Events[edit]

362 Athanasius returns to Alexandria.

1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing
to torture and forgery.
1440 The Prussian Confederation is formed.
1543 Battle of Wayna Daga A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeats
a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
1613 Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning
the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
1804 The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren
Ironworks in Wales.
1808 Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at
Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish war, in which Sweden will lose the
eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.
1828 Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee
syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
1842 John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
1862 American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
1874 The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
1878 The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
1885 The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
1913 Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
1916 World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
1918 The last Carolina Parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
1919 German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of
the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
1921 Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first
constitution.
1921 Rez Shh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup
1925 The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
1937 The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
1945 World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and
damage the USS Saratoga.
1947 In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land
Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
1948 NASCAR is incorporated.
1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to
"set the people free".
1952 The Bengali Language Movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1958 The peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest
against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald
Holtom.
1965 Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of
the Nation of Islam.
1970 Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers
and nine crew members near Zrich, Switzerland.
1971 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
1972 President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American
relations.
1972 The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
1973 Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet
killing 108.
1974 The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce
with Egypt.
1975 Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and
former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
1986 The Legend of Zelda, the first game of The Legend of Zelda series, was released in
Japan on the Famicom Disk System.
1995 Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make
a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
2013 Two bomb blasts in Hyderabad, India, kill at least 17 people and injure more than 100
others.
Births[edit]
1484 Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
1556 Sethus Calvisius, German astronomer, composer, and theorist (d. 1615)
1621 Rebecca Nurse, English-American victim of the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
1675 Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
1703 Shah Waliullah, Islamic scholar and reformer (d. 1762)
1705 Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, English admiral (d. 1781)
1721 John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
1723 Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
1728 Peter III of Russia (d. 1762)
1783 Catharina of Wrttemberg (d. 1835)
1791 Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1857)
1794 Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (d.
1876)
1801 John Henry Newman, English cardinal (d. 1890)
1817 Jos Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1893)
1821 Charles Scribner I, American publisher, founded Charles Scribner's Sons (d. 1871)
1836 Lo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
1844 Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
1860 Karel Matj apek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
1860 Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor (d. 1952)
1865 John Haden Badley, English educator and author, founded the Bedales School (d. 1967)
1867 Otto Hermann Kahn, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1934)
1875 Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and oldest person ever (d. 1997)
1876 Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
1878 Mirra Alfassa, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
1880 Waldemar Bonsels, German author (d. 1952)
1880 Otto Christman, Canadian soccer player (d. 1963)
1882 William Jeremiah Tuttle, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1930)
1885 Sacha Guitry, Russian playwright (d. 1957)
1887 Korechika Anami, Japanese general (d. 1945)
1888 Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (d. 1965)
1893 Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (d. 1979)
1893 Andrs Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
1895 Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
1896 Suryakant Tripathi, Indian poet (d. 1961)
1900 Madeleine Renaud, French actress (d. 1994)
1903 Scrapper Blackwell, American guitarist and singer (d. 1962)
1903 Fairfax M. Cone, American businessman (d. 1977)
1903 Anas Nin, French-American author (d. 1977)
1903 Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (d. 1976)
1904 Alexei Kosygin, Russian politician (d. 1980)
1907 W. H. Auden, English-American poet (d. 1973)
1909 Hans Erni, Swiss painter and sculptor
1910 Douglas Bader, English pilot (d. 1982)
1910 Carmine Galante, American gangster (d. 1979)
1910 Eddie Waring, English rugby coach and sportscaster (d. 1986)
1912 Arline Judge, American actress (d. 1974)
1912 Marjorie Lane, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1912 Nikita Magaloff, Georgian-Russian pianist (d. 1992)
1913 Roger Laurent, Belgian race car driver (d. 1997)
1914 Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish pilot (d. 1999)
1914 Park Su-geun, South Korean painter (d. 1965)
1915 Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
1917 Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
1919 Louis F. Oberdorfer, American judge (d. 2013)
1919 Kehat Shorr, Israeli coach (d. 1972)
1921 John Rawls, American philosopher (d. 2002)
1921 Peter Whalley, Canadian cartoonist and sculptor (d. 2007)
1924 Emil Frei, American physician and oncologist (d. 2013)
1924 William Hathaway, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1924 Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe
1925 Sam Peckinpah, American director and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1927 Erma Bombeck, American columnist (d. 1996)
1927 Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer, founded Givenchy
1927 Pierre Mercure, Canadian bassoon player and composer (d. 1966)
1929 Chespirito, Mexican actor, director, and screenwriter
1929 James Beck, English actor (d. 1973)
1930 Pedro R. Dean, Filipino archbishop
1933 Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2003)
1934 Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
1935 Richard A. Lupoff, American author
1935 Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
1935 Jean Pelletier, Canadian politician, 37th Mayor of Quebec City
1936 Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
1937 Harald V of Norway
1937 Gary Lockwood, American actor
1938 Bobby Charles, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1939 Richard Beymer, American actor
1939 Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2005)
1940 Peter Gethin, English race car driver (d. 2011)
1940 John Lewis, American politician and activist
1940 Wong Jim, Hong Kong actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 2004)
1942 Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian and educator (d. 2013)
1942 Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and director
1943 David Geffen, American film and record producer, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen
Records
1945 D'Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
1945 Walter Momper, German politician, Governing Mayor of Berlin
1945 Paul Newton, English bass player (Uriah Heep)
1946 Tyne Daly, American actress
1946 Anthony Daniels, English actor
1946 Alan Rickman, English actor
1946 Vito Rizzuto, Italian-Canadian mob boss
1946 Bob Ryan, American columnist
1946 Knut Hove, Norwegian veterinarian
1947 Johnny Echols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Love)
1947 Olympia Snowe, American politician
1947 Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
1948 Jiina Kov, Czech former field hockey
1949 Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Talking
Heads and The Modern Lovers)
1949 Ronnie Hellstrm, Swedish footballer
1951 Dos Caras, Mexican wrestler
1951 Wolfgang Frank, German footballer
1951 Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (The Grateful Dead, The Tubes, and Missing
Man Formation) (d. 2006)
1952 Jean-Jacques Burnel, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (The Stranglers)
1952 Jeffrey Shaara, American author
1953 Christine Ebersole, American actress and singer
1953 William Petersen, American actor
1954 Victor Martinez, Mexican-American author and poet (d. 2011)
1954 Mike Pickering, English DJ and saxophonist (Quando Quango and M People)
1954 Ivo Van Damme, Belgian runner (d. 1976)
1955 Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, director, and producer
1958 Jake Burns, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Stiff Little Fingers)
1958 Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 Jack Coleman, American actor and screenwriter
1958 Alan Trammell, American baseball player and manager
1959 Jos Mara Cano, Spanish singer-songwriter and painter (Mecano)
1959 Emmett McAuliffe, American lawyer and radio host
1960 Laurent Petitguillaume, French radio and television host
1960 Steve Wynn, American singer-songwriter (Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project)
1961 Christopher Atkins, American actor
1961 Martha Hackett, American actress
1961 Rhonda Sing, American wrestler (d. 2001)
1962 Vanessa Feltz, English journalist
1962 Chuck Palahniuk, American journalist and author
1962 David Foster Wallace, American author (d. 2008)
1963 William Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 Huw Higginson, English actor
1964 Mark Kelly, American captain and astronaut
1964 Scott Kelly, American captain and astronaut
1964 Jane Tomlinson, English activist (d. 2007)
1966 Nikki Charm, American pornographic actress
1967 Leroy Burrell, American runner
1967 Silke-Beate Knoll, German sprinter
1969 James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Manic Street Preachers)
1969 Aunjanue Ellis, American actress
1969 Corey Harris, American singer and guitarist
1969 Tony Meola, American footballer
1969 Chen Wei, Chinese activist
1969 Cathy Richardson, American singer and songwriter (Jefferson Starship and Big Brother
and the Holding Company)
1970 Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
1970 Eric Wilson, American bass player (Sublime, Sublime with Rome and Long Beach Dub
Allstars)
1971 Randy Blythe, American singer-songwriter (Lamb of God)
1972 Seo Taiji, South Korean singer-songwriter (Sinawe)
1973 Jacob M. Appel, American bioethicist and author
1973 Heri Joensen, Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist (Tr)
1973 Brian Rolston, American ice hockey player
1973 Marina Stets, Belarusian tennis player
1973 Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer and actress
1974 Ivn Campo, Spanish footballer
1974 Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
1975 Wish Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
1975 Troy Slaten, American actor
1976 Michael McIntyre English comedian and actor
1976 Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 Jonathan Safran Foer, American author
1977 Steve Francis, American basketball player
1977 Chad Hutchinson, American baseball and football player
1977 Owen King, American author
1977 Kevin Rose, American businessman and television host, founded Digg
1978 Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
1978 Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
1978 Nicole Parker, American actress and singer
1979 Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
1979 Jordan Peele, American comedian and actor
1979 Carly Coln, Puerto Rican wrestler
1979 Lonnie Ford, American football player
1979 Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress, singer, and producer
1980 Brodus Clay, American wrestler
1980 Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1980 Levan Korgalidze, Georgian footballer
1980 Yannick Lupien, Canadian swimmer
1980 Brendan Sexton III, American actor
1980 Parthiva Sureshwaren, Indian race car driver
1980 Jim Vandermeer, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese king
1981 Jun Kaname, Japanese actor
1982 Bernhard Auinger, Austrian race car driver
1982 Andre Barrett, American basketball player
1982 Chantal Claret, American singer-songwriter (Morningwood)
1982 Tebogo Jacko Magubane, South African DJ and producer
1983 Braylon Edwards, American football player
1983 Franklin Gutirrez, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 Mlanie Laurent, French actress, singer, and director
1984 Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby player
1984 Karina Nose, Japanese model and actress
1984 David Odonkor, German footballer
1984 Marco Paoloni, Italian footballer
1984 James Wisniewski, American ice hockey player
1984 Damien Molony, Irish actor
1985 Jarrod Atkinson, Australian footballer
1985 Bob Burton, Jr., American speedcuber
1985 Simon Cusden, English cricketer
1985 Tommy Mercer, American wrestler
1985 Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
1985 Jamaal Westerman, American football player
1986 Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
1986 Charlotte Church, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
1987 Ashley Greene, American model and actress
1987 Enrique David Mateo, Brazilian footballer
1987 Ellen Page, Canadian actress
1987 Joel Redman, English wrestler
1988 Matthias de Zordo, German javelin thrower
1988 Mario Falcone, English reality television personality on The Only Way Is Essex
1989 Corbin Bleu, American actor, dancer, and singer
1989 Kristin Herrera, American actress
1989 Jem Karacan, English-Turkish footballer
1989 Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
1989 Josh Walker, English footballer
1990 David Addy, Ghanaian footballer
1990 Thabiso Baholo, Lesotho swimmer
1990 Mattias Tedenby, Swedish ice hockey player
1993 Steve Leo Beleck, Cameroonian footballer
1994 Tang Haochen, Chinese tennis player
1994 Charalampos Mavrias, Greek footballer
1996 Sophie Turner, English actress
2001 Isabella Acres, American actress
Deaths[edit]
1437 James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
1471 John of Rokycan, Czech theologian (b. 1396)
1513 Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
1543 Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Somalian Imam and general (b. 1507)
1554 Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b. 1498)
1595 Robert Southwell, English priest and poet (b. 1561)
1668 John Thurloe, English secretary and spy (b. 1616)
1677 Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
1715 Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (b. 1637)
1730 Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
1788 Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
1821 Georg Friedrich von Martens, German jurist and diplomat (b. 1756)
1824 Eugne de Beauharnais, French son of Josphine de Beauharnais (b. 1781)
1846 Emperor Nink of Japan (b. 1800)
1862 Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
1891 James Timberlake, American lieutenant and police officer (b. 1846)
1900 Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun maker (b. 1853)
1901 George FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
1919 Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Minister President of Bavaria (b. 1867)
1926 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
1934 Augusto Csar Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (b. 1895)
1938 George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
1941 Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
1944 Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian race car driver (b. 1873)
1945 Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
1946 Jos Streel, Belgian journalist (b. 1911)
1949 Tan Malaka, Indonesian educator and activist (b. 1894)
1949 Tommy Clay, English footballer (b. 1892)
1958 Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
1960 Jacques Becker, French director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1965 Malcolm X, American minister and activist (b. 1925)
1966 Paul Comtois, Canadian politician, 21st Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1895)
1967 Charles Beaumont, American author (b. 1929)
1968 Howard Florey, Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
1970 Johannes Semper, Estonian writer, translator and politician (b. 1892)
1972 Zhang Guohua, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
1972 Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
1972 Eugne Tisserant, French cardinal (b. 1884)
1974 Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
1977 Nolan Strong, American singer (Nolan Strong & The Diablos) (b. 1934)
1978 Mieczysaw ywczyski, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
1980 Alfred Andersch, German author (b. 1914)
1981 Erika Kth, German soprano (b. 1927)
1982 Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli philosopher and historian (b. 1897)
1982 Murray the K, American radio host (b. 1922)
1984 Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1985 Louis Hayward, South African-American actor (b. 1909)
1986 Helen Hooven Santmyer, American author (b. 1895)
1986 Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese centenarian (b. 1865)
1987 Noel Odell, English mountaineer (b. 1890)
1989 Alex Thpot, French footballer (b. 1906)
1991 Dorothy Auchterlonie, Australian academic, critic, and poet (b. 1915)
1991 Nutan Behl, Indian actress (b. 1936)
1991 Margot Fonteyn, English ballerina (b. 1919)
1994 Johannes Steinhoff, German pilot and commander (b. 1913)
1995 Jorge Jos Emiliano dos Santos, Brazilian football referee (b. 1954)
1995 Juhan Viiding, Estonian poet and actor (b. 1948)
1996 Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and composer (b. 1913)
1999 Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1918)
1999 Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish pilot (b. 1914)
1999 Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2000 Antonio Daz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b. 1933)
2002 Harold Furth, Austrian-American physicist (b. 1939)
2002 John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
2003 Eddie Thomson, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1947)
2004 John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
2004 Guido Molinari, Canadian painter (b. 1933)
2005 Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
2005 Grard Bessette, Canadian author and poet (b. 1920)
2005 Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban author (b. 1929)
2005 Gene Scott, American pastor and broadcaster (b. 1929)
2008 Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
2008 Neil Chotem, Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1920)
2008 Sunny Lowry, English swimmer (b. 1911)
2011 Abdulredha Buhmaid, Bahraini protester (b. 1982)
2011 Dwayne McDuffie, American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media
2011 Bernard Nathanson, American doctor and activist (b. 1926)
2012 Colin Ireland, English serial killer (b. 1954)
2012 Benjamin Romualdez, Filipino politician (b. 1930)
2013 Raymond Cusick, English set designer (b. 1928)
2013 Norbert Dorsey, American bishop (b. 1929)
2013 Nazem Ganjapour, Iranian footballer (b. 1943)
2013 Aleksei Yuryevich German, Russian director and producer (b. 1938)
2013 Bob Godfrey, Australian-English animator (b. 1921)
2013 Hasse Jeppson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
2013 Masahiro Kanagawa, Japanese murderer (b. 1983)
2013 Kaoru Kobayashi, Japanese criminal (b. 1968)
2013 Bruce Millan, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
2013 Dick Neal, Jr., English footballer (b. 1933)
2013 Louis F. Oberdorfer, American judge (b. 1919)
2013 Magic Slim, American singer and guitarist (b. 1937)
2013 Tom Tipps, American politician (b. 1923)
2013 Merlin Volzke, American jockey (b. 1925)
Holidays and observances[edit]
Christian Feast Day:
Pepin of Landen
Peter Damian
Randoald
John Henry Newman (Episcopal Church (USA)
February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
Language Movement Day (Bangladesh)
The first day of Musikahan Festival, celebrated until February 27. (Tagum City)
Feralia (Roman Empire)