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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