On This Day — December 20
3991 noted people were born and 2017 died on December 20 in our archive, including Thomas Graham, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Akhmar Zavgaev.
Lists people with a recorded full birth or death date; people known only by year are not included.
Born on December 20
Thomas Graham
1805 – 1869
Abdulrazak Gurnah
b. 1948
Akhmar Zavgaev
b. 1947
Andrei Turchak
b. 1975
Andrew Mackenzie
b. 1956
Birendra Narayan Chakraborty
1904 – 1976
Boris Babaian
b. 1933
Carl von Than
1834 – 1908
David Bohm
1917 – 1992
Dick White
1906 – 1993
Ding Zilin
b. 1936
Edward Kennard Rand
1871 – 1945
Edwin Abbott Abbott
1838 – 1926
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
b. 1950
Ferdinand Buisson
1841 – 1932
Francesco Paolo Cantelli
1875 – 1966
Frigyes Korányi
1828 – 1913
H. C. Zen
1886 – 1961
Hans Duistermaat
1942 – 2010
Huai Jinpeng
b. 1962
Igor Shubin
b. 1955
Ivan Vyshnegradsky
1831 – 1895
J. B. Straubel
b. 1965
James Thomson
b. 1958
Jaroslav Heyrovský
1890 – 1967
Jean-Claude Trichet
b. 1942
José Antonio Ocampo
b. 1952
Julio Frenk
b. 1953
Kathy Sykes
b. 1966
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
b. 1959
Kenji Ogiwara
b. 1969
Kim Young-sam
1927 – 2015
Koen Lenaerts
b. 1954
Lars Samuelson
b. 1948
Louis Roule
1861 – 1942
Manfred Lahnstein
b. 1937
Marc Rieffel
b. 1937
Martin Richardson
b. 1941
Morten Haga Lunde
b. 1960
Nikolay Shaklein
1943 – 2023
Nuala O'Loan
b. 1951
Oriol Bohigas
1925 – 2021
Ouang Te Tchao
1905 – 1998
Peter Merian
1795 – 1883
Randolph L. Braham
1922 – 2018
Ray Martin
b. 1944
Rivka Carmi
b. 1948
Robert J. Van de Graaff
1901 – 1967
Robert K. Crane
1919 – 2010
Robert Rostek
b. 1968
Sir Farquhar Buzzard, 1st Baronet
1871 – 1945
Steponas Kairys
1878 – 1964
Steve Coast
b. 1980
Suren Tovmasyan
1909 – 1980
Susana Raffalli
b. 1964
Takeuchi Seihō
1864 – 1942
Thomas Walter Swan
1877 – 1975
Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde
1802 – 1874
Umberto Colombo
1927 – 2006
Vali Nasr
b. 1960
Vik Muniz
b. 1961
Wiesław Chrzanowski
1923 – 2012
Wim Crusio
b. 1954
Yefim Karskiy
1860 – 1931
Yitzhak Baer
1888 – 1980
Aidah Nantaba
b. 1979
Albert Dekker
1905 – 1968
Alexandre Landry
b. 1985
Amit Mitra
b. 1947
Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison
1856 – 1931
Anisul Islam Mahmud
b. 1947
Arthur Lee
1740 – 1792
Arthur Shirley Benn, 1st Baron Glenravel
1858 – 1937
Arturo Alessandri
1868 – 1950
Asbjørn Aarnes
1923 – 2013
Ashutosh Vijay Kotwal
b. 1965
Azar Nafisi
b. 1948
Benjamin Kendall Emerson
1843 – 1932
Billy Bragg
b. 1957
Binali Yıldırım
b. 1955
Bob de Moor
1925 – 1992
Boy Capel
1881 – 1919
Carl Elliott
1913 – 1999
Charles Faroux
1872 – 1957
Charles Richard Vaughan
1774 – 1849
Charlotte Bühler
1893 – 1974
Christopher Le Brun
b. 1951
Dick Wolf
b. 1946
Dimitri Uznadze
1886 – 1950
Dirk van Dalen
b. 1932
Dmitry Bykov
b. 1967
Dmitry Khubezov
b. 1971
Edward St Maur, 12th Duke of Somerset
1805 – 1885
Ernest-Antoine Seillière
b. 1937
Faisal al-Fayez
b. 1952
Frank Walker Caldwell
1889 – 1974
Geoffrey Howe
1926 – 2015
Georg Zoëga
1755 – 1809
George Albee
1921 – 2006
Gonzalo Rojas
1917 – 2011
Henrik Laurentius Helliesen
1824 – 1900
Henry John Spencer
1770 – 1795
Hilario Davide, Jr.
b. 1935
Hiroya Masuda
b. 1951
Hong Gil Nam
b. 1957
Hori Shigeru
1901 – 1979
Ike Skelton
1931 – 2013
Irena Kosmowska
1879 – 1945
Irwan Prayitno
b. 1963
Iskander Taimanov
b. 1961
James Goodby
b. 1929
James Hammond Trumbull
1821 – 1897
James Legge
1815 – 1897
Jan Stanisław Bystroń
1892 – 1964
Jan Zawidzki
1866 – 1928
Jean Marchand
1918 – 1988
Jenny Boucek
b. 1973
Jeremy Quastel
b. 1963
Jiří Hynek
b. 1960
John Celivergos Zachos
1820 – 1898
John Livingston Lowes
1867 – 1945
John Sparkman
1899 – 1985
John Wilson Croker
1780 – 1857
Josef Dostál
1903 – 1999
Judy LaMarsh
1924 – 1980
Jürgen Czarske
b. 1962
Karl Alexander von Müller
1882 – 1964
Kazuyoshi Kaneko
b. 1942
Kevin Byrne
b. 1984
Kevin Dunion
b. 1955
Kuno Meyer
1858 – 1919
Laurens Perseus Hickok
1798 – 1888
Lee Hyun-jae
b. 1929
Luther Vose Bell
1806 – 1862
Maiko Tajima
b. 1976
Manuel Rico Avello
1886 – 1936
Marcelle Pierrot
b. 1949
Martin Ehala
b. 1963
Martin Schulz
b. 1955
Maurice Agulhon
1926 – 2014
Mehmet Âkif Ersoy
1873 – 1936
Michael Beaumont, 22nd Lord of Sark
1927 – 2016
Michael Waidner
b. 1961
Michel Mathieu
1838 – 1916
Mireille Levert
b. 1956
Monika Rubin
b. 1987
Motohisa Ikeda
1940 – 2024
Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko
1878 – 1952
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann
b. 1946
Nakamura Yoshikoto
1867 – 1927
Nalo Hopkinson
b. 1960
Narcissus Marsh
1638 – 1713
Nathir Obeidat
b. 1959
Nikolai Tokarev
b. 1950
Noel Charles William Beadle
1914 – 1998
Olaf Devik
1886 – 1987
Oren Harris
1903 – 1997
Otto Graf Lambsdorff
1926 – 2009
Pasco Bowman II
b. 1933
Paul Tannery
1843 – 1904
Prince George, Duke of Kent
1902 – 1942
Princess Akiko of Mikasa
b. 1981
R. K. Singh
b. 1952
Ravil Geniatulin
b. 1955
Reginald Blomfield
1856 – 1942
Renée Jones-Bos
b. 1952
Robert Menzies
1894 – 1978
Robert Raymond, 1st Baron Raymond
1673 – 1733
Robert Sedgewick
b. 1946
Ros Jones
b. 1949
Roy Spencer
b. 1955
Samuel Liljeblad
1761 – 1815
Samuel McRoberts
1868 – 1947
Sandra Cisneros
b. 1954
Sergei Medvedev
b. 1966
Shekhar Dutt
1945 – 2025
Sidney Hook
1902 – 1989
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet
1781 – 1849
Sirkka-Liisa Anttila
b. 1943
Solomiia Bobrovska
b. 1989
Sophia Akuffo
b. 1949
Soumaïla Cissé
1949 – 2020
Syed Wajid Ali
1911 – 2008
Telman Gdlyan
b. 1940
Tom Tancredo
b. 1945
Tor Brustad
1926 – 2016
Valtazar Bogišić
1834 – 1908
Valter Klauson
1913 – 1988
Vincenzo Cerundolo
1959 – 2020
Walter Russell Shaw
1887 – 1981
Walter Sydney Adams
1876 – 1956
Wau Holland
1951 – 2001
Yevhen Chervonenko
b. 1959
Yoshitaka Sakurada
b. 1949
Adachi Kenzō
1864 – 1948
Adam Chętnik
1885 – 1967
Adebayo O. Ogunlesi
b. 1953
Adrian von Fölkersam
1914 – 1945
Aharon Yariv
1920 – 1994
Ahti Pekkala
1924 – 2014
… and 3,791 more
Died on December 20
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin
1914 – 1998
Arnold Heeney
1902 – 1970
Carl Sagan
1934 – 1996
Dean Rusk
1909 – 1994
Dmitriy Ustinov
1908 – 1984
Emil Artin
1898 – 1962
Gershom Schocken
1912 – 1990
Grote Reber
1911 – 2002
Honoré-Joseph Coppieters
1874 – 1947
John Freeman
1915 – 2014
Mikhail Ostrogradsky
1801 – 1861
Nikolai Marr
1864 – 1934
Paris Kanellakis
1953 – 1995
Pavel Nekrasov
1853 – 1924
Per-Ingvar Brånemark
1929 – 2014
Raoul Bott
1923 – 2005
Sir Harry Platt, 1st Baronet
1886 – 1986
Stanley Milgram
1933 – 1984
Svatopluk Karásek
1942 – 2020
Tōru Takahashi
1941 – 2022
W. Edwards Deming
1900 – 1993
Adolphe Pictet
1799 – 1875
Akira Kazami
1886 – 1961
Albert Alexander Murphree
1870 – 1927
Alexander Kinnear, 1st Baron Kinnear
1833 – 1917
Ali bin Hamud Al Busaidi
1884 – 1918
Anatoly Lobotsky
1959 – 2025
André Dewavrin
1911 – 1998
André Jolivet
1905 – 1974
André Weinfeld
1947 – 2024
Ann Hartley
1942 – 2024
Antônio Martins Filho
1904 – 2002
Archie Norman
1912 – 2016
Barbara Heslop
1925 – 2013
Carl Goos
1835 – 1917
Charles Lucas
1803 – 1889
Charlie Hennigan
1935 – 2017
David W. Henderson
1939 – 2018
Denise Levertov
1923 – 1997
Doug Anthony
1929 – 2020
Earle Page
1880 – 1961
Edward S. Morse
1838 – 1925
Erich Ludendorff
1865 – 1937
Eugenia Kempara
1929 – 2024
Ezra Vogel
1930 – 2020
F. W. Bernstein
1938 – 2018
Fanny Waterman
1920 – 2020
Fazle Hasan Abed
1936 – 2019
Fernando Cos-Gayón
1825 – 1898
François Pouqueville
1770 – 1838
Frederick Robertson
1854 – 1918
Friedrich Buchardt
1909 – 1982
Fu Ssu-nien
1896 – 1950
George Buchanan
1854 – 1924
George Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke
1862 – 1947
George Thom
1842 – 1916
Georgios Prokopiou
1876 – 1940
Gerald J. Higgins
1909 – 1996
Gevorg Geodakyan
1928 – 2015
Gogi Kavtaradze
1940 – 2020
Gustaf Kossinna
1858 – 1931
Hans Hartwig von Beseler
1850 – 1921
Henryk Cioch
1951 – 2017
Hugh S. Cumming
1869 – 1948
Hussein-Ali Montazeri
1922 – 2009
J. Lister Hill
1894 – 1984
Jean-Baptiste de Sénac
1693 – 1770
Johann Andreas Danz
1654 – 1727
Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann
1810 – 1877
Jorge Prat
1918 – 1971
Karen Cook McNally
1940 – 2014
Karl Rolvaag
1913 – 1990
Léopold Sédar Senghor
1906 – 2001
Maan Sassen
1911 – 1995
Marko Orlandić
1930 – 2019
Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer
1891 – 1966
Michèle Morgan
1920 – 2016
Muhammad Mustafa Al-A'zami
1932 – 2017
Olga Lepeshinskaya
1916 – 2008
Paul Bonatz
1877 – 1956
Peter Norbeck
1870 – 1936
Philippe Marie Victor Jacobs
1838 – 1891
Philippe-Auguste Choquette
1854 – 1948
Raffaele Cadorna
1889 – 1973
Ramón Carrillo
1906 – 1956
Richard J. Daley
1902 – 1976
Sergey Ognev
1886 – 1951
Sir Lowthian Bell, 1st Baronet
1816 – 1904
Stanisław Skrzeszewski
1901 – 1978
Stephen I. Katz
1941 – 2018
Tadeusz Czesław Malinowski
1932 – 2018
Taro Takemi
1904 – 1983
Theodore Holmes Bullock
1915 – 2005
Thomas Annandale
1838 – 1907
Victor Merzhanov
1919 – 2012
Yukio Aoshima
1932 – 2006
Yuri Dubinin
1930 – 2013
Émile Loubet
1838 – 1929
A. K. Khandker
1930 – 2025
A. M. Mathai
1935 – 2025
Abner Hazeltine
1793 – 1879
Alain Jouffroy
1928 – 2015
Alberta M. W. Mennega
1912 – 2009
Alberto Martinez Piedra
1926 – 2021
Alfred Jansa
1884 – 1963
Ali Asllani
1884 – 1966
Alicia Urreta
1930 – 1986
Alpo K. Marttinen
1908 – 1975
Amédée Gosselin
1863 – 1941
Andrew Karpati Kennedy
1931 – 2016
Andrieus A. Jones
1862 – 1927
Archie Christie
1889 – 1962
Arthur Campbell
1925 – 2020
Arthur Morgan
1856 – 1916
Arturo Riccardi
1878 – 1966
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
1652 – 1723
Avraham Tamir
1922 – 2010
Axel Lillie
1603 – 1662
Beatrice Hatch
1866 – 1947
Beaumont Moulden
1849 – 1926
Benigno Aquino, Sr.
1894 – 1947
Benjamin Grubb Humphreys
1808 – 1882
Bernard Francis Law
1931 – 2017
Bidwell Adam
1894 – 1982
Bob Lanier
1925 – 2014
Bobby Darin
1936 – 1973
Boris Gessen
1893 – 1936
C. Aubrey Smith
1863 – 1948
Carl Locher
1851 – 1915
Carl Posner
1854 – 1928
Charles Sumner Burch
1855 – 1920
Colin Imray
1933 – 2020
Cyril Ponnamperuma
1923 – 1994
Daniel I. Arnon
1910 – 1994
Date Munenari
1818 – 1892
Didi Menussi
1928 – 2013
Dimitar Spisarevski
1916 – 1943
Dimitris Rontiris
1899 – 1981
Dmitry Kursky
1874 – 1932
Domenico Consolini
1806 – 1884
Dora Jung
1906 – 1980
Ebenezer Teichelmann
1859 – 1938
Ebenezer Vickery
1827 – 1906
Eduard Schensnovich
1852 – 1910
Edward J. Bonin
1904 – 1990
Edward L. Beach, Sr.
1867 – 1943
Edwin Busuttil
1923 – 2009
Einosuke Harada
1892 – 1946
Elizabeth Scott
1917 – 1988
Enrico Mizzi
1885 – 1950
Erik Pontoppidan
1698 – 1764
Esther Peterson
1906 – 1997
Eugène Jolibois
1819 – 1896
Eva Alexanderson
1911 – 1994
Fanny Irvine-Smith
1878 – 1948
Ferdinand Karsch
1853 – 1936
Frances Patterson
1954 – 2016
Francis Neale
1756 – 1837
Franco Harris
1950 – 2022
Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Stammheim
1797 – 1859
Frederick Cuthbert Poole
1869 – 1936
Frederick William Kahapula Beckley Jr.
1874 – 1943
Fritz Syberg
1862 – 1939
Gaston Waringhien
1901 – 1991
George Bassett Clark
1827 – 1891
George Eastham
1936 – 2024
George Edward Chalmer Hayes
1894 – 1968
George Edward Ellis
1814 – 1894
George H. Moses
1869 – 1944
Gerrit J. Diekema
1859 – 1930
Gideon S. Ives
1846 – 1927
Giulio Visconti Borromeo Arese
1667 – 1751
Gonzalo del Campo
1572 – 1626
Gregers Krabbe
1594 – 1655
Grigory Verzhbitsky
1875 – 1942
Gustaw Morcinek
1891 – 1963
Gyula Maár
1934 – 2013
Halina Koźniewska
1920 – 1999
Hana Andronikova
1967 – 2011
Hans-Emil Schuster
1934 – 2024
Harrie Smeets
1960 – 2023
Harry Clive Minnett
1917 – 2003
Helen Grace McClelland
1887 – 1984
Helmut Preißler
1925 – 2010
Henry Horatio Dixon
1869 – 1953
Henry Minett
1857 – 1952
Hernán Rojo
1930 – 2012
Hildur Andersen
1864 – 1956
Howard Cary
1908 – 1991
Hugh Carless
1925 – 2011
Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale
1897 – 1974
Irene Hervey
1909 – 1998
Irving Rapper
1898 – 1999
Ivan Olbracht
1882 – 1952
J. C. Squire
1884 – 1958
J. Francis Harter
1897 – 1947
Jack Hawley
1920 – 1999
Jacques-Victor-Marius Rouchouse
1870 – 1948
James H. Duff
1883 – 1969
James Kempt
1765 – 1854
… and 1,817 more