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On this day in history - July 20

What Happened On This Day – July 20

  • 2012 Aurora shooting

    A gunman, James Holmes, opened fire in a movie theater during the premier of the Dark Night Rises in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

  • 1976 Viking I lands on Mars

    Part of the Viking program, Viking I became the first American spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and to complete its mission.

  • 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus

    Also known as Cyprus Peace Operation or Operation Attila, the invasion was a response to a coup in Cyprus.

  • 1969 Apollo 11 lands on the Moon

    Carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who would become the first humans to walk on the Moon, the spacecraft safely landed on the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon.

  • 1969 Football War ends

    A ceasefire came into effect between Honduras and El Salvador after the two countries fought a brief war over immigration El Salvador to Honduras. The hostilities occurred during North American trials of the FIFA World Cup.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
July 20

  • 1978 Elliott Yamin

    American singer-songwriter

  • 1966 Enrique Peña Nieto

    Mexican politician

  • 1947 Carlos Santana

    Mexican/American singer-songwriter, guitarist

  • 1919 Edmund Hillary

    New Zealand mountaineer, explorer

  • 1304 Petrarch

    Italian scholar, poet

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
July 20

  • 2013 Helen Thomas

    American journalist

  • 2011 Lucian Freud

    English painter

  • 1973 Bruce Lee

    American actor, martial artist

  • 1937 Guglielmo Marconi

    Italian businessman, inventor, developed Marconi's law, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1923 Pancho Villa

    Mexican general