What happened this day in history August 20

What are the important events that happened on August 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 20 is the 233rd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 7, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 478,920 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectatriacontatrigon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 162 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,260 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

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August 20 Historical Events

  • 20
    Agrippa Postumus, adoptive-son of the late Roman Emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards while in exile under mysterious circumstances
  • 1308
    Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
  • 1710
    War of the Spanish Succession: a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
  • 1794
    Battle of Fallen Timbers – American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
  • 1858
    Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.
  • 1882
    Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
  • 1955
    In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
  • 1975
    Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
  • 1988
    Iran–Iraq War: a cease-fire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
  • 1988
    Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

Who were born on August 20?

  • 1779
    Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)
  • 1833
    Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
  • 1873
    Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1950)
  • 1926
    Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach
  • 1941
    Dave Brock, British musician and founder of Hawkwind
  • 1948
    John Noble, Australian actor
  • 1971
    Steve Stone, English footballer
  • 1984
    Tsokye Karchung, Bhutanese beauty queen, Miss Bhutan 2008
  • 1988
    Jerryd Bayless, American basketball player
  • 1992
    Matej Delač, Croatian footballer

Who died on August 20?

  • 917
    Constantine Lips, Byzantine Admiral
  • 1643
    Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (b. 1591)
  • 1672
    Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
  • 1672
    Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
  • 1823
    Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
  • 1996
    Rio Reiser, German rock musician and singer (b. 1950)
  • 1997
    Norris Bradbury, American physicist (b. 1909)
  • 2007
    Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)
  • 2008
    Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1927)
  • 2010
    Dang Phong, Vietnamese historian (b. 1937)

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