Daily Calendar for Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Daily Calendar
View daily calendar information including holidays, advice, and daily features.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Died
- Christopher Columbus (explorer) –
- Joseph Carr (president of NFL) –
- Gilda Radner (actress) –
- Stephen Jay Gould (paleontologist & author) –
- Robin Gibb (musician; member of the Bee Gees) –
- George Wendt (actor) –
Born
- William Thornton (architect) –
- Dolley Madison (U.S. First Lady) –
- William Fargo (businessman) –
- Allan Nevins (historian) –
- Jimmy Stewart (actor) –
- Joe Cocker (musician) –
- Cher (singer & actress) –
- Tony Stewart (race car driver) –
- Trinity Rodman (soccer player) –
Events
- First Council of Nicaea (which standardized how to calculate the date of Easter) likely convened –
- D. Hyde patented the fountain pen –
- Homestead Act signed –
- Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for riveted pocket openings for pants. –
- The Saturday Evening Post published its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting –
- Charles Lindbergh began first nonstop solo flight across Atlantic –
- First airplane catapulted from a dirigible –
- A 680-pound goliath grouper was caught off Fernandina Beach, Florida –
- Rare Madagascar teal duck born, Louisville Zoo, Kentucky –
- Up to 20 million honeybees escaped from a tractor-trailer after it overturned on a highway in Newark, Deleware –
- The Planetary Society’s LightSail-A, a sun-propelled sail, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. –
Weather
- Strafford, Vermont, received 10 inches of snow –
- Six inches of snow fell on Lexington, Kentucky –
- Codell, Kansas, hit by a tornado –
- For the second year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this date –
- For the third year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this date –
- A tornado took to the ground in Kansas City, Missouri, and traveled 71 miles –
- Near Eloy, Arizona, scientists began a 3.5 week experiment to study the nature of dust devils. –