What Happened on August 20

Historical Events

1935 – Military coup by General Pons and President Ibarra in Ecuador
1942 – Dim-out regulations implemented in San Francisco
1989 – Said Aouita runs world record 3,000 m (7:29.45)
2016 – Chinese diver Chen Aisen does the Olympic 10m platform double in Rio de Janeiro; having already won the synchronised event, he wins the individual gold by a comfortable margin
2016 – Rio de Janeiro Olympics: team sports – China beats Serbia, 3-1 for the women’s indoor volleyball gold; in the men’s water polo final, Serbia downs Croatia, 11-7 for first Olympic title
2020 – Kamala Harris accepts her nomination for vice-president, becoming the 1st US woman of color on a major-party ticket saying “there is no vaccine for racism”

More Historical Events »

Famous Birthdays

1710 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician (rule of Simpson), born in Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire (d. 1761)
1719 – Charles-François de Broglie, French soldier and diplomat, marquis de Ruffec, born in Paris (d. 1791)
1860 – Raymond Poincaré, French President (1913-20) and three time Prime Minister (1912-13, 1922-24, 1926-29), born in Bar-le-Duc, France (d. 1934)
1937 – El Fary, Spanish singer and actor, born in Madrid, Spain (d. 2007)
1947 – David Lasley, American session vocalist and songwriter, born in Branch, Michigan
1954 – Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey and music video producer, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2007)

More Famous Birthdays »

Famous Deaths

1643 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher, killed in Native American uprising (b. 1591)
1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist (Nobel 1946 – physics of high pressure), dies at 79
1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock singer (“Ton Steine Scherben”), dies at 46
2008 – Margaret Douglas, chief political adviser (BBC), dies at 73
2018 – Charles Blackman, Australian figurative artist (Heide circle), dies at 90
2021 – Peter Ind, British jazz double bassist, dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

#todayinhistory