On this day in history

February 20

32 births · 14 deaths · 5 events

Prev Pisces Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Russo-Ukrainian war

12 years ago

Born this day

1694

Voltaire

Died aged 84

Photo (modified): Nicolas de Largillière · CC0

Oldest record

332nd

Voltaire

birth anniversary

View profile

Famous births32

1694 · 332 yrs

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet (French:; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his pen name Voltaire (US also; French:), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 84

View profile Photo (modified): Nicolas de Largillière · CC0

1791 · 235 yrs

Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny (German:; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, music educator, and pianist of Czech origin. His music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Blasius Höfel · Public domain

1844 · 182 yrs

Ludwig Boltzmann

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann ( BAWLTS-mahn or BOHLTS-muhn; German:; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian mathematician and theoretical physicist. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics and the statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1868 · 158 yrs

Pompeu Fabra

Pompeu Fabra i Poch (Catalan pronunciation:; 20 February 1868 – 25 December 1948) was a Catalan engineer, linguist, and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of the contemporary Catalan language and is considered the father of modern Catalan grammar.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1886 · 140 yrs

Béla Kun

Béla Kun (Hungarian: Kun Béla, born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who in 1919 governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 140

View profile Photo (modified): Gyula Jelfy · Public domain

1888 · 138 yrs

Georges Bernanos

Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (French:; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defeatism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1901 · 125 yrs

Mohamed Naguib

Major General Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan (Arabic: محمد بيه نجيب يوسف قطب القشلان; 19 February 1901 – 28 August 1984), known simply as Mohamed Naguib (Arabic: محمد نجيب), was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who, along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of the two principal leaders of the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): Ashkroft Bombai · Public domain

1902 · 124 yrs

Ansel Adams

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 124

View profile Photo (modified): J. Malcolm Greany · Public domain

1912 · 114 yrs

Pierre Boulle

Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French author. He is best known for two works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963), that were both made into award-winning films.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 114

View profile Photo (modified): Gabriel Cordero Huertas ( aka Dr.Worst) · CC BY-SA 3.0

1925 · 101 yrs

Robert Altman

Robert Bernard Altman ( AWLT-mən; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American filmmaker. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and satirical films with overlapping dialogue and ensemble casts.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): Associate Press Newsfeatures (see first upload of this image) · Public domain

1926 · 100 yrs

Richard Matheson

Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, who worked primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. Matheson is best known as the author of I Am Legend, a 1954 science fiction horror novel that has been adapted for the screen three times.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 100

View profile Photo (modified): JaSunni at PicasaWeb · CC BY-SA 3.0

1927 · 99 yrs

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier ( PWAH-tyay; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 99

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown photographer · Public domain

Showing 12 of 32

Famous deaths14

1772 · 254 yrs

Carlo Emanuele III of Sardinia

Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from his father's abdication on 3 September 1730 until his death in 1773. He was the paternal grandfather of the last three mainline kings of Sardinia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Maria Giovanna Clementi · Public domain

1778 · 248 yrs

Laura Bassi

Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti (29 October 1711 – 20 February 1778) was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva" (goddess of wisdom), she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second woman in the world to earn the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Carlo Vandi (Bologna c.1700 - d.1768) · Public domain

1790 · 236 yrs

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 48

View profile Photo (modified): Anton von Maron · Public domain

1895 · 131 yrs

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): Engraved by J.C. Buttre from a daguerreotype. · Public domain

1907 · 119 yrs

Henri Moissan

Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (French pronunciation:; 28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): sv:Generalstabens litografiska anstalt · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

Klas Pontus Arnoldson

Klas Pontus Arnoldson (27 October 1844 – 20 February 1916) was a Swedish author, journalist, politician, and committed pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908 with Fredrik Bajer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 71

View profile Photo (modified): Gen. Stab. Lit. Anst. (Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalt) (Lithographic Institute General Staff). Original uploader= G · Public domain

1920 · 106 yrs

Robert Peary

Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries over 23 years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1966 · 60 yrs

Chester W. Nimitz

Chester William Nimitz (24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, commanding Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): "Official U.S. Navy Photograph now in the collections of the National Archive". · Public domain

1972 · 54 yrs

Maria Göppert Mayer

Maria Goeppert Mayer (German:; née Göppert; June 28, 1906 – February 20, 1972) was a German–American theoretical physicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with J. Hans D. Jensen and Eugene Wigner.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 120

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel foundation · Public domain

1993 · 33 yrs

Ferruccio Lamborghini

Ferruccio Lamborghini ( LAM-bər-GHEE-nee, Italian:; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian automobile designer and industrialist who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and Automobili Lamborghini in 1964, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyWould be 110

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

2005 · 21 yrs

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, regarded as a pioneer of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 89

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph credited to "Cashman Photo Enterprises, Inc." Published by Random House. · Public domain

2010 · 16 yrs

Alexander Haig

Alexander Meigs Haig Jr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): Scene Camera Operator: MSGT. Deal Toney [2] Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual I · Public domain

Showing 12 of 14

Events5

1988 · 38 yrs

First Nagorno-Karabakh War

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994 in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan with support from Turkey.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2011 · 15 yrs

2011–2012 Moroccan protests

The Moroccan protests were a series of demonstrations across Morocco which occurred from 20 February 2011 to the fall of 2012. They were part of the larger Arab Spring protests.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2014 · 12 yrs

Russo-Ukrainian war

The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2014 · 12 yrs

Russian annexation of Crimea

In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine, occupied it, and then annexed it after an illegitimate referendum. This took place amid the uncertainty that immediately followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2022 · 4 yrs

Japan at the 2022 Winter Olympics

Japan competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. Akito Watabe and Arisa Go were the country's flagbearers during the opening ceremony.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

Nearby dates

Born on February 20? Find your birthday matches →

Share February 20

Living room with framed Who Shares My Birthday poster

Close-up

FrameShown to scale · framed 34 × 46 cmThis is the frame we'll deliver, with a white mount

Printable keepsake

Your birthday matches poster

A personalised A3 framed print of everyone famous born on February 20, what happened on your birthday in history and your zodiac sign. We print and frame it for you and deliver it to your door (UK only).

Name on poster

Your photo

Kept private and only used to make your poster.