2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.
1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered.
1975 – The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".
1963 – Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington and Moscow.
1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
1944 – The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.
1941 – The United States Army Air Corps is deprecated to being the American training and logistics section of what is known until 1947 as the United States Army Air Forces, just two days before Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.
1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
1863 – American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.
1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
Births
1994 – Leonard Williams, American football player. Leonard Williams or Len Williams may refer to:
1990 – DeQuan Jones, American basketball player. DeQuan Jones (born June 20, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Trieste of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).
1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor. Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (/mɪnts ˈplæs/; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor, comedian, and musician who has performed roles such as McLovin in Superbad (2007), Augie Farcques in Role Models (2008), Fishlegs Ingerman in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise (2010–2019) and as Chris D'Amico in Kick-Ass (2010) and its sequel Kick-Ass 2 (2013).
1989 – Terrelle Pryor, American football player. Pryor had originally hoped to be a two-sport athlete, as he was also one of the nation's most recruited high school basketball players, but he later chose football.
1986 – Dreama Walker, American actress. In 2019, Walker portrayed Connie Stevens in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019).
1985 – Matt Flynn, American football player. He was a member of the Packers when they won Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
1984 – Hassan Adams, American basketball player. He played college basketball for Arizona.
1983 – Darren Sproles, American football player. Darren Lee Sproles (born June 20, 1983) is a former American football running back and return specialist who played in the National Football League.
1983 – Josh Childress, American basketball player. An All-EuroLeague Second Team member in 2010, he has played with the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA, and Olympiacos Piraeus of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague.
1980 – Tony Lovato, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Anthony Cappiello John Lovato (born June 20, 1980), better known as Tony Lovato, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the Pop punk band Mest.
1979 – Charles Howell III, American golfer. Charles Gordon Howell III (born June 20, 1979) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.
1977 – Amos Lee, American singer-songwriter. Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 20, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock, and soul.
1973 – Chino Moreno, American singer-songwriter. Camilo Wong "Chino" Moreno (born June 20, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and contributing guitarist of Deftones.
1971 – Jeordie White, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bass player. Jeordie Osbourne White (born June 20, 1971), once known professionally as Twiggy Ramirez, shortened to just Twiggy since 2008, and sometimes referred to by his real name, is an American musician, mostly known as the former bassist and guitarist of the band Marilyn Manson.
1971 – Josh Lucas, American actor. Edgar, Red Dog, Breakthrough, and Ford v Ferrari.
1971 – Rodney Rogers, American basketball player and coach. Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1969 – MaliVai Washington, American tennis player and sportscaster. He reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1996, won four ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 1992.
1968 – Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter. Robert Anthony Rodriguez (/rɒˈdriːɡɛz/; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker and visual effects supervisor.
1967 – Dan Tyminski, American singer-songwriter. Daniel John Tyminski (born June 20, 1967) is an American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist.
1967 – Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress. She was listed among the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2006, 2018, and 2019.
1966 – Boaz Yakin, American director, producer, and screenwriter. As a producer he has collaborated frequently with filmmaker Eli Roth and served as executive producer for the first two entries in the Hostel franchise.
1963 – Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter. Kirk Baptiste (born June 20, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 200 metres.
1960 – Philip M. Parker, American economist and author. Parker (born June 20, 1960) holds the INSEAD Chair Professorship of Management Science at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France).
1955 – E. Lynn Harris, American author (d. 2009). Openly gay, he was best known for his depictions of African-American men who were on the down-low and closeted.
1953 – Robert Crais, American author and screenwriter. Robert Crais (pronounced to rhyme with 'chase') (born June 20, 1953) is an American author of detective fiction.
1952 – John Goodman, American actor. Goodman later reprised the role in its sequel series The Conners.
1951 – Tress MacNeille, American actress and voice artist. Teressa Claire "Tress" MacNeille (born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, widely known for her work in popular long-running animated series such as The Simpsons, Futurama, and Rugrats.
1949 – Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor. His recordings with the Commodores and in his solo career made him one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s.
1948 – Cirilo Flores, American bishop (d. 2014). Flores (June 20, 1948 – September 6, 2014) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California, a position he held from September 18, 2013, until his death on September 6, 2014.
1947 – Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, American pop singer (The Crystals). Dolores Brooks (born June 20, 1947) is the second lead singer of the girl group the Crystals and a Broadway actress.
1946 – André Watts, American pianist and educator. André Watts (born June 20, 1946) is a classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.
1942 – Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer. In addition to his unorthodox approaches to pop composition and mastery of recording techniques, Wilson is known for his lifelong struggles with mental illness.
1937 – Jerry Keller, American singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 1958 million selling record, "Here Comes Summer."
1936 – Billy Guy, American singer (d. 2002), was an American singer, best known as a lead singer for the Coasters. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
1935 – Jim Barker, American politician (d. 2005). James "Jim" Barker (born August 25, 1956) is a football operations consultant for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
1935 – Len Dawson, American football player and sportscaster. Leonard Ray Dawson (born June 20, 1935) is a former American football quarterback and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor, was an American actor who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing (1989). Aiello appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Front (1976), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), Léon: The Professional (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Dinner Rush (2000), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006).
1931 – James Tolkan, American actor and director. Some of his other memorable film roles were in Love and Death (1975), Top Gun (1986), Masters of the Universe (1987) and Dick Tracy (1990).
1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress. She later moved on to film acting, and in 1987, she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA nomination for her performance in Moonstruck.
1928 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (d. 1964), was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo.
1928 – Martin Landau, American actor and producer (d. 2017), was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959).
1925 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971), was an American soldier, actor, songwriter, and rancher. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II.
1925 – Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (d. 2015), was a tennis player from the United States who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked World No. 1 in 1951.
1924 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001). Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr.
1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (d.2017), was a German sculptor best known outside his native country for The Sphere, which once stood in the plaza beneath the two World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan. With its damage deliberately left unrepaired, the sculpture now stands in Manhattan's Liberty Park as a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
1923 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (d. 2015), was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers (1997–2003).
1921 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (d. 1999), was an American military historian and biographer.
1920 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (d. 1954), was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954.
1918 – Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian-American author (d. 2011), was one of the better known contemporary writers of the Hungarian emigration. He was born in Magyarcsaholy, Hungary and died in Portland, Oregon.
1916 – T. Texas Tyler, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972). David Luke Myrick (June 20, 1916 – January 28, 1972), known professionally as "T" Texas Tyler - The Man with a Million Friends, or simply, T.
1912 – Jack Torrance, American shot putter and football player (d. 1969). John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is the main character of Stephen King's horror novel The Shining (1977).
1911 – Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980), was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937) and My Favorite Wife (1940).
1910 – Josephine Johnson, American author and poet (d. 1990), was an American novelist, poet, and essayist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1935 at age 24 for her first novel, Now in November.
1909 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (d. 1959), was an Australian-born American actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Considered the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks, he achieved worldwide fame for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, as well as frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland.
1908 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (d. 2009), was a third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees (1930, 1933), Boston Red Sox (1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics (1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds (1939–1941) and New York Giants (1942). He led American League third basemen in putouts and assists once each, and also led National League third basemen in assists, double plays and fielding percentage once each.
1907 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (d. 1998), was an American folk music songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud". Driftwood wrote more than 6,000 folk songs, of which more than 300 were recorded by various musicians.
1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1984), was an American dramatist and screenwriter known for her success as a playwright on Broadway, as well as her Communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted after her appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) at the height of the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–52.
1894 – Lloyd Hall, American chemist and academic (d. 1971), was an African American chemist, who contributed to the science of food preservation. By the end of his career, Hall had amassed 59 United States patents, and a number of his inventions were also patented in other countries.
1884 – Mary R. Calvert, American astronomer and author (d. 1974), was an American astronomical computer and astrophotographer. She started as her uncle's assistant and ended publishing his (and their) work that cataloged over 300 dark objects (Dark Nebula).
1882 – Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (d. 1937), was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.
1869 – Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded the Kirloskar Group (d. 1956). He was born on 20 June 1869, in Gurlahosur, a village in Belgaum district of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency.
1860 – Alexander Winton, Scottish-American race car driver and engineer (d. 1932), was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile and diesel engine designer and inventor. He also was an early automobile racer.
1858 – Charles W. Chesnutt, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1932), was an African-American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. Two of his books were adapted as silent films in 1926 and 1927 by the African-American director and producer Oscar Micheaux.
1770 – Moses Waddel, American minister and academic (d. 1840), was an American educator, minister, and slave owner in antebellum Georgia and South Carolina. Famous as a teacher during his life, Moses Waddel was author of the bestselling book Memoirs of the Life of Miss Caroline Elizabeth Smelt.
Deaths
2015 – Miriam Schapiro, Canadian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2012 – Andrew Sarris, American critic (b. 1928)
2012 – LeRoy Neiman, American painter (b. 1921)
2011 – Ryan Dunn, American television personality (b. 1977)
2005 – Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
2002 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1905)
1999 – Clifton Fadiman, American game show host, author, and critic (b. 1902)
1965 – Bernard Baruch, American financier and politician (b. 1870)
1947 – Bugsy Siegel, American mobster (b. 1906)
1875 – Joseph Meek, American police officer and politician (b. 1810)
Remind me of this day
