February 20
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).
Events
Up to 1900
- 702 - K'inich Kan B'Alam II, King of the Mayan city of Palenque (b. 635)
- 1154 - Wulfric of Haselbury, English saint (b. 1080)
- 1171 - Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
- 1194 – King Tancred of Sicily (b. 1138)
- 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1342)
- 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
- 1513 – John, King of Denmark (b. 1455)
- 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
- 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- 1771 – Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Marain, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
- 1773 – King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
- 1778 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
- 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
- 1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician (b. 1733)
- 1803 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)
- 1806 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American military and political leader (b. 1725)
- 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolian patriot (b. 1767)
- 1871 – Paul Kane, Canadian painter (b. 1810)
- 1893 - P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
- 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist (b. 1817)
1901 – 2000
- 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist (b. 1852)
- 1910 - Boutros Ghali, Egyptian politician (b. 1846)
- 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist (b. 1844)
- 1919 – Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1872)
- 1920 – Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (b. 1856)
- 1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese religious figure (b. 1910)
- 1929 - Maryam Jinnah, second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (b. 1900)
- 1948 - Robert P. Lamont, 5th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1867)
- 1952 - Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, President of Ecuador (b. 1888)
- 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
- 1963 - Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)
- 1963 - Jacob Gade, Danish composer (b. 1879)
- 1965 – Fred Immler, German actor (b. 1880)
- 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
- 1968 - Anthony Asquith, British movie director and writer (b. 1902)
- 1969 - Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
- 1970 - Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
- 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist (b. 1906)
- 1972 - Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
- 1976 – René Cassin, French judge (b. 1887)
- 1982 – René Dubos, French microbiologist (b. 1901)
- 1992 - Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
- 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- 2000 - Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)
From 2001
- 2003 - Orville Freeman, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American writer (b. 1937)
- 2007 – Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish painter (b. 1913)
- 2007 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Alexander Haig, American politician (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Vitaly Vorotnikov, Soviet-Russian politician (b. 1926)
- 2012 - Katie Hall, American politician (b. 1938)
- 2012 - Sullivan Walker, American actor (b. 1939)
- 2013 - Antonio Roma, Argentine footballer (b. 1932)
- 2014 - Walter D. Ehlers, American soldier (b. 1921)
- 2014 - Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician (b. 1923)
- 2014 - Garrick Utley, American television journalist (b. 1939)
- 2014 - Reghu Kumar, Indian composer (b. 1953)
- 2014 - Tea Ista, Finnish actress (b. 1932)
- 2014 - Cuthbert A. Pattillo, American air force general (b. 1924)
- 2015 - Henry Segerstrom, American politician (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
- 2016 - Ove Verner Hansen, Danish actor and opera singer (b. 1932)
- 2016 - Nando Yosu, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1939)
- 2017 - Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat (b. 1952)
- 2017 - Mildred Dresselhaus, American scientist (b. 1930)
Births
1901 – 1950
- 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
- 1901 – René Dubos, French microbiologist (d. 1982)
- 1901 - Louis Kahn, American architect (d. 1974)
- 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Soviet Premier (d. 1980)
- 1906 - Gale Gordon, American television and radio actor (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Heinz Erhardt, German comedian, entertainer and actor (d. 1979)
- 1912 - Muriel Humphrey Brown, United States Senator and Second Lady of the United States (d. 1998)
- 1914 - John Charles Daly, American broadcaster (d. 1991)
- 1916 - Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer
- 1917 - Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan musician and composer
- 1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American billionaire (d. 2009)
- 1920 - Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, sister of John F. Kennedy (d. 1948)
- 1920 - Karl Albrecht, German businessman (Aldi Süd) (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Forbes Burnham, 1st Prime Minister and 3rd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
- 1923 - Victor G. Atiyeh, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
- 1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite and clothing designer (d. 2019)
- 1925 - Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Robert Altman, American movie director (d. 2006)
- 1926 - Richard Matheson, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1926 - Bob Richards, American pole vaulter
- 1926 - Alfonso Sastre, Spanish playwright, essayist and critic
- 1926 - Ken Olsen, American engineer (d. 2011)
- 1926 - Philip S. Goodman, American screenwriter, producer and director (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Sidney Poitier, American-Bahamian actor, director and diplomat
- 1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (d. 2005)
- 1928 - Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat and sister of John F. Kennedy
- 1929 - Eduardo Mac Entyre, Argentine artist (d. 2014)
- 1929 - Toshiro Mayuzumi, Japanese composer (d. 1997)
- 1930 – Willie Cunningham, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2007)
- 1930 - Ken Jones, English actor (d. 2014)
- 1930 - Gianfranco Parolini, Italian movie director and screenwriter
- 1931 - John Milnor, American mathematician
- 1936 - Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Robert Huber, German chemist
- 1937 - Roger Penske, American racing driver and entrepreneur
- 1937 - Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress
- 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
- 1941 - Giuseppe Arzilli, Sammarinese politician
- 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian musician
- 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1942 – Mitch McConnell, American politician
- 1942 - Claude Miller, French movie director and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1943 - Mike Leigh, English writer and director
- 1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer
- 1944 – Lew Soloff, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2015)
- 1945 – Annu Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1945 - George F. Smoot, American astrophysicist
- 1945 - Henry Polic II, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, British actress
- 1946 - Richard Cocciante, French-Italian singer and songwriter
- 1946 - Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
- 1947 – Eggert Magnusson, Icelandic businessman
- 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
- 1948 - Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite (d. 2022)
- 1950 – Walter Becker, American guitarist
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1951 - Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
- 1952 - Abdala Bucaram, former President of Ecuador
- 1953 – Poison Ivy, American musician
- 1953 - Riccardo Chailly, Italian conductor
- 1954 – Anthony Head, British actor
- 1954 – Patty Hearst, American heiress
- 1954 - Jon Brant, American musician
- 1960 – Kee Marcello, Swedish guitarist
- 1960 - Joel Hodgson, American comedian
- 1961 – Imogen Stubbs, British actress
- 1961 – Ion Geolgau, Romanian footballer
- 1962 - Pierre Quinon, French pole vaulter (d. 2011)
- 1962 - Atul Chitnis, German-Indian technician (d. 2013)
- 1963 – Ian Brown, British singer (The Stone Roses)
- 1963 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- 1963 - Joakim Nyström, Swedish tennis player
- 1964 - Rudi Garcia, French footballer
- 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model
- 1966 - Dannis Mitchell, American athlete
- 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American rock musician (Nirvana) (d. 1994)
- 1967 - Kath Soucie, American voice, film, stage and television actress
- 1967 - Lili Taylor, American actress
- 1968 - Ted Hankey, English darts player
- 1969 - Kaiji Takayama, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1969 - Sinisa Mihajlovic, Serbian footballer
- 1969 - Danis Tanovic, Bosnian movie director and screenwriter
- 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
- 1971 - Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)
- 1971 - Shawn McKenzie, American programmer
- 1971 - Calpernia Addams, American author, actress, activist and musician
- 1972 - Brent Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972 - Neil Primrose, Scottish musician (Travis)
- 1973 – Kimberley Davis, Australian actress
- 1974 - Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer
- 1975 - Nicolas Wallin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
From 1976
- 1977 – Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- 1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress
- 1978 - Jay Hernandez, American actor
- 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
- 1980 – Arthur Abraham, Armenian-German boxer
- 1980 – Artur Boruc, Polish footballer
- 1980 - Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
- 1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
- 1981 - Elisabeth Görgl, Austrian skier
- 1982 - Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
- 1983 - Justin Verlander, American baseball player
- 1984 - Trevor Noah, South African comedian and television host
- 1984 - Ramzee Robinson, American basketball player
- 1985 – Yulia Volkova, Russian singer
- 1986 - Diego Reis, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 - Miles Teller, American actor
- 1988 - Jiah Khan, Indian actress (d. 2013)
- 1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer and actress
- 1990 - Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer
- 1991 - Antonio Pedroza, English-Mexican footballer
- 2014 - Princess Leonore, Duchess of Gotland, Swedish royal
Deaths
Observances
- World Day of Social Justice
- Rihanna Day (Barbados)