August 20
August 20 is the 233rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 133 days remain until the year's end. It falls in summer (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Leo.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On August 20 the Sun's declination is approximately +11.7°. At this latitude the Sun is north of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere longer days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a August 20.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- Christian feast day: Amadour
- Christian feast day: Bernard of Clairvaux
- Christian feast day: Blessed Georg Häfner
- Christian feast day: Heliodorus of Bet Zabdai
- Christian feast day: Maria De Mattias
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
2020 — Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. ↗(6 years ago)more
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009 and also served as the 47th vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
2016 — Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey. ↗(10 years ago)more
On 20 August 2016, a suicide bomber targeted a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep, Turkey. 57 people were killed and 66 injured in the attack, 14 critically.
2014 — Seventy-two people are killed in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month's worth of rain that fell in one day. ↗(12 years ago)more
Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 and has a geographic area of 8,479 km2. Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama Prefecture to the east, Tottori Prefecture to the northeast, Shimane Prefecture to the north, and Yamaguchi Prefecture to the southwest.
- 2012 — A prison riot in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, kills at least 20 people. ↗(14 years ago)
more
On 20 August 2012, armed prisoners in the Yare I prison complex, an overcrowded prison in Miranda state near Caracas, Venezuela, rioted. A shootout between two groups resulted in the deaths of 25 people, one of them a visitor. Among those injured during the incident were 29 inmates and 14 visitors.
2011 — First Air Flight 6560 crashes 1 mile from the Resolute Bay runway, killing 12 of the 15 aboard. ↗(15 years ago)more
First Air Flight 6560 was a domestic charter flight that crashed on landing at Resolute, Nunavut, Canada, on 20 August 2011. Of the fifteen people on board, twelve were killed and the remaining three were severely injured.
2008 — Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash. ↗(18 years ago)more
Spanair Flight 5022 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport to Gran Canaria Airport, Spain, with a stopover in Madrid–Barajas Airport that crashed just after take-off from runway 36L at Madrid-Barajas Airport at 14:24 CEST (12:24 UTC) on 20 August 2008. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP.
2007 — China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire and explodes after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan. ↗(19 years ago)more
China Airlines Flight 120 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan County, Taiwan to Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan. On 20 August 2007, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating the flight caught fire and exploded after landing and taxiing to the gate area at Naha Airport.
2006 — Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai. ↗(20 years ago)more
The Sri Lankan civil war was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran.
2002 — A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering. ↗(24 years ago)more
Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003.
1998 — The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval. ↗(28 years ago)more
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts.
1998 — U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. ↗(28 years ago)more
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 220 people were killed in two nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African capital cities, one at the United States embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the other at the United States embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
- 1997 — Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped. ↗(29 years ago)
more
The largest of the Souhane massacres occurred in the small mountain town of Souhane on 20–21 August 1997. 64 people were killed, and 15 women were kidnapped; the resulting terror triggered a mass exodus, reducing the town's population down from 4000 before the massacre to just 103 in 2002.
Notable births
2003 — Prince Gabriel of Belgium ↗(23 years ago)more
Prince Gabriel of Belgium is the elder son and second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. He is currently second in line to the throne of Belgium after his elder sister, Elisabeth.
1998 — Lieke Klaver, Dutch track and field athlete ↗(28 years ago)more
Lieke Klaver is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specializes in the 200 metres and in the 400 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
1997 — Kaho Minagawa, Japanese rhythmic gymnast ↗(29 years ago)more
Kaho Minagawa is a retired Japanese individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2017 Asian Championships All-around silver medalist. She trained in Novogorsk in Moscow, Russia. She is the first Japanese individual rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the World Cup series.
1997 — Daniel Vladař, Czech ice hockey player ↗(29 years ago)more
Daniel Vladař is a Czech professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2015 NHL entry draft, Vladař played several years in his native Czech Republic before moving to North America in 2015.
1996 — Bunty Afoa, New Zealand rugby league player ↗(30 years ago)more
Iulio "Bunty" Afoa is a Samoan international rugby league footballer who plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL).
1995 — Liana Liberato, American actress ↗(31 years ago)more
Liana Daine Liberato is an American actress. She played the younger version of the female lead in the 2014 film The Best of Me and starred in the drama films The Last Sin Eater (2007) and Trust (2010), the thriller films Trespass (2011) and Erased (2012), and the horrors Haunt (2013) and The Beach House (2019).
Notable deaths
2024 — Al Attles, American basketball player and coach (born 1936) ↗(2 years ago)more
Alvin Austin Attles Jr. was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive who spent his entire career with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed the "Destroyer", he played the point guard position.
2022 — Darya Dugina, Russian journalist (born 1992) ↗(4 years ago)more
Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina, also known under the pen name Daria Platonova, was a Russian journalist, political scientist, and activist. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, whose political views and support for Vladimir Putin she shared.
2021 — Igor Vovkovinskiy, Ukrainian-American law student and actor, American tallest person (born 1982) ↗(5 years ago)more
Igor Vovkovinskiy was a Ukrainian-American law student, actor and tallest living person in the United States, at 7 feet 8+1⁄3 inches (234.5 cm), briefly taking the record from George Bell.
2018 — Uri Avnery, Israeli writer, politician and peace activist (born 1923) ↗(8 years ago)more
Uri Avnery was an Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager and a veteran of the 1948 Palestine war, Avnery sat for two terms in the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981.
- 2018 — Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model (born 1978) ↗(8 years ago)
more
Jennifer Ramírez Rivero was a Venezuelan model and owner of the clothing and accessories brands Mac River and Jen River. She was murdered in 2018 in Cúcuta, Colombia.
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (233) | 233 · prime |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (133) | 7 × 19 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 20082026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | +11.75° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 61 days |