On this day: February 20

Events on February 20

• 1339 The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated. Wikipedia
• 1685 René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas. Wikipedia
• 1792 The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington. Wikipedia
• 1835 An earthquake registering approximately 8.5 Mw devastated Concepción, Chile, and triggered a tsunami that destroyed neighbouring Talcahuano. Wikipedia
• 1835 The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: The Union Army suffered a one-in-three casualty rate at the Battle of Olustee near Lake City, Florida. Wikipedia
• 1872 The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1877 Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Wikipedia
• 1905 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts. Wikipedia
• 1913 King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra. Wikipedia
• 1931 The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California. Wikipedia
• 1931 An anarchist uprising in Encarnación, Paraguay briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune. Wikipedia
• 1933 Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Saturday Evening Post published the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, among the most widely distributed paintings ever produced, in support of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms. Wikipedia
• 1943 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. Wikipedia
• 1952 Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League. Wikipedia
• 1962 Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes. Wikipedia
• 1968 The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing. Wikipedia
• 1979 An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years. Wikipedia
• 1988 The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Wikipedia
• 1991 In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters. Wikipedia
• 2005 Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout. Wikipedia
• 2014 Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters die in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers. Wikipedia

Born on February 20

• 1756 Angelica Schuyler Church, American socialite, sister-in-law to Alexander Hamilton (died 1814) Wikipedia
• 1844 Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1906) Wikipedia
• 1888 Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1901 Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1912 Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1912 Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1920 Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1925 Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1926 Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1927 Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1937 Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1945 George Smoot, American astrophysicist and cosmologist, shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1949 Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1951 Gordon Brown, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Wikipedia
• 1967 Kurt Cobain, American musician (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1967 David Herman, American comedian and actor Wikipedia
• 1969 Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1971 Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer Wikipedia
• 1987 Miles Teller, American actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Rihanna, Barbadian singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and actress Wikipedia
• 1990 Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 2003 Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer Wikipedia

Died on February 20

• 1054 Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kyiv (born 978) Wikipedia
• 1431 Pope Martin V (born 1368) Wikipedia
• 1458 Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia Wikipedia
• 1626 John Dowland, English lute player and composer (born 1563) Wikipedia
• 1790 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1741) Wikipedia
• 1862 William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1895 Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (born c. 1818) Wikipedia
• 1907 Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852) Wikipedia
• 1916 Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1972 Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 1976 René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1993 Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2005 Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 2017 Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (born 1952) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

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

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 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.