Wikipedia: February 20

February 20
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years.

Events

1472 - The Orkneys and Shetlands are annexed to the crown of Scotland.
1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1724 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.
1725 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
1792 - The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
1809 - A decision by the United States Supreme Court states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.
1872 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
1873 - The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.
1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
1921 - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse film, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
1929 - American Samoa becomes organized as a territory of the United States.
1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the United States Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
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.
1944 - World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.
1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
1952 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
1952 - The film The African Queen opens at Capitol Theatre in New York City.
1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
1965 - Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
1976 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
1987 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, Utah a bomb explodes in a computer store.
2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
2003 - In Rhode Island, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.

Births

1751 - Johann Heinrich Voß, poet, (d. 1826)
1757 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, philanthropist and patron of the arts and sciences, (d. 1834)
1839 - Revd Benjamin Waugh, founder of NSPCC, (d. 1908)
1844 - Ludwig Boltzmann, physicist, (d. 1906)
1844 - Joshua Slocum, seaman and adventurer, (d. 1909)
1848 - Edward Henry Harriman, railroad executive, (d. 1909)
1887 - Carl Ebert, opera manager and director, (d. 1980)
1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada, (d. 1967)
1902 - Ansel Adams, photographer, (d. 1984)
1904 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union, (d. 1980)
1912 - Pierre Boulle, author, (d. 1994)
1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, jeans designer and entrepreneur
1925 - Robert Altman, film director
1925 - Heinz Kluncker, labor union leader
1926 - Richard Matheson, author
1926 - Rob Richards, track and field athlete
1927 - Sidney Poitier, actor
1934 - Bobby Unser, automobile racer
1937 - Nancy Wilson, singer
1937 - Roger Penske, automobile racer
1941 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, singer
1942 - Phil Esposito, ice hockey player
1943 - Mike Leigh, director
1946 - Jerome Geils of the J Geils band
1946 - Brenda Blethyn, actress
1947 - Peter Osgood, English football player
1947 - Peter Strauss, actor
1951 - Gordon Brown, British politician
1954 - Patty Hearst, socialite
1954 - Anthony Stewart Head, actor
1955 - Kelsey Grammer, actor
1963 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
1966 - Cindy Crawford, model
1967 - Kurt Cobain, rock musician, (d. 1994)
1975 - Brian Littrell, musician ("NSYNC")

Deaths

1194 - Tancred, King of Sicily
1431 - Pope Martin V
1579 - Nicholas Bacon, English politician, (b. 1509)
1626 - John Dowland, composer and lutenist, (b. 1563)
1773 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, (b. 1701)
1790 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, (b. 1741)
1871 - Paul Kane, painter, (b. 1810)
1893 - P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate general, (b. 1818)
1895 - Frederick Douglass, American, abolitionist writer, (b. c. 1818)
1920 - Robert Peary, explorer, (b. 1856)
1966 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral, (b. 1885)
1968 - Anthony Asquith, director, writer
1969 - Ernest Ansermet, conductor, (b. 1883)
1972 - Walter Winchell, journalist, (b. 1897)
1985 - Clarence Nash, Disney voice actor, (b. 1904)
1992 - Dick York, actor, (b. 1928)
1993 - Ferrucio Lamborghini, automobile manufacturer
1996 - Toru Takemitsu, composer, (b. 1930)
1996 - Solomon Asch, psychologist, (b. 1907)
1999 - Gene Siskel, film critic, (b. 1946)
1999 - Sarah Kane, playwright, (b. 1971)
2003 - Maurice Blanchot, author, (b. 1907)
2003 - Willi Hoss, politician
2003 - Ulrich Roski, singer and cabaret artist

Holidays and observances

See Also:

February 19 - February 21 - January 20 - March 20 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December