Events Pre-1600 660 BCE – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor. 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou. 1144 – Robert of Chester completes his translation from Arabic to Latin of the Liber de compositione alchemiae, marking the birth of Western alchemy. 1534 – At the Convocation of Canterbury, the Catholic bishops comprising the Upper House of the Province of Canterbury agree to style Henry VIII supreme head of the English church and clergy "so far as the law of Christ allows". 1584 – A naval expedition led by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founds Nombre de Jesús, the first of two short-lived Spanish settlements in the Strait of Magellan. 1586 – Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias for two months, obtaining a ransom and booty.
1601–1900 1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses. 1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public. 1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal. 1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time. 1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta. 1826 – University College London is founded as University of London. 1829 – Facing backlach of Treaty of Turkmenchay, Alexander Griboyedov, Russian Empire's Ambassador to Tehran, and all the other embassy staff, were massacred by an angry mob. 1840 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France. 1843 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy. 1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia. 1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed. 1858 – Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France. 1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. 1873 – King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates, triggering the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic. 1889 – The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.
1901–present 1903 – Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria. 1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos. 1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD) is elected President of Germany. 1929 – The Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty. 1933 – LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show in the U.S. results in the destruction of a dozen political artworks. 1937 – The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union. 1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R. that coined the term "robot". 1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore. 1946 – The New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first significant challenge to the Authorized King James Version, is published. 1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 1953 – Israeli-Soviet relations are severed. 1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom. 1963 – The Beatles record their first album, Please Please Me. 1970 – Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster. 1971 – Cold War: The Seabed Arms Control Treaty opens for signature, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters. 1978 – Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors. 1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner. 1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title. 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 1997 – The far-right extremist Hungarian National Front introduces the day of honor, a neo-nazi and neo-fascist annual gathering in Budapest 1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231. 2000 – Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-99 to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. 2001 – A Dutch programmer launches the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star. 2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack. 2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests. 2013 – The Vatican confirms that Pope Benedict XVI will resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age. 2013 – Militants claiming to be from the Sultanate of Sulu invade Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia, beginning the Lahad Datu standoff. 2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people. 2015 – A university student is murdered as she resists an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women. 2015 – The European Space Agency's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is launched on a Vega rocket. 2016 – A man shoots seven people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia. 2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan. 2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors. 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2. 2024 – 2024 Finnish presidential election: Alexander Stubb is elected as the 13th president of Finland.
Births Pre-1600 1380 – Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar and translator (died 1459) 1466 – Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of England (died 1503) 1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (died 1591) 1568 – Honoré d'Urfé, French author and playwright (died 1625)
1601–1900 1624 – Ivan Ančić, Croatian Franciscan and religious writer (died 1685) 1649 – William Carstares, Scottish minister and academic (died 1715) 1657 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (died 1757) 1708 – Egidio Duni, Italian composer (died 1775) 1764 – Marie-Joseph Chénier, French poet and playwright (died 1811) 1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek politician, 1st Governor of Greece (died 1831) 1800 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (died 1877) 1802 – Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (died 1880) 1805 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Native American-French Canadian explorer (died 1866) 1812 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (died 1883) 1813 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (died 1865) 1821 – Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (died 1881) 1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (died 1913) 1833 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1910) 1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (died 1903) 1845 – Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (died 1936) 1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (died 1931) 1855 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (died 1940) 1860 – Rachilde, French author and playwright (died 1953) 1863 – John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (died 1950) 1864 – Louis Bouveault, French chemist (died 1909) 1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (died 1939) 1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (died 1945) 1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (died 1953) 1877 – Aasa Helgesen, Norwegian midwife (died 1968) 1881 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (died 1966) 1888 – John Warren Davis, American educator, college administrator, and civil rights leader (died 1980) 1896 – Claire Myers Owens, American author (died 1983) 1897 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (died 1954) 1898 – Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 1964) 1900 – Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (died 1994) 1900 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (died 2002) 1900 – Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (died 1958)
1901–present 1902 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (died 1971) 1904 – Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1983) 1904 – Lucile Randon, French supercentenarian (died 2023) 1908 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter (died 1992) 1908 – Vivian Fuchs, English explorer (died 1999) 1909 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (died 1959) 1909 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1993) 1912 – Rudolf Firkušný, Czech-American pianist and educator (died 1994) 1914 – Matt Dennis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2002) 1914 – Josh White, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1969) 1915 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, English soldier, author, and scholar (died 2011) 1915 – Richard Hamming, American mathematician and academic (died 1998) 1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (died 2007) 1919 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (died 1995) 1920 – Farouk of Egypt (died 1965) 1920 – Daniel F. Galouye, American author (died 1976) 1920 – Billy Halop, American actor (died 1976) 1920 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (died 1978) 1921 – Lloyd Bentsen, American politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 2006) 1921 – Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (died 2013) 1923 – Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (died 2010) 1924 – Budge Patty, American tennis player (died 2021) 1925 – Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and academic (died 2013) 1925 – Kim Stanley, American actress (died 2001) 1926 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (died 2018) 1926 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (died 2010) 1930 – Roy De Forest, American painter and academic (died 2007). 1930 – Mary Quant, British fashion designer (died 2023)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019–20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. However, the sleeve to her own autobiography (2012) gives the year as 1934, a date that has been widely cited over the years. Obituaries in April 2023 seemed universally to have accepted that she was 93 when she died: in other words, that she was born on 11 February 1930.