From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
• 917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
• 1083 – Canonization of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric. Celebrated as a National Day in Hungary, commemorating the foundation of the state in the year 1000.
• 1391 – Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
• 1672 – Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
• 1775 – The Spanish establish a presidio (fort) in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
• 1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers – American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
• 1804 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: the "Corps of Discovery", exploring the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.
• 1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
• 1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
• 1882 – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
• 1888 – Mutineers imprison Emin Pasha at Dufile.
• 1900 – Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.
• 1914 – World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
• 1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1926 – Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
• 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam – a record that still stands.
• 1940 – In Mexico City exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramon Mercader. He dies the next day.
• 1944 – World War II: the Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
• 1953 – The Soviet Union publicly acknowledges that it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
• 1955 – In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring its independence.
• 1968 – 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.
• 1975 – Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• 1979 – The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
• 1982 – Lebanese Civil War: a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO's withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
• 1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
• 1988 – Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: a cease-fire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
• 1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision, 51 people are killed.
• 1991 – Collapse 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.
• 1991 – Estonia secedes from the Soviet Union.
• 1993 – After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
• 1997 – Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
• 1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• 1998 – U.S. embassy bombings: the United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
• 1999 – Tony Martin confronts two burglars in his farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. Martin shoots both Brendon Fearon and Fred Barras with a pump-action shotgun, with Barras later dying of his injuries.
• 2002 – A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
• 2008 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. 146 people are killed in the crash, 8 more die afterwards. Only 18 people survive.

Births

• 1517 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (d. 1586)
• 1561 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)
• 1625 – Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (d. 1709)
• 1632 – Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (d. 1704)
• 1710 – Thomas Simpson, British mathematician (d. 1761)
• 1719 – Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791)
• 1719 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (d. 1783)
• 1778 – Bernardo O'Higgins, South American revolutionary (d. 1842)
• 1779 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)
• 1833 – Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
• 1845 – St. Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic Saint (d. 1916)
• 1847 – Andrew Greenwood, England cricketer (d. 1889)
• 1847 – Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (d. 1912)
• 1856 – Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer (d. 1909)
• 1860 – Raymond Poincaré, French statesman (d. 1934)
• 1865 – Bernard Tancred, South African cricketer (d. 1911)
• 1868 – Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (d. 1954)
• 1873 – Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1950)
• 1881 – Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)
• 1886 – Paul Tillich, German-American theologian (d. 1965)
• 1890 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
• 1897 – Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (d. 1970)
• 1898 – Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish author and historian (d. 1973)
• 1901 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
• 1905 – Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet (d. 1973)
• 1905 – Jack Teagarden, American musician (d. 1964)
• 1907 – Alan Reed, original voice of Fred Flintstone. (d. 1977)
• 1908 – Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1909 – Alby Roberts, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1978)
• 1910 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1961)
• 1913 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
• 1916 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player (d. 1984)
• 1918 – Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (d. 1974)
• 1921 – Jack Wilson, Australian cricketer (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Jim Reeves, US country music singer (d.1964)
• 1924 – George Zuverink, American baseball player
• 1926 – Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach
• 1927 – Geriatric1927, English video blogger
• 1927 – Yootha Joyce, English actress (d. 1980)
• 1929 – Kevin Heffernan, Gaelic footballer
• 1930 – Mario Bernardi, Canadian conductor
• 1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter
• 1932 – Anthony Ainley, British actor (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (d. 2009)
• 1932 – Atholl McKinnon, South African cricketer (d. 1983)
• 1933 – George J. Mitchell, former United States Senator
• 1934 – Armi Kuusela, Finnish beauty queen
• 1935 – Ron Paul, US Congressman, 1988 and 2008 presidential candidate
• 1936 – Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Jim Bowen, English comedian
• 1937 – El Fary, Spanish singer and actor (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian film director
• 1938 – Alain Vivien, French politician
• 1939 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor and politician (d. 2004)
• 1940 – Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
• 1940 – Rex Sellers, Australian cricketer
• 1941 – Dave Brock, British musician and founder of Hawkwind
• 1941 – Rich Brooks, American football coach
• 1941 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Robin Oakley, British journalist
• 1941 – Jo Ramirez, Mexican motor racing team manager and author
• 1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2008)
• 1942 – Fred Norman, American baseball player
• 1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
• 1944 – Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1991)
• 1944 – Graig Nettles, American baseball player
• 1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist
• 1946 – Ralf Hütter, German musician (Kraftwerk)
• 1946 – N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman
• 1947 – Alan Lee, English conceptual artist
• 1948 – John Noble, Australian actor
• 1948 – Robert Plant, British Musician (Led Zeppelin)
• 1949 – Nikolas Asimos, Greek composer and singer (d. 1988)
• 1949 – Norman Featherstone, South African cricketer
• 1949 – Alan Hardwick, English TV presenter
• 1949 – Phil Lynott, Irish musician (d. 1986)
• 1951 – Greg Bear, American author
• 1952 – John Emburey, English cricketer
• 1952 – Doug Fieger, American musician (The Knack)
• 1952 – John Hiatt, American musician
• 1953 – Gerry Bertier, American wheelchair Olympian (d. 1981)
• 1954 – Quinn Buckner, American basketball player and coach
• 1954 – Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey (d. 2007)
• 1954 – Al Roker, American television personality
• 1954 – Don Stark, American actor
• 1955 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer and writer
• 1956 – Joan Allen, American actress
• 1956 – Alvin Greenidge, West Indian cricketer
• 1957 – Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
• 1958 – Patricia Rozema, Canadian film director and screenwriter
• 1958 – John Stehr, American journalist
• 1961 – Greg Egan, Australian author
• 1961 – Joe Pasquale, English comedian
• 1962 – Sophie Aldred, English actress
• 1962 – James Marsters, American actor
• 1962 – Dong-Wook Song, South Korean tennis player
• 1965 – KRS-One, American rapper
• 1966 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (d. 2004)
• 1967 – Andy Benes, American baseball player
• 1967 – Colin Cunningham, American actor
• 1967 – Terri Poch, American yogini and professional wrestler
• 1968 – Klas Ingesson, Swedish footballer
• 1968 – Yuri Shiratori, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1969 – Duke Droese, American professional wrestler
• 1970 – Els Callens, Belgian tennis player
• 1970 – John D. Carmack, American computer game programmer
• 1970 – Fred Durst, American singer (Limp Bizkit)
• 1971 – Jonathan Ke Quan, Vietnamese/American actor
• 1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer
• 1971 – David Walliams, British comedian
• 1972 – Chaney Kley, American actor
• 1973 – Todd Helton, American baseball player
• 1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
• 1974 – Big Moe, American rapper (d. 2007)
• 1974 – Szabolcs Sáfár, Hungarian footballer
• 1974 – Andy Strachan, Australian musician (The Living End)
• 1974 – Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist
• 1974 – Misha Collins, American actor and producer
• 1975 – Marcus Mastin, American author
• 1976 – Chris Drury, American hockey player
• 1977 – Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
• 1977 – Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
• 1977 – Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
• 1977 – Mayra Veronica, Cuban model and actress
• 1977 – James Ormond, England cricketer
• 1979 – Jamie Cullum, British musician
• 1979 – Cory Sullivan, American baseball player
• 1979 – Haha, South Korean entertainer
• 1980 – Corey Carrier, American actor
• 1980 – Rochelle Gadd, British actress
• 1981 – Ben Barnes, English actor
• 1981 – Bernard Mendy, French footballer
• 1982 – Cléber Luis Alberti, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Youssouf Hersi, Ethiopian footballer
• 1982 – Joshua Kennedy, Australian footballer
• 1982 – Barney Rogers, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1984 – Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor
• 1986 – Robert Clark, Canadian actor
• 1987 – Cătălina Ponor, Romanian gymnast
• 1988 – Jerryd Bayless, American basketball player
• 1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer
• 1991 – Marko Đoković, Serbian tennis player
• 1992 – Demi Lovato, American actress and singer
• 1992 – Matej Delač, Croatian footballer
• 1995 – Liana Liberato, American actress
• 2003 – Prince Gabriel of Belgium

Deaths

• 535 – Mochta of Louth, disciple of St. Patrick
• 984 – Pope John XIV
• 1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340)
• 1572 – Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
• 1580 – Jeronymo Osorio, Portuguese historian (b. 1506)
• 1611 – Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (b. 1548)
• 1639 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)
• 1643 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (b. 1591)
• 1648 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)
• 1672 – Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
• 1672 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
• 1680 – William Bedloe, English informer (b. 1650)
• 1701 – Charles Sedley, English playwright (b. 1639)
• 1707 – Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (b. 1627)
• 1773 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
• 1811 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (b. 1729)
• 1823 – Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• 1825 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
• 1887 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
• 1904 – René Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (b. 1846)
• 1912 – William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• 1914 – Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
• 1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
• 1917 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1835)
• 1919 – Greg MacGregor, England cricketer (b. 1869)
• 1930 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
• 1959 – William Halsey, Jr, American admiral (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (b. 1879)
• 1965 – Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Civil Rights Martyr (b. 1939)
• 1971 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani Air Force pilot (b. 1951)
• 1980 – Joe Dassin, American singer (b. 1938)
• 1982 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (b. 1929)
• 1986 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (b. 1923)
• 1989 – George Adamson, India-born English game warden and lion expert (b. 1906)
• 1993 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock musician and singer (b. 1950)
• 1997 – Norris Bradbury, American physicist (b. 1909)
• 1997 – Léon Dion, French-Canadian political scientist (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Kim Stanley, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (b. 1981)
• 2005 – Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer (b. 1970)
• 2006 – Claude Blanchard, French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932)
• 2006 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911)
• 2006 – Cpl Bryan Budd VC, British soldier (Afghanistan) (b. 1977)
• 2007 – Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (b. 1942)
• 2008 – Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Stephanie Tubbs Jones, American politician (b. 1949)
• 2008 – Gene Upshaw, American football player and union leader (b. 1945)
• 2009 – Larry Knechtel, American keyboard player and bassist (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Feast of Asmá’
• Estonia: Restoration of Independence Day
• Hungary: Saint Stephen’s Day
• Morocco: Revolution of the King and People
• Nepal: Children’s Day

• World Union: World Union Day.
• Roman Catholic saints: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

External links

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

From Wikiquote

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent. ~ H. L. Mencken

• selected by Kalki

2005

The Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian team representing the Palestinian people agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through the agreed political process. ~ Oslo Accords, finalized in Oslo, Norway on 20 August 1993.

• proposed by MosheZadka

2006

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
~ H. P. Lovecraft ~

• proposed by Kalki

2007

The world we live in is driven not solely by mindless physical forces but, more crucially, by subjective human values. Human values become the underlying key to world change. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• proposed by Kalki

2008

There probably is no more important quest in all science than the attempt to understand those very particular events in evolution by which brains worked out that special trick that has enabled them to add to the cosmic scheme of things: color, sound, pain, pleasure, and all the other facets of mental experience. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• proposed by Kalki

2009

Science traditionally takes the reductionist approach, saying that the collective properties of molecules, or the fundamental units of whatever system you're talking about, are enough to account for all of the system's activity. But this standard approach leaves out one very important additional factor, and that's the spacing and timing of activity — its pattern or form. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• proposed by Kalki

2009

Suggestions

Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 3 because imminent dangers and difficulties strike some fear, but the lingering pain of something that has been long gone never subsides, it merely festers within, a neverending scar of reminiscing with the past. Zarbon 15:48, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 00:03, 19 August 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Something terrible came to the hills and valleys on that meteor, and something terrible — though I know not in what proportion — still remains. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 2 because this can be interpreted in many ways. A moral interpretation would recount to the inner-most lurkings of human evil, which has remained stagnant for years and years to come. Zarbon 15:48, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Prior to the advent of brain, there was no color and no sound in the universe, nor was there any flavor or aroma and probably rather little sense and no feeling or emotion. Before brains the universe was also free of pain and anxiety. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 2 Zarbon 15:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) though I might rank it at 3 with just the first sentence.
• 2 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

To see a promising solution to a dilemma and then just leave it to questionable development at its own pace without trying to aid its implementation would seem a dereliction. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 2 Zarbon 15:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

The grand design of nature perceived broadly in four dimensions, including the forces that move the universe and created man, with special focus on evolution in our own biosphere, is something intrinsically good that it is right to preserve and enhance, and wrong to destroy and degrade. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 3 Zarbon 15:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) Though I am leaning toward a 4 on this, another one by Sperry gets that rank from me for this year.
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

We're beginning to learn the hard way that today's global ills are not cured by more and more science and technology. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 3 Zarbon 15:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Although the theoretic changes make little difference in physics, chemistry, molecular biology, and so on, they are crucial for the behavioral, social, and human sciences. They don't change the analytic, reductive methodology, just the interpretations and conclusions. There seems little to lose, and much to gain. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 2 Zarbon 15:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) though I would rank it 3 if it were extended slightly for context to start with "The behavioral and cognitive disciplines are leading the way to a more valid framework for all science."
• 2 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training it can be elevated tremendously, yet there is always a limit. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) Almost gave this one a 4, but preferred one by Roger Wolcott Sperry for this year.
• 2 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horses along the edges of thick forests; and then we know that we have looked back through the ivory gates into that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

The centermost processes of the brain with which consciousness is presumably associated are simply not understood. They are so far beyond our comprehension that no one I know of has been able to imagine their nature. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 3 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Futurists and common sense concur that a substantial change, worldwide, in life style and moral guidelines will soon become an absolute necessity. ~ Roger Wolcott Sperry

• 3 Kalki 23:09, 19 August 2009 (UTC) * 4 Kalki 19:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC) but only tenuously a 4
• 3 InvisibleSun 19:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 02:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Articles detailing events that are related to August 20. This may include the release of games or systems, the founding of a video game related company or some other important event.

From Familypedia

August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 636 - Battle of Yarmuk: Arab forces led by Khalid bin Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
• 917 - Battle of Anchialus: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invades Thrace and drives the Byzantines out.
• 1000 - The foundation of the Hungarian state, Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
• 1391 - Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
• 1672 - Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis were brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
• 1794 - Battle of Fallen Timbers - American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
• 1804 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", exploring the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.
• 1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declared the U.S. Civil War over.
• 1882 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
• 1888 - Mutineers imprison Emin Pasha at Dufile.
• 1900 - Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.
• 1914 - World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
• 1920 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.
• 1926 - Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
• 1938 - Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam - a record that still stands.
• 1940 - Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice axe. He dies the next day.
• 1944 - The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
• 1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
• 1955 - In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1960 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
• 1968 - 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.
• 1969 - All four Beatles were together in the recording studio for the final time as they finished the Abbey Road LP.
• 1974 - Congress votes to reduce aid to South Vietnam from $1 Billion to $700 Million. Majority of the cuts were for military supplies.
• 1975 - Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• 1977 - Voyager Program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• 1979 - The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
• 1982 - Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1986 - In Edmond, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
• 1988 - "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
• 1988 - Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1988 - Iran-Iraq War: A cease-fire is agreed to after almost eight years of war.
• 1991 - Collapse 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.
• 1991 - Estonia secedes from the Soviet Union.
• 1993 - After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington the next month.
• 1997 - Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
• 1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• 1998 - U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.
• 2002 - A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein took over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and giving up.

Births

• 1517 - Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (d. 1586)
• 1561 - Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)
• 1625 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (d. 1709)
• 1632 - Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (d. 1704)
• 1710 - Thomas Simpson, British mathematician (d. 1761)
• 1719 - Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (d. 1783)
• 1719 - Charles-François de Broglie, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791)
• 1776 - Bernardo O'Higgins, South American revolutionary (d. 1842)
• 1779 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)
• 1833 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
• 1845 - St. Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic Saint (d. 1916)
• 1847 - Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (d. 1912)
• 1856 - Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer (d. 1909)
• 1860 - Raymond Poincaré, French statesman (d. 1934)
• 1873 - Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1950)
• 1881 - Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)
• 1890 - H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
• 1897 - Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (d. 1970)
• 1898 - Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish author and historian (d. 1973)
• 1901 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
• 1905 - Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet (d. 1973)
• 1905 - Jack Teagarden, American musician (d. 1964)
• 1908 - Al Lopez, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1910 - Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1961)
• 1913 - Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
• 1916 - Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player (d. 1984)
• 1918 - Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (d. 1974)
• 1923 - Jim Reeves, American singer (d. 1964)
• 1926 - Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach
• 1927 - Geriatric1927, English video blogger
• 1930 - Mario Bernardi, Canadian conductor
• 1932 - Anthony Ainley, British actor (d. 2004)
• 1932 - Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist
• 1934 - Armi Kuusela, Finnish beauty queen
• 1935 - Ron Paul, American politician
• 1936 - Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 - Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian film director
• 1937 - El Fary, Spanish singer and actor (d. 2007)
• 1937 - Jim Bowen, English comedian
• 1938 - Alain Vivien, French politician
• 1939 - Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor and presidential candidate (d. 2004)
• 1940 - Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
• 1941 - Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (d. 2006)
• 1941 - Rich Brooks, American football coach
• 1941 - Robin Oakley, British journalist
• 1942 - Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor
• 1942 - Fred Norman, American baseball player
• 1943 - Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
• 1944 - Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1991)
• 1946 - Connie Chung, American journalist
• 1946 - Ralf Hütter, German musician (Kraftwerk)
• 1946 - N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman
• 1947 - Alan Lee, English conceptual artist
• 1948 - Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)
• 1948 - John Noble, Australian actor
• 1949 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (d. 1986)
• 1949 - Nikolas Asimos, Greek composer and singer (d. 1988)
• 1951 - Greg Bear, American author
• 1952 - John Hiatt, American musician
• 1952 - Doug Fieger, American musician (The Knack)
• 1954 - Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey, music video producer (d. 2007)
• 1954 - Al Roker, American television broadcaster
• 1954 - Don Stark, American actor
• 1955 - Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer and writer
• 1956 - Joan Allen, American actress
• 1957 - Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
• 1961 - Greg Egan, Australian author
• 1961 - Joe Pasquale, English comedian
• 1962 - Sophie Aldred, English actress
• 1962 - James Marsters, American actor
• 1962 - Dong-Wook Song, South Korean tennis player
• 1965 - KRS-One, American rapper
• 1966 - Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (d. 2004)
• 1967 - Andy Benes, baseball player
• 1967 - Colin Cunningham, American actor
• 1968 - Yuri Shiratori, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1969 - Duke Droese, American professional wrestler
• 1970 - John D. Carmack, American computer game programmer
• 1970 - Fred Durst, American singer (Limp Bizkit)
• 1971 - Steve Stone, English footballer
• 1971 - Jonathan Ke Quan, Vietnamese American actor
• 1971 - David Walliams, British comedian
• 1973 - Todd Helton, baseball player
• 1974 - Big Moe, American rapper (d. 2007)
• 1974 - Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist
• 1975 - Amy Adams, American actress
• 1975 - Andy Strachan, Australian musician (The Living End)
• 1975 - Marcus Mastin, American author
• 1976 - Chris Drury, American hockey player
• 1977 - Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
• 1977 - Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
• 1977 - Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
• 1977 - Mayra Veronica, Cuban model and actress
• 1979 - Cory Sullivan, baseball player
• 1980 - Rochelle Gadd, British actress
• 1980 - Corey Carrier, American actor
• 1981 - Bernard Mendy, French footballer
• 1982 - Joshua Kennedy, Australian footballer
• 1982 - Youssouf Hersi, Ethiopian footballer
• 1982 - Cléber Luis Alberti, Brazilian footballer
• 1984 - Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor
• 1986 - Robert Clark, Canadian actor
• 1987 - Cătălina Ponor, Romanian gymnast
• 2003 - Prince Gabriel of Belgium

Deaths

• 535 - Mochta of Louth, disciple of St. Patrick
• 984 - Pope John XIV
• 1384 - Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340)
• 1572 - Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
• 1580 - Jeronymo Osorio, Portuguese historian (b. 1506)
• 1611 - Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (b. 1548)
• 1639 - Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)
• 1643 - Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (b. 1591)
• 1648 - Edward Herbert, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)
• 1672 - Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
• 1672 - Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
• 1680 - William Bedloe, English informer (b. 1650)
• 1701 - Charles Sedley, English playwright (b. 1639)
• 1707 - Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (b. 1627)
• 1773 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
• 1811 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (b. 1729)
• 1823 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• 1825 - William Waldegrave, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
• 1887 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
• 1904 - René Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (b. 1846)
• 1912 - William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• 1914 - Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
• 1915 - Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
• 1917 - Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1835)
• 1959 - William Halsey, American admiral (b. 1882)
• 1930 - Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
• 1961 - Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
• 1965 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Civil Rights Martyr (b. 1939)
• 1971 - Rashid Minhas, Pakistani Air Force pilot (b. 1951)
• 1980 - Joe Dassin, American singer (b. 1938)
• 1982 - Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (b. 1929)
• 1986 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (b. 1923)
• 1989 - George Adamson, India-born English game warden and lion expert (b. 1906)
• 1993 - Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (b. 1912)
• 1997 - Norris Bradbury, American physicist (b. 1909)
• 1997 - Léon Dion, French-Canadian political scientist (b. 1922)
• 1998 - Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (b. 1915)
• 2001 - Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915)
• 2001 - Kim Stanley, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2005 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (b. 1981)
• 2005 - Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer (b. 1970)
• 2006 - Claude Blanchard, French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932)
• 2006 - Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911)
• 2007 - Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)
• 2007 - Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances

• World Union - World Union Day.
• Roman Catholic saints - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Asmá (Names) - First day of the ninth month of the Bahá'í Calendar.
• Estonia - Restoration of Estonian Independence.
• Hungary - St. Stephen's day, the main national holiday in Hungary.
• Morocco - Revolution of the King and the People Day.
• Argentina - San Martin Day.

External links

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

• On This Day in Canada