February 20

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 314 days remaining until the end of the year (315 in leap years).

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 United States 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.
• 1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
• 1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
• 1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
• 1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.
• 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.
• 1921 – The Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia is founded.
• 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.
• 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
• 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 four hours, 55 minutes.
• 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
• 1978 – The last Order of Victory is bestowed upon Leonid Brezhnev.
• 1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
• 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 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
• 2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub 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.
• 2006 – In South Korea the United Liberal Democrats, the three top political parties was merged into Grand National Party.
• 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.
• 2013 – The smallest extrasolar planet, Kepler-37b is discovered.
• 2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kiev, many reportedly killed by snipers.
• 2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.

Births

• 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
• 1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch painter (d. 1702)
• 1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French musette player and composer (d. 1782)
• 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
• 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (d. 1813)
• 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)
• 1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
• 1757 – John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist and politician (d. 1834)
• 1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)
• 1761 – Ludwig Abeille, German pianist and composer (d. 1838)
• 1763 – Adalbert Gyrowetz, Bohemian composer (d. 1850)
• 1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)
• 1794 – William Carleton, Irish author (d. 1869)
• 1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)
• 1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)
• 1839 – Benjamin Waugh, English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)
• 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)
• 1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
• 1848 – E. H. Harriman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)
• 1850 – Nérée Beauchemin, Canadian physician and poet (d. 1931)
• 1857 – Bunny Lucas, English cricketer (d. 1923)
• 1860 – Karl Mantzius, Danish actor and director (d. 1921)
• 1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)
• 1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)
• 1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)
• 1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
• 1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)
• 1880 – Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, French author and poet (d. 1923)
• 1882 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-American sculptor (d. 1946)
• 1887 – Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
• 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
• 1889 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and scientist (d. 1948)
• 1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)
• 1895 – Count Louis Zborowski, English racing driver and automobile engineer (d. 1924)
• 1898 – Jimmy Yancey, American pianist and composer (d. 1951)
• 1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (d. 1992)
• 1901 – René Dubos, French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)
• 1901 – Louis Kahn, American architect, designed the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
• 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
• 1901 – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
• 1910 – Rudolf Beckmann, German SS officer (d. 1943)
• 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
• 1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)
• 1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer
• 1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)
• 1919 – James O'Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
• 1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)
• 1920 – Yevgeny Dragunov, Russian weapons designer, designed the Dragunov sniper rifle (d. 1991)
• 1921 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 1992)
• 1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
• 1923 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
• 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress and fashion designer
• 1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
• 1925 – Pat Lanigan, Australian public servant (d. 1992)
• 1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director
• 1926 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer (d. 1986)
• 1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer (Buena Vista Social Club and Afro-Cuban All Stars) (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Sidney Poitier, American actor, director, and diplomat
• 1928 – Roy Face, American baseball player and carpenter
• 1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland
• 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1929 – Efraim Allsalu, Estonian painter (d. 2006)
• 1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic
• 1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver
• 1935 – Ian Castles, Australian public servant (d. 2010)
• 1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American author and poet
• 1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress
• 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
• 1937 – David Ackles, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
• 1937 – Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman
• 1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress
• 1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor, director, and cinematographer
• 1938 – Wiley W. Hilburn, American journalist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1938 – Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, educator, and politician (d. 2013)
• 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer and sportscaster
• 1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian politician
• 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
• 1942 – Mitch McConnell, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
• 1942 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
• 1943 – Carlos, French singer and actor (d. 2008)
• 1943 – Moshe Cotel, American pianist and composer (d. 2008)
• 1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician
• 1943 – Mike Leigh, English director and screenwriter
• 1943 – Tom McNally, Baron McNally, English politician
• 1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)
• 1944 – Lew Soloff, American trumpet player, composer, and actor (Blood, Sweat & Tears and Mingus Big Band) (d. 2015)
• 1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1945 – Andrew Bergman, American director and screenwriter
• 1945 – Alan Hull, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Lindisfarne) (d. 1995)
• 1945 – Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1945 – Henry Polic II, American actor (d. 2013)
• 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress and singer
• 1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The J. Geils Band)
• 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
• 1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor and producer
• 1947 – André van Duin, Dutch actor and singer
• 1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1948 – Andrew Fabian, English astronomer and astrophysicist
• 1948 – Jennifer O'Neill, Brazilian-American actress
• 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American skier and model
• 1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Steely Dan)
• 1950 – Peter Marinello, Scottish footballer
• 1950 – Tony Wilson, English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
• 1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1951 – Gordon Brown, Scottish historian and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1951 – Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Spirit) (d. 1997)
• 1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer and manager
• 1953 – Roberto Ciotti, Italian guitarist and composer (d. 2013)
• 1953 – Poison Ivy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Cramps)
• 1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player (Cheap Trick)
• 1954 – Anthony Head, English actor and singer
• 1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress
• 1954 – Billy Pontoni, Colombian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1956 – Annu Kapoor, Indian actor
• 1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1958 – James Wilby, Burmese-English actor
• 1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver (d. 1996)
• 1959 – David Corn, American journalist and author
• 1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
• 1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
• 1960 – Wendee Lee, American voice actress
• 1960 – Kee Marcello, Swedish guitarist (Europe and Kee Marcello's K2)
• 1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
• 1962 – Kenn Nesbitt, American poet and author
• 1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)
• 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1963 – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter (The Stone Roses)
• 1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek politician
• 1964 – Willie Garson, American actor
• 1964 – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician
• 1964 – French Stewart, American actor
• 1965 – Ron Eldard, American actor
• 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and actress
• 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Nirvana and Fecal Matter) (d. 1994)
• 1967 – David Herman, American comedian and actor
• 1967 – Andrew Shue, American actor and activist, founded Do Something
• 1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
• 1967 – Tom Waddle, American football player and sportscaster
• 1968 – Ha Seok-ju, South Korean footballer and manager
• 1969 – Gedo, Japanese wrestler
• 1969 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager
• 1969 – Danis Tanović, Bosnian director and screenwriter
• 1969 – Azusa Watanabe, Japanese actress
• 1971 – Calpernia Addams, American actress, author, and activist
• 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
• 1971 – Shawn McKenzie, American programmer, created AutoTheme
• 1972 – k-os, Canadian rapper and producer
• 1972 – Brent Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Neil Primrose, Scottish drummer (Travis)
• 1973 – Kimberley Davies, Australian actress
• 1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager
• 1974 – Ophélie Winter, French actress and singer
• 1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
• 1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor (Backstreet Boys)
• 1975 – Niclas Wallin, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1976 – Ed Graham, English drummer (The Darkness and Stone Gods)
• 1977 – Gail Kim, Canadian wrestler and actress
• 1977 – Bartosz Kizierowski, Polish swimmer
• 1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
• 1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress and producer
• 1978 – Jakki Degg, English model and actress
• 1978 – Jay Hernandez, American actor
• 1978 – Julia Jentsch, German actress
• 1980 – Artur Boruc, Polish footballer
• 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
• 1980 – Yuichi Nakamura, Japanese voice actor
• 1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
• 1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
• 1981 – Adrian Lamo, American computer hacker
• 1981 – Fred Jackson, American football player
• 1981 – Chris Thile, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers)
• 1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
• 1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
• 1984 – Keisuke Koide. Japanese actor
• 1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player
• 1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player
• 1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian and host of The Daily Show
• 1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
• 1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress (t.A.T.u. and Neposedi)
• 1986 – Diego Reis, Brazilian footballer
• 1987 – Miles Teller, American actor
• 1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1988 – Jiah Khan, American-Indian actress and singer (d. 2013)
• 1988 – Kealoha Pilares, American football player
• 1988 – Tahounia Rubel, Ethiopian-Israeli model
• 1989 – Jack Falahee, American actor
• 1989 – Iga Wyrwał, Polish model and actress
• 1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng, Italian footballer
• 1991 – Antonio Pedroza, English-Mexican footballer
• 1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player
• 1991 – Kyle Wilkie, Scottish footballer
• 1997 – Roosa Timonen, Finnish tennis player
• 1998 – Shun Nishime, Japanese model and actor
• 2014 – Princess Leonore, Duchess of Gotland

Deaths

• 702 – K'inich Kan B'alam II, Mayan king (b. 635)
• 1154 – Wulfric of Haselbury, English saint (b. 1080)
• 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
• 1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)
• 1258 – Al-Musta'sim, Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)
• 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
• 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
• 1524 – Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler (b. 1500)
• 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
• 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
• 1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (b. 1563)
• 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
• 1771 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)
• 1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
• 1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)
• 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
• 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Italian rebel leader (b. 1767)
• 1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
• 1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)
• 1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
• 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (b. 1818)
• 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• 1910 – Boutros Ghali, Egyptian educator and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1846)
• 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
• 1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1910)
• 1920 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
• 1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
• 1941 – La Bolduc, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1894)
• 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer(b. 1879)
• 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
• 1968 – Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
• 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
• 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
• 1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
• 1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist (b. 1907)
• 1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Bhawani Prasad Mishra, Indian poet and author (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor and singer (b. 1904)
• 1987 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (b. 1905)
• 1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)
• 1992 – Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)
• 1992 – Dick York, American actor and singer (b. 1928)
• 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)
• 1993 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
• 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)
• 1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
• 1999 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
• 2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1937)
• 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
• 2001 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
• 2003 – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Ty Longley, American singer and guitarist (Great White and Samantha 7) (b. 1971)
• 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
• 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress and singer (b. 1944)
• 2005 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Thomas Willmore, English mathematician and academic (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
• 2008 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (b. 1907)
• 2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
• 2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
• 2010 – Basavaraju Venkata Padmanabha Rao, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
• 2012 – Katie Hall, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
• 2012 – S. N. Lakshmi, Indian actress (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Sullivan Walker, Trinidadian-American actor (b. 1946)
• 2013 – Kenji Eno, Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)
• 2013 – David S. McKay, American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
• 2014 – Reghu Kumar, Indian composer (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Garrick Utley, American journalist (b. 1939)
• 2015 – Ibrahim Biogradlić, Bosnian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Johanna Klink, German super-centenarian (b. 1903)
• 2015 – John C. Willke, American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Eleutherius of Tournai
  • Eucherius of Orléans
  • Bls. Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
  • Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Wulfric of Haselbury
  • February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• World Day of Social Justice (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada