Year 1807
Nicephore Niepce was patented for the world’s first internal combustion engine.
JULY 20
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
20 July: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 20 July.
Year 1903
The Ford Motor Company shipped its first automobile.
Year 1905
The first partition of Bengal along religious lines was approved in London by the Secretary of State of India On July 20th 1905.
Year 1908
Establishment of the Bank of Baroda on the initiative of Maharaja Sir Sayajirao Gaikwad (III) of Baroda.
Year 1944
World War II – Adolf Hitler survived a deadly attack by Klaus von Stauffenberg.
Year 1949
The Israel-Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Year 1951
King Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
Year 1960
Sirimavo Bhandarnayake became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The world’s first elected female head of government.
Year 1969
Apollo 11’s crew successfully made the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
Year 1989
Burma’s ruling junta put opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Year 2012
James Holmes opened fire at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
Year 2013
Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
Year 2015
A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
Year 2015
The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
Year 2017
O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.
Born 356 BC
Alexander the Great, a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon.
Born 1889
John Reith, a Scottish broadcasting executive.
Born 1911
Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941). Mohammad Baqa Khan Jilani was a bowler who represented India in Test cricket.
Born 1919
Edmund Hillary, the first climber confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
Born 1921
Pandit Samta Prasad, an Indian classical musician and tabla player from the Benares Gharana.
Born 1929
Rajendra Kumar, an Indian film actor.
Born 1950
Naseeruddin Shah, an Indian film and stage actor.
Born 1960
Sudesh Berry, Indian actor
Born 1976
Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach
Born 1988
Arunima Sinha, an Indian mountain climber, and sportswoman.
Died 1922
Andrey Markov, a Russian mathematician.
Died 1937
Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, and electrical engineer.
Died 1965
Batukeshwar Dutt, an Indian revolutionary and independence fighter.
Died 1972
Geeta Dutt, a prominent Indian playback singer.
Died 1973
Bruce Lee, a Hong Kong American actor, director, martial artist, martial arts instructor, and philosopher.
Died 2013
Khurshed Alam Khan, an Indian politician.
Died 2020
Bijay Mohanty, an Indian film actor of Odia Cinema.