan War , with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores , setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance .1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco .1877 – Tchaikovsky 's ballet Swan Lake Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro 1913 – King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra .1921 – The Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia is founded.1931 – The Congress of the United States approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California .1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States .1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party 's upcoming election campaign.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.1942 – Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace .1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.1943 – The Saturday Evening Post Norman Rockwell 's Four Freedoms Franklin Roosevelt 's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms .
1944 – World War II : The "Big Week " began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.1962 – Mercury program : While aboard Friendship 7 , John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth , making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts .1967 – Intergovernmental Group on Indonesia convenes its first meeting in Amsterdam .1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.1979 – Earthquake cracks Sinila volcanic crater in Dieng Plateau , releases poisonous H2 S gas and kills 149 villagers in Indonesian province of Central Java .1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia , triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War .1991 – A gigantic statue of Albania 's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha , is brought down in the Albanian capital Tirana , by mobs of angry protesters.1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , Japan.2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island , a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze , killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union , passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides , resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago .2013 – The smallest extrasolar planet , Kepler-37b is discovered.2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kiev , many reportedly killed by snipers.2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan .
Births
1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds , English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)1633 – Jan de Baen , Dutch painter (d. 1702)1705 – Nicolas Chédeville , French musette player and composer (d. 1782)1726 – William Prescott , American colonel (d. 1795)1745 – Henry James Pye , English poet and politician (d. 1813)1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss , German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier , French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)1759 – Johann Christian Reil , German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)1792 – Eliza Courtney , French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)1794 – William Carleton , Irish author (d. 1869)1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot , Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)1819 – Alfred Escher , Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)1839 – Benjamin Waugh , English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann , Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)1844 – Joshua Slocum , Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
1848 – E. H. Harriman , American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)1857 – A. P. Lucas , English cricketer (d. 1923)1866 – Carl Westman , Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow , American engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)1874 – Mary Garden , Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)1879 – Hod Stuart , Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)1880 – Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen , French author and poet (d. 1923)1887 – Vincent Massey , Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)1888 – Georges Bernanos , French soldier and author (d. 1948)1889 – Hulusi Behçet , Turkish dermatologist and physician (d. 1948)1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston , American psychologist and author (d. 1993)1895 – Louis Zborowski , English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney , American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)1901 – René Dubos , French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)1901 – Louis Kahn , American architect, designed the Salk Institute , the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
1901 – Muhammad Naguib , Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
1901 – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili , Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (d. 1978)
1902 – Ansel Adams , American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)1904 – Alexei Kosygin , Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)1906 – Gale Gordon , American actor and singer (d. 1995)1912 – Pierre Boulle , French soldier and author (d. 1994)1913 – Tommy Henrich , American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)1914 – John Charles Daly , South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)1916 – Jean Erdman , American dancer and choreographer1918 – Leonore Annenberg , American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)1919 – James O'Meara , English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)1920 – Karl Albrecht , German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)1921 – Buddy Rogers , American wrestler (d. 1992)1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh , American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)1923 – Forbes Burnham , Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
1923 – Rena Vlahopoulou , Greek actress (d. 2004)
1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt , American actress and fashion designer1925 – Robert Altman , American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka , Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum , American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)1926 – Gillian Lynne , English ballerina, choreographer, and director
1926 – Richard Matheson , American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1926 – MarÃa de la PurÃsima Salvat Romero , Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)
1927 – Roy Cohn , American lawyer and activist (d. 1986)1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer , Cuban singer (d. 2005)
1927 – Sidney Poitier , American actor, director, and diplomat
1928 – Roy Face , American baseball player and carpenter1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith , American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland
1929 – Amanda Blake , American actress (d. 1989)1931 – John Milnor , American mathematician and academic1932 – Adrian Cristobal , Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)1934 – Bobby Unser , American race car driver1936 – Marj Dusay , American actress1936 – Larry Hovis , American actor and singer (d. 2003)
1936 – Shigeo Nagashima , Japanese baseball player and coach
1937 – David Ackles , American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)1937 – Robert Huber , German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Roger Penske , American race car driver and businessman
1937 – Nancy Wilson , American singer and actress
1938 – Richard Beymer , American actor, director, and cinematographer1938 – Wiley W. Hilburn , American journalist and academic (d. 2014)
1940 – Jimmy Greaves , English footballer and sportscaster1941 – Lim Kit Siang , Malaysian lawyer and politician1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie , Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
1942 – Phil Esposito , Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager1942 – Mitch McConnell , American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1942 – Claude Miller , French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1943 – Antonio Inoki , Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician1943 – Mike Leigh , English director and screenwriter
1944 – Robert de Cotret , Canadian economist and politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)1944 – Lew Soloff , American trumpet player, composer, and actor (d. 2015)
1944 – Willem van Hanegem , Dutch footballer and coach
1945 – Alan Hull , English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)1946 – Brenda Blethyn , English actress1946 – Sandy Duncan , American actress, singer, and dancer
1946 – J. Geils , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Peter Osgood , English footballer (d. 2006)1947 – Peter Strauss , American actor and producer
1948 – Pierre Bouchard , Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster1948 – Jennifer O'Neill , Brazilian-American model and actress
1949 – Ivana Trump , Czech-American skier and model1950 – Walter Becker , American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer1950 – Peter Marinello , Scottish footballer
1950 – Tony Wilson , English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
1951 – Edward Albert , American actor (d. 2006)1951 – Gordon Brown , Scottish historian and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1951 – Randy California , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
1951 – Phil Neal , English footballer and manager
1953 – Poison Ivy , American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer1954 – Jon Brant , American bass player1954 – Anthony Head , English actor
1954 – Patty Hearst , American actress and author
1957 – Glen Hanlon , Canadian ice hockey player and coach1959 – Scott Brayton , American race car driver (d. 1996)1959 – David Corn , American journalist and author
1959 – Bill Gullickson , American baseball player
1960 – Joel Hodgson , American comedian, actor, and screenwriter1960 – Kee Marcello , Swedish guitarist
1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas , Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
1962 – Dwayne McDuffie , American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)1963 – Charles Barkley , American basketball player and sportscaster1963 – Ian Brown , English singer-songwriter
1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou , Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health
1964 – Willie Garson , American actor and director1964 – Tom Harris , Scottish journalist and politician
1964 – French Stewart , American actor
1966 – Cindy Crawford , American model and businesswoman1967 – Paul Accola , Swiss alpine skier1967 – Kurt Cobain , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
1967 – David Herman , American comedian and actor
1967 – Andrew Shue , American actor and activist, founded Do Something
1967 – Lili Taylor , American actress
1967 – Tom Waddle , American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Gedo , Japanese wrestler1969 – Kjell Ove Hauge , Norwegian school principal and track and field athlete
1969 – Siniša Mihajlović , Serbian footballer and manager
1969 – Danis Tanović , Bosnian director and screenwriter
1971 – Calpernia Addams , American actress, author, and activist1971 – Jari Litmanen , Finnish footballer
1971 – Joost van der Westhuizen , South African rugby player
1972 – Neil Primrose , Scottish drummer1974 – Karim Bagheri , Iranian footballer and manager1975 – Liván Hernández , Cuban baseball player1975 – Brian Littrell , American singer-songwriter and actor
1975 – Niclas Wallin , Swedish ice hockey player
1977 – Ed Graham , English drummer1977 – Stephon Marbury , American basketball player
1978 – Lauren Ambrose , American actress and producer1978 – Chelsea Peretti , American comedian, writer, and actress
1980 – Artur Boruc , Polish footballer1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy , French rugby player
1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey , Colombian footballer
1981 – Tony Hibbert , English footballer1981 – Fred Jackson , American football player
1981 – Chris Thile , American singer-songwriter and mandolin player
1982 – Jason Hirsh , American baseball player1983 – Jose Morales , Puerto Rican-American baseball player1983 – Justin Verlander , American baseball player
1984 – Brian McCann , American baseball player1984 – Trevor Noah , South African comedian, actor, and television host
1984 – Ramzee Robinson , American football player
1985 – Ryan Sweeney , American baseball player1985 – Julia Volkova , Russian singer and actress
1987 – Miles Teller , American actor1988 – Rihanna , Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress1988 – Jiah Khan , American-Indian actress and singer (d. 2013)
1988 – Ki Bo-bae , South Korean archer
1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng , Italian footballer1991 – Antonio Pedroza , English-Mexican footballer
1991 – Angelique van der Meet , Dutch tennis player
Deaths
1054 – Yaroslav the Wise , Russian husband of Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden (b. 978)1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)1258 – Al-Musta'sim , Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland , English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)1524 – Tecun Uman , Mayan ruler (b. 1500)1579 – Nicholas Bacon , English politician (b. 1509)1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)1626 – John Dowland , English lute player and composer (b. 1563)1762 – Tobias Mayer , German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)1771 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan , French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)1778 – Laura Bassi , Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)1806 – Lachlan McIntosh , Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)1810 – Andreas Hofer , Italian rebel leader (b. 1767)1862 – William Wallace Lincoln , American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)1871 – Paul Kane , Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard , American general (b. 1818)1895 – Frederick Douglass , American author and activist (b. 1818)1900 – Washakie , American tribal leader (b. 1798)1907 – Henri Moissan , French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)1910 – Boutros Ghali , Egyptian educator and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1846)1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson , Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)1920 – Jacinta Marto , Portuguese saint (b. 1910)1920 – Robert Peary , American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
1936 – Max Schreck , German actor (b. 1879)1941 – La Bolduc , Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1894)1957 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal , Turkish scholar and politician (b. 1878)1961 – Percy Grainger , Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)1963 – Jacob Gade , Danish violinist and composer(b. 1879)1966 – Chester W. Nimitz , American admiral (b. 1885)1968 – Anthony Asquith , English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)1969 – Ernest Ansermet , Swiss conductor (b. 1883)1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer , German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)1972 – Walter Winchell , American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
1976 – René Cassin , French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg , French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)1987 – Wayne Boring , American illustrator (b. 1905)1992 – A. J. Casson , Canadian painter (b. 1898)1992 – Dick York , American actor (b. 1928)
1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini , Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)1993 – Ernest L. Massad , American general (b. 1908)
1996 – Solomon Asch , American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)1996 – Toru Takemitsu , Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
1999 – Sarah Kane , English playwright (b. 1971)1999 – Gene Siskel , American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
2000 – Anatoly Sobchak , Russian lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1937)2001 – Rosemary DeCamp , American actress (b. 1910)2001 – Donella Meadows , American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir , Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)2003 – Maurice Blanchot , French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
2003 – Orville Freeman , American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
2003 – Ty Longley , American singer and guitarist (b. 1971)
2005 – Sandra Dee , American actress (b. 1942)2005 – John Raitt , American actor and singer (b. 1917)
2005 – Hunter S. Thompson , American journalist and author (b. 1937)
2006 – Curt Gowdy , American sportscaster (b. 1919)2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski , Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
2008 – Emily Perry , English actress and dancer (b. 1907)2009 – Larry H. Miller , American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)2010 – Alexander Haig , American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen , Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)2012 – Katie Hall , American educator and politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Kenji Eno , Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)2013 – David S. McKay , American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
2013 – Antonio Roma , Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno , Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)2014 – Walter D. Ehlers , American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
2014 – Garrick Utley , American journalist (b. 1939)
2015 – Govind Pansare , Indian author and activist (b. 1933)2015 – Henry Segerstrom , American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
2015 – John C. Willke , American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)
2016 – Fernando Cardenal , Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances External links
Months and days of the year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
