Events

• 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.

• 1377 – more than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath).

• 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.

• 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.

• 1509 – The Battle of Diu, between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire takes place in Diu, India.

• 1637 – Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) by government order.

• 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.

• 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.

• 1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.

• 1787 – Shays' Rebellion is crushed.

• 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the city of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire now the capital of Uruguay.

• 1809 – The Illinois Territory is created.

• 1830 – The sovereignty of Greece is confirmed in a London Protocol.

• 1834 – Wake Forest University is established.

• 1867 – Emperor Meiji becomes the 122nd emperor of Japan.

• 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of race.

• 1900 – Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky.

• 1908 – Foundation of Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece.

• 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

• 1916 – Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.

• 1917 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the former announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

• 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.

• 1930 – The Communist Party of Vietnam is established.

• 1931 – The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.

• 1944 – World War II: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.

• 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.

• 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17's of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.

• 1947 – The lowest temperature in North America is recorded in Snag, Yukon.

• 1957 – Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS).

• 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.

• 1959 – A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson and the incident becomes known as The Day the Music Died.

• 1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.

• 1967 – Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.

• 1969 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.

• 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption. Many believe the incident proves that NYPD officers tried to kill him.

• 1984 – Dr. John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer, from one women to another resulting in a live birth.

• 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission – astronauts, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered spacewalks using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.

• 1988 – Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.

• 1989 – After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.

• 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.

• 1991 – The Italian Communist Party dissolves and splits into the Democratic Party of the Left and the Communist Refoundation Party.

• 1996 – The Lijiang earthquake in Lijiang, Yunnan, China.

• 1998 – Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.

• 1998 – Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

• 1999 – In Jammu and Kashmir the political party Democratic Janata Dal is revived.

• 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.

Births

• 1338 – Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France (d. 1378)

• 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (d. 1723)

• 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister (d. 1755)

• 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)

• 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American patriot (d. 1813)

• 1777 – John Cheyne, British physician, surgeon and author (d. 1836)

• 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, South American independence leader (d. 1830)

• 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American Confederate general (d. 1891)

• 1808 – Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar, Princess of Prussia (d. 1877)

• 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)

• 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)

• 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist (d. 1881)

• 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (d. 1910)

• 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, Canadian-born Scottish educator and interpreter (d. 1894)

• 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English essayist, journalist and businessman (d. 1877)

• 1830 – Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)

• 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American writer (d. 1881)

• 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-born railway pioneer and executive (d. 1915)

• 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor (d. 1935)

• 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (d. 1935)

• 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American Supreme Court Justice (d. 1946)

• 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player (d. 1934)

• 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American writer (d. 1946)

• 1876 – William Tedmarsh, English-born American silent movie actor (d. 1937)

• 1887 – Juan Negrín, Spanish Prime Minister (d. 1956)

• 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)

• 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (d. 1968)

• 1893 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (d. 1978)

• 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American illustrator (d. 1978)

• 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)

• 1899 – João Café Filho, Brazilian president (d. 1970)

• 1899 – Lao She, Chinese writer (d. 1966)

• 1899 – Doris Speed, English actress (d. 1994)

• 1904 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)

• 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)

• 1905 – Arne Beurling, American mathematician(d. 1986)

• 1907 – James Michener, American author (d. 1997)

• 1909 – André Cayatte, French filmmaker (d. 1989)

• 1909 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)

• 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)

• 1911 – Robert Earl Jones, American actor (d. 2006)

• 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (d. 1990)

• 1913 – Richard Seaman, British racing driver (d. 1939)

• 1918 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (d. 2007)

• 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)

• 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian racing driver

• 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician

• 1923 – Alys Robi, French Canadian singer

• 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English socialist historian, (The Making of the English Working Class), (d. 1993)

• 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian politician and lieutenant governor of Quebec

• 1925 – Keith Dunstan, Australian author and journalist

• 1925 – John Fiedler, American voice actor (d. 2005)

• 1925 – Leon Schlumpf, member of the Swiss Federal Council

• 1926 – Shelley Berman, American comedian

• 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician

• 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American Underground Filmmaker

• 1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer

• 1927 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American writer (d. 2003)

• 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino politician (d. 2003)

• 1928 – Frankie Vaughan, English singer (d. 1999)

• 1929 – Ken Shipp, American football coach

• 1930 – Gillian Ayres, English painter

• 1932 – Peggy Ann Garner, American actress (d. 1984)

• 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American politician

• 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)

• 1938 – Emile Griffith, US Virgin Islands boxer

• 1939 – Michael Cimino, American film director

• 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player

• 1941 – Neil Bogart, American record executive (d. 1982)

• 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American professional wrestler

• 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress

• 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations)

• 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American singer, guitarist and songwriter

• 1944 – Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress

• 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, American singer and songwriter (d. 1993)

• 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player

• 1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist

• 1947 – Dave Davies, English musician (The Kinks)

• 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor

• 1947 – Melanie Safka, American singer-songwriter

• 1948 – Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorese politician, Nobel Peace laureate

• 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author

• 1949 – Arthur Kane, American musician (d. 2004)

• 1949 – Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist

• 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress

• 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian football manager

• 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player

• 1953 – Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician

• 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1955 – Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist

• 1955 – Kirsty Wark, British broadcast journalist

• 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player

• 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor

• 1956 – Lee Ranaldo, American musician (Sonic Youth)

• 1957 – Chico Serra, Brazilian racing driver

• 1957 – Steven Stapleton, English musician (Nurse With Wound)

• 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American astronaut

• 1958 – N. Gregory Mankiw, American economist

• 1959 – Thomas Calabro, American actor

• 1959 – Yasuharu Konishi, Japanese musician (Pizzicato Five)

• 1959 – Lol Tolhurst, English musician (The Cure)

• 1959 – Ferzan Özpetek, Turkish cinema director

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

• 1961 – Jay Adams, American skateboarder

• 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer

• 1961 – Keith Gordon, American actor

• 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress

• 1962 – Marty Jannetty, American professional wrestler

• 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Economist

• 1965 – Karlous Marx Shinohamba, Namibian politician

• 1965 – Kathleen Kinmont, American actress

• 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress

• 1966 – Frank Coraci, American film director

• 1967 – Dave Benson Phillips, English children's TV presenter

• 1967 – Bob Taylor, English footballer

• 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player

• 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer

• 1969 – Robert Pack, American basketball player

• 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer

• 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor

• 1971 – Sean Dawkins, American football player

• 1971 – Elisa Donovan, American actress

• 1971 – Vincent Elbaz, French actor

• 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor

• 1971 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)

• 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish film and video game music composer

• 1972 – Mart Poom, Estonian footballer

• 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist

• 1974 – Konrad Gałka, Polish swimmer

• 1974 – Julie Meadows, American pornographic actress

• 1974 – Miriam Yeung, Hong Kong actress

• 1976 – Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1976 – Isla Fisher, Australian actress

• 1976 – Tim Heidecker, American comedian

• 1976 – Dwayne Rudd, American football player

• 1977 – Daddy Yankee , Puerto Rican reggaeton singer/rapper

• 1978 – Adrian R'Mante, American actor

• 1978 – Eliza Schneider, American actress and singer

• 1980 – Sarah Lewitinn, American writer

• 1980 – Kim E-Z, former member of the Korean girl group Baby V.O.X.

• 1981 – Alisa Reyes, American actress and singer

• 1981 – Maurice Ross, Scottish footballer

• 1982 – Alan Gurr, Australian V8 Supercar driver

• 1982 – Jessica Harp, American singer (The Wreckers)

• 1983 – Richard Bartel, American football player

• 1983 – Silambarasan Rajendar, Indian Tamil actor

• 1988 – Kyuhyun, a singer, a member of Korean boy group Super Junior

• 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer

• 1989 – Ryne Sanborn, American actor

• 1990 – Sean Kingston, Jamaican/American singer/rapper

• 1994 – Quincy Washington, BBC TV Show Winner

Deaths

• 619 – Laurence of Canterbury, 2nd Archbishop of Canterbury

• 699 – Saint Werburgh

• 1014 – King Sweyn I of Denmark

• 1116 – King Coloman of Hungary (b. 1070)

• 1399 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)

• 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)

• 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1404)

• 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher

• 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)

• 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English conspirator (b. 1564)

• 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian Mathematician (b. 1648)

• 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish statesman (b. 1723)

• 1832 – George Crabbe, English naturalist (b. 1754)

• 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (b. 1774)

• 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, French Canadian poet and historian (b. 1809)

• 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynaecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)

• 1874 – Lunalilo, Hawaiian monarch (b. 1835)

• 1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)

• 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (b. 1839)

• 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate (b. 1856)

• 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist (b. 1878)

• 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer (b. 1859)

• 1936 – Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, consort of William of Wied, Prince of Albania (b. 1885)

• 1937 – Marija Leiko, Latvian film actress (b. 1887)

• 1945 – Roland Freisler, Nazi leader (b. 1893)

• 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American Navy Admiral (b. 1887)

• 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American administrator and politician (b. 1874)

• 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician (b. 1871)

• 1956 – Johnny Claes, Belgian racing driver (b. 1916)

• 1959 – The Day the Music Died

• *Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)

• *Roger Peterson, pilot (b. 1937)

• *Ritchie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)

• *J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, American singer (b. 1930)

• 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)

• 1961 – Viscount Dunrossil, Australian governor-general (b. 1893)

• 1964 – Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (b. 1880)

• 1967 – Joe Meek, English record producer (b. 1929)

• 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane Mozambican independence founder (b. 1920)

• 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (b. 1873)

• 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (b. 1904)

• 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)

• 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)

• 1989 – Lionel Newman, American movie music orchestra leader, composer and arranger (b. 1916)

• 1991 – Harry Ackerman, American TV executive producer (b. 1912)

• 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)

• 1998 – Fat Pat, American rapper (Screwed Up Click) (b. 1970)

• 2003 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and model (b. 1962)

• 2009 – Sheng-yen, Buddhist monk and founder of Dharma Drum Mountain. (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

• Japan – the festival of Setsubun before spring.

• Mozambique – Heroes' Day.

• United States – Four Chaplains Day.

• United States – the earliest calendar day that Mardi Gras can occur.

• Saint Blaise, Catholics visit churches to have their throats blessed.

• Aaron the Illustrious, saint of the Syriac Orthodox Church

• Saint Ansgar, patron saint of Denmark

• Saint Hadelin

• Saint Werburgh

• Saint Berlindis

• Saint Margaret of England

• Saint Nona and Saint Celsa

• February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)