February 20th, 1859

Born on February 20th, 1859

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 60,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 663 days, exactly on February 24th, 2026, people who were born on February 20th, 1859 will be 61,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on February 20th?

February 20th, 1988

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

February 20th, 1970

The Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani province, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Thailand, was founded.

February 20th, 1965

The NASA spacecraft Ranger 8 spacecraft transmitted 7,137 photographs of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing as planned in Mare Tranquillitatis.

February 20th, 1959

Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow (pictured) interceptor-aircraft program amid much political debate.

February 20th, 1943

A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of Michoacán and continued to erupt for nine years, forming the cinder cone Parícutin .

February 20th, 1905

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that states had the authority to order compulsory vaccination.

February 20th, 1872

The Metropolitan Museum of Art , today the largest art museum in the United States with a collection of more than two million works, opened in New York.

February 20th, 1864

American Civil War: The Union Army suffered a one-in-three casualty rate at the Battle of Olustee near Lake City, Florida.

February 20th, 1846

Polish insurgents in the Free City of Kraków led an uprising attempting to incite a fight for national independence that was put down by the Austrian Empire nine days later.

February 20th, 1835

An earthquake registering approximately 8.5 Mw devastated Concepción, Chile, and triggered a tsunami that destroyed neighbouring Talcahuano.

February 20th, 1816

Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome to jeers from the audience.

February 20th, 1685

The French colonization of Texas began with the landing of colonists led by Robert de La Salle near Matagorda Bay.

February 20th, 1998

At the age of 15, American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest gold-medal winner in the history of the Winter Olympic Games at the time.

February 20th, 2010

Severe flooding and mudslides on the island of Madeira, Portugal, killed 51 people.

February 20th, 2009

The Tamil Tigers attempted to crash two aircraft laden with C-4 in suicide attacks on Colombo, Sri Lanka, but the planes were shot down before they reached their targets.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on February 20th

Same Day
Who's birthday is on February 20th?

30

Mathias Christiansen

Badminton player

*February 20th, 1994, Bornholm

59

Thomas Kemmerich

German politician

*February 20th, 1965, Aachen

57

Chung So-young

South Korean badminton player

*February 20th, 1967, Gimje

21

Olivia Rodrigo

American singer and actress (born 2003)

*February 20th, 2003, Murrieta

36

Rihanna

Barbadian singer and actress (born 1988)

*February 20th, 1988, Saint Michael

58

Urs Fischer

Swiss association football player and manager (born 1966)

*February 20th, 1966, Triengen

63

Leonida Bissolati

Italian statesman (1857-1920)

*February 20th, 1857, Cremona †March 6th, 1920, Rome

55

Bambang Suprianto

Badminton player

*February 20th, 1969, Surakarta City

89

Jim Poole

Badminton player

*February 20th, 1932, Nashville †November 7th, 2021, Blacksburg

34

Keigo Sonoda

Badminton player

*February 20th, 1990, Yatsushiro

26

Zhou Haodong

Chinese badminton player

*February 20th, 1998, Ningbo

73

Gordon Brown

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010

*February 20th, 1951, Giffnock

42

Felo Feoto

Badminton and football player

*February 20th, 1982, Nukufetau

81

Mike Leigh

English writer and director (born 1943)

*February 20th, 1943, Brocket Hall

27

Kurt Cobain

American rock musician (1967–1994)

*February 20th, 1967, Aberdeen †April 5th, 1994, Seattle

70

Patty Hearst

American kidnapping victim

*February 20th, 1954, San Francisco

79

Antonio Inoki

Japanese professional wrestler, businessman, and politician (1943-2022)

*February 20th, 1943, Yokohama †October 1st, 2022, Minato

78

Brenda Blethyn

British actress

*February 20th, 1946, Ramsgate

27

Sammy Skytte

Danish association football player

*February 20th, 1997, Denmark

94

Sidney Poitier

Bahamian and American actor and diplomat (1927–2022)

*February 20th, 1927, Cat Island †January 6th, 2022, Los Angeles

Same year
Born in 1859

75

Paul Herrmann

German classical archaeologist

*December 14th, 1859, Halle (Saale) †August 30th, 1935, Dresden

46

Pierre Curie

French physicist (1859-1906)

*May 15th, 1859, Paris †April 19th, 1906, Paris

71

Arthur Conan Doyle

British writer and physician (1859–1930)

*May 22nd, 1859, Edinburgh †July 7th, 1930, Crowborough

31

Kathinka Hedwig Agerskov

Danish painter

*August 8th, 1859, Flensburg †November 23rd, 1890, Frederiksberg

81

Henri Bergson

French philosopher (1859–1941)

*October 18th, 1859, Paris †January 4th, 1941, Paris

82

Wilhelm II

German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 to 1918

*January 27th, 1859, Kronprinzenpalais †June 4th, 1941, Huis Doorn

57

L. L. Zamenhof

Polish-Jewish pysician and inventor of Esperanto (1859-1917)

*December 15th, 1859, Białystok †April 14th, 1917, Warsaw

92

Knut Hamsun

Norwegian novelist (1859–1952)

*August 4th, 1859, Vågå †February 19th, 1952, Grimstad

31

Georges Seurat

French painter (1859-1891)

*December 2nd, 1859, Paris †March 29th, 1891, Paris

92

John Dewey

American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer (1859–1952)

*October 20th, 1859, Burlington †June 1st, 1952, New York City

73

Kenneth Grahame

British novelist

*March 8th, 1859, Edinburgh †July 6th, 1932, Berkshire

65

Victor Herbert

American composer

*February 1st, 1859, Dublin †May 26th, 1924, New York City

70

Anton Aicher

Austrian theatre director

*April 5th, 1859, Feldbach †February 5th, 1930, Salzburg

79

Edmund Husserl

German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology (*1859 – †1938)

*April 8th, 1859, Prostějov †April 27th, 1938, Freiburg im Breisgau

75

Alfred Dreyfus

French artillery officer (1859–1935)

*October 9th, 1859, Mulhouse †July 12th, 1935, Paris

60

Reginald De Koven

American music critic and composer

*April 3rd, 1859, Middletown †January 16th, 1920

96

Johan Frans van Bemmelen

Dutch zoologist and paleontologist (1859–1956)

*December 26th, 1859, Groningen †August 6th, 1956, Leiden

68

Jerome K. Jerome

English humorist (1859-1927)

*May 2nd, 1859, Walsall †June 14th, 1927, Northampton

57

Sholem Aleichem

Jewish writer and playwright of Yiddish, who worked in Ukraine and the United States (1859-1916)

*February 18th, 1859, Pereiaslav †May 13th, 1916, New York City

86

Gerhard Heilmann

Danish artist and paleontologist (1859-1946)

*June 25th, 1859, Skælskør †March 26th, 1946, Copenhagen

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on February 20th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on February 20th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

No: With 365 days 1859 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
February 1859