✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 51st day of the year

February 20

A look at February 20 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Kurt Cobain and Gordon Brown, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♓ZodiacPisces ◈BirthstoneAmethyst ❀Birth flowerViolet
Advertisement 728 × 90 leaderboard

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1988

    Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

    The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

    Autonomous region of the
  2. 1965

    Ranger 8

    Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

    1965 NASA spacecraft to
  3. 1962

    Project Mercury

    Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.

    Initial American crewed spaceflight
  4. 1943

    The Saturday Evening Post

    The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

    American mainstream weekly magazine
  5. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.

    1939–1945 global conflict
  6. 1933

    Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.

    Dictator of Germany from
  7. 1872

    Metropolitan Museum of Art

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

    Art museum in New
  8. 1864

    American Civil War

    American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

    1861–1865 conflict in the
  9. 1835

    1835 Concepción earthquake

    The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.

    Earthquake in Chile
  10. 1339

    Milan

    The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.

    Second-largest city in Italy
Advertisement Responsive in-content unit

Famous birthday twins

Born on February 20

Kurt Cobain

b. 1967

American musician

Gordon Brown

b. 1951

Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Karl Albrecht

b. 1920

German businessman, co-founded Aldi

Antonio Inoki

b. 1943

Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician

Robert Altman

b. 1925

American director and screenwriter

Johann Heinrich Voss

b. 1751

German poet, translator, and academic

Robert Huber

b. 1937

German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Ludwig Boltzmann

b. 1844

Austrian physicist and philosopher

Deaths

  • 2017Mildred Dresselhaus, American physicist
  • 1972Maria Goeppert Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1936Max Schreck, German actor
  • 1810Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader
  • 1762Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic
  • 1524Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Eleutherius of Tournai
  • —Christian feast day: Eucherius of Orléans
  • —Christian feast day: Julia Rodzińska
  • —Christian feast day: Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
  • —Christian feast day: Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • —Christian feast day: Wulfric of Haselbury
  • —Christian feast day: February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)

Born on this day?

Make your birthday card.

Drop in your birth year and we'll work out your exact age, the day of the week you were born, your Chinese zodiac, your generation, and the countdown to your next candle.