May 20

Events
Up to 1900
325 - First Council of Nicea: The First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
526 - An earthquake in Syria and Antiochia kills 300,000 people.
685 - The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
1202 - The Mediterranean Sea area and the Middle East are shaken by a strong earthquake, which is believed to have killed a million people.
1449 - The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as the main Royal Family of Portugal.
1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol to look for a route westwards.
1498 - Portuguese seafarer Vasco da Gama arrives in Calicut, now Kozhikode, India.
1506 - Christopher Columbus dies, still believing he had reached Asia on his expeditions.
1520 - The massacre at the Festival of Toxcatl occurs during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first Atlas.
1631 - The city of Magdeburg is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of the people who live there are massacred, as one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony. The French troops win the battle on the next day.
1840 - York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
1861 - American Civil War: Kentucky declares its neutrality.
1862 - Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act.
1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1875 - Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 countries, leading to the creation of the International System of Units.
1882 - Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary form a Triple Alliance.
1883 - Krakatau begins a series of eruptions that end really violently in August.
1884 - Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo becomes the King of the Zulu nation.
1891 - First public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1899 - The first traffic ticket in the US is handed out, to taxi driver Jacob German, who is arrested.
1901 2000
1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States, with Tomas Estrada Palma as its first President.
1927 - Treaty of Jeddah: The UK recognizes the sovereignty of Ibn Saud in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, which later becomes Saudi Arabia.
1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland, on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean. She lands in Ireland the next day.
1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at Auschwitz.
1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete - German paratroops invade Crete.
1948 - Chiang Kai-shek is elected the first President of the Republic of China.
1949 - In the US, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the forerunner of the National Security Agency, is established.
1956 - The US drops the first airborne hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
1958 - Spain joins the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1965 - PIA Flight 705, a Boeing 720, crashes on landing at Cairo International Airport in Egypt, killing 119 people.
1968 - Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.
1969 - Vietnam War: End of the Battle of Hamburger Hill.
1980 - Voters in Quebec reject independence from Canada in a referendum, with 60% voting that way.
1983 - First publication of the discovery of the HIV virus that leads to AIDS, in the Science journal, by Luc Montagnier.
1989 - Authorities in China declare martial law, leading to the crushing of pro-democracy protests on Tiananmen Square two weeks later.
1990 - Romania holds its first elections following Communist rule.
1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope sends its first photograph to Earth.
From 2001
2001 - The Spanish language Wikipedia starts.
2002 - East Timor becomes independent from Indonesia.
2006 - Nearly 1.8 million garment workers in Bangladesh go on strike, starting a series of strikes against poor working conditions.
2006 - Finnish monster-rock band Lordi wins the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece, with 292 points.
2012 - Taur Matan Ruak becomes President of East Timor on the 10th anniversary of its independence from Indonesia.
2012 - A magnitude 6 earthquake strikes Northern Italy, killing 7 people and destroying many historic buildings.
2012 - A solar eclipse is seen over part of East Asia, the North Pacific Ocean and Western North America.
2013 - Over 70 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks across Iraq.
2013 - 2013 Moore tornado: A tornado strikes the suburbs of Oklahoma City, with the suburb of Moore being worst affected. 24 people are killed.
2014 - Over 100 people are killed in a bomb attack in Jos, Nigeria.
2014 - Martial law is declared in Thailand during an ongoing political crisis.
2017 - Francisco Guterres becomes President of East Timor.
2019 - Volodymyr Zelensky becomes President of Ukraine.
Births
Up to 1800
1315 - Bonne of Luxembourg, queen of John II of France (d. 1349)
1470 - Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)
1554 - Paolo Bellasio, Italian composer (d. 1594)
1593 - Salomo Glassius, German theologian (d. 1656)
1660 - Andreas Schluter, German sculptor (d. 1714)
1663 - William Bradford, British-born printer (d. 1752)
1706 - Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (d. 1777)
1726 - Francis Cotes, English painter (d. 1770)
1734 - Anton Jansa, Slovenian painter and beekeeper (d. 1773)
1737 - William Petty Fitzmaurice, British statesman (d. 1805)
1743 - Toussaint Louverture, Haitian revolutionary (d. 1803)
1759 - William Thornton, West Indian-born architect (d. 1828)
1764 - Johann Gottfried Schadow, Prussian sculptor and graphic artist (d. 1850)
1768 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1849)
1776 - Simon Fraser, American-Canadian fur trader and explorer (d. 1862)
1780 - Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentine statesman (d. 1845)
1772 - Sir William Congreve, English inventor (d. 1828)
1799 - Honore de Balzac, French novelist (d. 1850)
1801 1900
1802 - David Octavius Hill, Scottish artist and photographer (d. 1870)
1806 - John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (d. 1873)
1811 - Alfred Domett, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1887)
1818 - William Fargo, American businessman and politician (d. 1881)
1822 - Frederic Passy, French economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1912)
1830 - Hector Malot, French writer (d. 1907)
1832 - Garretson W. Gibson, President of Liberia (d. 1910)
1838 - Jules Meline, French statesman (d. 1925)
1851 - Emil Berliner, German-born telephone and recording pioneer (d. 1929)
1860 - Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
1882 - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
1882 - Wladyslaw Sikorski, Polish statesman (d. 1943)
1883 - King Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933)
1883 - Jan Kaspar, Czech engineer and pilot (d. 1927)
1883 - Johnny Arthur, American actor (d. 1951)
1886 - Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer (d. 1951)
1889 - Karin Molander, Swedish actress (d. 1978)
1893 - Asmundur Sveinsson, Icelandic sculptor (d. 1972)
1895 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (d. 1937)
1897 - Diego Abad de Santillan, Spanish writer and economist (d. 1983)
1901 1925
1901 - Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981)
1904 - Margery Allingham, English crime fiction writer (d. 1966)
1906 - Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
1908 - James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
1908 - Louis Daquin, French actor and director (d. 1980)
1908 - Henry Bolte, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (d. 1990)
1911 - Gardner Fox, American writer (d. 1986)
1912 - Moses I. Finley, American-British historian (d. 1986)
1912 - Wilfrid Sellars, American philosopher (d. 1989)
1912 - Nereo Rocco, Italian footballer (d. 1979)
1913 - Teodoro Fernandez, Peruvian footballer (d. 1996)
1913 - William Hewlett, American engineer and computer manufacturer (d. 2001)
1915 - Peter Copley, British actor (d. 2008)
1915 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician (d. 1981)
1916 - Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, writer and theologian (d. 2015)
1916 - Trebisonda Valla, Italian athlete (d. 2006)
1916 - Alexei Petrovich Maresiev, Russian flying ace (d. 2001)
1917 - Bergur Sigurbjornsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
1917 - Tony Cliff, British activist (d. 2000)
1918 - Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
1919 - George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991)
1920 - Betty Driver, English singer and actress (d. 2011)
1921 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
1921 - Karl Dedecius, Polish-born German translator (d. 2016)
1921 - Hal Newhouser, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1923 - Israel Gutman, Israeli historian (d. 2013)
1924 - David Chavchavadze, American author and former CIA officer (d. 2014)
1925 - Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer and aircraft designer (d. 2001)
1926 1950
1926 - Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (d. 1956)
1927 - Bud Grant, American football coach
1927 - Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (d. 2016)
1931 - Ken Boyer, American baseball player (d. 1982)
1935 - Jose Mujica, 40th President of Uruguay
1936 - Nickey Iyambo, Vice president of Namibia (d. 2019)
1936 - Anthony Zerbe, American actor
1938 - Glauco Sansovini, former Captain-Regent of San Marino (d. 2019)
1938 - Marinella, Greek singer and actress
1938 - Astrid Kirchherr, German photographer
1939 - Balu Mahendra, Indian movie director, screenwriter and actor (d. 2014)
1940 - Stan Mikita, Slovak-born hockey player (d. 2018)
1940 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
1941 - Goh Chok Tong, former Prime Minister of Singapore
1941 - John Strasberg, American actor
1942 - Raymond Chretien, Canadian lawyer and diplomat
1943 - Al Bano, Italian singer
1944 - Joe Cocker, British singer (d. 2014)
1944 - Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
1944 - Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
1945 - Anton Zeilinger, Austrian quantum physicist
1945 - Wally Herger, American politician
1946 - Cher, American actress and singer
1946 - Robert Chua, Singaporean broadcaster
1946 - Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, manager, coach and sportscaster (d. 2008)
1947 - Greg Dyke, British broadcast and football executive
1947 - Sky du Mont, Argentine-German actor
1948 - Jon Amiel, British-American director and producer
1950 - Reinaldo Merlo, Argentine footballer
1950 - Wei Jingsheng, Chinese activist
1951 1975
1951 - Thomas Akers, American astronaut
1952 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
1953 - Robert Doyle, Australian politician
1954 - Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland
1954 - David Paterson, American politician, 55th Governor of New York
1954 - Cindy McCain, American businesswoman and wife of John McCain
1955 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish movie composer
1955 - Anton Corbijn, Dutch photographer and movie director
1956 - Ingvar Ambjornsen, Norwegian writer
1957 - Yoshihiko Noda, former Prime Minister of Japan
1958 - Ron Reagan, American dancer and talk show host
1958 - Jane Wiedlin, American singer (The Go-Go's)
1959 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian-American singer (d. 1997)
1959 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
1960 - John Billingsley, American actor
1960 - Chuck Brodsky, American musician
1960 - Tony Goldwyn, American actor
1961 - Clive Allen, English footballer
1961 - Anna Signeul, Swedish football coach
1962 - Mike Jeffries, American soccer coach
1964 - Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, British peer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales
1966 - Mindy Cohn, American actress
1967 - Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
1967 - Gabriele Muccino, Italian director, producer and screenwriter
1967 - Ramzi Yousef, Kuwaiti-Pakistani terrorist
1968 - Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player and coach
1968 - Timothy Olyphant, American actor
1970 - Louis Theroux, British television presenter
1971 - Tony Stewart, American race car driver
1972 - Tina Hobley, British actress
1972 - Busta Rhymes, American singer and rapper
1973 - Elsa Lunghini, French singer-songwriter and actress
1973 - Juris Razgulajevs, Latvian figure skater
From 1976
1976 - Ramon Hernandez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
1977 - Miriam Parrish, American actress
1977 - Vesa Toskala, Finnish ice hockey player
1978 - Nils Schumann, German athlete
1979 - Rick Edwards, English television presenter
1979 - Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician
1981 - Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
1981 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
1982 - Petr Cech, Czech footballer
1982 - Natalia Podolskaya, Belarussian singer
1982 - Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter
1983 - Oscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer
1984 - Patrick Ewing, Jr., American basketball player
1985 - Chris Froome, British cyclist
1986 - Dexter Blackstock, English footballer
1987 - Mike Havenaar, Dutch-Japanese footballer
1987 - Taku Takeuchi, Japanese ski jumper
1987 - Julian Wright, American basketball player
1988 - Miyu Nagase, Japanese singer and guitarist
1991 - Henrik Ojamaa, Estonian footballer
1992 - Cate Campbell, Australian swimmer
1992 - Vaclav Kadlec, Czech footballer
1992 - Jack Gleeson, Irish actor
1993 - Caroline Zhang, American figure skater
Deaths
Up to 1950
685 - King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
1277 - Pope John XII (b. 1215)
1285 - John II of Jerusalem, King of Cyprus (b. 1259)
1444 - Bernardino of Siena, Italian Franciscan missionary (b. 1380)
1449 - Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Prince-regent of Portugal (b. 1392)
1503 - Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian banker, politician and patron of the arts (b. 1463)
1506 - Christopher Columbus, Italian-Spanish seafarer (b. 1451)
1550 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1510)
1622 - Osman II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1604)
1648 - Wladislaus IV of Poland (b. 1595)
1717 - John Trevor, English politician (b. 1637)
1793 - Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist (b. 1720)
1841 - Joseph Blanco White, Spanish theologian and poet (b. 1775)
1873 - Georges-Etienne Cartier, Canadian politician (b. 1814)
1880 - Henry S. Foote, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1804)
1885 - Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, American politician, 29th United States Secretary of State (b. 1817)
1896 - Clara Schumann, German pianist (b. 1819)
1903 - Gertrude Guillaume-Schack, German-Swiss activist (b. 1845)
1909 - Ernest Hogan, American actor and composer (b. 1859)
1917 - Philipp von Ferrary, French stamp collector (b. 1850)
1925 - Joseph Howard, 1st Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1862)
1925 - Elias M. Ammons, 18th Governor of Colorado (b. 1860)
1940 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer (b. 1871)
1946 - Jacob Ellehammer, Danish aviation pioneer and engineer (b. 1871)
1947 - Philipp Lenard, German physicist (b. 1862)
1949 - Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens (b. 1891)
From 1951
1957 - Gilbert Murray, Australian philologist (b. 1866)
1961 - Josef Priller, German military aviator (b. 1915)
1964 - Rudy Lewis, American singer (b. 1936)
1973 - Renzo Pasolini, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1938)
1973 - Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945)
1974 - Jean Danielou, French cardinal (b. 1905)
1975 - Barbara Hepworth, British sculptor (b. 1903)
1976 - Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)
1984 - Olafur Johannesson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1913)
1989 - John Hicks, English economist (b. 1904)
1989 - Gilda Radner, American comedienne and actress (b. 1946)
1992 - Giovanni Colombo, Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan (b. 1902)
1996 - Jon Pertwee, British actor (b. 1919)
2000 - Charles Antenen, Swiss footballer (b. 1929)
2000 - David Pearce, British professional boxer (b. 1959)
2000 - Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flautist (b. 1922)
2001 - Renato Carosone, Italian pianist and bandleader (b. 1920)
2002 - Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (b. 1941)
2005 - Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (b. 1913)
2007 - Stanley Miller, American biologist and chemist (b. 1930)
2008 - Hamilton Jordan, 8th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944)
2009 - Lucy Gordon, British actress (b. 1980)
2010 - Walter Rudin, Austrian-born mathematician (b. 1921)
2011 - Randy Savage, American pro wrestler (b. 1952)
2012 - Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Libyan intelligence officer, only person convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (b. 1952)
2012 - Robin Gibb, British singer and musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
2012 - Eugene Polley, American inventor of the TV remote control (b. 1915)
2013 - Ray Manzarek, American musician and singer (The Doors) (b. 1939)
2014 - Barbara Murray, English actress (b. 1929)
2014 - Arthur Gelb, American editor and author (b. 1924)
2014 - Charles W. Robinson, American businessman and diplomat (b. 1919)
2015 - Sudha Shivpuri, Indian actress (b. 1937)
2015 - Bob Belden, American musician (b. 1956)
2016 - Patricia M. Derian, American activist (b. 1928)
2016 - Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, Spanish journalist and athlete (b. 1932)
2016 - Wheelock Whitney, Jr., American businessman (b. 1926)
2016 - Gert Bals, Dutch footballer (b. 1936)
2016 - Brandon Grove, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1929)
2017 - Albert Bouvet, French cyclist (b. 1930)
2017 - Syed Abdullah Khalid, Bangladeshi sculptor (b. 1942)
2017 - Joy Corning, American politician (b. 1932)
2017 - Emile Degelin, Belgian film director (b. 1926)
2017 - Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov, Russian politician (b. 1951)
2018 - Jaroslav Brabec, Czech shot putter (b. 1949)
2018 - Bill Gold, American movie poster artist (b. 1921)
2018 - Richard N. Goodwin, American speechwriter (b. 1931)
2018 - Koo Bon-moo, South Korean business executive (b. 1945)
2018 - Patricia Morison, American actress (b. 1915)
2018 - Rolf Sand, Norwegian actor (b. 1920)
2019 - Sandy D'Alemberte, American lawyer, professor and politician (b. 1933)
2019 - Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (b. 1949)
2019 - Miguel Montes Busto, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
2019 - John Moore, Baron Moore of Lower Marsh, British politician (b. 1939)
2019 - Charles C. Pattillo, American Air Force Lieutenant General (b. 1924)
2019 - Ronnie Virgets, American writer and reporter (b. 1942)
Observances
Independence Day (Cuba and East Timor)
Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)
Emancipation Day (Florida)
Day of National Awakening (Indonesia)
European Maritime Day
National Day (Cameroon)
Days of the year