Did you know
Although having initially received a sentence of 4 years, she was required to serve only 19 months in prison and two months under house arrest.
Notable Deaths on August 20
2007 — Leona Helmsley
American businesswoman (born 1920)
August 20 has 112 recorded notable deaths across history, from 14 to 2024. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
112 source records
14 – 2024
Today in history
Major events on August 20
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory. Source
- 1648 The Battle of Lens is the last major military confrontation of the Thirty Years' War, contributing to the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in October that year. Source
- 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev. Source
- 1940 World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few". Source
Did you know
De Witt was elected Grand Pensionary of Holland, and together with his uncle Cornelis de Graeff, he controlled the Dutch political system from around 1650 until the Rampjaar of 1672.
Did you know
B. K. S. Iyengar has been credited with popularizing yoga, first in India and then around the world.
Did you know
Edward Weston has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography.
Did you know
Ram Sharan Sharma taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting faculty at University of Toronto (1965–1966).
More major people who died on August 20
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1672
Johan de Witt
Dutch mathematician and politician (born 1625)
Johan de Witt was a Dutch statesman and mathematician who was a major political figure during the First Stadtholderless Period, when flourishing global trade in a period of rapid European colonial expansion made the…
2014
B. K. S. Iyengar
Indian yoga instructor and author, founded Iyengar Yoga (born 1918)
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar was an Indian teacher of yoga and author.
1936
Edward Weston
English-American chemist (born 1850)
Edward Henry Weston was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his…
2011
Ram Sharan Sharma
Indian historian and academic (born 1919)
Ram Sharan Sharma was a Marxist historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India.
2012
Dom Mintoff
Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1916)
Dominic Mintoff was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, and was Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958, when Malta was still a British…
1528
Georg von Frundsberg
German knight and landowner (born 1473)
Georg von Frundsberg was a German Knight, military, and Landsknecht leader in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial House of Habsburg.
1985
Donald O. Hebb
Canadian psychologist and academic (born 1904)
Donald Olding Hebb was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning.
1611
Tomás Luis de Victoria
Spanish priest and composer (born 1548)
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance.
1971
Rashid Minhas
Pakistani lieutenant and pilot (born 1951)
Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas NH was a Pakistani fighter pilot and the fifth recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider.
1996
Rio Reiser
German singer-songwriter (born 1950)
Ralph Christian Möbius, known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and from 1970 to 1985 the lead singer and main lyric-writer for the rock group Ton Steine Scherben.
1859
Juan Bautista Ceballos
former president of Mexico (born 1811)
Juan Bautista Loreto Mucio Francisco José de Asís de la Santísima Trinidad Ceballos Gómez Sañudo (1811–1859) was a Mexican politician who served in congress and in the supreme court before being briefly made president…
1965
Jonathan Daniels
American seminarian and civil rights activist (born 1939)
Jonathan Myrick Daniels was an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist.
1915
Paul Ehrlich
German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)
Paul Ehrlich was a German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy.
2012
Mika Yamamoto
Japanese journalist (born 1967)
Mika Yamamoto was a Japanese video and photojournalist for the news agency Japan Press. Yamamoto was killed on 20 August 2012 while covering the Syrian Civil War in Aleppo, Syria.
2013
Elmore Leonard
American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (born 1925)
Elmore John Leonard Jr. was an American novelist, short story author and screenwriter. He was, according to British journalist Anthony Lane, "hailed as one of the best crime writers in the land".
1995
Hugo Pratt
Italian author and illustrator (born 1927)
Ugo Eugenio Prat, better known as Hugo Pratt, was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese.
2008
Ed Freeman
American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1927)
Ed W. "Too Tall" Freeman was a United States Army helicopter pilot who received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War.
1572
Miguel López de Legazpi
Spanish navigator and politician, 1st Governor-General of the Philippines (born 1502)
Don Miguel López de Legazpi, also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippine islands in the mid-16th century.
768
Eadberht of Northumbria
Eadberht was king of Northumbria from 737 or 738 to 758. He was the brother of Ecgbert, Archbishop of York.