Historical Events - November 20

1789 : New Jersey became the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1877 : Thomas Alva Edison invented the gramophone.

1917 : Ukraine became a republic.

1945 : Trial began against the 24 Nazi leaders in the German city of Nuremberg. They were all charged with war crimes.

1959 : United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

1985 : Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released.

1994 : India’s Aishwarya Rai became Miss World.

1995 : Diana, the then Princess of Britain, publicly acknowledged her extramarital affairs for the first time.

1997 : Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman astronaut, embarked on her maiden spaceflight.

1998 : The first module of the space station Zarya was launched.

 

Famous Birthdays   – November 20  

1602: Otto von Guericke, a German physicist.

1750: Tipu Sultan, King of Mysore.

1889: Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer.

1892: James Collip, co-inventor of insulin.

1905: Minocher Rustom Minoo Masani, an Indian politician.

1910: Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist.

1924: Benoit Mandelbrot, a French mathematician.

1927: Chandrashekhar Shankar Dharmadhikari, an Indian judge, independence activist, lawyer, and author.

1941: Hasina Moin, Urdu writer.

1942: Joseph Biden Jr., the 46th president of the United States. 

1963: Timothy Gowers, English mathematician.

1983: Anup Kumar, a former Indian professional Kabaddi player.

1989: Babita Kumari Phogat, an Indian female wrestler.

 

 

Death Anniversaries  – November 20

1859: Mount Stuart Elphinstone, a Scottish diplomat, governor of the Indian state of Mumbai, a skilled administrator, and historian.

1908: Kanhaiyalal Dutt, a revolutionary in Bengal.

1910: Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer.

1954: Clyde Vernon Cesena, founder of the Cesena Aircraft Corporation.

1975: Francisco Franco, a Spanish general.

1984: Faiz Ahmed Faiz, an Urdu poet.

2003: David Deco, first president of the Central African Republic.

2007: Ian Smith, Rhodesia’s first prime minister.