What are the important events that happened on May 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 20 is the 140th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 225 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 7, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 485,472 hours 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 ‘hectatetracontagon’ day.
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Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 273 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 4,533 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
Do people and celebrities interest you? Discover all the May 20 famous birthdays who share your special day. Learn some fun facts about your birthday!
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May 20 Historical Events
- 1498 –Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
- 1813 –Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
- 1862 –U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
- 1882 –The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
- 1902 –Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country’s first President.
- 1940 –Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
- 1941 –World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
- 1948 –Chiang Kai-shek elected to be the first President of the Republic of China.
- 1949 –In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
- 1983 –First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
Who were born on May 20?
- 1886 –Ali Sami Yen, Turkish founder of Galatasaray Sports Club (d. 1951)
- 1914 –Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician (d. 1995)
- 1924 –Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan reporter and politician (d. 1976)
- 1946 –Cher, American singer & actress
- 1951 –Mike Crapo, American politician
- 1958 –Ron Reagan, American talk show host
- 1960 –Tony Goldwyn, American actor
- 1965 –Ted Allen, American television host
- 1972 –Tina Hobley, British television actress
- 1975 –Mark Zupan, American wheelchair rugby player and actor
Who died on May 20?
- 685 –King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
- 1285 –John II of Jerusalem, King of Cyprus (b. 1259)
- 1946 –Jacob Ellehammer, Danish inventor (b. 1871)
- 1947 –Georgios Siantos, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (b. 1890)
- 1947 –Philipp Lenard, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1862)
- 1976 –Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan Christian-Democrat Party politician (b. 1924)
- 1989 –John Hicks, English economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
- 1992 –Roger Keith Coleman, American convict (b. 1958)
- 2005 –William Seawell, U.S. Army Brigadier General (b. 1918)
- 2008 –Hamilton Jordan, American White House Chief of Staff under President Carter (b. 1944)
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