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

May 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 20 is the 140^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 225 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 7, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 485,472 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 ‘hectatetracontagon’ day.

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

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 273 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 4,533 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 20 Historical Events

• 325 –
  The First Council of Nicea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
• 1293 –
  King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
• 1609 –
  Shakespeare’s sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
• 1802 –
  By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution
• 1883 –
  Krakatoa begins to erupt. The volcano’s final and most notable explosion occurs on August 26.
• 1884 –
  Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo becomes the king of the Zulu Nation.
• 1896 –
  The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd below resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
• 1902 –
  Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country’s first President.
• 1927 –
  Treaty of Jedda: the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• 1940 –
  Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Who were born on May 20?

• 1818 –
  William Fargo, American pioneer expressman, co-founder of Wells, Fargo & Co. (d. 1881)
• 1897 –
  Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish anarchist (d. 1983)
• 1927 –
  Bud Grant, American football coach
• 1931 –
  Paul Evans, American furniture designer and sculptor (d. 1987)
• 1945 –
  Vladimiro Montesinos, Peruvian politician
• 1946 –
  Cher, American singer & actress
• 1954 –
  Robert Van de Walle, Belgian judoka
• 1977 –
  Angela Goethals, American actress
• 1977 –
  Chad Muska, American professional skateboarder
• 1988 –
  Carla Humphries, Filipino actress

Who died on May 20?

• 1506 –
  Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (b. 1451)
• 1732 –
  Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
• 1909 –
  Ernest Hogan, American comedian and musician, one of the creators of ragtime (b. 1859)
• 1947 –
  Philipp Lenard, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1862)
• 1949 –
  Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
• 1971 –
  Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (b. 1904)
• 1976 –
  Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan Christian-Democrat Party politician (b. 1924)
• 1989 –
  John Hicks, English economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
• 2000 –
  Malik Sealy, American basketball player (b. 1970)
• 2002 –
  Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (b. 1941)