What are the important events that happened on April 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
April 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
April 20 is the 111th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 255 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 7, 2024 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 28,559,520 minutes 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 ‘hectadecahenagon’ day.
Aries is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Diamond is the modern birthstone for this month. Opal is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 284 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 4,138 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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April 20 Historical Events
- 1775 –American Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
- 1818 –The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
- 1862 –Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the first pasteurization tests.
- 1865 –Astronomer Pietro Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
- 1884 –Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum Genus.
- 1902 –Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
- 1912 –Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1945 –World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
- 1985 –The ATF raids The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
- 2008 –Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
Who were born on April 20?
- 1494 –Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
- 1723 –Cornelius Harnett, American Continental Congress delegate (d. 1781)
- 1851 –Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
- 1918 –Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
- 1921 –Janine Sutto, French-Canadian actress
- 1923 –Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
- 1941 –Ryan O'Neal, American actor
- 1945 –Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
- 1962 –Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr. (AKA: Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf), American radio personality (d. 2001)
- 1974 –Tina Cousins, English singer
Who died on April 20?
- 1534 –Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed)
- 1703 –Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)
- 1873 –William Tite, English architect (b. 1798)
- 1989 –Doru Davidovici, Romanian writer and fighter pilot (b. 1945)
- 1992 –Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924)
- 1993 –Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911)
- 1994 –Jean Carmet, French actor (b. 1920)
- 1999 –Dylan Klebold, perpetrator of the Columbine High massacre (b. 1981)
- 2003 –Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
- 2007 –Andrew Hill, American jazz composer and pianist (b. 1931)
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