What are the important events that happened on August 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 20 is the 233^rd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 7, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,724,112,000 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectatriacontatrigon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 162 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,260 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 20 Historical Events

• 1083 –
  Canonization of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric.
• 1308 –
  Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
• 1775 –
  The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
• 1920 –
  The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1938 –
  Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam – a record that still stands.
• 1940 –
  In Mexico City exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramon Mercader. He dies the next day.
• 1955 –
  In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1989 –
  The O-Bahn in Adelaide, the world’s longest guided busway, opens.
• 1991 –
  Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1998 –
  U.S. embassy bombings: the United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Who were born on August 20?

• 1719 –
  Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791)
• 1897 –
  Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (d. 1970)
• 1913 –
  Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
• 1937 –
  El Fary, Spanish singer and actor (d. 2007)
• 1940 –
  Rex Sellers, Australian cricketer
• 1941 –
  Dave Brock, British musician and founder of Hawkwind
• 1943 –
  Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
• 1956 –
  Alvin Greenidge, West Indian cricketer
• 1971 –
  David Walliams, British comedian
• 1992 –
  Demi Lovato, American actress and singer

Who died on August 20?

• 1572 –
  Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
• 1639 –
  Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)
• 1648 –
  Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)
• 1680 –
  William Bedloe, English informer (b. 1650)
• 1930 –
  Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
• 1961 –
  Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
• 1979 –
  Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (b. 1922)
• 2006 –
  Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911)
• 2007 –
  Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (b. 1942)
• 2008 –
  Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1927)