February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 314 days remain until the end of the year (315 in leap years).

Events

Pre-1600

• 1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.^[1]
• 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.^[2]
• 1521 – Juan Ponce de León sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.^[3]
• 1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.^[4]

1601–1900

• 1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
• 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
• 1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
• 1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
• 1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
• 1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.
• 1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
• 1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
• 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.^[5]
• 1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

1901–present

• 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• 1905 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.^[6]
• 1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
• 1913 – King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
• 1920 – An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.
• 1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
• 1931 – An anarchist uprising in Encarnación, Paraguay briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.^[7]
• 1933 – The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.^[8]
• 1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.
• 1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
• 1939 – Madison Square Garden Nazi rally: The largest ever pro-Nazi rally in United States history is convened in Madison Square Garden, New York City, with 20,000 members and sympathizers of the German American Bund present.^[9]
• 1942 – World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
• 1943 – World War II: American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
• 1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
• 1944 – World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.
• 1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
• 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
• 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
• 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
• 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• 1968 – The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.^[10]
• 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
• 1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H₂S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.
• 1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
• 1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
• 1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
• 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
• 2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.^[11][12]
• 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
• 2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
• 2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.
• 2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers.
• 2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.
• 2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.^[13]

Births

Pre-1600

• 1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)^[14]
• 1469 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)^[15]
• 1523 – Jan Blahoslav, Czech writer (d. 1571)
• 1549 – Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, last Duke of Urbino (d. 1631)
• 1552 – Sengoku Hidehisa, Daimyō (d. 1614)

1601–1900

• 1608 – Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (d. 1649)
• 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
• 1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch painter (d. 1702)
• 1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French musette player and composer (d. 1782)
• 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
• 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (d. 1813)
• 1748 – Luther Martin, American politician (d. 1826)^[16]
• 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)
• 1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
• 1756 – Angelica Schuyler Church, American socialite, sister-in-law to Alexander Hamilton (d. 1814)
• 1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)
• 1774 – Vicente Sebastián Pintado, Spanish cartographer, engineer, military officer and land surveyor of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish West Florida (d. 1829)^[17]
• 1784 – Judith Montefiore, British linguist, travel writer, philanthropist (d. 1862)^[18]
• 1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)
• 1794 – William Carleton, Irish author (d. 1869)
• 1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)
• 1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)
• 1839 – Benjamin Waugh, English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)
• 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)
• 1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
• 1848 – E. H. Harriman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)
• 1857 – A. P. Lucas, English cricketer (d. 1923)
• 1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)
• 1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)
• 1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)
• 1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)^[19]
• 1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)
• 1880 – Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, French author and poet (d. 1923)
• 1882 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-American sculptor (d. 1946)
• 1887 – Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
• 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
• 1889 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and physician (d. 1948)
• 1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)
• 1895 – Louis Zborowski, English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)
• 1897 – Ivan Albright, American painter (d. 1983)
• 1898 – Ante Ciliga, Croatian politician, writer and publisher (d. 1992)
• 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, founder of Scuderia Ferrari and Ferrari (d. 1988)^[20]
• 1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)

1901–present

• 1901 – René Dubos, French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)
• 1901 – Louis Kahn, American architect, designed the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
• 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
• 1901 – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)
• 1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
• 1912 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (d. 2006)^[21]
• 1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)
• 1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2020)^[22][23]
• 1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)
• 1919 – James O'Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
• 1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)
• 1921 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 1992)
• 1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
• 1923 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (d. 2019)
• 1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)^[24]
• 1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
• 1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2018)
• 1926 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete (d. 2023)
• 1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)
• 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)^[25]
• 1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat (d. 2022)^[26]
• 1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland (d. 2020)^[27]
• 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic
• 1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)^[28]
• 1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver (d. 2021)
• 1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 2024)
• 1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress (d. 2020)
• 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
• 1937 – Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman
• 1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
• 1939 – Herbert Kohler Jr., American businessman (d. 2022)^[29]
• 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English international footballer and TV pundit (d. 2021)^[30]
• 1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian lawyer and politician^[31][32]
• 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer^[33]
• 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
• 1942 – Mitch McConnell, American lawyer and politician
• 1942 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
• 1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician (d. 2022)
• 1943 – Mike Leigh, English director and screenwriter
• 1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian economist and politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)
• 1944 – Lew Soloff, American trumpet player, composer, and actor (d. 2015)
• 1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1945 – Alan Hull, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
• 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• 1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
• 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
• 1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor and producer
• 1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1948 – Jennifer O'Neill, American model and actress
• 1949 – Eddie Hemmings, English cricketer
• 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (d. 2022)^[34]
• 1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
• 1950 – Peter Marinello, Scottish footballer^[35]
• 1950 – Tony Wilson, English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
• 1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1951 – Gordon Brown, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom^[36]
• 1951 – Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer and manager
• 1953 – Poison Ivy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player
• 1954 – Anthony Head, English actor
• 1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
• 1955 – Fidèle Gouandjika, Central African politician, Minister of Rural Development and Agriculture (2009-2013) and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and New Technology (2005-2009)^[37]
• 1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver (d. 1996)
• 1959 – David Corn, American journalist and author
• 1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
• 1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
• 1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
• 1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer
• 1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)
• 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1963 – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter and musician
• 1963 – Joakim Nystrom, Swedish tennis player
• 1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health
• 1963 – Cui Yongyuan, Chinese former anchor
• 1964 – Willie Garson, American actor and director (d. 2021)
• 1964 – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician
• 1964 – Jeff Maggert, American golfer
• 1964 – French Stewart, American actor
• 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
• 1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier
• 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
• 1967 – David Herman, American comedian and actor
• 1967 – Andrew Shue, American actor and activist, founded Do Something
• 1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
• 1967 – Tom Waddle, American football player and sportscaster
• 1969 – Kjell Ove Hauge, Norwegian school principal and track and field athlete
• 1969 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2022)
• 1969 – Danis Tanović, Bosnian director and screenwriter^{[citation needed]}
• 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer^[38]
• 1971 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)
• 1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager
• 1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
• 1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor^[39]
• 1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player^[40]
• 1977 – Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
• 1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
• 1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
• 1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
• 1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
• 1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
• 1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player^[41]
• 1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host
• 1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player
• 1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
• 1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress
• 1985 – TJ Kirk, American YouTube personality and podcast host
• 1987 – Luke Burgess, English rugby league player
• 1987 – Miles Teller, American actor
• 1988 – Kealoha Pilares, American football player
• 1988 – Ki Bo-bae, South Korean archer
• 1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer, songwriter and actress
• 1988 – Jiah Khan, Indian singer and actress (d. 2013)
• 1989 – Daly Cherry-Evans, Australian rugby league player
• 1990 – Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer
• 1991 – Hidilyn Diaz, Filipino weightlifter
• 1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player
• 1992 – Kyle Turner, Australian rugby league player
• 1994 – Kateryna Baindl, Ukrainian tennis player^[42]
• 1998 – Emam Ashour, Egyptian footballer^[43]
• 2003 – Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer^[44][45]

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 789 – Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (b. 709)
• 922 – Theodora, Byzantine empress
• 1054 – Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kyiv (b. 978)
• 1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury (b. c. 1080)
• 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
• 1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)
• 1258 – Al-Musta'sim, Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)
• 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of England (b. 1341)^[46]
• 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
• 1458 – Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia
• 1513 – King John of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1455)
• 1524 – Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler (b. 1500)
• 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)

1601–1900

• 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
• 1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (b. 1563)
• 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
• 1771 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)
• 1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
• 1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)^[47]
• 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
• 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader (b. 1767)
• 1850 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843–1844) (b. 1794)^[48]
• 1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
• 1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)
• 1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
• 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (b. c. 1818)
• 1900 – Washakie, American tribal leader (b. 1798)

1901–present

• 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
• 1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1910)
• 1920 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
• 1933 – Takiji Kobayashi, Japanese writer (b. 1903)
• 1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
• 1957 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Turkish scholar and politician (b. 1878)
• 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer (b. 1879)
• 1965 – Michał Waszyński, Polish film director and producer (b. 1904)^[49]
• 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
• 1968 – Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
• 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
• 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)^[50]
• 1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
• 1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, healing evangelist, known for belief in Holy Spirit (b. 1907)
• 1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)
• 1987 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (b. 1905)
• 1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)
• 1992 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
• 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)
• 1993 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
• 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)
• 1996 – Audrey Munson, American model (b. 1891)
• 1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)^[51]
• 1999 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
• 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
• 2001 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
• 2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
• 2003 – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
• 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1942)
• 2005 – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1921)^[52]
• 2005 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
• 2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
• 2008 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (b. 1907)
• 2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
• 2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
• 2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
• 2012 – Katie Hall, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Kenji Eno, Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)
• 2013 – David S. McKay, American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
• 2014 – Garrick Utley, American journalist (b. 1939)
• 2015 – Govind Pansare, Indian author and activist (b. 1933)
• 2015 – Henry Segerstrom, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
• 2015 – John C. Willke, American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)
• 2016 – Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
• 2017 – Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (b. 1952)
• 2017 – Mildred Dresselhaus, American physicist (b. 1930)
• 2017 – Steve Hewlett, British journalist (b. 1958)
• 2020 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (b. 1952)^[53]
• 2021 – Nurul Haque Miah, Bangladeshi professor and writer (b. 1944)^[54]
• 2021 – Mauro Bellugi, Italian footballer (b. 1950)^[55]

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Eleutherius of Tournai
  • Eucherius of Orléans
  • Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
  • Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Wulfric of Haselbury
  • February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)
• World Day of Social Justice^[56]