On this day in History - Apr. 20

• 0121 - Marcus Aurelius was born (d. 0180). 16th Roman emperor, philosopher. He authored the “Meditations.”
• 0571 - Muhammad was born (d. 0634) Founder of Islam / Data em que algumas tradições islâmicas fixam o nascimento do profeta Maomé
• 0702 - Jafar Sadiq was born (d. 0765). Muslim scholar.
• 1176 - Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke dies (b. 1130). English soldier.
• 1314 - Pope Clement V [Bertrand Got] dies (b. 1264). Pope (1305- 1314) who moved papacy to Avignon.
• 1317 - Agnes van Montepulciano dies. Italian mystic and saint
• 1442 - Edward IV was born. King of England (1461-83).
• 1494 - Johannes Agricola was born (d. 1566). German protestant reformer
• 1521 - Zhengde dies (b. 1491). Emperor of China.
• 1534 - Elizabeth Barton, the mystical "Nun of Kent" is executed at Tyburn. Christian prophet, visionary (b. ~ 1506) .
• 1558 - Johannes Bugenhagen dies (b. 1485). German reformer.
• 1586 - Saint Rose of Lima was born (d. 1617). Peruvian saint.
• 1592 - John Eliot, St Germans Cornwall was born . English MP/author.
• 1594 - Matthaus Apelles von Lowenstern was born. Composer .
• 1632 - Nicolas Antione, converted to Judaism, was burned at the stake .
• 1633 - Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan was born (d. 1654) .
• 1643 - Christoph Demantius dies (b. 1567). German composer.
• 1650 - William Bedloe was born (d. 1680). English informer.
• 1653 - Oliver Cromwell disbands Parliament.
• 1657 - Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City) granted freedom of religion .
• 1657 - Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
• 1668 - Yuri Troubetzkoy was born (d. 1739). Governor of Belgorod.
• 1677 - Mathieu Le Nain “le Chevalier”, dies (b. 1607). French Baroque painter, younger brother of Antoine Le Nain [1588 – 25 May 1648] and Louis Le Nain [1593 – 23 May 1648]. All three worked together and their individual works cannot be distinguished.
• 1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry .
• 1693 - Claudio Coello dies (b. 1642). Spanish Baroque painter and draftsman.
• 1703 - Lancelot Addison dies (b. 1632). English royal chaplain.
• 1705 - Balthasar Schmid was born. Composer .
• 1709 - Bartolomeu de Gusmão ensaia, no Terreiro do Paço em Lisboa, o seu aeróstato.
• 1718 - David Brainerd was born (d. 1747). American missionary.
• 1723 - Cornelius Harnett was born (d. 1781). American delegate to the Continental Congress.
• 1725 - Johann Friedrich Kloffler was born. Composer.
• 1726 - Jozef de Ferraris was born (d. 1814). French/Austrian earl, general, cartographer .
• 1743 - Alexandre-François Desportes dies (b. 24 Feb 1661). He was the most eminent painter of dogs, game, emblems of the hunt, and still-lifes in late 17th- and early 18th-century France.
• 1745 - Philippe Pinel was born (d. 1826). Physician, founder of psychiatry .
• 1748 - Georg Michael Telemann was born. Composer .
• 1748 - Guillaume Albert Teniers was born. Composer .
• 1761 - Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier was born. Composer .
• 1762 - Philippe-Auguste Hennequin was born (d. 12 May 1833). French painter.
• 1765 - Abigail Williams dies (b. 1674). American accuser in the Salem witch trials.
• 1768 - Giovanni Antonio Canal, called "Canaletto" dies (b. 18 Oct 1697). Italian artist. ( The Doge Visiting the Church and Scuola di San Rocco; The Doge Visiting the Church and Scuola di San Rocco). Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Piazzetta.
• 1769 - Pontiac dies murdered by an Indian in Cahokia (b. ~1720) .Chief of the Ottawa tribe.
• 1770 - Lieutenant James Cook's expedition (first voyage) makes first sighting of eastern Australian coastline, naming the spot Cape Hicks. His logbook recorded the date as April 19, but the 20th was the actual calendar date.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: British troops begin siege of Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1777 - New York adopted a new constitution as an independent state .
• 1792 - France declares war on Austria, Prussia and Sardinia, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.
• 1806 - Franz Xavier Winterhalter was born (d. 09 Jul 1873). German academic painter.
• 1807 - Aloysius Bertrand ("Gaspard de la Nuit"), French poet, was born.
• 1808 - Emperor Napoleon III of France (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) was born (d. 1873) .
• 1811 - El gobierno de Buenos Aires dicta el primer reglamento sobre libertad de imprenta.
• 1812 - George Clinton (73), the 4th vice president of the United States, died in Washington, becoming the first vice president to die while in office .
• 1818 - Heinrich Göbel was born (d. 1893). German-born inventor.
• 1821 - Franz K. Achard dies (b. 28 Apr 1753). German physicist and chemist.
• 1829 - Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje, was born (d. 06 Feb 1908). Dutch artist. ( A Moment by the Fire; The Butterfly; The Jewel Case )
• 1831 - Filippo Giuntotardi dies (b. 1768). Italian artist.
• 1831 - John Abernethy dies (b. 1764). English surgeon.
• 1832 - Ernst von Leyden was born (d. 1910) Physician.
• 1836 - U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory .
• 1836 - Johan I Jozef dies at 75. Monarch of Liechtenstein and field marshal.
• 1841 - The first detective story, Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue is published in Philadelphia. .
• 1845 - Thomas Phillips dies (b. 18 Oct 1770). British artist. Byron in Arnaout Dress
• 1846 - Serpa Pinto was born (d. 28 Dec 1900). Portuguese explorer. / Nascimento, em Tendais, concelho de Cinfães, de Alexandre Alberto da Rocha Serpa Pinto - 1º. Visconde de Serpa Pinto, explorador português e governador colonial.
• 1850 - Daniel Chester French was born at Exeter. New Hampshire (d.1931), American sculptor of the Concord Minuteman. His work also included the Lincoln Memorial.
• 1853 - Antonio López de Santa Ana assume (pela 11º vez) a presidência do México .
• 1861 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia
• 1862 - The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
• 1868 - Charles Maurras was born (d. 1952). French poet and journalist.
• 1871 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala was born (d. 1922). Croat inventor.
• 1873 - William Tite dies (b. 1798). English architect.
• 1879 - Paul Poiret was born (d. 1944). French couturier.
• 1882 - Holland Smith was born (d. 1967). U.S. General.
• 1884 - Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus.
• 1884 - Augusto dos Anjos was born (d. 1914). Brazilian poet.
• 1885 - Richard Ansdell dies (b. 11 May 1815). British painter. ( A Ewe with Lambs and a Heron Beside a Loch).
• 1888 - 246 people were reported killed by hail in Moradabad, India.
• 1889 - Albert Jean Amateau was born (d. 1996). Turkish-born businessman and social activist
• 1889 - Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau in Upper Austria. Founder and leader of National Socialism (Nazis), and German dictator, "Führer" and Reichskanzler He was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933-1945 and started World War II by invading Poland.
• 1889 - Otto Heinrich Frank was born (d. 1980). Father of Anne Frank
• 1891 - Caresse Crosby was born (d. 1970). American poet.
• 1893 - Joan Miró was born (d. 25 Dec 1983). Joàn Mirò Ferra, was a Catalan Surrealist painter and sculptor. One of the foremost exponents of abstract art and Surrealist fantasy.
• 1893 - Harold Lloyd was born (d. 1971). American actor, comedian. He is best remembered for his film "Safety Last."
• 1895 - Emile Christian was born (d. 1973). American musician.
• 1896 - Wop May was born (d. 1952).Canadian aviator.
• 1899 - Joseph Wolf dies (b. 1820). German artist.
• 1900 - Fred Raymond was born (d. 1954). Composer.
• 1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.
• 1904 - Bruce Cabot was born (d. 1972). American actor.
• 1904 - George Stibitz was born (d. 1995). American scientist.
• 1908 - Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League .
• 1908 - Lionel Hampton was born (d. 2002). American musician.
• 1912 - Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1912 - Bram Stoker dies (b. 1847). Irish author of Dracula .
• 1914 - Ludlow Massacre of striking Colorado coal miners: seventeen men, women, and children die.
• 1914 - Betty Lou Gerson was born (d. 1999). American actress.
• 1915 - Joseph Wolpe was born (d. 1997). South African-born psychotherapist.
• 1915 - Nasce Aurora Miranda, atriz brasileira, irmã de Carmen Miranda .
• 1915 - Santiago Cogorno was born. Argentine painter and sculptor.
• 1918 - Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron) shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
• 1918 - Edward L. Beach was born (d. 2002). American naval officer, author.
• 1918 - Kai Siegbahn was born. Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1918 - Karl Ferdinand Braun dies (b. 1850). German physicist, 1909 Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1920 - John Paul Stevens was born. Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• 1920 - Olympic Games - 1920 Antwerp - Opening date (closing date 12 Sep 1920)
• 1920 - Briton Rivière dies (b. 14 Aug 1840). British painter, etcher, and sculptor, specialized in animal paintings. ( The Long Sleep)
• 1923 - Rita Frances Rizzo was born in Canton, Ohio. She became Mother Angelica, Foundress of Eternal Word Television Network .
• 1923 - Suprimida na Itália a festa do 1º de Maio .
• 1923 - Tito Puente was born (d. 2000). Bandleader, musician .
• 1925 - Ernie Stautner was born (d. 2006). German-born American football player.
• 1926 - Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film
• 1927 - Alex Müller was born. Swiss Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
• 1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins was born (d. 2003). English astronomer .
• 1932 - Giuseppe Peano dies (b. 1858). Italian mathematician.
• 1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland was born. Prime Minister of Norway .
• 1939 - Peter S. Beagle was born. American author.
• 1940 - George Takei was born. Actor, Star Trek
• 1941 - Ryan O'Neal was born in Los Angeles, California. American actor .
• 1943 - John Eliot Gardiner was born. English conductor .
• 1943 - Edie Sedgwick was born (d. 1971). American actress.
• 1945 - US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union
• 1945 - Steve Spurrier was born. American football player and coach.
• 1947 - King Christian X of Denmark dies (b. 1870) .
• 1947 - Björn Skifs was born. Swedish singer (Blue Swede).
• 1948 - Craig Frost was born. American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger)
• 1949 - Scientists at the Mayo Clinic announced they'd succeeded in synthesizing a hormone found to be useful in treating rheumatoid arthritis; the substance was named "cortisone."
• 1949 - Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota. American actress (King Kong -1976; The Postman Always Rings Twice -1981; Tootsie -1982; Cape Fear -1991, etc ).
• 1949 - Massimo D'Alema was born. Prime Minister of Italy.
• 1949 - Toller Cranston was born. Canadian figure skater and artist.
• 1950 - Humberto Coelho was born. Portuguese footballer and coach.
• 1950 - Veronica Cartwright was born. American actress.
• 1950 - Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general, politician (d. 2002)
• 1951 - Luther Vandross was born New York, New York (d. 2005). American singer .
• 1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi dies (b. 1873). Former Prime Minister of Italy.
• 1953 - Project BLUEBIRD turns into Project MKULTRA.
• 1953 - The Boston marathon was won by Keizo Yamada with a record time of 2:18:51.
• 1956 - Foi proclamada a Independência da Tunísia.
• 1961 - Don Mattingly was born. Baseball player.
• 1962 - Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf was born (d. 2001). Radio and television personality.
• 1962 - The Secret Army Organization (OAS) leader and ex-general Salan was arrested in Algiers
• 1964 - Crispin Glover was born. American actor .
• 1964 - Rosalynn Sumners was born. American figure skater
• 1964 - Andy Serkis was born. English actor.
• 1967 - Raymond van Barneveld was born. Dutch darts player
• 1967 - Mike Portnoy was born. American musician .
• 1967 - A Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus killing 126
• 1967 - U.S. planes bombed Haiphong for first time during the Vietnam War.
• 1968 - A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, South-West Africa killing 122
• 1968 - Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.
• 1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes controversial Rivers of Blood Speech
• 1970 - Bruno Kreisky became the 1st socialist chancellor of Austria.
• 1970 - Paul Celan (49), Romania born poet, drowned himself in the Seine. English translations of his poems were published in 2001.
• 1971 - Fallece en Buenos Aires el pintor Mario Darío Grandi (n. 28 Oct 1918). Lo más característico de su obra son sus figuras al pastel, alargadas y espiritualizadas, de gran fineza lírica y notable sutileza de color.
• 1971 - Carla Geurts was born. Dutch swimmer.
• 1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon .
• 1972 - Carmen Electra was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Fundación del Portuguesa Fútbol Club, de Acarigua, Venezuela
• 1975 - Brillante celebración de su aniversario número 50 tuvo Colo Colo, al ganar por 1-0 a Aviación e inaugurar su estadio que recibió a más de 40.000 espectadores
• 1976 - Joey Lawrence was born. American actor.
• 1976 - Shay Given was born. Irish footballer
• 1978 - Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
• 1979 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
• 1980 - Jasmin Wagner was born. German singer
• 1982 - Archibald MacLeish dies (b. 1892). Poet and writer.
• 1984 - Hristo Prodanov dies. Bulgarian mountaineer.
• 1985 - ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
• 1985 - In Roterdan, the portuguese athlete Carlos Lopes establishes a new world record in Marathon
• 1985 - Morre Charles Francis Richter, sismólogo estado-unidense (n. 1900)
• 1987 - Sri Lanka: Tamils shot 122 Singhalese dead.
• 1988 - Gunmen who had hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of Algeria. An agreement also freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended a 15-day siege in which two passengers were slain.
• 1991 - Steve Marriott dies (b. 1945). British musician and actor.
• 1991 - Don Siegel dies (b. 1912). American film director.
• 1992 - An all-star concert in memory of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is held at Wembley Stadium in London .
• 1992 - Expo Sevilla is inaugurated by Don Juan Carlos
• 1993 - Mario Moreno, the Mexican comedian known as Cantinflas, dies in Mexico City.
• 1994 - Serbian army bombed a hospital in Gorazde, Bosnia, and 47 were killed.
• 1996 - Christopher Robin Milne, dies son of A.A. Milne, basis for the Winnie the Pooh character Christopher Robin .
• 1997 - The San Diego Padres face the St. Louis Cardinals in the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Hawaii
• 1997 - Lameck Aguta of Kenya won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:10:34. Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba won the women’s best time at 2:26:24.
• 1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
• 1998 - An Air France Boeing 727-200 crashes into mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53
• 1998 - Moses Tanui of Kenya won of Kenya won the 102nd Boston Marathon in 2 hrs, 7 min . and 43 sec. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won among the women in 2:23:21.
• 1999 - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves in the Columbine High School massacre
• 1999 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted, Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot .
• 1999 - Rick Rude dies (b. 1958). American professional wrestler.
• 1999 - Señor Wences dies (b. 1896). Spanish ventriloquist and comedian.
• 2000 - Funny Cide was born. Racehorse, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes
• 2001 - In Peru an air force jet shot down a Cessna 185 carrying US missionaries. Veronica Bowers (35) and her infant daughter, Charity, were killed when the plane crash landed in the Amazon River. The plane was identified by a US surveillance plane and was believed to be trafficking in narcotics.
• 2001 - Giuseppe Sinopoli dies (b. 1946). Italian conductor and composer.
• 2001 - The anti-globalization movement holds a People's Summit and large protest marches, some of which are forcibly put down by police, against the FTAA summit in Quebec City, Quebec .
• 2002 - The body of Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley is found in his Seattle apartment after dying from an apparent speedball overdose on April 5.
• 2002 - Alan Dale dies (b. 1925). American singer.
• 2003 - Ruth Hale dies (b. 1908). American playwright and actress.
  2003 - Bernard Katz dies (b. 1911). German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 2004 - Severe thunderstorms strike Chicagoland, USA. An F3 tornado touches down in Utica, Illinois, claiming 8 lives.
• 2004 - WorldCom emerged from bankruptcy renamed as MCI.
• 2004 - In Argentina a federal judge issued an international arrest warrant for former President Carlos Menem who has refused to appear for questioning in a corruption probe.
• 2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
• 2005 - Fumio Niwa dies (b. 1904). Japanese novelist.