On this day: 20 April
Events, births and deaths on 20 April. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Hugo Gatti
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Victoria Wood
- Deaths · Qi Benyu
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1918 · Deaths · Karl Ferdinand Braun
- 1927 · Births · Karl Alexander Müller
- 1918 · Births · Kai Siegbahn
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1099 · Deaths · Peter Bartholomew
Events · 25
- 1303(Julian date)Battle of Marj al-Saffar — 1303 battle in the Egyptian-Ilkhanid War
- 1657Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife — 1657 naval battle between Spain and England
- 1752Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War — war fought between the Konbaung Dynasty and the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom of Burma (Myanmar) from 1752 to 1757, ended the Mon people's centuries-long dominance of the south
- 1770Battle of Aspindza — 1770 battle
- 1792French Revolutionary Wars — 1792–1802 series of conflicts between the French Republic and several European monarchies
- 1809Battle of Abensberg — 1809 battle of the War of the Fifth Coalition
- 1914Ludlow Massacre — attack by Colorado National Guard and mine camp guards on striking coal miners
- 1922South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast — Former subdivisions in the Soviet Union
- 1939Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday — national holiday in Nazi Germany
- 1942Operation Trio — 1942 military operation
- 19481948 Republic of China presidential election — review of the election
- 1949Yangtze River Crossing Campaign — military campaign in the Chinese Civil War
- 1961Bay of Pigs invasion — failed landing operation of Cuba in 1961
- 1968South African Airways Flight 228 — aviation accident
- 1968Rivers of Blood speech — 1968 speech by British politician Enoch Powell
- 1978Korean Air Lines Flight 902 — 1978 aircraft accident in the Soviet Union
- 1985Britches — 1985 animal cruelty incident
- 1998Air France Flight 422 — 1998 aviation accident
- 1999Columbine High School massacre — school shooting at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States on April 20, 1999
- 20082008 Paraguayan general election — election
- 2010Deepwater Horizon oil spill — oil spill that began in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico
- 2010Deepwater Horizon explosion — 2010 explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico
- 2012Bhoja Air Flight 213 — aviation accident
- 20132013 Lushan earthquake — 2013 earthquake in Sichuan, China
- 2023solar eclipse of April 20, 2023 — solar eclipse
Births · 60
- 571(Julian date)Muhammad — Arabian political leader and the founder of Islam (c. 570–632)
- 1586Rose of Lima — Dominican saint from Peru
- 1633Go-Kōmyō — emperor of Japan (1633–1654)
- 1745Philippe Pinel — French psychiatrist (1745–1826)
- 1808Napoleon III — President of the Second French Republic, Emperor of the Second French Empire and last monarch of France (1808–1873)
- 1826Dinah Craik — British novelist and poet (1826–1887)
- 1839Carol I of Romania — king of Romania from 1881 to 1914
- 1840Odilon Redon — French painter (1840–1916)
- 1850Daniel Chester French — American sculptor (1850–1931)
- 1884Daniel Varujan — Armenian poet (1884-1915)
- 1889Adolf Hitler — Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945 (1889–1945)
- 1889Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland — Swedish prince (1889-1918)
- 1890Adolf Schärf — Austrian politician, President of Austria 1957–1965 (1890–1965)
- 1893Joan Miró — Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist (1893–1983)
- 1893Harold Lloyd — American actor and comedian (1893–1971)
- 1893Edna Ruth Parker — American supercentenarian (1893–2008)
- 1895Henry de Montherlant — French writer (1895–1972)
- 1908Lionel Hampton — American jazz musician (1908–2002)
- 1913Willi Hennig — German biologist (1913–1976)
- 1918Kai Siegbahn — Swedish physicist (1918–2007)
- 1920John Paul Stevens — United States Supreme Court justice (1920–2019)
- 1923Tito Puente — American musician (1923-2000)
- 1923Mother Angelica — American religious sister (1923-2016)
- 1924Leslie Phillips — British actor (1924–2022)
- 1924Nina Foch — American actress (1924–2008)
Deaths · 60
- 689(Julian date)Cædwalla of Wessex — King of Wessex
- 888Emperor Xizong of Tang — emperor of the Tang Dynasty
- 1099(Julian date)Peter Bartholomew — French monk
- 1164(Julian date)Victor IV — Italian cardinal, antipope (1095–1164)
- 1176(Julian date)Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke — Cambro-Norman lord in Ireland
- 1248(Julian date)Güyük Khan — Third Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
- 1284(Julian date)Hōjō Tokimune — Japanese Regent
- 1314(Julian date)Clement V — pope of the Catholic Church from 1305 to 1314 (1264–1314)
- 1344Gersonides — medieval Jewish philosopher
- 1521(Julian date)Zhengde Emperor — emperor of the Ming Dynasty
- 1534Elizabeth Barton — English Catholic nun and martyr
- 1558(Julian date)Johannes Bugenhagen — German theologian; (1485-1558)
- 1643Christoph Demantius — German composer
- 1769Pontiac — Ottawa Indian leader (1720-1769)
- 1786John Goodricke — Dutch astronomer (1764-1786)
- 1831John Abernethy — British surgeon
- 1869Carl Loewe — German composer (1796–1869)
- 1881William Burges — English architect (1827–1881)
- 1883Wilhelm Peters — German naturalist, zoologist and explorer (1815–1883)
- 1912Bram Stoker — Irish novelist and short story writer (1847–1912)
- 1918Karl Ferdinand Braun — German physicist (1850–1918)
- 1927Enrique Simonet — Spanish painter (1866-1927)
- 1929Prince Henry of Prussia — Member of the House of Hohenzollern (1862–1929)
- 1931Cosmo Duff-Gordon — Scottish landowner and fencer (1862–1931)
- 1932Giuseppe Peano — Italian mathematician (1858–1932)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.