February 20

Updated on Feb 02, 2024

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Day of the week 2017 Monday		Western zodiac Pisces
Holidays & Observances World Day of Social Justice, The Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes Events 2013 Brit Awards, Puteri Indonesia 2015 Famous birthdays Rihanna, Ivana Trump, Kurt Cobain, Trevor Noah, Nanami Hashimoto

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).

A special breakfast date munchpak february 20 2017

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 Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.

1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.

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 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the 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 publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President 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 H₂S 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 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down 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.

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

1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)

1469 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)

1494 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (d. 1570)

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 (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 choreographer

1918 – 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 designer

1925 – 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 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)

1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)

1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (d. 2005)

1927 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat

1928 – Roy Face, American baseball player and carpenter

1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland

1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)

1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic

1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)

1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver

1935 – Ellen Gilchrist American novelist, short story writer, and poet

1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress

1936 – 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 cinematographer

1938 – Wiley W. Hilburn, American journalist and academic (d. 2014)

1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian lawyer and politician

1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager

1942 – Mitch McConnell, American lawyer, and politician

1942 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)

1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician

1943 – 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 actress

1946 – 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 sportscaster

1948 – Jennifer O'Neill, American model and actress

1949 – Eddie Hemmings, English cricketer

1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model

1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1950 – 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 producer

1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player

1954 – Anthony Head, English actor

1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author

1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

1959 – 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 screenwriter

1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)

1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer

1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)

1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster

1963 – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter and musician

1963 – Joakim Nystrom, Swedish tennis player

1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health

1964 – Willie Garson, American actor and director

1964 – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician

1964 – Jeff Maggert, American golfer

1964 – French Stewart, American actor

1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman

1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier

1967 – 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 – 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 activist

1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer

1971 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)

1972 – Neil Primrose, Scottish drummer

1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager

1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player

1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor

1975 – Niclas Wallin, Swedish ice hockey player

1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player

1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress and producer

1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player

1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer

1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer

1981 – Fred Jackson, American football player

1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player

1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican-American baseball player

1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player

1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player

1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host

1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player

1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player

1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress

1987 – Luke Burgess, English rugby league player

1987 – Miles Teller, American actor

1988 – Kealoha Pilares, American football player

1988 – Ki Bo-bae, South Korean archer

1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress

1989 – Daly Cherry-Evans, Australian rugby league player

1991 – Hidilyn Diaz, Filipino weightlifter

1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng, Italian footballer

1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player

1991 – Antonio Pedroza, English-Mexican footballer

1991 – Jocelyn Rae, English-Scottish tennis player

1992 – Kyle Turner, Australian rugby league player

Deaths

789 – Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (b. 709)

1054 – Yaroslav the Wise, husband of Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden (b. 978)

1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury (b. c. 1080)

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)

1458 – Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia

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, Tyrolean 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)

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 – Audrey Munson, American model (b. 1891)

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)

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)

2017 – Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:

Eleutherius of Tournai

Eucherius of Orléans

Bls. Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto

Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))

Wulfric of Haselbury

February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)

World Day of Social Justice

References

February 20 Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

February 2001 El Salvador earthquake

El Paso Stampede