May 20th

May 20 is the 140th (one hundred fortieth) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar and the 141st in leap years. There are 225 days left to end the year.

Events

Council of Nicea.

• 325: The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian churches, is held in Nicea.
• 526: In the region of Syria (part of the Eastern Roman Empire) an 11-degree earthquake occurs in the modified Mercalli scale (which measures damage). Leave a balance of 250 000 dead.
• 1485: In Spain, Christians conquer the city of Ronda (Malaga), the most important point of Nasrid resistance of the western border.
• 1493: In Spain, Cristóbal Colón is appointed captain general of the Spanish army with which he undertakes the second trip to America.
• 1498: In India, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama arrives in Calicut.
• 1520: In the Temple of Tenochtitlán (Mexico), the Spaniards in charge of Pedro de Alvarado carry out the Toxcatl Matanza.
• 1591: Juan Ramírez de Velasco founded the City of All Saints of La Nueva Rioja.

Site of Cartagena de Indias (1741).

• 1631: In Germany—in the framework of the Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants—the looting of Magdeburg occurs, in which Catholic soldiers, under the command of the Count of Tillý (the Monk with Armor), kill 80% of the citizens of the city (about 20 000 Lutheran men, women and children).
• 1741: During the War of the Sea, in current Colombia, the fleet of British Admiral Edward Vernon withdrew after the defeat at the Cartagena de Indias site.
• 1809: On the banks of the Danube River near Vienna (Austria), the Austrians beat the French in the battle of Aspern-Essling.
• 1854: Battle of Zipachira within the Colombian Civil War of 1854.
• 1875: The International Bureau of Weapon and Measures is established in Paris.
• 1882: Germany, Austria and Italy form the Triple Alliance against France.
• 1888: at the Paris Academy of Sciences (France), Louis Pasteur presents the result of his research on anger.
• 1888: In the old citadel of Barcelona, which has been converted into a park, the regent Maria Cristina inaugurates the Universal Exhibition.
• 1891: at a National Federation of Women’s Clubs (National Federation of Women’s Clubs) convention in New York, United States, William Dickson – Thomas Edison’s employee – presents a prototype of the quinetoscope. Two years earlier, on October 14, 1888, the French inventor Louis Le Prince had filmed in Leeds, England, the first film in the world: Roundhay garden scene.
• 1902: Cuba is independent of the United States.
• 1910: The United States invades Nicaragua.
• 1927: The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of Saudi Arabia.
• 1927: In the U.S., American aviator Charles Lindbergh takes off to begin what will be the first solo voyage by plane across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1930: in Bombay, India, pacifist Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by the British colonial police.

Amelia Earhart.

• 1932: Amelia Earhart takes off to start what will be the first solo flight of a woman across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1940: In Poland, the Nazis operate the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
• 1941: German troops, led by the Fallschirmjäger, begin the air invasion of Crete Island.
• 1954: in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek is appointed president.

Photograph of the explosion of the hydrogen bomb CheroquiMay 20, 1956.

• 1956: in the Bikini atoll, United States detonates the atomic bomb Cherokee (name of an ethnic group of Native Americans), 3800 kt. It's the first time a hydrogen bomb (one Mark 15) dropped from a plane. It is the 2nd bomb of the 17th of Operation Redwing, and No. 72 of the 1127 that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1958: In the Enewetak atoll (Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean), the United States detonates its atomic bomb Holly.5.9 kt. It is the seventh of the 35 bombs of the Hardtack I operation, and the 128th bomb of the 1127 that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1960: In Argentina, Israeli secret service agents (Mosad) approach an Israeli plane and take Israel to the Nazi genocidal Adolf Eichmann (54). In Israel he will be tried and executed for crimes against humanity.
• 1973: In Western Sahara, the Frente Polisario began the armed struggle.
• 1978: The United States launches its Pioneer Venus probe to Venus.
• 1980: In Quebec, Canada, a referendum is held to decide the separation of Canada. 60 percent opposes independence.
• 1984: in Argentina, former president María Estela Martínez de Perón returned to Buenos Aires since her exile in Madrid.
• 1988: South Africa, Angola and Cuba agree to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola.
• 1989: The English band Queen album number 13 The Miracle.
• 1990: Hubble Space Telescope sends the first photograph from space.
• 1990: In Romania, Ion Iliescu is elected president.
• 1990: Prisoners launch their fourth album, titled Hearts, being the most successful of his career as a success throughout Latin America and the United States.
• 1992: The end of the UEFA Champions League is played, where the Barcelona Club Football was crowned to the Unione Calcio Sampdoria with a final score of 1-0 in favor of the condal set.
• 1994: Crimea is proclaimed sovereign and independent of Ukraine.
• 1996: in Montevideo (Uruguay) the first March of Silence is carried out by the disappeared detainees. Every May 20, thousands of people demand truth, memory, justice and never more crimes against humanity.
• 1997: Michael Jackson launches his sixth album, called Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix, which becomes the best-selling remixed album of all time, with more than 15 million copies.
• 1998 Real Madrid CF conquers its seventh cup of Europe in Amsterdam in front of the Juventus.
• 2001: Start Wikipedia in Spanish
• 2001: The second single from the third album of the American group of R strangerB, Destiny's Child, "Survivor", reach the first position of Billboard Hot 100.
• 2002: East Timor is independent of Indonesia.
• 2003: Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin released his seventh studio and fifth album to the market in Spanish Souls of silenceis also the first in this language from Come back. in 1998.
• 2006: In Iraq, the newly elected Council of Representatives approves by majority the election of Nuri al-Maliki as the new prime minister, who takes office immediately.
• 2013: In the state of Oklahoma (United States), a powerful EF5 tornado destroys the people of Moore.
• 2016: Ariana Grande launches his third studio album, Dangerous Woman.
• 2018: The Billboard Music Awards were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The host was Kelly Clarkson.
• 2018: Christina Aguilera sings with Demi Lovato the Fall in Line song at the Billboard Music Awards.
• 2018: in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is re-elected president.
• 2019: Game of Thrones the popular HBO series draws the last chapter of the series.
• 2021: Wikipedia was 20 years old.
• La Conmebol withdrew Colombia as the headquarters of the American Cup 2021, leaving Argentina as the only venue.

Births

• 1315: Bona de Luxemburg, wife of King John II of France (n. 1349).

Pietro Bembo.

• 1470: Pietro Bembo, humanist and religious Italian (f. 1547).
• 1664: Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor (f. 1714).
• 1726: Francis Cotes, British painter (f. 1770).
• 1734: Anton Janša, apologist and painter; pioneer of modern abyss (f. 1773).
• 1737: William Petty Landsdowne, British statesman (f. 1805).
• 1743: Toussaint Louverture, Haitian politician and military (f. 1803).
• 1746: Andreas Berlin, a botanist and Swedish explorer (f. 1773).
• 1764: Johann Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor (f. 1850).
• 1776: Simon Fraser, Canadian explorer (f. 1862).
• 1780: Bernardino Rivadavia, politician and Argentine president (f. 1845).
• 1789: Marcelino Champagnat, French religious, founder of the Marist Brothers (f. 1840).
• 1790: Bernardino Writeno, Argentinean military founder of the city of Junín (f. 1834).
• 1795: Pedro María Anaya, Mexican military and political (f. 1854).

Honoré de Balzac.

• 1799: Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (f. 1850).
• 1806: John Stuart Mill, British philosopher (f. 1873).
• 1818: Cúchares (Francisco Arjona Herrera), Spanish bullfighter (f. 1868).
• 1818: William Fargo, politician and American businessman (f. 1881).
• 1822: Frédéric Passy, a French politician and economist, a Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 (f. 1912).
• 1830: Hector Malot, French writer (f. 1907).
• 1838: Jules Méline, French statesman (f. 1925).
• 1844: Bernardino Nozaleda, Dominican religious and Spanish archbishop (f. 1927).
• 1846: Alexander von Kluck, German military (f. 1934).
• 1851: Emile Berliner, German American inventor (f. 1929).
• 1858: Jaime Vera, a Spanish socialist physician and politician (f. 1918).
• 1860: Eduard Buchner, German chemist, nobel chemistry award in 1907 (f. 1917).
• 1860: Carlos María Ocantos, Argentine writer and diplomat (f. 1949).
• 1860: José Bernardino Ortega, an Argentine politician (f. 1940).
• 1861: Henry Laurence Gantt American mechanical industrial engineer (f. 1919).
• 1878: Blas Cabrera, Spanish physicist (f. 1945).
• 1881: Władysław Sikorski, Polish military and political (f. 1943).

Sigrid Undset.

• 1882: Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel Literature Prize in 1928 (f. 1949).
• 1883: Faysal ibn Husayn, king of Iraq (f. 1933).
• 1883: Antoni Isern, Catalan poet (f. 1906).
• 1884: Leon Schlesinger, animator and producer of American cinema (f. 1951).
• 1886: Ali Sami Yen, football coach and Turkish businessman, founder of the Galatasaray football club (f. 1951).
• 1891: Juan Antonio Suanzes, Spanish military and political (f. 1977).
• 1895: R. J. Mitchell, British aircraft engineer (f. 1937).
• 1897: Diego Abad de Santillán, anarcho-syndicalist (f. 1983).
• 1897: Camillo Berneri, Italian philosopher and anarchist (f. 1937).
• 1901: Jimmy Blythe, American blues and pianist composer (f. 1931).
• 1901: Max Euwe, a Dutch chess player, world champion between 1935 and 1937 (f. 1981).
• 1904: Antonio Modesto Quirasco, Mexican politician (f. 1981).
• 1904: Hernando Viñes, a Spanish painter (f. 1993).
• 1906: Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (f. 1989).
• 1908: Louis Daquin, French filmmaker (f. 1980).
• 1908: Francis Raymond Fosberg, American botanist (f. 1993).

James Stewart.

• 1908: James Stewart, American actor (f. 1997).
• 1911: Gardner Fox, American writer (f. 1986).
• 1911: Annie M. G. Schmidt, Dutch writer (f. 1995).
• 1913: Lolo Fernández, a Peruvian footballer (f. 1996).
• 1913: Juan Gimeno, Spanish cyclist (f. 1998).
• 1913: Bill Hewlett, American businessman, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (f. 2001).
• 1915: Moshe Dayan, Israeli military (f. 1981).
• 1916: Alekséi Marésiev, Russian pilot (f. 2001).
• 1916: Trebisonda Valla, Italian athlete (f. 2006).
• 1918: Edward B. Lewis, American scientist, nobel medical prize in 1995 (f. 2004).
• 1919: Gerhard Barkhorn, German pilot (f. 1983).
• 1920: Betty Driver, British singer and actress (f. 2011).
• 1921: Wolfgang Borchert, German actor and writer (f. 1947).
• 1921: Aldo Gordini, a French racing pilot (f. 1995).
• 1924: Zelmar Michelini, a Uruguayan politician and journalist (f. 1976).
• 1927: David Hedison, American actor (f. 2019).
• 1927: Franciszek Macharski, Polish Cardinal (f. 2016).
• 1930: Rafael Corkidi, Mexican filmmaker (f. 2013).
• 1932: Antonio Suárez, Spanish cyclist (f. 1981).

José Mujica.

• 1935: José Mujica, Uruguayan politician, president of Uruguay between 2010 and 2015.
• 1938: Marinella (Kyriaki Papadopoulou), Greek singer.
• 1941: John Strasberg, American actor.
• 1941: Goh Chok Tong, a Singaporean economist and politician.
• 1943: Al Bano, Italian singer.
• 1944: César Altamirano, Peruvian singer (f. 1993).
• 1944: Joe Cocker, British singer and musician (f. 2014).
• 1944: Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian mogul.
• 1944: Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Spanish politician.
• 1945: Alejandro Dolina, Argentine writer and musician.
• 1945: Vladimiro Montesinos, a Peruvian military, lawyer and politician.
• 1945: Anton Zeilinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 2022.

Cher.

• 1946: Cher, American actress and singer.
• 1947: Nancy Fraser, American philosopher.
• 1949: Dave Thomas, Canadian actor.
• 1950: Reinaldo Merlo, footballer and technical director of Argentina.
• 1951: Antonio Gutiérrez, Spanish politician, former secretary general of the Workers' Commissions.
• 1952: Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer.
• 1953: Leonor of Orleans-Braganza, Brazilian aristocrat.
• 1954: Cindy McCain, American magnate and philanthropist.
• 1954: David Paterson, American politician.
• 1954: Robert Van De Walle, Belgian york.
• 1955: Zbigniew Preisner, Polish composer.
• 1955: Anton Corbijn, photographer and Dutch filmmaker.
• 1957: Yoshihiko Noda, a Japanese politician.
• 1959: Israel Kamakawiwoole, Hawaiian singer (f. 1997).
• 1959: Bronson Pinchot, American actor.
• 1960: John Billingsley, American actor.

Tony Goldwyn.

• 1960: Tony Goldwyn, American actor.
• 1961: Maurizio Milani, comic and Italian writer
• 1967: Paul of Greece, Greek aristocrat.
• 1967: Gabriele Muccino, Italian filmmaker.
• 1967: Ramzi Yousef, Pakistani terrorist.
• 1968: Timothy Olyphant, an American actor.
• 1969: Laurent Dufaux, Swiss cyclist.
• 1969: Brian Gerard James, American fighter.
• 1969: Alberto Mancini, Argentine tennis player.
• 1970: Terrell Brandon, American basketball player.
• 1971: Tony Stewart, pilot and owner of U.S. motor racing equipment.
• 1972: Arancha del Sol, model and Spanish actress.
• 1972: Tina Hobley, British actress.
• 1972: Busta Rhymes, rapper and American actor.
• 1973: Elsa Lunghini, French actress and singer.
• 1973: Patricia Christmas, Mexican actress and singer.
• 1975: Tahmoh Penikett, Canadian actor.
• 1975: Isaac Gálvez, Spanish cyclist, world champion (f. 2006).
• 1975: Juan Minujín, Argentine actor.
• 1976: Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player.
• 1977: Matt Czuchry, American actor.
• 1977: Xabier San Martín, Spanish writer and composer, of the band La Oreja de Van Gogh.
• 1978: Martín López, Spanish drummer, of the Opeth band.
• 1978: Nils Schumann, German athlete.
• 1978: Sophie Alexander, Mexican actress.
• 1979: Jayson Werth, American baseball player.
• 1980: Cauã Reymond, Brazilian actor.
• 1981: Rachel Platten, American singer.
• 1981: Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer.
• 1981: Pascal Berenguer, French footballer.
• 1982: Petr Čech, Czech footballer.
• 1982: Candace Bailey, American actress.
• 1982: Sierra Boggess, American actress and singer.
• 1983: Oscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer.
• 1983: Michaela McManus, American actress.
• 1983: Yolanda Pérez, Mexican-American singer.
• 1984: Patrick Ewing, Jr., American basketball player.
• 1984: Naturi Naughton, American singer and actress.
• 1985: Chris Froome, British cyclist.
• 1986: Yon González, Spanish actor.
• 1986: Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer.
• 1987: Mike Havenaar, Dutch footballer.
• 1987: Julian Wright, American basketball player.
• 1989: Aldo Corzo, Peruvian footballer.
• 1989: Arely Muciño, Mexican boxer.
• 1991: Henrik Ojamaa, Estonian footballer.
• 1991: Emre Çolak, Turkish footballer.
• 1992: Jack Gleeson, Irish actor.
• 1992: Gerónimo Rulli, Argentine footballer.
• 1998: Jamie Chadwick, British motor racing pilot.
• 2010: Cosima Windsor, daughter of the Counts of Ulster.

Deaths

• 685: Egfrido, king of Northumbria (n. 645).

John XXI.

• 1277: John XXI, Italian Pope between 1276 and 1277 (n. 1215).
• 1444: Bernardino de Siena, an Italian saint (n. 1380).
• 1449: Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Portuguese infant (n. 1392).
• 1503: Lorenzo de Médici, aristocrat Tuscan (n. 1463).

Christopher Columbus.

• 1506: Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator, known as the "discoverer" of America (n. 1451).
• 1525: Alonso Fernández de Lugo, Spanish military (n. 1456).
• 1550: Ashikaga Yoshiharu, twelfth shōgun Ashikaga (n. 1510).
• 1622: Osman II, Turkish Sultan and Ottoman emperor (n. 1604).
• 1677: George Digby, British statesman (n. 1612).
• 1713: Thomas Sprat, British writer (n. 1635).
• 1722: Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (n. 1669).
• 1793: Charles Bonnet, Swiss biologist and philosopher (n. 1720).
• 1798: María Trigueros, writer, translator and Spanish playwright (n. 1736).
• 1812: Hieronymus von Colloredo, Archbishop of Salzburg (n. 1732).

Marquis de La Fayette.

• 1834: Marquis de La Fayette, aristocrat and French military (n. 1757).
• 1837: Johan Afzelius, Swedish chemist (n. 1753).
• 1841: White White, Spanish writer and journalist (n. 1775).
• 1885: Manuel M. Flores, Mexican poet (n. 1840).
• 1896: Clara Schumann, a German pianist and composer (n. 1819).
• 1899: Carlotta Grisi, Italian dancer (n. 1819).
• 1930: Alfredo Placencia, Mexican poet and priest (n. 1875).
• 1932: Cresce Pérez, monja argentina (n. 1897).

Verner von Heidenstam.

• 1940: Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Literature Prize in 1916 (n. 1859).
• 1942: Hector Guimard, French architect (n. 1867).
• 1947: Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, nobel physics award in 1905 (n. 1862).
• 1905: José María Álvarez de Sotomayor, a Spanish poet (n. 1880).
• 1949: Damascus of Athens, Greek Orthodox Archbishop (n. 1891).
• 1956: Max Beerbohm, essayist, critic and British cartoonist (n. 1872).
• 1956: Zoltan Halmay, Hungarian swimmer (n. 1881).
• 1959: Alfred Schütz, Austrian philosopher and sociologist (n. 1899)
• 1966: Carlos Arruza, Mexican bullfighter (n. 1920).
• 1973: Joaquín Bau, Spanish trader and politician (n. 1897).

Barbara Hepworth.

• 1975: Barbara Hepworth, British sculptor (n. 1903).
• 1975: Rodolfo Gaona, Mexican bullfighter (n. 1888).
• 1975: Vera Kashcheyeva, a Soviet military physician (n. 1922).
• 1976: Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (n. 1934).
• 1980: Hans Krainz, Swiss botanist (n. 1906).
• 1980: Zinaída Tusnolobova-Marchenko, Soviet military physician and Heroin of the Soviet Union (n. 1920)
• 1982: Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortiz, Argentine politician (n. 1905).
• 1983: Alejandro De Michele (28), Argentine rock musician, Pastoral Duo (n. 1954).
• 1985: Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri, doctor and Spanish professor (n. 1910).
• 1988: Angel Juan Quesada, director of Spanish choir and composer (n. 1909).
• 1989: John Hicks, British economist, Alfred Nobel Memorial Economics Award in 1973 (n. 1904).
• 1989: Gilda Radner, American comic and actress (n. 1946).
• 1992: Roger Keith Coleman, American murderer (n. 1958).
• 1996: Jon Pertwee, British actor (n. 1919).
• 1997: Virgilio Barco Vargas, Colombian politician, president between 1986 and 1990 (n. 1921).
• 1998: Santiago Álvarez, Cuban filmmaker (n. 1919).
• 1998: Ricardo Franco, Spanish filmmaker (n. 1949).
• 2000: Luis Macía González, was a Colombian tenor. (n. 1906).
• 2000: Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (n. 1922).
• 2000: Malik Sealy, American basketball player (n. 1970).
• 2001: Renato Carosone, Italian singer (n. 1920).
• 2002: Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (n. 1941).
• 2005: Paul Ricoeur, a French philosopher (n. 1913).
• 2007: Mario Mazzone, Argentine journalist (n. 1958).
• 2007: Stanley Miller, American scientist (n. 1930).
• 2007: Creu Casas i Sicart, pharmacist and Spanish briologist (n. 1913)
• 2008: Khiuaz Dospanova, a Kazakh-origin Soviet shipper (n. 1922)
• 2009: Lucy Gordon, British model and actress (n. 1980).
• 2010: Walter Rudin, American mathematician (n. 1921).
• 2011: “Randy Savage” (Randall Poffo), American professional fighter (n. 1952).
• 2011: Julio Godio, Argentine sociologist (n. 1939).
• 2012: Robin Gibb, British singer, Bee Gees band (n. 1949).
• 2013: Ray Manzarek, U.S. Technologist, from the band The Doors (n. 1939).
• 2016: Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, Spanish reporter and adventurer, founder of the Quetzal Route (n. 1932).
• 2019: Niki Lauda, Austrian Formula 1 pilot (n. 1949).
• 2020: Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
• 2021: Francisco Brines, Spanish poet (n. 1932).

Celebrations

• Cambodia: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia
• East Timor: Independence Restoration Day
• Indonesia: National Indonesian awakening.
• Cameroon: National Day of Cameroon.
• Argentina: National Borracho Day.
• Mexico: National Day of the psychologist
• World Bee Day.

Catholic saints list

• San Anastasio de Brescia
• Santa Aurea, martyr
• San Austregisilo
• San Baudilio de Nimes
• San Bernardino de Siena
• St. Hilary of Toulouse
• Santa Lidia de Tiatira
• San Lucife de Cagliari
• San Protasio Chong Kuk-bo
• San Talaleo
• San Teodoro de Pavia
• Blessed Archangel Tadini
• Beata Columba de Perugia
• Beato Guido de Gherardesca