Events

• 3102 BC – Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.

• 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.

• 1268 – The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.

• 1332 – Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.

• 1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

• 1685 – Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

• 1745 – The city of Surakarta, Central Java is founded on the banks of Bengawan Solo river, and becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Surakarta

• 1797 – Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.

• 1814 – The Battle of Montereau occurs.

• 1841 – The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.

• 1846 – Beginning of the Galician peasant revolt.

• 1856 – The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

• 1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

• 1861 – With the Italian unification almost complete, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.

• 1865 – Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.

• 1873 – Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.

• 1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

• 1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

• 1901 – Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

• 1906 – Edouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.

• 1911 – The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

• 1913 – Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.

• 1929 – The first Academy Awards are announced.

• 1930 – While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

• 1930 – Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.

• 1932 – The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China.

• 1943 – The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

• 1943 – Joseph Goebbels delivers the Sportpalast speech.

• 1948 – Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.

• 1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.

• 1955 – Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.

• 1957 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.

• 1965 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

• 1969 – The Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disaster occurs, killing all on board.

• 1970 – The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

• 1972 – The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.

• 1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.

• 1979 – Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only recorded time in history.

• 1983 – Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.

• 1991 – The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.

• 1998 – Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.

• 2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

• 2001 – Seven time Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt dies as a result of a last lap accident in turn four of the Daytona 500.

• 2003 – Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.

• 2003 – Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.

• 2004 – Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.

Births

• 1374 – Saint Jadwiga of Poland, queen of Poland (d. 1399)

• 1404 – Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter and philosopher (d. 1472)

• 1486 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bengali yogi (d. 1534)

• 1516 – Queen Mary I of England (d. 1558)

• 1530 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1578)

• 1543 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)

• 1559 – Isaac Casaubon, French classical scholar (d. 1614)

• 1602 – Per Brahe, Swedish soldier (d. 1680)

• 1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian (d. 1674)

• 1635 – Johan Göransson Gyllenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1680)

• 1642 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (d. 1698)

• 1658 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French writer (d. 1743)

• 1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)

• 1814 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American-born U. S. Congressman (d. 1900)

• 1818 – Pedro Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter (d. 1870)

• 1836 – Sri Ramakrishna, Indian Bengali guru of Swami Vivekananda (d. 1886)

• 1838 – Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (d. 1916)

• 1846 – Wilson Barrett, English playwright (d. 1904)

• 1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)

• 1849 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (d. 1906)

• 1859 – Sholom Aleichem, Russian Yiddish humorist (d. 1916)

• 1870 – William Laurel Harris, American mural painter and writer (d. 1924)

• 1871 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948)

• 1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek author (d. 1957)

• 1884 – Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)

• 1888 – George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)

• 1890 – Edward Arnold, American actor (d. 1956)

• 1890 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)

• 1892 – Wendell Willkie, American politician (d. 1944)

• 1896 – Andre Breton, French writer (d. 1966)

• 1897 – Charles Kuentz, German-born French WW1 veteran and centenarian (d. 2005)

• 1898 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet (d. 1980)

• 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Founder of Ferrari (d. 1988)

• 1901 – Reginald Sheffield, British actor (d. 1957)

• 1902 – Walter Herbert, German-born conductor and impresario (d. 1975)

• 1903 – Nikolai Podgorny, President of the Soviet Union (d. 1983)

• 1906 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)

• 1907 – Oscar Brodney, American screenwriter (d. 2008)

• 1909 – Tuppy Owen-Smith, South African cricketer and English rugby union player (d. 1990)

• 1909 – Wallace Stegner, American writer (d. 1993)

• 1914 – Pee Wee King, American country musician and songwriter (d. 2000)

• 1915 – Phyllis Calvert, British actress (d. 2002)

• 1916 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian politician, mayor of Montreal (d. 1999)

• 1918 – Jane Loevinger, American psychologist (d. 2008).

• 1919 – Jack Palance, American actor (d. 2006)

• 1920 – Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)

• 1920 – Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician (d. 1997)

• 1922 – Helen Gurley Brown, American editor

• 1922 – Allan Melvin, American actor (d. 2008)

• 1922 – Juhan Smuul, Estonian author (d. 1971)

• 1924 – Humberto Fernández Morán, Venezuelan scientist (d. 1999)

• 1924 – Louis Laberge, Canadian labor union leader (d. 2002)

• 1925 – George Kennedy, American actor

• 1925 – Marcel Barbeau, Canadian Quebec artist

• 1926 – Nalini Jaywant, Indian actress

• 1927 – John Warner, American politician

• 1927 – Luis Arroyo, Puerto Rican baseball player

• 1927 – Peter Fryer English Marxist writer and journalist (d. 2006)

• 1928 – Tom Johnson, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1929 – Len Deighton, British author

• 1929 – André Mathieu, Canadian composer (d. 1968)

• 1930 – Gahan Wilson, American cartoonist

• 1931 – Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)

• 1931 – Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel laureate

• 1931 – Bob St. Clair, American football player

• 1932 – Miloš Forman, Czech film director

• 1933 – Yoko Ono, Japanese-born singer

• 1933 – Sir Bobby Robson, English football manager

• 1933 – Mary Ure, Scottish actress (d. 1975)

• 1934 – Audre Lord, Caribbean poet and activist (d. 1992)

• 1935 – Michel Aoun, Lebanese prime minister

• 1936 – Jean Auel, American writer

• 1936 – Dick Duff, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1938 – István Szabó, Hungarian film director

• 1938 – Manny Mota, Dominican baseball player

• 1939 – Dal Maxvill, American baseball player

• 1939 – Marek Janowski, Polish-born conductor

• 1939 – Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist

• 1940 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1999)

• 1941 – Irma Thomas, American singer

• 1943 – Graeme Garden, Scottish writer

• 1944 – Pat Bowlen, American sports team owner (Denver Broncos)

• 1945 – Judy Rankin, American golfer

• 1946 – Michael Buerk, British newsreader

• 1946 – Jean-Claude Dreyfus, French actor

• 1947 – Dennis DeYoung, American musician (Styx)

• 1947 – Princess Christina of the Netherlands

• 1947 – Carlos Lopes, Portuguese athlete

• 1947 – Eliot Lance Engel, American politician

• 1948 – Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress

• 1948 – Keith Knudsen, American drummer and songwriter (The Doobie Brothers) (d. 2005)

• 1949 – Gary Ridgway, American serial killer

• 1950 – John Hughes, American director (d.2009)

• 1950 – Cybill Shepherd, American actress

• 1950 – Michel Gauthier, Canadian politician

• 1951 – Isabel Preysler, Philippines-born Spanish socialite

• 1952 – Maurice Lucas, American basketball player

• 1952 – Juice Newton, American singer

• 1953 – Robbie Bachman, Canadian drummer (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

• 1954 – John Travolta, American actor

• 1955 – Miles Tredinnick, English playwright

• 1955 – Raymond Rougeau, Canadian professional wrestler

• 1956 – Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer (d. 1997)

• 1956 – Paul Reed Smith, American luthier, founder and owner of PRS Guitars

• 1957 – Marita Koch, German athlete

• 1957 – Vanna White, American game show presenter

• 1958 – Giovanni Lavaggi, Italian racing driver

• 1958 – Gar Samuelson, American drummer (d. 1999)

• 1960 – Carol McGiffin, British TV and radio presenter

• 1960 – Greta Scacchi, Australian actress

• 1960 – Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1961 – Hironobu Kageyama, Japanese singer

• 1962 – Julie Strain, American actress

• 1963 – Henry Winter, English football journalist

• 1964 – Matt Dillon, American actor

• 1964 – Paul Hanley, British musician (The Fall, Tom Hingley and the Lovers)

• 1965 – Dr. Dre, American record producer and rapper

• 1965 – Gregory Scott Johnson, American murderer (d. 2005)

• 1966 – Guy Ferland, American television director

• 1967 – Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer

• 1967 – Tracey Edmonds, American film and television producer

• 1967 – Harry Van Barneveld, Belgian judoka

• 1968 – Molly Ringwald, American actress

• 1969 – Tomaž Humar, Slovenian mountaineer

• 1969 – Alexander Mogilny, Russian ice hockey player

• 1969 – Jason Sutter, American drummer (Smash Mouth, American Hi-Fi)

• 1970 – Raine Maida, Canadian musician (Our Lady Peace)

• 1970 – Susan Egan, American actress

• 1971 – Constantin Popa, Romanian-born Israeli basketball player

• 1971 – Merritt Gant, American thrash metal guitarist

• 1972 – Drew Bowie, Australian stand up comedian

• 1973 – Claude Makélélé, French footballer

• 1974 – Jamey Carroll, American baseball player

• 1974 – Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmental activist

• 1974 – Ruby Dhalla, Canadian politician

• 1974 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russian tennis player

• 1974 – Jillian Michaels, Personal trainer

• 1975 – Sarah Brown, American actress

• 1975 – Keith Gillespie, Irish footballer

• 1975 – Gary Neville, English footballer

• 1976 – Chanda Rubin, American tennis player

• 1976 – Leilani Munter, American race car driver

• 1977 – Ike Barinholtz, American actor

• 1977 – Kátia, Brazilian footballer

• 1977 – Sean Watkins, American guitarist and songwriter

• 1977 – Chrissie Wellington, British triathlete

• 1978 – Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer

• 1980 – Nikolai Antropov, Kazakh ice hockey player

• 1980 – Regina Spektor, Russian/American singer and songwriter

• 1981 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player

• 1981 – Alex Rios, American baseball player

• 1981 – Ivan Sproule, Irish footballer

• 1981 – Larry Sweeney, American Professional Wrestler

• 1981 – Kim Jae Won, South Korean actor

• 1981 – Jasmine Fiore, American model (d. 2009)

• 1983 – Juelz Santana, American rapper

• 1983 – Jermaine Jenas, English footballer

• 1983 – Jason Maxiell, American basketball player

• 1983 – Troy Bienemann, American football player

• 1985 – Anton Ferdinand, English footballer

• 1985 – Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican serial killer

• 1986 – Marc Torrejón, Spanish footballer

• 1988 – Shane Lyons, American actor and chef

• 1988 – Maiara Walsh, American actress

• 1988 – Max (singer), South Korean singer from TVXQ

• 1990 – Cody Hodgson, Canadian hockey player

• 1991 – Malese Jow, American actress and singer

• 1991 – Henry Surtees, British racing driver (d. 2009)

Deaths

• 806 – Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 730)

• 814 – Angilbert, Frankish monk and confidant of Charlemagne

• 901 – Thabit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and mathematician (b. 826)

• 999 – Pope Gregory V (b. 972)

• 1139 – Prince Yaropolk II of Kiev (b. 1082)

• 1294 – Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor (b. 1215)

• 1379 – Albert II of Mecklenburg (b. 1318)

• 1405 – Tamerlane, Mongol Emperor (b. 1336)

• 1455 – Fra Angelico, Italian artist (b. 1395)

• 1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1449)

• 1535 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, astrologer and alchemist (b. 1486)

• 1546 – Martin Luther, German religious reformer (b. 1483)

• 1564 – Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian artist (b. 1475)

• 1583 – Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (b. 1503)

• 1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French writer (b. 1594)

• 1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (b. 1620)

• 1712 – Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (b. 1682)

• 1718 – Pierre Antoine Motteux, French-born English dramatist (b. 1663)

• 1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, last of the Medicis (b. 1667)

• 1748 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1677)

• 1772 – Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (b. 1712)

• 1778 – Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)

• 1780 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1714)

• 1788 – John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (b. 1713)

• 1803 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (b. 1719)

• 1842 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer (b. 1779)

• 1845 – Johnny Appleseed, American environmentalist (b. 1774)

• 1851 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (b. 1804)

• 1873 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian Revolutionist (b. 1837)

• 1893 – Serranus Clinton Hastings, American politician (b. 1814)

• 1895 – Karl Abs, German professional wrestler (b. 1851)

• 1900 – Clinton L. Merriam, American politician (b. 1824)

• 1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American founder of Tiffany & Co. (b. 1812)

• 1906 – John Batterson Stetson, American manufacturer (b. 1830)

• 1911 – Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)

• 1931 – Milan Šufflay, Croatian politician (b. 1879)

• 1933 – James J. Corbett, American boxer (b. 1866)

• 1938 – David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)

• 1942 – Albert Payson Terhune, American author (b. 1872)

• 1945 – Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Russian general (b. 1906)

• 1956 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)

• 1957 – Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan rebel leader (b. 1920)

• 1957 – Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)

• 1964 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Quebec inventor and industrialist (b. 1907)

• 1966 – Robert Rossen, American screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1908)

• 1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1904)

• 1967 – Dragiša Cvetković, Kingdom of Yugoslavia prime minister (b. 1893)

• 1973 – Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (b. 1891)

• 1977 – Andy Devine, American actor (b. 1905)

• 1978 – Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)

• 1981 – John Knudsen Northrop, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1895)

• 1982 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author (b. 1895)

• 1993 – Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)

• 1993 – Jacqueline Hill, British actress (b. 1929)

• 1995 – Bob Stinson, American guitarist (b. 1959)

• 1997 – Emily Hahn, American writer (b. 1905)

• 1998 – Harry Caray, American baseball broadcaster (b. 1914)

• 1998 – Robbie James, Welsh footballer (b. 1957)

• 1999 – Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b. 1932)

• 2000 – Willy Maltaite, Belgian comics creator (b. 1927)

• 2001 – Balthus, Polish-born painter (b. 1908)

• 2001 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (b. 1951)

• 2001 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (b. 1931)

• 2003 – Isser Harel, Israeli Mossad leader (b. 1912)

• 2004 – Jean Rouch, French filmmaker and ethnologist (b. 1917)

• 2006 – Richard Bright, American actor (b. 1937)

• 2008 – Sir Richard Knowles, British politician (b. 1917)

• 2008 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress, (b. 1955)

• 2008 – Mickey Renaud, Canadian professional ice hockey player (b. 1988)

• 2009 – Al-Tayyib Salih, Sudanese novelist and columnist (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

• Gambian Independence Day

• February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)