1920
Appearance
Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
---|---|
Centuries: | |
Decades: | |
Years: |
Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. Template:C20YearTOC
Table of Contents
Events on 1920
January
- January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time.
- January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. The Great Siberian Ice March ensues.
- January 9
- Britain announces it will build 1,000,000 homes for war veterans. The promise will never be fulfilled in full.
- Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley, climbs the New York Woolworth Building. He has reached the 30th floor when a policeman arrests him for climbing without a permit
- January 16
- Prohibition begins in the United States with the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution coming into effect.
- Allies demand that the Netherlands extradite the German Kaiser, who has fled there.
- Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington D.C.
- January 19 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
- January 22 - The Australian Country Party is officially formed.
- January 23 - The Netherlands refuses to extradite the German Kaiser.
- January 28
- The Spanish legion is founded and stationed in North Africa to fight rebels in Morocco.
- Turkey gives up the Ottoman Empire and all non-Turkish areas.
- January 30
- Oldest surviving pro wrestling match on film happened on this day with Joe Stecher defeating Earl Caddock
February
- February 1 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
- February 2
- Estonian Freedom War: Tartu Peace Treaty is signed, ending the war and recognizing Estonian independence.
- France occupies Memel.
- Sayyid Muhammad, Khan of Khiva abdicates.
- February 7 - Admiral Kolchak and Viktor Pepelyayev are executed by firing squad near Irkutsk.
- February 9 - League of Nations gives Spitsbergen to Norway.
- February 10 - Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
- February 14 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
- February 17 -A woman named Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide in Berlin and is taken to mental hospital, where she claims she is Anastasia.
- February 22 - In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
- February 24 - Adolf Hitler presents his National Socialist program in Munich.
March
- March - World's first peaceful establishment of a social democratic government takes place in Sweden. Hjalmar Branting takes over when Nils Edén resigns.
- March 1
- Hungarian Admiral and statesman Miklós Horthy becomes the Regent of Hungary
- The United States Railroad Administration returns control of American railroads to its constituent railroad companies.
- March 13-March 17 - Wolfgang Kapp fails in his coup attempt in Germany due to public resistance and a general strike.
- March 15 - Red Army of Ruhr, communist army 60.000 men strong, formed
- March 19 - US Congress refuses to ratify Versailles Treaty.
- March 23 - Admiral Horthy declares that Hungary is a monarchy without anyone on the throne.
- March 26
- German government asks France for permission to use its own troops against rebellious Ruhr Red Army in the French-occupied area.
- The Black and Tans special constables arrive in Ireland
- March 28 - The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 hits the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.
- March 29 - Sir William Robertson, who enlisted in 1877, becomes a field marshal in the British Army, the first man to rise to this rank from private
- March 31 - Government of Ireland Act 1920 is presented in British parliament.
April
- April 2 - German army marches to Ruhr to fight Red Ruhr Army.
- April 4 - Jerusalem pogrom of April, 1920 . Violence between Arabic and Jewish resident in Jerusalem . governor declares the state of siege
- April 6 - The short-lived Far Eastern Republic declared in eastern Siberia
- April 11 - Mexican Revolution - Álvaro Obregón flees from Mexico City during a trial intended to ruin his reputation - he flees to Guerrero where he joins Fortunato Maycotte
- April 19 - Germany and Bolshevist Russia agree to the exchange of prisoners of war.
- April 20 - Álvaro Obregón announces in Chilpancingo that he intends to fight against the rule of Venustiano Carranza
- April 23 - National council in Turkey denounces the government of sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
- April 24 - Polish-Soviet War: Polish and Anti-Soviet Ukrainian troops attack the Red Army in Soviet Ukraine.
- April 26 - the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic is officially created by Bolshevist Russia as the successor to the Khanate of Khiva.
May
- May 2 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- May 7
- Polish-Soviet War: Polish troops occupy Kyiv. The government of Ukrainian People's Republic returns to the city.
- Venustiano Carranza leaves Mexico City in a large train.
- Treaty of Moscow (1920): Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
- May 9 - Álvaro Obregón's troops enter Mexico City
- May 15 - Maria Bochkareva executed in Soviet Russia
- May 16 -
- Joan of Arc is canonised. Over 30,000 people attended the ceremony in Rome, including 140 descendants of Joan of Arc's family. Pope Benedict XV presided over the rite, for which the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was richly decorated.
- Referendum in Switzerland is favorable to joining League of Nations.
- May 17
- May 20 - Venustiano Carranza arrives in San Antonio Tlaxcalantongo. Troops of Rodolfo Herrera attack him at night and shoot him
- May 24 - Venustiano Carranza is buried in Mexico City - all of his mourning allies are arrested. Adolfo de la Huerta is elected provisional president
- May 27 - Tomáš Masaryk becomes president of Czechoslovakia.
- May 29
- Great Horncastle flood. 20 people killed.
- The Snorkel was invented in Greenland.
June
- June 4 - Treaty of Trianon, Treaty of Peace between The Allied and Hungary.
- June 12 - Polish-Soviet War: Red Army retakes Kyiv.
- June 13 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post
- June 15 - New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
- June 22 - Greece attacks Turkish troops.
July
- July 1 - Germany declares its kayann is dumb neutrality in the war between Poland and Soviet Russia
- July 2 - Polish-Soviet War: Red Army continues offensive into Poland.
- July 10 - Arthur Meighen becomes Canada's ninth prime minister.
- July 12 - Bolshevist Russia recognizes independent Lithuania.
- July 13 - London County Council bars foreigners from council jobs.
- July 14 - France declares that Faisal I of Syria is deposed and occupies Damascus and Aleppo
- July 17 - Republic of Mirdite proclaimed near Albanian-Serbian border with Yugoslav support
- July 22 - Polish-Soviet War: Poland sues for peace with Bolshevist Russia.
- July 23 - The French defeat the Syrian army in the Battle of Maysalun.
- July 25 - First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast?
- July 26 - Pancho Villa takes over Sabina and contacts de la Huerta to offer his conditional surrender. He signs his surrender in July 28
- July 29 - The United States Bureau of Reclamation begins construction of the Link River Dam as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
August
- August 2 - British parliament passes bill to restore order in Ireland, suspending jury trials.
- August 3 - Catholics riot in Belfast.
- August 10 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres.
- August 11 - Bolshevik Russia recognizes independent Estonia and Latvia.
- August 13 - August 25 - Polish-Soviet War: The Red Army is defeated in the Battle of Warsaw.
- August 15 - Town Hall of Templemore, Ireland, is burned down during the riots.
- August 18 - Amendment 19 allowed women the right to vote under constitutional protection.
- August 19-August 25 - Second Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- August 20 - The first commercial radio station in the United States, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
- August 26 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
September
- September 4 - La Tercio de Extranjenos, the "Regiment of Foreigners" (modern-day Spanish Legion) inaugurated in Spain
- September 5 - Presidential elections begin in Mexico
- September 8 - Gabriele D'Annunzio proclaims the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume.
- September 16 - The Wall Street bombing: a hi cordell bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J.P.Morgan building in New York City - 38 dead, 400 injured
- September 20 - The first soldier joins the Spanish Legion.
- September 22 - Flying Squad formed in London Metropolitan Police.
- September 29
- First domestic radio sets come to stores in USA – Westinghouse radio costs $10.
- Adolf Hitler makes first public political speech, in Austria.
October
- October 9 - Polish troops take Vilnius
- October 10 - In the Carinthian Plebiscite a large part of Carinthia Province votes to become part of Austria rather than of the Yugoslavia.
- October 12 - Polish-Soviet War After Polish army captures Tarnopol, Dubno, Minsk, and Dryssa, the ceasefire is enforced.
- October 18 - Thousands of unemployed demonstrate in London ? 50 injured
- October 26 - Álvaro Obregón is announced elected president of Mexico
- October 27 - League of Nations moves its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland
November
- November 2
- Warren G. Harding defeats James M. Cox and Eugene V. Debs in the U.S. presidential election, the first national U.S. election in which women have the right to vote.
- In the United States, KDKA AM of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (owned by Westinghouse) starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
- November 11 - Unknown Soldier buried in Westminster Abbey.
- November 15 - In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of Nations is held.
- November 16 - Queensland and Northern Territory Aviation Services (Qantas) is founded by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinniss.
- November 17 - The council of the League of Nations accepts the constitution for the Free City of Danzig.
- November 21 - Bloody Sunday - British forces open fire on spectators and players during a football match in Dublin's Croke Park, killing 14 Irish civilians. This followed the assassinations of 12 British agents by the IRA in an earlier attack elsewhere.
- November 28 - The Third Cork Brigade Flying Column under Tom Barry successfully ambush two lorries of British soldiers at Kilmichael, County Cork, in the Kilmichael Ambush
- Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's first concert
December
- December 1 - Álvaro Obregón became president of Mexico.
- December 5 - Referendum in Greece is favorable to reinstatement of monarchy.
- December 11 - Martial law in Ireland.
- December 16
- Finland joins the League of Nations.
- 8.6 Richter scale Earthquake causes landslide in Gansu Province, China - 180.000 dead.
- December 22 - The 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR adopts GOELRO plan, the major plan of the economical development of the country.
- December 23 - United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-held Syria and British-held Palestine.
- December 25 - Foundation of The Rosicrucian Fellowship's Spiritual Healing Temple "The Ecclesia" at Mount Ecclesia, Oceanside, California (United States).
Undated
- Number of US Americans move to Paris to escape the Prohibition
- France prohibits selling of contraceptives.
- Kurd rebellion in Turkey begins.
- Johnny Torrio invites Al Capone to Chicago from New York City.
- Bricks of wine are widely sold throughout U.S.
Ongoing
Fictional
The following are references to year 1920 in fiction: (unknown).
Births
Gregorian calendar | 1920 MCMXX |
Ab urbe condita | 2673 |
Armenian calendar | 1369 ԹՎ ՌՅԿԹ |
Assyrian calendar | 6670 |
Baháʼí calendar | 76–77 |
Balinese saka calendar | 1841–1842 |
Bengali calendar | 1327 |
Berber calendar | 2870 |
British Regnal year | 10 Geo. 5 – 11 Geo. 5 |
Buddhist calendar | 2464 |
Burmese calendar | 1282 |
Byzantine calendar | 7428–7429 |
Chinese calendar | 己未年 (Earth Goat) 4617 or 4410 — to — 庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 4618 or 4411 |
Coptic calendar | 1636–1637 |
Discordian calendar | 3086 |
Ethiopian calendar | 1912–1913 |
Hebrew calendar | 5680–5681 |
Hindu calendars | |
- Vikram Samvat | 1976–1977 |
- Shaka Samvat | 1841–1842 |
- Kali Yuga | 5020–5021 |
Holocene calendar | 11920 |
Igbo calendar | 920–921 |
Iranian calendar | 1298–1299 |
Islamic calendar | 1338–1339 |
Japanese calendar | Taishō 9 (大正9年) |
Javanese calendar | 1850–1851 |
Juche calendar | 9 |
Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
Korean calendar | 4253 |
Minguo calendar | ROC 9 民國9年 |
Nanakshahi calendar | 452 |
Thai solar calendar | 2462–2463 |
Tibetan calendar | 阴土羊年 (female Earth-Goat) 2046 or 1665 or 893 — to — 阳金猴年 (male Iron-Monkey) 2047 or 1666 or 894 |
January-February
- January 1 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
- January 2 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (d. 1992), Anne-Sofie Østvedt, Norweigan resistance leader
- January 3 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
- January 5 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
- January 6
- Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist
- John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)
- Early Wynn, baseball player (d. 1999)
- January 9 - Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (d. 1998)
- January 12 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist (d. 1998)
- January 19 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
- January 20
- Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
- DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
- John O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
- January 23 - Gottfried Böhm, German architect
- January 27 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
- January 30 - Delbert Mann, American television and film director
- February 7 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
- February 11
- Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
- Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
- February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (d. 2000)
- February 13 - Seneka Bibile, Sri Lankan pharmacologist (d. 1977)
- February 17 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian film director (d. 2001)
- February 18 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)
- February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (d. 1945)
- February 26
- Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer, and traveler (d. 2006)
- February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
March-April
- March 3
- James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (d. 2005)
- Ronald Searle, British cartoonist
- March 4
- Jean Lecanuet, French politician (d. 1993)
- Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish actor (d. 2002)
- March 10
- Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur and the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (d. 2007)
- Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (d. 1959)
- March 11 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 14 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
- March 15
- Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
- E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 16 - Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
- March 19 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian poet and artist (d. 2002)
- March 20 - Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. ambassador to France (d. 1997)
- March 22 - Werner Klemperer, German actor (d. 2000)
- March 24 - Corbin Harney, an elder and spiritual leader of the Newe (Western Shoshone) people (d. 2007)
- March 25
- Patrick Troughton, British actor (d. 1987)
- Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (d. 1992)
- March 27 - Robin Jacques, English illustrator (d. 1995)
- April 1 - Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
- April 2 - Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1982)
- April 5 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)
- April 6 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 7 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
- April 8 - Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (d. 1994)
- April 11 - Peter O'Donnell, British author and writer of comic strips
- April 13 - Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
- April 15 - Thomas Stephen Szasz, Hungarian-born psychiatrist and writer
- April 21 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
- April 27 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
- April 29 - Harold Shapero, American composer
May-June
- May 2
- Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
- Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-born writer and ecological activist (d. 2000)
- May 6 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- May 8 - Saul Bass, American graphic designer (d. 1996)
- May 9 - Richard Adams, English author
- May 11 - Denver Pyle, American actor (d. 1997)
- May 13 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)
- May 18
- Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
- Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
- May 23 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
- May 26 - Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
- May 28 - Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (d. 1999)
- May 29 - John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (d. 1989)
- June 2 - Tex Schramm, American football executive (d. 2003)
- June 12
- Dave Berg, American cartoonist (d. 2002)
- Jim Siedow, American actor (d. 2003)
- June 16 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (d. 2004)
- June 17
- Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (d. 1981)
- François Jacob, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 25 - Ozan Marsh, American pianist
- June 29 - Ray Harryhausen, American animator
July-August
- July 4 - Leona Helmsley, Hotel operator, Realestate investor (d. 2007)
- July 10 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 11 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (d. 1985)
- July 13
- Bill Towers, English footballer (d. 2000)
- Don Ralke, American music arranger (d. 2000)
- July 17 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish International Olympic Committee president
- July 21 - Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)
- July 24 - Bella Abzug, American politician (d. 1998)
- July 25 - Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (d. 1958)
- August 2 - Reginald Hugh Hickling, British lawyer, colonial civil servant, law academic and author (d. 2007)
- August 3 - Hayden Carruth, American poet and literary critic
- August 8
- Leo Chiosso, Italian poet (d. 2006)
- Jimmy Witherspoon, American singer (d. 1997)
- August 9 - Milton G. Henschel, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses and 5th President of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (d. 2003)
- August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
- August 17 - Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
- August 18
- Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- Shelley Winters, American actress (d. 2006)
- August 21 - Christopher Robin Milne, English author and bookseller (d. 1996)
- August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American writer
- August 26 - Mauri Favén, Finnish painter (d. 2006)
- August 29 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
September-October
- September 9 - Aldo Parisot, Brazilian/American cellist
- September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian motorcycle engineer (d. 2001)
- September 14 - Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer
- September 14 - Lawrence Klein, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 18 - Jack Warden, American actor (d. 2006)
- September 22 - William H. Riker, American political scientist (d. 1993)
- September 23 - Mickey Rooney, American film actor
- September 24 - Dick Bong, American fighter ace
- September 27 - Jayne Meadows, American actress
- September 29 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- October 1
- Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
- Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)
- October 6 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)
- Helen Andelin, American author
- October 8 - Frank Herbert, American author (d. 1986)
- October 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
- October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author (d. 1999)
- October 22 - Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (d. 1996)
- October 29 - Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 30 - Norman Bird, UK character actor (d. 2005)
- October 31 - Fritz Walter, German footballer (d. 2002)
November-December
- November 2 - Ann Rutherford, Canadian actress
- November 25 - Ricardo Montalban, Mexican actor
- November 30 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
- December 6
- Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
- George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- December 9 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic
- December 21 - J. Roderick MacArthur American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1984)
- December 24 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- December 30 - Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)
- date unknown
- Patrick Campbell Rodger, Scottish Anglican bishop (d. 2002)
- Tommy J. Smith, Australian trainer (d. 1998)
- Amos Yarkoni, Israeli soldier (d. 1991)
Deaths
January - March
- January 2 - Paul Adam, French writer (b. 1862)
- January 3 - Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1888)
- January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
- January 6 - Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathematician (b. 1839)
- January 7 - Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
- January 24
- William Percy French, Irish songwriter and entertainer (b. 1854)
- Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (tuberculosis) (b. 1884)
- William Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, British diplomat and administrator (b. 1864)
- January 26 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, model, and common-law wife of Amedeo Modigliani (suicide) (b. 1898)
- February 2 - Field E. Kindley, American World War I aviator (b. 1896)
- February 3 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
- February 6 - Augustus F. Goodridge, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1839)
- February 7 - Aleksandr Kolchak, Russian naval commander (b. 1874)
- February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (b. 1837)
- February 20
- Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu (b. 1872)
- Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (b. 1856)
- February 27 - William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
- March 1
- John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama (b. 1842)
- William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1846)
- Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (b. 1880)
- March 4 - Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1843)
- March 11 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
- March 13 - Charles Lapworth, English geologist (b. 1842)
- March 26
- William Chester Minor, American surgeon (b. 1834)
- Mary Augusta Ward, Tasmanian novelist (b. 1851)
- March 31
- Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (b. 1837)
- Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (b. 1848)
April - June
- April 8
- John Brashear, American astronomer (b. 1840)
- Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b. 1884)
- April 9 - Moritz Cantor, German historian of mathematics (b. 1829)
- April 21 - Maria L. Sanford, American educator (b. 1836)
- April 26 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
- May 1 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (b. 1882)
- May 11
- James Colosimo, Italian-born gangster (b. 1877)
- William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
- May 16 - Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (b. 1824)
- May 21
- Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (b. 1859)
- Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868)
- May 23 - Svetozar Borojevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (b. 1856)
- May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer (b. 1862)
- June 5
- Rhoda Broughton, Welsh writer (b. 1840)
- Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847)
- June 6 - James Dunsmuir, Canadian politician (b. 1851)
- June 13 - Essad Pasha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1863)
- June 14
- Gabrielle Réjane, French actress (b. 1856)
- Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864)
- June 18
- Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (b. 1835)
- John Macoun, Irish born naturalist (b. 1831)
- June 20
- Marie Adolphe Carnot, French chemist, mining engineer, and politician (b. 1839)
- John Grigg, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1838)
- June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839)
July - September
- July 1 - Delfim Moreira, President of Brazil (b. 1868)
- July 2 - William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846)
- July 10 - John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
- July 11 - Empress Eugénie of France (b. 1826)
- July 14 - Albert Keller, German painter (b. 1844)
- July 22 - William Kissam Vanderbilt, American heir (b. 1849)
- August 1
- Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana (b. 1863)
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist (b. 1856)
- August 2 - Ormer Locklear, American pilot (b. 1891)
- August 9 - Samuel Griffith, Australian politician and judge (b. 1845)
- August 10 - Adam Politzer, Austrian otologist (b. 1835)
- August 12 - Hermann Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1854)
- August 16
- Henry Daglish, Premier of Australia (b. 1866)
- Joseph Norman Lockyer, English astronomer (b. 1836)
- August 17 - Ray Chapman, baseball player (b. 1891)
- August 22 - Anders Zorn, Swedish painter (b. 1860)
- August 26 - James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (b. 1835)
- August 31 - Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist (b. 1832)
- September 7 - Simon-Napoléon Parent, Premier of Quebec (b. 1855)
- September 10 - Olive Thomas, American actress (b. 1894)
- September 18 - Robert Beaven, Canadian politician (b. 1836)
- September 24 - Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian jeweler (b. 1846)
- September 25 - Jacob Schiff, German-born banker and philanthropist (b. 1847)
- September 30 - William Wilfred Sullivan, Canadian journalist, politician, and jurist (b. 1843)
October - December
- October 2 - Winthrop M. Crane, Governor of Massachusetts and Senator (b. 1853)
- October 10 - Hudson Stuck, English mountaineer (b. 1865)
- October 19 - John Reed, American journalist (b. 1887)
- October 20 - Max Bruch, German composer (b. 1838)
- November 21- Michael Hogan (sportsman) Was shot during a Gaelic football match by the British army who also killed 14 Irish supporters .
- October 24 - Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1853)
- November 1 - Kevin Barry, Irish republican (hanged) (b. 1902)
- November 4 - Ludwig Struve, Russian astronomer (b. 1858)
- November 13 - Luc-Olivier Merson, French painter and illustrator (b. 1846)
- November 23 - George Callaghan, British admiral (b. 1852)
- November 25 - Gaston Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and manufacturer (b. 1892)
- November 30 - Eugene W. Chafin, American politician (b. 1852)
- December 3 - William de Wiveleslie Abney, English astronomer and photographer (b. 1843)
- December 11 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
- December 12 - Edward Gawler Prior, Canadian mining engineer and politician (b. 1854)
- December 14 - George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)
- date unknown - Reginald John Farrer, English botanist (b. 1880)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Charles Edouard Guillaume
- Chemistry - Walther Nernst
- Medicine - Schack August Steenberg Krogh
- Literature - Knut Hamsun
- Peace - Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois
Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1920.