is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). There are 225 days remaining in the year.

Events

• 325 - The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church – is held.
• 526 - An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
• 685 - The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
• 1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
• 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
• 1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date).
• 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
• 1521 - Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded in the battle.
• 1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
• 1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
• 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Catholic James II.
• 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.
• 1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The state of North Carolina secedes from the Union, joining The Confederacy.
• 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
• 1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
• 1882 - The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
• 1883 - The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.
• 1891 - History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs).
• 1896 - The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
• 1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the first President of Cuba.
• 1910 - Krazy Kat and Ignatz first appear in 'The Dingbat Family' comic strip
• 1916 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
• 1920 - The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany's Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved.
• 1920 - Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
• 1927 - By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• 1927 - At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
• 1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
• 1949 - In the United States of America, the AFSA (the predecessor of the NSA) is established.
• 1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly
• 1965 - A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720-B crashes on landing at Cairo airport, killing 121 people.
• 1969 - The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
• 1980 - In a Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
• 1983 - First publications of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnierand Robert Gallo[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=6601823&query_hl=62 individually.
• 1985 - Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
• 1989 - The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
• 1990 - The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
• 1995 - In a second Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
• 1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.
• 2002 - East Timor becomes independent from Indonesian rule.
• 2005 - The world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, Kingda Ka, opens at Six Flags Great Adventure.
• 2006 - In Athens,Greece, Lordi wins the 51st Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
• 2006 - Barbaro breaks leg in 2nd leg of Triple Crown.
• 2006 - Munster Rugby Munster beat Biarritz Olympique in the Heineken Cup final 23-19.

Births

• 1315 - Bonne of Luxembourg, wife of John II of France (d. 1349)
• 1470 - Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)
• 1554 - Paolo Bellasio, Italian composer (d. 1594)
• 1660 - Andreas Schlüter, 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)
• 1737 - William Petty Fitzmaurice, British statesman (d. 1805)
• 1759 - William Thornton, West Indian-born architect (d. 1828)
• 1768 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1849)
• 1772 - Sir William Congreve, English inventor (d. 1828)
• 1799 - Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (d. 1850)
• 1806 - John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (d. 1873)
• 1818 - William Fargo, co-founder of Wells, Fargo & Company (d. 1881)
• 1822 - Frédéric Passy, French economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1912)
• 1830 - Hector Malot, French writer (d. 1907)
• 1838 - Jules Méline, 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 author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
• 1883 - King Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933)
• 1894 - Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian Hindu sage, Jivanmukta (d. 1994)
• 1895 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (d. 1937)
• 1899 - Alexander Deyneka, Ukrainian painter (d. 1969)
• 1901 - Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981)
• 1906 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
• 1908 - James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
• 1909 - Matt Busby, Scottish football manager (Manchester United) (d. 1994)
• 1911 - Gardner Fox, American writer (d. 1986)
• 1913 - William Hewlett, American engineer and founder of Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001)
• 1914 - Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician (d. 1995)
• 1915 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician (d. 1981)
• 1916 - Trebisonda Valla, Italian athlete
• 1916 - Alexei Petrovich Maresiev, Russian flying ace (d. 2001)
• 1917 - Guy Favreau, French Canadian lawyer, politician and magistrate (d. 1967)
• 1917 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
• 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
• 1921 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
• 1921 - Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
• 1926 - Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (d. 1956)
• 1927 - Bud Grant, American football coach
• 1931 - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)
• 1935 - Marinella, Greek singer
• 1936 - Anthony Zerbe, American actor
• 1940 - Stan Mikita, Slovak-born hockey player
• 1940 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
• 1941 - John Strasberg, American actor
• 1941 - Manuel Isaias Lopez, MD, Mexican Child Psychiatrist
• 1942 - Carlos Hathcock, Marine sniper (d. 1999)
• 1942 - Jill Jackson, member of pop duo Paul & Paula
• 1943 - Shorty Long, American singer and songwriter (d. 1969)
• 1943 - Al Bano, Italian singer
• 1944 - Joe Cocker, British singer
• 1944 - Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
• 1944 - Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
• 1946 - Cher, American actress and singer
• 1947 - Greg Dyke, British broadcast executive
• 1952 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
• 1953 - Robert Doyle, Australian politician
• 1955 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
• 1956 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author
• 1958 - Ron Reagan, American dancer and talk show host
• 1958 - Jane Wiedlin, American singer (The Go-Go's)
• 1959 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer
• 1959 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
• 1960 - John Billingsley, American actor
• 1960 - Chuck Brodsky, American musician
• 1960 - Tony Goldwyn, American actor
• 1962 - Mike Jeffries, American soccer coach
• 1963 - David Wells, American baseball player
• 1965 - Ted Allen, American author and television celebrity, see Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
• 1966 - Mindy Cohn, American actress
• 1968 - Timothy Olyphant, American actor
• 1970 - B.G. James, American professional wrestler
• 1970 - Louis Theroux, British television presenter
• 1971 - Tony Stewart, American race car driver
• 1971 - Šárka Kašpárková, Czech athlete
• 1972 - Tina Hobley, British television actress
• 1972 - Busta Rhymes, American singer and rapper
• 1976 - Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
• 1977 - Miriam Parrish, American television actress
• 1977 - Leonardo Noeren Franco, Argentine footballer
• 1977 - Matt Czuchry, American actor
• 1981 - Íker Casillas, Spanish footballer
• 1981 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
• 1982 - Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer
• 1982 - Petr Cech, Czech footballer

Deaths

• 685 - King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
• 1277 - Pope John XXI (b. 1215)
• 1285 - John II of Jerusalem, King of Cyprus (b. 1259)
• 1444 - Saint Bernardino of Siena, Italian Franciscan missionary (b. 1380)
• 1503 - Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1463)
• 1506 - Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (b. 1451)
• 1550 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1510)
• 1622 - Osman II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1604)
• 1648 - King Wladislaus IV of Poland (b. 1595)
• 1677 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (b. 1612)
• 1713 - Thomas Sprat, English writer (b. 1635)
• 1717 - John Trevor, Speaker of the English House of Commons (b. 1637)
• 1722 - Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (b. 1669)
• 1732 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
• 1782 - William Emerson, English mathematician (b. 1701)
• 1793 - Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist (b. 1720)
• 1834 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, French soldier and statesman (b. 1757)
• 1841 - Joseph Blanco White, British theologian (b. 1775)
• 1873 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier, French-Canadian statesman (b. 1814)
• 1896 - Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819)
• 1917 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
• 1940 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• 1946 - Jacob Ellehammer, Danish inventor (b. 1871)
• 1947 - Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• 1956 - Max Beerbohm, English theater critic (b. 1872)
• 1971 - Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (b. 1904)
• 1975 - Barbara Hepworth, British sculptor (b. 1903)
• 1978 - Bjarne Brustad, Norwegian violinist, composer and teacher (b. 1895)
• 1989 - John Hicks, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
• 1989 - Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
• 1996 - Jon Pertwee, British actor (b. 1919)
• 2000 - Jean Pierre Rampal, French flutist (b. 1922)
• 2001 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (b. 1920)
• 2002 - Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist (b. 1941)
• 2005 - Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (b. 1913)
• 2006 - Cherd Songsri, Thai film director

Holidays and observances

• Cameroon National Day.
• East Timor National Day.

Liturgical Feast days

• Saint Bernardine of Siena
• Saint Theodore of Pavia
• Saint Lucifer
• Saint Austregisilus
• Saint Ivo of Chartres

Fictional Holidays

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

19 May - 21 May - 20 April - 20 June – listing of all days

20 Mei | 20 مايو | 20 de mayo | 20 mê | 20 de mayu | 20 траўня | 20. maj | 20 май | 20 de maig | Çу, 20 | Mayo 20 | 20. květen | 20 di maghju | 20 Mai | 20. maj | 20. Mai | 20. mai | 20 Μαΐου | 20 de mayo | 20-a de majo | Maiatzaren 20 | 20. mai | 20 mai | 20 maaie | 20 di Mai | 20 Bealtaine | 20 de maio | 5월 20일 | 20. svibnja | 20 di mayo | Mayo 20 | 20 Mei | 20 de maio | 20 may | 20 майы | 20. maí | 20 maggio | 20 במאי | 20 Mei | 20 მაისი | 20 môja | 20'ê gulanê | 20 Maii | 20. Mee | Gegužės 20 | 20 mei | Május 20 | 20 мај | 20 Mei | 20 mei | 5月20日 | 20 'e maggio | 20. mai | 20. mai | 20 de mai | Mayu 20 | 20 maja | 20 de Maio | 20 mai | 20 мая | Mayo 20 | 20 Maj | 20 di maiu | May 20 | 20. máj | 20. maj | 20. мај | 20. toukokuuta | 20 maj | Mayo 20 | 20. May | మే 20 | 20 พฤษภาคม | 20 tháng 5 | 20 Mayıs | 20 травня | 20 d' may | 5月20日