What are the important events that happened on February 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
February 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
February 20 is the 51st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 315 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is February 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, 28,473,120 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 ‘pentacontahenagon’ day.
Pisces is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 344 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 4,078 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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February 20 Historical Events
- 1339 –The Milanese army and the St. George’s (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clashed in the Battle of Parabiago.
- 1547 –Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
- 1798 –Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
- 1813 –Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
- 1872 –In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
- 1920 –New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Metal Monkey in Chinese astrology.
- 1942 –Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.
- 1959 –The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
- 1965 –Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
- 1998 –American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Who were born on February 20?
- 1751 –Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
- 1927 –Sidney Poitier, American actor
- 1942 –Claude Miller, French film director and screenwriter
- 1945 –Annu Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1954 –Billy Pontoni, Colombian musician
- 1958 –James Wilby, English actor
- 1961 –Imogen Stubbs, British actress
- 1969 –Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer
- 1969 –Vaginal Davis, American drag queen and performance artist
- 1978 –Jay Hernandez, American actor
Who died on February 20?
- 1258 –Al-Musta’sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad (b. 1213)
- 1408 –Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)
- 1806 –Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)
- 1966 –Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
- 1972 –Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
- 1985 –Clarence “Ducky” Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
- 1999 –Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- 2003 –Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
- 2005 –John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2005 –Pam Bricker, American jazz singer and Thievery Corporation vocalist (b. 1954)
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