What are the important events that happened on July 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
July 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
July 20 is the 202nd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 164 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 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, 478,176 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 ‘dihectadigon’ day.
Cancer is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Ruby is the modern birthstone for this month. Ruby is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 193 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 4,229 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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July 20 Historical Events
70 –
First Jewish-Roman War: Siege of Jerusalem – Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
1738 –
Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1866 –
Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa – The Austrian Navy , led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1936 –
The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
1951 –
King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1961 –
French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
1969 –
Apollo Program: Apollo 11 successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on another world almost 7 hours later.
1976 –
The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
1977 –
The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
1992 –
Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
Who were born on July 20?
1895 –
László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
1919 –
Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
1932 –
Ove Verner Hansen, Danish actor
1953 –
Thomas Friedman, American journalist
1962 –
Carlos Alazraqui, American actor and comedian
1967 –
Reed Diamond, American actor
1973 –
Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player
1976 –
Alex Yoong, Malaysian racing driver
1980 –
Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model
1985 –
Anastasia Perraki, Greek fashion model
Who died on July 20?
1398 –
Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, English noble (b. 1374)
1453 –
Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French chronicler
1454 –
King John II of Castile (b. 1405)
1901 –
William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840)
1926 –
Felix Dzerzhinsky, Soviet law enforcement official (b. 1877)
1927 –
King Ferdinand I of Romania (b. 1865)
1937 –
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1874)
1945 –
Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871)
2003 –
Nicolas Freeling, English writer (b. 1927)
2005 –
James Doohan, Canadian actor (b. 1920)
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