Events

• 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.

• 1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.

• 1014 – Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.

• 1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

• 1349 – Approximately 2,000 Jews are burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg.

• 1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.

• 1743 – Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.

• 1778 – The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

• 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.

• 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.

• 1803 – Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void.

• 1804 – Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.

• 1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.

• 1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

• 1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

• 1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

• 1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

• 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.

• 1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

• 1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

• 1900 – Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.

• 1900 – Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.

• 1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Department of Commerce and Department of Labor).

• 1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

• 1912 – In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.

• 1918 – The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (on 1 February according to the Julian calendar).

• 1919 – The Polish-Soviet War begins.

• 1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.

• 1924 – The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is founded.

• 1929 – St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.

• 1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.

• 1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.

• 1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign – General Hans-Jurgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.

• 1944 – World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.

• 1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.

• 1945 – World War II: Prague is bombed probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.

• 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

• 1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans.

• 1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.

• 1946 – ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled.

• 1949 – The Knesset (Israeli parliament) convenes for the first time.

• 1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.

• 1956 – The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union begins in Moscow. On the last night of the meeting, Premier Nikita Khrushchev condemns Joseph Stalin's crimes in a secret speech.

• 1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.

• 1962 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.

• 1966 – Australian currency is decimalised.

• 1979 – In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

• 1981 – Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people

• 1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher is later convicted of fraud.

• 1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.

• 1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.

• 1989 – The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.

• 1990 – 92 people are killed aboard Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.

• 1996 – China launches a Long March 3 rocket, carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. The rocket flies off course 3 seconds after liftoff and crashes into a rural village.

• 1998 – Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

• 2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

• 2002 – Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.

• 2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.

• 2005 – Lebanese self-made billionaire and business tycoon Rafik Hariri killed, along with 21 others, when explosives equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.

• 2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.

• 2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injuries.

Births

• 1468 – Johann Werner, German mathematician (d. 1522)

• 1483 – Babur, Moghul emperor of India (d. 1530)

• 1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)

• 1680 – John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)

• 1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)

• 1701 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)

• 1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)

• 1788 – Fernando Sor, Spanish composer (d. 1839)

• 1799 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter (d. 1842)

• 1800 – Emory Washburn, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)

• 1812 – Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)

• 1818 – Fredrick Douglas, American abolitionist (d. 1895)

• 1819 – Joshua A. Norton, American eccentric (d. 1880)

• 1819 – Christopher Sholes, American inventor (d. 1890)

• 1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American Civil War Union general (d. 1886)

• 1828 – Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (d. 1885)

• 1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor, (d. 1914)

• 1846 – Julian Scott, American artist and Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. (d. 1901)

• 1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette (d. 1919)

• 1847 – Maria Pia of Italy, queen of Portugal (d. 1911)

• 1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)

• 1856 – Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)

• 1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., American engineer and inventor (d. 1896)

• 1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (d. 1954)

• 1869 – Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1959)

• 1871 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (d. 1959)

• 1884 – Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor, film director (d. 1947)

• 1884 – Joe Jagersberger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1952)

• 1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet (d. 1974)

• 1885 – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Prominent Muslim Indian/Pakistani philosopher (d. 1949)

• 1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)

• 1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech military commander (d. 1948)

• 1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)

• 1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)

• 1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)

• 1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-born American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)

• 1903 – Stu Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)

• 1904 – Charles Oatley, Professor of electrical engineering, (scanning electron microscope), (d. 1996)

• 1904 – Hertta Kuusinen, Finnish communist (d. 1974)

• 1905 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)

• 1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)

• 1913 – Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)

• 1913 – Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)

• 1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (presumed d. 1975)

• 1914 – Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (d. 2007)

• 1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general

• 1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director (d. 1996)

• 1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)

• 1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, Nobel Prize Laureate

• 1921 – Hugh Downs, American television host

• 1922 – Murray the K, American impresario and disk jockey (d. 1982)

• 1923 – Bob Wolff, American sportscaster

• 1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (d. 2007)

• 1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor (d. 1982)

• 1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian hockey player (d. 2006)

• 1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)

• 1931 – Phyllis McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)

• 1932 – Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director

• 1933 – Madhubala, Indian actress (d. 1969)

• 1934 – Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor

• 1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress

• 1936 – Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer and focus of a 1974 scandal involving Congressman Wilbur Mills

• 1937 – Magic Sam, American blues musician (d. 1969)

• 1936 – Andrew Prine, American actor

• 1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist

• 1941 – Donna Shalala, American educator

• 1941 – Paul Tsongas, United States Senator from Massachusetts (d. 1997)

• 1942 – Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City

• 1942 – Andrew Robinson, American actor

• 1942 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican racing driver (d. 1962)

• 1943 – Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)

• 1943 – Aaron Russo, American movie producer (d. 2007)

• 1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist

• 1944 – Alan Parker, British film director and writer

• 1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish racing driver (d. 1978)

• 1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein

• 1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)

• 1946 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)

• 1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1975)

• 1947 – Judd Gregg, American politician, senior senator from New Hampshire

• 1948 – Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host

• 1948 – Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)

• 1950 – Roger Fisher, American musician (Heart)

• 1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer

• 1951 – JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater

• 1952 – Nancy Keenan, American reproductive-rights advocate and NARAL president

• 1955 – Ronald Desruelles, Belgian athlete

• 1955 – James Eckhouse, American actor

• 1955 – Carol Kalish, American publishing executive (d. 1991)

• 1955 – Rip Rogers, American professional wrestler

• 1957 – Alan Hunter, American TV personality

• 1957 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano

• 1958 – Enrique Mansilla, Argentine racing driver

• 1958 – Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer

• 1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano

• 1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player

• 1960 – Meg Tilly, American actress

• 1961 – Phillip Hamilton, American author

• 1961 – Latifa, Tunisian singer

• 1962 – Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist (d. 2002)

• 1962 – Michael Higgs, English actor

• 1962 – Philippe Sella, French rugby player

• 1962 – Sakina Jaffrey, Indian actress

• 1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor

• 1963 – John Marzano, American baseball player

• 1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist

• 1964 – Zach Galligan, American actor

• 1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech National Hockey League player

• 1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player

• 1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, British entrepreneur

• 1968 – Jules Asner, American television personality

• 1968 – Scott McClellan, American politician

• 1969 – Adriana Behar, Brazilian beach volleyball player

• 1969 – Harry Colon, American football player

• 1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist

• 1970 – Simon Pegg, British comedian and actor

• 1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipino Actress and TV Host

• 1971 – Gheorghe Muresan, Romanian basketball player

• 1971 – Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer

• 1971 – Tommy Dreamer, American professional wrestler

• 1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player

• 1972 – Big Daddy V, American professional wrestler

• 1972 – Hiroshi, Japanese comedian

• 1972 – Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress

• 1972 – Rob Thomas, American musician (Matchbox Twenty)

• 1973 – Tyus Edney, American basketball player

• 1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (d. 2009)

• 1974 – Filippa Giordano, Italian singer

• 1974 – Philippe Léonard, Belgian footballer

• 1975 – Scott Owen, Australian musician (The Living End)

• 1975 – Yul Kwon, American Survivor contestant

• 1975 – Malik Zidi, French actor

• 1976 – Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer (Leaves' Eyes)

• 1977 – Darren Bennett, a Professional Latin Ballroom Dancer

• 1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist

• 1977 – Darren Purse, English footballer

• 1977 – Donna Cruz, Filipina Actress and Singer

• 1977 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)

• 1978 – Dean Gaffney, British actor

• 1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player

• 1978 – Darius Songaila, Lithuanian basketball player

• 1978 – Dwele, American R&B/Soul singer

• 1979 – Pablo Pallante, Uruguayan footballer

• 1980 – Fátima Leyva, Mexican footballer

• 1980 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress

• 1980 – Josh Senter, American screenwriter

• 1981 – Randy de Puniet, French motorcyle racer

• 1981 – Erin Torpey, American actress and singer

• 1982 – Marián Gáborík, Slovak hockey player

• 1983 – Rocky Elsom, Australian Rugby Captain

• 1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer

• 1983 – Rhydian Roberts, Welsh Singer, X factor Runner Up

• 1984 – Hamed Namouchi, Tunisian footballer

• 1985 – Karima Adebibe, Moroccan-English actress and model

• 1985 – Tyler Clippard, American baseball player

• 1985 – Heart Evangelista, Filipina singer, TV and movie actress

• 1985 – John Prats, Filipino Actor and Dancer

• 1985 – Natsume Sano, Japanese gravure idol

• 1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer

• 1985 – Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress

• 1986 – Michael Ammermüller, German racing driver

• 1986 – Roxanne Guinoo, Filipina actress

• 1986 – Aschwin Wildeboer, Spanish swimmer

• 1986 – Tiffany Thornton, American actress

• 1987 – Joseph Pichler, American actor

• 1987 – Julia Savicheva, Russian singer

• 1987 – David Wheater, English footballer

• 1988 – Ángel Di María, Argentine footballer

• 1988 – Katie Boland, Canadian actress

• 1988 – Quentin Mosimann, Swiss singer, winner of Star Academy France 7

• 1988 – Asia Nitollano, American dancer, Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll winner

• 1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1992 – Freddie Highmore, English actor

• 1994 – Paul Butcher, American actor

Deaths

• 270 – St. Valentine marking Valentines Day

• 869 – Saint Cyril, Greek monk, scholar, theologian and linguist (b. 827)

• 1317 – Marguerite of France, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1282)

• 1400 – King Richard II of England (murdered) (b. 1367)

• 1405 – Timur, Mongol conqueror (b. 1336)

• 1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal and Protestant (b. 1517)

• 1676 – Abraham Bosse, French engraver and artist

• 1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, Queen Consort of Spain (b. 1688)

• 1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)

• 1744 – John Hadley, inventor (b. 1682)

• 1779 – James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)

• 1780 – William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)

• 1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (b. 1732)

• 1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)

• 1831 – Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)

• 1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American Civil War Confederate General (b. 1815)

• 1881 – Fernando Wood, New York City mayor (b. 1812)

• 1885 – Jules Vallès, French writer (b. 1832)

• 1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War General (b. 1820)

• 1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (b. 1814)

• 1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (assassinated) (b. 1880)

• 1929 – Tom Burke, American runner (b. 1875)

• 1942 – Adnan Bin Saidi, Officer of the Malay Regiment killed in the defense of Singapore (b. 1915)

• 1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer, and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)

• 1943 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)

• 1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (b. 1876)

• 1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi-Assyrian communist leader (b. 1901)

• 1950 – Karl Guthe Jansky, American Discoverer of cosmic radio waves (b. 1905)

• 1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)

• 1958 – Abdul Rab Nishtar, veteran leader of Pakistan Movement, (b. 1899)

• 1959 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)

• 1967 – Sig Ruman, German-American actor (b. 1884)

• 1969 – Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)

• 1970 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b. 1880).

• 1974 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1903)

• 1975 – Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)

• 1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)

• 1978 – Paul Governali, American football player (b. 1921)

• 1979 – Adolph Dubs, American diplomat (b. 1920)

• 1980 – Luitkonwar Rudra Baruah, Assamese composer and actor (b. 1926)

• 1983 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)

• 1986 – Edmund Rubbra, English Composer (b. 1901)

• 1987 – Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)

• 1987 – Karolos Koun, Greek theater director (b. 1908)

• 1988 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901)

• 1989 – James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)

• 1990 – Tony Holiday, German singer (b. 1951)

• 1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)

• 1994 – Rodney Orr American racing driver (b. 1962)

• 1995 – U Nu, Burmese politician (b. 1907)

• 1995 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (b. 1923)

• 1996 – Bob Paisley, English football manager (b. 1919)

• 1999 – John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)

• 1999 – Buddy Knox, American singer and songwriter (b. 1933)

• 2002 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)

• 2003 – Dolly, first cloned mammal (b. 1996)

• 2003 – Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)

• 2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)

• 2005 – Najai Turpin, American boxer (b. 1981)

• 2006 – Shoshana Damari, Israeli singer and actress (b. 1923)

• 2006 – Lynden David Hall, British singer (b. 1974)

• 2006 – Darry Cowl, French musician and actor (b. 1925)

• 2007 – Gareth Morris, British flautist (b. 1920)

• 2007 – Ryan Larkin, Canadian animated film maker. (b. 1943)

• 2009 – Sir Bernard Ashley, Welsh businessman and entrepreneur. (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Arizona – Admission Day (1912).

• Oregon – Admission Day (1859).

• Western World – Valentine's Day.

• Iraq – 'Communist Martyrs Day' celebrated by Iraqi Communist Party.

• Europe/Catholicism – Feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe.

• Saint Valentine (died ca. 269).

• February 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Ancient Rome – Second day of Lupercalia