today.nukz.net: Almanac - February 20

Almanac - February 20

Ansel Adams 1902-1985

Events

1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clashed in the Battle of Parabiago.
1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tirolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, is executed.
1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
1835 – Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee occurs – the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
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.
1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its première performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
1913 – King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
1931 – The Congress of the United States approves the construction of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States.
1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
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.
1943 – The Parícutin volcano begins to form in Parícutin, Mexico.
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.
1944 – World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
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.
1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
1978 – The last Order of Victory is bestowed upon Leonid Brezhnev.
1987 – Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
1989 – An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England
1991 – A gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters.
1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the club ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
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.
2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en-route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.

Births

1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (d. 1712)
1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch portrait painter (d. 1702)
1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French composer, musette player and musette maker (d. 1782)
1743 – Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English poet (d. 1825)
1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
1751 – Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
1753 – Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)
1757 – John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)
1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, founder of psychiatry (d. 1813)
1761 – Ludwig Abeille, German pianist and composer (d. 1838)
1763 – Adalbert Gyrowetz, Bohemian composer (d. 1850)
1794 – William Carleton, Irish novelist (d. 1869)
1802 – Charles de Bériot, Belgian violinist (d. 1870)
1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss politician, railroad entrepreneur (d. 1882)
1839 – Benjamin Waugh, social reformer; founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)
1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)
1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
1848 – Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
1850 – Nérée Beauchemin, Canadian physician and poet (d. 1931)
1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect and designer (d. 1936)
1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian hockey player (d. 1907)
1867 – Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (d. 1931)
1880 – Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, French aristocrat and novelist (d. 1923)
1887 – Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
1888 – Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
1893 – Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)
1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist (d. 1993)
1898 – Jimmy Yancey, American pianist (d. 1951)
1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (d. 1992)
1901 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English newspaper owner (d. 1987)
1901 – Muhammad Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)
1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
1906 – Gale Gordon, American television and radio actor (d. 1995)
1907 – Malcolm Atterbury, American actor (d. 1992)
1912 – Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)
1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1914 – John Daly, South African–born broadcaster (d. 2001)
1917 – Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan harpist and composer
1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American billionaire (d. 2009)
1919 – James O'Meara, British Battle of Britain Spitfire Flying Ace (d. 1974)
1920 – Evgeny Dragunov, Russian weapons designer (d. 1991)
1920 – Carl Schwende, Canadian Olympic fencer (d. 2002)
1923 – Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (d. 1985)
1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite and clothing designer
1925 – Robert Altman, American film director (d. 2006)
1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
1925 – Heinz Kluncker, German trade union leader (d. 2005)
1926 – Richard Matheson, American author
1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer (d. 1986)
1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)
1927 – Sidney Poitier, American actor
1928 – Roy Face, American baseball relief pitcher
1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat
1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
1930 – Willie Cunningham, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2007)
1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino writer (d. 2007)
1934 – Bobby Unser, American racing driver
1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress
1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
1937 – Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel laureate
1937 – Roger Penske, American racing driver, race team owner and entrepreneur
1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer
1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor
1939 – Frank Arundel, English footballer (d.1994)
1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Democratic Socialist opposition party in Malaysia
1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer
1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
1942 – Charlie Gillett, British radio DJ
1942 – Mitch McConnell, American politician, senior senator of Kentucky
1942 – Claude Miller, French film director and screenwriter
1943 – Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist
1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler
1943 – Mike Leigh, British film director
1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian politician (d. 1999)
1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
1945 – Andrew Bergman, American screenwriter and film director
1945 – Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
1945 – Annu Kapoor, Indian actor
1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
1946 – Richard Cocciante, French-Italian singer and songwriter
1946 – Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
1946 – J. Geils, American guitarist (The J. Geils Band)
1947 – André van Duin, Dutch comedian
1947 – Eggert Magnusson, Icelandic football executive
1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor
1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
1948 – Jennifer O'Neill, Brazilian-born actress
1949 – Mab Segrest, American writer and activist
1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-born American socialite
1950 – Walter Becker, American guitarist (Steely Dan)
1950 – Ken Shimura, Japanese performer and actor
1950 – Tony Wilson, British journalist and impresario (d. 2007)
1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
1951 – Gordon Brown, British Member of Parliament, Prime Minister (2007–2010)
1951 – Randy California, American guitarist (Spirit) (d. 1997)
1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer
1953 – Riccardo Chailly, Italian conductor
1953 – Poison Ivy, American musician (The Cramps)
1954 – Jon Brant, American musician (Cheap Trick)
1954 – Anthony Head, English actor
1954 – Patty Hearst, American socialite
1954 – Billy Pontoni, Colombian musician
1956 – Charlie Adler, American voice actor
1956 – Rick Green, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach
1958 – James Wilby, English actor
1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver
1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
1960 – Kee Marcello, Swedish guitarist
1961 – Imogen Stubbs, British actress
1962 – Kenn Nesbitt, American children's author
1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American writer of comic books and television (d. 2011)
1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player
1963 – Ian Brown, English singer (The Stone Roses)
1963 – Jon Lynn Christensen, former Nebraska Congressman
1963 – Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek politician
1964 – Rodney Rowland, American actor
1964 – French Stewart, American actor
1965 – Ron Eldard, American actor
1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model
1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier
1967 – Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (d. 1994)
1967 – David Herman, American comedian
1967 – Katherine Soucie, American voice actress
1967 – Andrew Shue, American television actor
1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
1968 – Ted Hankey, English darts player
1969 – Vaginal Davis, American drag queen and performance artist
1969 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer
1969 – Gedo, Japanese professional wrestler
1969 – Danis Tanovic, Bosnian film director and screenwriter
1969 – Tommy Vardell, American football player
1971 – Calpernia Addams, transgender activist
1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
1971 – Shawn McKenzie, American programmer
1972 – Brent Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – K-OS, Canadian musician/rapper
1973 – Kimberley Davies, Australian actress
1973 – Rohan Alexander, Jamaican-born cricketer
1974 – Ophelie Winter, French actress
1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
1975 – Niclas Wallin, Swedish hockey player
1976 – Rohan Gavaskar, Left-handed batsman, India ODI 2004 (son of Sunil Gavaskar)
1976 – Ed Graham, English drummer (The Darkness)
1976 – Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler
1977 – Bartosz Kizierowski, Polish swimmer
1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
1977 – T.J. Slaughter, American football player
1977 – Amal Hijazi, Lebanese singer and model
1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress
1978 – Jakki Degg, English glamour model/actress
1978 – Jay Hernandez, American actor
1978 – Julia Jentsch, German actress
1980 – Artur Boruc, Polish footballer
1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby union footballer
1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
1981 – Fred Jackson, American football player
1981 – Chris Thile, American musician
1982 – Fait-Florian Banser, German footballer
1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican baseball player
1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player
1984 – Gilles Pagnon, French-German rugby player
1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player
1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
1985 – Yulia Volkova, Russian singer (t.A.T.u.)
1986 – Diego Reis, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
1988 – Jiah Khan, Indian actress
1989 – Iga Wyrwal, Polish glamour model
1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng Italian footballer

Deaths

702 – K'inich Kan B'alam II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury Plucknett
1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
1194 – King Tancred of Sicily (b. 1138)
1258 – Al-Musta'sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad (b. 1213)
1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)
1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
1524 – Tecún Umán, last leader of the K'iche' (Quiché) Maya people
1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
1626 – John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)
1771 – Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
1773 – King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
1803 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)
1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)
1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)
1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)
1893 – P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)
1895 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer (b. 1818)
1905 – Jeremiah W. Farnham, American merchant captain
1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)
1917 – Leone Sextus Tollemache, British Army captain (b. 1884)
1920 – Jacinta Marto, one of the three Portuguese children who said they witnessed several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917 (b. 1910)
1920 – Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)
1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
1941 – Madame Bolduc, Canadian singer and songwriter (b. 1894)
1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
1963 – Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)
1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish composer(b. 1879)
1965 – Fred Immler, German actor (b. 1880)
1966 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
1968 – Anthony Asquith, British film director and writer (b. 1902)
1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
1970 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
1974 – David Monrad Johansen, Norwegian composer (b. 1888)
1976 – René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist (b. 1907)
1981 – Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (b. 1904)
1983 – Fritz Köberle, Austrian-Brazilian physician (b. 1910)
1985 – Clarence "Ducky" Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
1992 – Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)
1992 – Pierre Dervaux, French conductor, composer and pedagogue (b. 1917)
1992 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
1993 – Ernest L. Massad, U.S. Army general (b. 1908)
1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)
1996 – Tōru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
1997 – Zachary Breaux, American jazz guitarist (b. 1960)
1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
1999 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)
2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
2001 – Donella Meadows, American scientist (b. 1941)
2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
2003 – Orville L. Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
2003 – Harry Jacunski, American football player (b. 1915)
2003 – Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White) (b. 1971)
2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani Chief of the Air Staff (b. 1947)
2005 – Pam Bricker, American jazz singer and Thievery Corporation vocalist (b. 1954)
2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)
2005 – John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)
2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
2005 – Tom Willmore, English geometer (b. 1919)
2006 – Michael M. Ames, Canadian academic and professor of anthropology (b. 1933)
2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveller (b. 1920)
2007 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist (b. 1930)
2007 – Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish artist, member of the CoBrA movement (b. 1913)
2008 – Emily Perry, English actress (b. 1907)
2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and owner of the Utah Jazz (b. 1944)
2010 – Alexander Haig, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

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