Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1920
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Undated
- Because there are so many mixed-race persons and because so many Americans with some black ancestry appear white, the US Census stops counting mixed-race peoples and the one drop rule becomes the national legal standard.
Ongoing
Births
January-February
- January 1 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
- January 2 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (I, Robot) (d. 1992)
- January 3 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
- January 5 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
- January 6
- January 9 - Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (d. 1998)
- January 12 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist (d. 1998)
- January 19 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
- January 20
- January 23 - Gottfried Böhm, German architect
- January 27 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
- January 30 - Delbert Mann, American television and film director
- February 2 - Heikki Suolahti, Finnish composer (d. 1936)
- February 7 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
- February 11
- February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (d. 2000)
- February 13 - Seneka Bibile, Sri Lankan pharmacologist (d. 1977)
- February 17 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian film director (d. 2001)
- February 18 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (The Price is Right & The $25,000 Pyramid) (d. 1990)
- February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (executed) (d. 1945)
- February 26
- February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
March-April
- March 3
- March 4
- March 10
- Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur, founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (d. 2007)
- Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (d. 1959)
- March 11 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 14 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (Dennis the Menace) (d. 2001)
- March 15
- March 16 - Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
- March 19 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian poet and artist (d. 2002)
- March 20 - Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. ambassador to France (d. 1997)
- March 22 - Werner Klemperer, German actor (Hogan's Heroes) (d. 2000)
- March 23 - Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
- March 24 - Corbin Harney, elder and spiritual leader of the Newe (Western Shoshone) people (d. 2007)
- March 25
- March 27 - Robin Jacques, English illustrator (d. 1995)
- March 31 - Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English Dowager Duchess
- April 1 - Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
- April 2 - Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (Dragnet) (d. 1982)
- April 5 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)
- April 6 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 7 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
- April 8 - Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (d. 1994)
- April 11 - Peter O'Donnell, British author and writer of comic strips
- April 13 - Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
- April 15 - Thomas Stephen Szasz, Hungarian-born psychiatrist and writer
- April 21 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
- April 27 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
- April 29 - Harold Shapero, American composer
May-June
- May 2
- May 6 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- May 8 - Saul Bass, American graphic designer (d. 1996)
- May 9 - Richard Adams, English author
- May 11 - Denver Pyle, American actor (d. 1997)
- May 13 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)
- May 18
- May 23 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
- May 26 - Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
- May 28 - Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (d. 1999)
- May 29 - John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (d. 1989)
- June 2 - Tex Schramm, American football executive (d. 2003)
- June 12
- June 16 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (d. 2004)
- June 17
- June 25 - Ozan Marsh, American pianist
- June 29 - Ray Harryhausen, American animator
July-August
- July 4 - Leona Helmsley, hotel operator, real estate investor (d. 2007)
- July 10 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 11 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (The King and I) (d. 1985)
- July 13
- July 17 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish International Olympic Committee president
- July 21 - Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)
- July 24 - Bella Abzug, American feminist politician (d. 1998)
- July 25 - Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (d. 1958)
- August 1 - Sammy Lee, Korean-American diver
- August 2 - Reginald Hugh Hickling, British lawyer, colonial civil servant, law academic and author (d. 2007)
- August 3 - Hayden Carruth, American poet and literary critic
- August 8
- August 9 - Milton G. Henschel, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses and 5th President of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (d. 2003)
- August 20 - Red Holzman, American basketball coach (d. 1998)
- August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
- August 17 - Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
- August 18
- August 21 - Christopher Robin Milne, English author and bookseller (d. 1996)
- August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer (The Martian Chronicles)
- August 26 - Mauri Favén, Finnish painter (d. 2006)
- August 29 - Charlie Parker, African-American saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
September-October
- September 9 - Aldo Parisot, Brazilian/American cellist
- September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian motorcycle engineer (d. 2001)
- September 14
- September 18 - Jack Warden, American actor (d. 2006)
- September 22 - William H. Riker, American political scientist (d. 1993)
- September 23 - Mickey Rooney, American film actor
- September 24 - Dick Bong, American fighter ace (d. 1945)
- September 27 - Jayne Meadows, American actress
- September 29 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- October 1
- October 6 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)
- October 8 - Frank Herbert, American author (d. 1986)
- October 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
- October 13 - Laraine Day, American actress (d. 2007)
- October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author (The Godfather) (d. 1999)
- October 19 - Pandurang Shastri Athavale, founder of the Swadhyay Movement (d. 2003)
- October 22 - Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author, proponent of LSD (d. 1996)
- October 29 - Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 30 - Norman Bird, British character actor (d. 2005)
- October 31
November-December
- November 2 - Ann Rutherford, Canadian actress
- November 22 - Anne Crawford, British actress (d. 1956)
- November 25 - Ricardo Montalban, Mexican actor (Fantasy Island)
- November 29 - Yegor Ligachev, Soviet politician
- November 30 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
- December 6
- December 9 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic
- December 21 - J. Roderick MacArthur, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1984)
- December 24 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- December 30 - Jack Lord, American actor (Hawaii Five-O) (d. 1998)
- December 31 - Rex Allen, American actor, singer, songwriter (d. 1999)
- date unknown
Deaths
January - March
- January 2 - Paul Adam, French writer (b. 1862)
- January 3 - Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1888)
- January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
- January 6 - Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathematician (b. 1839)
- January 7 - Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
- January 24
- January 26 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, model, and common-law wife of Amedeo Modigliani (suicide) (b. 1898)
- February 2 - Field E. Kindley, American World War I aviator (b. 1896)
- February 3 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
- February 6 - Augustus F. Goodridge, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1839)
- February 7 - Aleksandr Kolchak, Russian naval commander (b. 1874)
- February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (b. 1837)
- February 20
- February 27 - William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
- March 1
- March 3 - Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter (b. 1840)
- March 4 - Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1843)
- March 11 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
- March 13 - Charles Lapworth, English geologist (b. 1842)
- March 26
- March 31
April - June
- April 8
- April 9 - Moritz Cantor, German historian of mathematics (b. 1829)
- April 21 - Maria L. Sanford, American educator (b. 1836)
- April 26 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
- May 1 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (b. 1882)
- May 11
- May 16 - Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (b. 1824)
- May 21
- May 23 - Svetozar Borojevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (b. 1856)
- May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer (b. 1862)
- June 5
- June 6 - James Dunsmuir, Canadian politician (b. 1851)
- June 13 - Essad Pasha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1863)
- June 14
- June 18
- June 20
- June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839)
July - September
- July 1 - Delfim Moreira, President of Brazil (b. 1868)
- July 2 - William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846)
- July 10 - John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
- July 11 - Empress Eugénie of France (b. 1826)
- July 14 - Albert Keller, German painter (b. 1844)
- July 22 - William Kissam Vanderbilt, American heir (b. 1849)
- August 1
- August 2 - Ormer Locklear, American pilot (b. 1891)
- August 9 - Samuel Griffith, Australian politician and judge (b. 1845)
- August 10 - Adam Politzer, Austrian otologist (b. 1835)
- August 12 - Hermann Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1854)
- August 16
- August 17 - Ray Chapman, baseball player (b. 1891)
- August 22 - Anders Zorn, Swedish painter (b. 1860)
- August 26 - James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (b. 1835)
- August 31 - Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist (b. 1832)
- September 7 - Simon-Napoléon Parent, Premier of Quebec (b. 1855)
- September 10 - Olive Thomas, American actress (b. 1894)
- September 18 - Robert Beaven, Canadian politician (b. 1836)
- September 24 - Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian jeweler (b. 1846)
- September 25 - Jacob Schiff, German-born banker and philanthropist (b. 1847)
- September 30 - William Wilfred Sullivan, Canadian journalist, politician, and jurist (b. 1843)
October - December
- November 1 - Kevin Barry, Irish republican (hanged) (b. 1902)
- November 4 - Ludwig Struve, Russian astronomer (b. 1858)
- November 13 - Luc-Olivier Merson, French painter and illustrator (b. 1846)
- November 22 - Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet (b. 1884)
- November 23 - George Callaghan, British admiral (b. 1852)
- November 25 - Madeline McDowell Breckinridge, leader of the women’s suffrage movement and one of Kentucky's leading progressive reformers (b. 1872)
- November 25 - Gaston Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and manufacturer (b. 1892)
- November 30 - Eugene W. Chafin, American politician (b. 1852)
- December 3 - William de Wiveleslie Abney, English astronomer and photographer (b. 1843)
- December 11 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
- December 12 - Edward Gawler Prior, Canadian mining engineer and politician (b. 1854)
- December 14 - George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)
- date unknown - Reginald John Farrer, English botanist (b. 1880)
Nobel Prizes
Notes
External links
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