On this day: April 20

Events on April 20

• 1535 Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring Vädersolstavlan, the oldest coloured depiction of the city. Wikipedia
• 1535 A complex halo display is observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring the Vädersolstavlan ("The Sundog painting"), the earliest depiction of such an event, and the oldest colour depiction of the city. Wikipedia
• 1657 Anglo-Spanish War: The English navy sank much of a Spanish treasure fleet at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife off the Canary Islands, but was unable to capture the treasure. Wikipedia
• 1770 The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza. Wikipedia
• 1789 George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration. Wikipedia
• 1809 War of the Fifth Coalition: Commanded by Napoleon, Franco-German forces defeated a reinforced Austrian corps at the Battle of Abensberg. Wikipedia
• 1809 Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia. Wikipedia
• 1862 Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation. Wikipedia
• 1902 Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day. Wikipedia
• 1922 The Soviet government created the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian SSR. Wikipedia
• 1922 The Soviet government creates the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian SSR. Wikipedia
• 1939 Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday was celebrated as a national holiday in Nazi Germany. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: German and Italian forces began a large-scale counter-insurgency operation in occupied Yugoslavia. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1946 The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1961 Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba. Wikipedia
• 1968 South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia), killing 123 people. Wikipedia
• 1968 South African Airways Flight 228 crashed shortly after take-off from Windhoek in South West Africa, resulting in 123 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1998 Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2004 The Nicoll Highway in Singapore collapses, killing four workers. Wikipedia
• 2007 Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, before killing a male hostage and himself. Wikipedia
• 2012 One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan. Wikipedia
• 2015 Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland. Wikipedia

Born on April 20

• 1586 Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (died 1617) Wikipedia
• 1808 Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France, Emperor of French Second Empire (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1840 Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1889 Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1893 Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1893 Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1915 Israel Epstein, Chinese-Polish journalist and member of the Chinese Communist Party (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1918 Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1920 Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1927 K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1937 George Takei, American actor Wikipedia
• 1939 Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway– Wikipedia
• 1941 Ryan O'Neal, American actor (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1949 Jessica Lange, American actress Wikipedia
• 1949 Massimo D'Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy Wikipedia
• 1955 Olivia Dahl (died 1962), daughter of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal Wikipedia
• 1955 Svante Pääbo, Swedish geneticist and Nobel Laureate Wikipedia
• 1964 Andy Serkis, English actor and director Wikipedia
• 1966 David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo! Wikipedia
• 1969 Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1972 Carmen Electra, American model and actress Wikipedia
• 1983 Miranda Kerr, Australian model Wikipedia

Died on April 20

• 689 Cædwalla, king of Wessex (born 659) Wikipedia
• 888 Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (born 862) Wikipedia
• 1248 Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (born 1206) Wikipedia
• 1314 Pope Clement V (born 1264) Wikipedia
• 1912 Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1918 Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1932 Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (born 1858) Wikipedia
• 1947 Christian X, King of Denmark (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1951 Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1969 Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 1992 Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2003 Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2018 Avicii, Swedish DJ and musician (born 1989) Wikipedia
• 2021 Idriss Déby, Chadian politician and military officer (born 1952) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Agnes of Montepulciano Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Anicetus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Anastazy Jakub Pankiewicz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Beuno Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed James Bell and John Finch Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcellinus of Gaul Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theotimos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• 420 (cannabis culture) Wikipedia
• Evacuee Flag Day (Finland) Wikipedia
• UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 20” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.