Updated February 19, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Feb. 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.
Go to article »On Feb. 20, 1902, Ansel Adams, the photographer noted for his landscapes of the American West, was born. Following his death on April 22, 1984, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1790 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died. 1792 President George Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office. 1809 The Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state. 1839 Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia. 1862 William Wallace Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, died at the White House, apparently of typhoid fever. 1895 Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died. 1938 British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in protest over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. 1944 During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as “Big Week.” 1965 The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface. 1998 American Tara Lipinski became at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title at Nagano, Japan. 2003 Fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others. 2005 Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death at age 67. 2010 Alexander Haig, a soldier and statesman who’d held high posts in three Republican administrations and some of the U.S. military’s top jobs, died at age 85. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns 70 years old today.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander turns 29 years old today.
AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
1924 Gloria Vanderbilt, Fashion designer, turns 88 1927 Sidney Poitier, Actor, turns 85 1937 Nancy Wilson, Jazz singer, turns 75 1941 Buffy Sainte-Marie, Folk singer, turns 71 1942 Phil Esposito, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 70 1943 Mike Leigh, Director, turns 69 1946 Sandy Duncan, Actress, turns 66 1946 J. Geils, Rock musician, turns 66 1950 Walter Becker, Rock musician (Steely Dan), turns 62 1951 Gordon Brown, Former British prime minister, turns 61 1954 Anthony Stewart Head, Actor (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), turns 58 1963 Charles Barkley, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 49 1964 French Stewart, Actor (“3rd Rock from the Sun”), turns 48 1966 Cindy Crawford, Model, turns 46 1967 Andrew Shue, Actor (“Melrose Place”), turns 45 1967 Lili Taylor, Actress, turns 45 1975 Livan Hernandez, Baseball player, turns 37 1977 Stephon Marbury, Basketball player, turns 35 1988 Rihanna, Singer, turns 24
Historic Birthdays
Ansel Adams 2/20/1902 – 4/22/1984 American photographer.Go to obituary »
92 Mary Garden 2/20/1874 – 1/3/1967
Scottish-bn. American opera singer60 Georges Bernanos 2/20/1888 – 7/5/1948
French novelist and polemical writer53 Jimmy Yancey 2/20/1898 – 9/17/1951
American blues pianist93 Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney 2/20/1899 – 12/13/1992
American businessman81 Rene Dubos 2/20/1901 – 2/20/1982
French-born American microbiologist, environmentalist and author73 Louis Kahn 2/20/1901 – 3/17/1974
American architect76 Aleksey Kosygin 2/20/1904 – 12/18/1980
Russian statesman and premier of the Soviet Union (1964-80)82 Konstantin Sergeyev 2/20/1910 – 4/1/1992
Russian ballet dancer, director, and choreographer
