August 20: Fun Facts about Today in History

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Learn about the most intriguing events and historical facts that occurred on August 20 throughout history. The Gregorian calendar’s 232nd day is August 20. The first commercial radio station opened in Detroit on this day, NASA launched the Voyager 2 spacecraft, and the Iran-Iraw War came to an end.

Leo is the zodiac sign for August 20. Famous birthdays include Demi Lovato, Amy Adams, and H.P. Lovecraft. National Lemonade Day and National Radio Day both fall on August 20.

Event
Happy Birthday! (August 20, 1890) H. P. Lovecraft, American short story writer, editor, novelist. photo source: wikimedia.org
Advertisements (August 20, 1940) Ramón Mercader mortally wounds exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky with an ice axe in Mexico City. He passes away the next day.
(August 20, 1975) Viking 1, a robotic US spacecraft designed to investigate the surface of Mars, was launched on this day in 1975 and landed nearly a year later on Chryse Planitia, a flat lowland region in the planet's northern hemisphere.
(August 20, 2014) B.K.S. Iyengar, an Indian teacher who helped popularise Yoga (a system of Indian philosophy) in the West, died at the age of 95.
(August 20, 2017) Jerry Lewis, an American comedian and actor noted for his unbridled comic style and his several films with Dean Martin, died at the age of 91.