February 20

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years.

Events

• 1472 - The Orkneys and Shetlands are annexed to the crown of Scotland
• 1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey
• 1725 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
• 1792 - The Postal Service Act[?], establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
• 1809 - A decision by the Supreme Court of the United StateUnited States Supreme Court[?] states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.
• 1872 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
• 1873 - The University of California opens its first medical school[?] in San Francisco, California.
• 1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• 1921 - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse[?] film, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
• 1929 - American Samoa becomes organized as a territory of the United States
• 1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the United States Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
• 1942 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace[?]
• 1943 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information[?] to censor movies
• 1944 - World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island
• 1952 - Emmett L. Ashford[?] becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League[?].
• 1952 - The film The African Queen opens (Capitol Theatre in New York City).
• 1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7[?], John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
• 1965 - Ranger 8[?] crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• 1976 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands
• 1987 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, Utah a bomb explodes in a computer store.
• 2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
• 2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya[?], Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
• 2003 - The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.

Births

• 1751 - Johann Heinrich Voß, poet (+ 1826)
• 1757 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, philanthropist and patron of the arts and sciences (+ 1834)
• 1844 - Ludwig Boltzmann, physicist (+ 1906)
• 1844 - Joshua Slocum, seaman and adventurer (+ 1909)
• 1887 - Carl Ebert[?], opera manager and director (+ 1980)
• 1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada) + 1967)
• 1902 - Ansel Adams, photographer (+ 1984)
• 1904 - Alexei Kosygin[?], Premier of the Soviet Union[?] (+ 1980)
• 1912 - Pierre Boulle, author (+ 1994)
• 1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, jeans designer and entrepreneur
• 1925 - Robert Altman, film director
• 1925 - Heinz Kluncker[?], labor union leader
• 1926 - Richard Matheson, author
• 1926 - Rob Richards[?], track and field athlete
• 1927 - Sidney Poitier, actor
• 1934 - Bobby Unser[?], automobile racer
• 1937 - Nancy Wilson[?], singer
• 1937 - Roger Penske[?], automobile racer
• 1941 - Buffy Sainte-Marie[?], singer
• 1942 - Phil Esposito[?], ice hockey player
• 1943 - Mike Leigh[?], director
• 1946 - Jerome Geils[?] of the J Geils band[?]
• 1946 - Brenda Blethyn[?], actress
• 1947 - Peter Osgood, English football player
• 1947 - Peter Strauss[?], actor
• 1951 - Gordon Brown, British politician
• 1954 - Patty Hearst, socialite
• 1954 - Anthony Stewart Head, actor
• 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, actor
• 1966 - Cindy Crawford[?], model
• 1967 - Kurt Cobain, rock musician (+ 1994)
• 1975 - Brian Littrell[?], musician ("NSYNC")

Deaths

• 1194 - Tancred, King of Sicily
• 1431 - Pope Martin V
• 1579 - Nicholas Bacon, English politician
• 1626 - John Dowland, composer and lutenist
• 1773 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy
• 1790 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1871 - Paul Kane, painter
• 1893 - P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate general
• 1895 - Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer
• 1920 - Robert Peary, explorer
• 1966 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral
• 1968 - Anthony Asquith[?], director, writer
• 1969 - Ernest Ansermet, conductor
• 1972 - Walter Winchell, journalist
• 1985 - Clarence Nash, Disney voice actor
• 1992 - Dick York[?], actor
• 1993 - Ferrucio Lamborghini[?], automobile manufacturer
• 1996 - Toru Takemitsu, composer
• 1999 - Gene Siskel[?], film critic
• 1999 - Sarah Kane, playwright

Holidays and observances

February 19 - February 21 - January 20 - March 20 - more historical anniversaries