January 20 birthdays & history

Famous people born on January 20

• 1920Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter
• 1775André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician
• 1930Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1946David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1873Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1906Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
• 1972Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
• 1926Patricia Neal, American actress
• 1931David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1981Owen Hargreaves, English footballer

What happened on January 20

• 1320Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356Edward Balliol, whose father John was briefly King of Scotland, gave up his claim to the throne in exchange for an English pension.
• 1401The Taula de canvi (Catalan: "Table of change"), described as Europe's first-ever public bank, began operations inside Barcelona's Llotja de Mar.
• 1726J. S. Bach led the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen on the second Sunday after the Epiphany.
• 1843Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, became the de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil.
• 1874The Treaty of Pangkor is signed between the British and Sultan Abdullah of Perak, paving the way for further British colonization of Malaya.
• 1877The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
• 1921The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
• 1954In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1968The Houston Cougars upset the UCLA Bruins in what became known as the "Game of the Century", ending the Bruins' 47-game winning streak and establishing college basketball as a sports commodity on American television.
• 1986In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 2009In Washington, D.C., Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American president of the United States.

Also observed on January 20

• Armed Forces Day (Mali)
• Heroes' Day (Cape Verde)
• Presidential inaugurations (United States)