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 Vo§, 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