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This day in history

This day in history: 20 May

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day212 · 104

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Key facts

380 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 20 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2022: Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Abercius and Helena

Christian feast day: Alcuin of York

Christian feast day: Aurea of Ostia

Christian feast day: Austregisilus

Christian feast day: Baudilus

Christian feast day: Bernardino of Siena

Christian feast day: Columba of Rieti

Christian feast day: Lucifer of Cagliari

Christian feast day: Lydia of Thyatira

Christian feast day: May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Sanctan

Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)

Events

2022Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.

2019The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.

2016The government of Singapore authorises the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United

2013An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.

2012At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.

2011Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.

2009An Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100 Hercules crashes in Magetan Regency, killing 99.

2002The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).

1996Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the

1990The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.

1989The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.

1985Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.

1983Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by UMkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.

1983First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.

1980In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, with 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.

1971In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.

1969The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.

1967The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1965One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.

1964Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.

1958Capital Airlines Flight 300 collides in mid-air with a United States Air Force Lockheed T-33 over Brunswick, Maryland, killing 12.

1956In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1949In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.

1948Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.

1943The Luttra Woman, a bog body from the Early Neolithic period (radiocarbon-dated c. 3928–3651 BC), is discovered near Luttra, Sweden.

1941World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.

1940The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1932Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.

1927Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing 33+1⁄2 hours later.

1927Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

1902Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.

1891History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.

1883Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.

1882The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.

1875Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.

1873Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

1864American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.

1862U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers.

1861American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.

1861American Civil War: The State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.

Born on this day

2012Doug the Pug, American celebrity dog

1998Jamie Chadwick, English race car driver

1998Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater

1997Kaoru Mitoma, Japanese footballer

1996Brian Kelly, Australian rugby league player

1993Caroline Zhang, American figure skater

1993Ramy Rabia, Egyptian footballer

1992Cate Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer

1992Enes Kanter, Turkish basketball player

1992Fanny Smith, Swiss freestyle skier

1992Jack Gleeson, Irish actor

1991Bastian Baker, Swiss singer, songwriter, and performer

1991Emre Çolak, Turkish footballer

1990Josh O'Connor, British actor

1989Siosia Vave, Australian-Tongan rugby league player

1988Joel Moon, Australian rugby league player

1987Julian Wright, American basketball player

1987Mike Havenaar, Japanese footballer

1986Dexter Blackstock, English footballer

1986Jiřina Svobodová, Czech pole vaulter

1986Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer

1985Brendon Goddard, Australian footballer

1985Chris Froome, Kenyan-English cyclist

1984Keith Grennan, American football player

1984Mauro Rafael da Silva, Brazilian footballer

1984Patrick Ewing Jr., American basketball player

1983Matt Langridge, English rower

1983N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Indian Film Actor

1983Óscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer

1982Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter

1982Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer

1982Jessica Raine, English actress

1982Petr Čech, Czech footballer

1981Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer

1981Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player

1981Mark Winterbottom, Australian race car driver

1981Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter

1980Austin Kearns, American baseball player

1980Kassim Osgood, American football player

1979Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician, 28th Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Died on this day

2025George Wendt, American actor and comedian (born 1948)

2024Ivan Boesky, American stock trader (born 1937)

2022Roger Angell, American sportswriter and author (born 1920)

2022Susan Roces, Filipino actress (born 1941)

2021Gary Wilson, American anti-pornography activist (born 1956)

2019Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver (born 1949)

2016Kho Jabing, Malaysian convicted murderer who was executed by hanging in Singapore (born 1984)

2015Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (born 1956)

2015Femi Robinson, Nigerian actor and playwright (born 1940)

2014Arthur Gelb, American journalist, author, and critic (born 1924)

2014Barbara Murray, English actress (born 1929)

2014Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English businessman (born 1933)

2014Robyn Denny, English-French painter (born 1930)

2014Ross Brown, New Zealand rugby player (born 1934)

2014Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (born 1944)

2013Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (born 1947)

2013Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (born 1924)

2013Denys Roberts, English judge and politician (born 1923)

2013Flavio Costantini, Italian painter and illustrator (born 1926)

2013Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (born 1924)

2013Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (born 1939)

2013Zach Sobiech, American singer-songwriter (born 1995)

2012Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer (born 1958)

2012David Littman, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (born 1933)

2012Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (born 1915)

2012Ken Lyons, American bass guitarist (born 1953)

2012Leela Dube, Indian anthropologist and scholar (born 1923)

2012Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (born 1949)

2011Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (born 1952)

2009Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect and urban planner, designed Roy Thomson Hall (born 1924)

Quote of the day

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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