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		February 22 in History
- 705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
- 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.
- 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
- 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city’s throne.
- 1632 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems .
- 1651 – St. Peter’s Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
- 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
- 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
- 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
- 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities.
- 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.
- 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
- 1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania).
- 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
- 1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
- 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
- 1878 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
- 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
- 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
- 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
- 1915 – World War I: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
- 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
- 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
- 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
- 1946 – The “Long Telegram”, proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
- 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
- 1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
- 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
- 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
- 1974 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but is killed by police.
- 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
- 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
- 1984 – President of Bangladesh, H M Ershad upgraded South Sylhet’s sub-division status to a district and renamed it back to Moulvibazar.
- 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
- 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
- 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
- 2005 – The 6.4 Mw  Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
- 2006 – At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
- 2011 – New Zealand’s second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
- 2011 – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
- 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
- 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
- 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
- 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.
 Births on February 22
- 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian jurist and theologian (died 1085)
- 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
- 1302 – Gegeen Khan, Emperor Yingzong of Yuan (d. 1323)
- 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
- 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
- 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
- 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
- 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
- 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
- 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)
- 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
- 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
- 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
- 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
- 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
- 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
- 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
- 1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
- 1805 – Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, English poet and hymnwriter (d. 1848)
- 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
- 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
- 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
- 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
- 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
- 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
- 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
- 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
- 1860 – Mary W. Bacheler, American physician and Baptist medical missionary (d. 1939)
- 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
- 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
- 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
- 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
- 1880 – Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
- 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
- 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
- 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
- 1887 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)
- 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
- 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, founded the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
- 1889 – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
- 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
- 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
- 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1899 – George O’Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
- 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1903 – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
- 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
- 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
- 1908 – John Mills, English soldier and actor (d. 2005)
- 1910 – George Hunt, English international footballer, forward (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
- 1917 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
- 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Robert Wadlow, American man, the tallest person in recorded history (d. 1940)
- 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
- 1923 – François Cavanna, French author and editor (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic
- 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
- 1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
- 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
- 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
- 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
- 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
- 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
- 1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
- 1933 – Bobby Smith, English international footballer, centre forward (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
- 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
- 1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Tony Macedo, Gibraltarian born English footballer, goalkeeper
- 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
- 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
- 1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
- 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
- 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
- 1943 – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
- 1943 – Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player
- 1943 – Tom Van Arsdale, American basketball player
- 1943 – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
- 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Mick Green, English rock & roll guitarist (d. 2010)
- 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
- 1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
- 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
- 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
- 1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer
- 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
- 1947 – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
- 1949 – John Duncan, Scottish footballer, forward and manager
- 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (d. 2019)
- 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
- 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
- 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
- 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress and author
- 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
- 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
- 1952 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (d. 2020)
- 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
- 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
- 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
- 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
- 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
- 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- 1959 – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
- 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
- 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
- 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
- 1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat
- 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1964 – Andy Gray, English footballer, midfielder and manager
- 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player and politician
- 1965 – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
- 1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
- 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
- 1966 – Thorsten Kaye, German-English actor
- 1967 – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
- 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
- 1968 – Bradley Nowell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1996)
- 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
- 1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1971 – Super Caló, Mexican wrestler
- 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
- 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
- 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
- 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
- 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 – Scott Phillips, American drummer and producer
- 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1974 – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
- 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Timo Rose, German actor, director, and producer
- 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
- 1978 – Jenny Frost, English singer and dancer
- 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
- 1980 – Shamari Fears, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Kang Sung-hoon, South Korean singer
- 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
- 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
- 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
- 1984 – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
- 1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian international footballer, winger
- 1985 – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
- 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
- 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
- 1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
- 1988 – Efraín Juárez, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Sebastian Tyrała, Polish-German footballer
- 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentinian footballer
- 1990 – Luca Profeta, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Alexander Merkel, Kazakhstani-German footballer
- 1999 – Harry Brook, English cricketer
 Deaths on February 22
- 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
- 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
- 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
- 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
- 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
- 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
- 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
- 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
- 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
- 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
- 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
- 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
- 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
- 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
- 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
- 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
- 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
- 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)
- 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
- 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
- 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
- 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
- 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
- 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
- 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
- 1875 – Charles Lyell, Scottish-English geologist and lawyer (b. 1797)
- 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
- 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
- 1890 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
- 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
- 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)
- 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
- 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
- 1913 – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
- 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)
- 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
- 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
- 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
- 1943 – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
- 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
- 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
- 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
- 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
- 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
- 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
- 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
- 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
- 1973 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
- 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
- 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
- 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
- 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
- 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
- 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
- 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
- 2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
- 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
- 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
- 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
- 2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
- 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
- 2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
- 2019 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
- 2019 – Morgan Woodward, American actor (b. 1925)
 Holidays and observances on February 22
- Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
- Founder’s Day or “B.-P. day” (World Organization of the Scout Movement)
- World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)
 
- Christian feast day:
- Baradates
- Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church)
- Margaret of Cortona
- February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Crime Victims Day (Europe)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.
 
 
 
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 February 18 in History
- 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 Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov.
- 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.
- 1637 – Eighty Years’ War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
- 1781 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
- 1791 – Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.
- 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.
- 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
- 1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
- 1861 – With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
- 1873 – Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
- 1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
- 1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.
- 1906 – Édouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
- 1911 – The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) away.
- 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 creates the independent state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) free from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.
- 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: During the Nanking Massacre, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed “Nanking International Rescue Committee”, and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.
- 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
- 1943 – World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
- 1943 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
- 1946 – Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
- 1947 – First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to mountains.
- 1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.
- 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 in the Teapot series.
- 1957 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
- 1957 – Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
- 1965 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 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 imprisonment.
- 1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight” on top of a Boeing 747.
- 1979 – Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.
- 1983 – Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. 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 Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
- 2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 2001 – Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
- 2003 – Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
- 2004 – Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran, when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
- 2007 – Samjhauta Express bombings occurred around midnight in Diwana near the Indian city of Panipat, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of New Delhi, India.
- 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.
- 2013 – Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
- 2014 – At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kiev, Ukraine.
 Births on February 18
- 1201 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (d. 1274)
- 1372 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (d. 1448)
- 1486 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Indian monk and saint (d. 1534)
- 1516 – Mary I of England (d. 1558)
- 1530 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese daimyō (d. 1578)
- 1543 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)
- 1547 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (d. 1621)
- 1559 – Isaac Casaubon, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1614)
- 1589 – Henry Vane the Elder, English politician (d. 1655)
- 1589 – Maarten Gerritsz Vries, Dutch explorer (d. 1646)
- 1602 – Per Brahe the Younger, Swedish soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (d. 1680)
- 1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1674)
- 1626 – Francesco Redi, Italian physician (d. 1697)
- 1632 – Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1692)
- 1642 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (d. 1698)
- 1658 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French philosopher and author (d. 1743)
- 1732 – Johann Christian Kittel, German organist and composer (d. 1809)
- 1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, invented the battery (d. 1827)
- 1814 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American lawyer and politician (d. 1900)
- 1817 – Lewis Armistead, American general (d. 1863)
- 1836 – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Indian mystic and yogi (d. 1886)
- 1838 – Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1916)
- 1846 – Wilson Barrett, English actor, playwright, and manager (d. 1904)
- 1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (d. 1933)
- 1849 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician (d. 1906)
- 1850 – George Henschel, German-English singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (d. 1934)
- 1855 – Jean Jules Jusserand, French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States (d. 1932)
- 1860 – Anders Zorn, Swedish artist (d. 1920)
- 1862 – Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (d. 1939)
- 1867 – Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer (d. 1950)
- 1870 – William Laurel Harris, American painter and author (d. 1924)
- 1871 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948)
- 1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (d. 1957)
- 1885 – Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (d. 1954)
- 1893 – Maksim Haretski, Belarusian prose writer, journalist and activist (d. 1938)
- 1890 – Edward Arnold, American actor (d. 1956)
- 1890 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1892 – Wendell Willkie, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 1944)
- 1896 – Li Linsi, Chinese educator and diplomat (d. 1970)
- 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (d. 1988)
- 1898 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet and politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (d. 1980)
- 1899 – Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (d. 1985)
- 1903 – Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Queenie Leonard, English actress (d. 2002)
- 1906 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and academic (d. 1980)
- 1909 – Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1993)
- 1914 – Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Phyllis Calvert, English actress (d. 2002)
- 1916 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1999)
- 1919 – Jack Palance, American boxer and actor (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Bill Cullen, American game show panelist and host (d. 1990)
- 1920 – Rolande Falcinelli, French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (d. 1998)
- 1921 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (d. 1997)
- 1922 – Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Allan Melvin, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1925 – George Kennedy, American actor (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Halit Kıvanç, Turkish journalist and sportscaster
- 1925 – Ghafar Baba, Malaysian politician (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (d. 1976)
- 1927 – Luis Arroyo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, manager, and scout (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Fazal Mahmood, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2005)
- 1927 – John Warner, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Navy
- 1928 – Rex Mossop, Australian rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Len Deighton, English historian and author
- 1929 – André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 1968)
- 1931 – Johnny Hart, American cartoonist, co-created The Wizard of Id (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Toni Morrison, American novelist and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019).
- 1931 – Swraj Paul, Baron Paul, Indian-English businessman and philanthropist
- 1931 – John Ryden, Scottish footballer, centre half (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Bob St. Clair, American football player (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Miloš Forman, Czech-American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
- 1933 – Yoko Ono, Japanese-American multimedia artist and musician
- 1933 – Bobby Robson, English international footballer, inside forward and international manager (d. 2009)
- 1933 – Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (d. 1975)
- 1934 – Skip Battin, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2003)
- 1934 – Dave Dunmore, English footballer, centre forward
- 1934 – Audre Lorde, American poet, essayist, memoirist, and activist (d. 1992)
- 1934 – Paco Rabanne, Spanish-French fashion designer
- 1936 – Jean M. Auel, American author
- 1938 – Manny Mota, Dominican baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1938 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 50th Yokozuna (d. 2017)
- 1938 – István Szabó, Hungarian director and screenwriter
- 1939 – Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist and academic (d. 1996)
- 1939 – Bobby Hart, American singer-songwriter
- 1939 – Marlos Nobre, Brazilian composer
- 1940 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
- 1940 – Prue Leith, English restaurateur and journalist
- 1941 – Herman Santiago, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter
- 1941 – Irma Thomas, American singer
- 1943 – Graeme Garden, Scottish comedian, actor, and author
- 1944 – Pat Bowlen, American businessman (d. 2019)
- 1945 – Judy Rankin, American golfer and sportscaster
- 1946 – Michael Buerk, English journalist
- 1947 – Dennis DeYoung, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1947 – Eliot Engel, American educator and politician
- 1948 – Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress
- 1948 – Bruce Francis, Australian cricketer
- 1948 – Keith Knudsen, American singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2005)
- 1949 – Gary Ridgway, American criminal, Green River Killer
- 1950 – Nana Amba Eyiaba I, Ghanaian queen mother and advocate
- 1950 – Cristina Ferrare, American model, actress, author, and television host
- 1950 – John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1950 – Cybill Shepherd, American actress and singer
- 1951 – Queen Komal of Nepal
- 1951 – Isabel Preysler, Filipino-Spanish journalist
- 1952 – Randy Crawford, American jazz and R&B singer
- 1952 – Maurice Lucas, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010)
- 1952 – Juice Newton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1952 – Bernard Valcourt, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1953 – Robbie Bachman, Canadian rock drummer
- 1953 – Derek Pellicci, English-Australian drummer
- 1954 – Charlie Fowler, American mountaineer, author, and photographer (d. 2006)
- 1954 – Paul Rendall, English rugby player
- 1954 – John Travolta, American actor and producer
- 1955 – Cheetah Chrome, American musician
- 1955 – Miles Tredinnick, English singer-songwriter and playwright
- 1955 – Lisa See, American writer and novelist
- 1956 – Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
- 1956 – Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian businessman and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Georgia
- 1957 – Marita Koch, German sprinter
- 1957 – Vanna White, American model and game show host
- 1959 – Jayne Atkinson, English-American actress
- 1959 – James Metzger, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1960 – Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Greta Scacchi, Italian-Australian actress
- 1963 – Rob Andrew, English rugby player and cricketer
- 1964 – Matt Dillon, American actor and director
- 1964 – Paul Hanley, English drummer and songwriter
- 1965 – Dr. Dre, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1966 – Phillip DeFreitas, Dominican-English cricketer
- 1967 – Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
- 1967 – Colin Jackson, Welsh sprinter and hurdler
- 1968 – Molly Ringwald, American actress
- 1969 – Tomaž Humar, Slovenian mountaineer (d. 2009)
- 1969 – Alexander Mogilny, Russian-American ice hockey player
- 1970 – Susan Egan, American actress and singer
- 1970 – James H. Fowler, American political scientist and author
- 1970 – Raine Maida, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1970 – Massimo Taibi, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Thomas Bjorn, Danish golfer
- 1971 – Merritt Gant, American guitarist
- 1972 – Fabian Picardo, Gibraltarian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Gibraltar
- 1973 – Shawn Estes, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Claude Makélélé, French footballer and manager
- 1974 – Carrie Ann Baade, American painter and academic
- 1974 – Jamey Carroll, American baseball player
- 1974 – Radek Černý, Czech international footballer, goalkeeper
- 1974 – Ruby Dhalla, Canadian chiropractor and politician
- 1974 – Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmentalist and author
- 1974 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russian tennis player
- 1974 – Jillian Michaels, American fitness trainer and author
- 1975 – Gary Neville, English footballer and coach
- 1976 – Leilani Munter, American race car driver and environmentalist
- 1976 – Chanda Rubin, American tennis player
- 1976 – Bernadette Sembrano, Filipino journalist
- 1978 – Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer
- 1979 – Tinu Yohannan, Indian cricketer
- 1980 – Aivar Anniste, Estonian footballer
- 1980 – Nik Antropov, Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Regina Spektor, Russian-American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1981 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
- 1981 – Alex Ríos, American baseball player
- 1981 – Ivan Sproule, Northern Irish footballer
- 1981 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (d. 2011)
- 1982 – Juelz Santana, American rapper and actor
- 1982 – Christian Tiffert, German footballer
- 1983 – Jermaine Jenas, English international footballer, midfielder, pundit
- 1984 – Carlos Kameni, Cameroonian footballer
- 1985 – Anton Ferdinand, English footballer
- 1985 – Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican-American murderer
- 1985 – Jos van Emden, Dutch cyclist
- 1986 – Robert DeLong, American singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Marc Torrejón, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Cristian Tănase, Romanian footballer
- 1988 – Changmin, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1990 – Didi Gregorius, Dutch baseball player
- 1990 – Cody Hodgson, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
- 1991 – Henry Surtees, English race car driver (d. 2009)
- 1994 – Jake Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – J-Hope, South Korean rapper, dancer, singer-songwriter
 Deaths on February 18
- 675 – Colmán, bishop of Lindisfarne
- 814 – Angilbert, Frankish monk and diplomat (b. 760)
- 901 – Thābit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and physician (b. 826)
- 999 – Gregory V, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 972)
- 1139 – Yaropolk II, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1082)
- 1218 – Berthold V, duke of Zähringen (b. 1160)
- 1225 – Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, Norman nobleman
- 1294 – Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor (b. 1215)
- 1379 – Albert II, duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1318)
- 1397 – Enguerrand VII, French nobleman (b. 1340)
- 1405 – Timur, Turco-Mongol ruler (b. 1336)
- 1455 – Fra Angelico, Italian priest and painter (b. 1395)
- 1478 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, English nobleman (b. 1449)
- 1502 – Hedwig Jagiellon, duchess of Bavaria (b. 1457)
- 1535 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German magician, astrologer, and theologian (b. 1486)
- 1546 – Martin Luther, German priest and theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation (b. 1483)
- 1564 – Michelangelo, Italian sculptor and painter (b. 1475)
- 1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French author (b. 1594)
- 1658 – John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck, English courtier (b. c. 1591)
- 1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (b. 1620)
- 1695 – William Phips, governor of Massachusetts (b. 1650)
- 1712 – Louis, Dauphin of France, (b. 1682)
- 1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, Italian noble (b. 1667)
- 1748 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1677)
- 1772 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician (b. 1712)
- 1778 – Joseph Marie Terray, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1715)
- 1780 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (b. 1714)
- 1788 – John Whitehurst, English geologist and clockmaker (b. 1713)
- 1803 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet and educator (b. 1719)
- 1851 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician and academic (b. 1804)
- 1873 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian activist, founded the Internal Revolutionary Organization (b. 1837)
- 1880 – Nikolay Zinin, Russian organic chemist (b. 1812)
- 1893 – Serranus Clinton Hastings, American lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Justice of California (b. 1814)
- 1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (b. 1812)
- 1906 – John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (b. 1830)
- 1910 – Lucy Stanton, American activist (b. 1831)
- 1911 – Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)
- 1915 – Frank James, American soldier and criminal (b. 1843)
- 1923 – Alois Rašín, Czech economist and politician (b. 1867)
- 1931 – Milan Šufflay, Croatian historian, author, and politician (b. 1879)
- 1931 – Louis Wolheim, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1880)
- 1933 – James J. Corbett, American boxer and actor (b. 1866)
- 1938 – David King Udall, American missionary and politician (b. 1851)
- 1942 – Albert Payson Terhune, American journalist and 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, astrophysicist, and academic (b. 1877)
- 1960 – Gertrude Vanderbilt, American stage actress (b. c. 1885)
- 1964 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and businessman, founded Bombardier Inc. (b. 1907)
- 1966 – Robert Rossen, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1904)
- 1969 – Dragiša Cvetković, Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1893)
- 1973 – Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (b. 1891)
- 1976 – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 1977 – Andy Devine, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 – Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)
- 1981 – Jack Northrop, American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (b. 1895)
- 1982 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author (b. 1895)
- 1989 – Mildred Burke, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
- 1990 – Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1958)
- 1993 – Jacqueline Hill, English actress (b. 1929)
- 1995 – Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler (b. 1961)
- 1995 – Bob Stinson, American guitarist (b. 1959)
- 1997 – Emily Hahn, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
- 1998 – Harry Caray, American sportscaster (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Balthus, Polish-Swiss painter and illustrator (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Dale Earnhardt, American stock car racer and team owner (b. 1951)
- 2001 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
- 2003 – Isser Harel, Belarusian-Israeli intelligence officer (b. 1912)
- 2006 – Bill Cowsill, American singer and guitarist (b. 1948)
- 2008 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, French director, screenwriter, and novelist (b. 1922)
- 2009 – Tayeb Salih, Sudanese journalist and author (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Miika Tenkula, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1974)
- 2010 – John Babcock, Canadian soldier (b. 1900)
- 2012 – George Brizan, Grenadian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Elizabeth Connell, South African-English soprano (b. 1946)
- 2013 – Kevin Ayers, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
- 2013 – Jerry Buss, American chemist and businessman (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Mavis Gallant, Canadian-French author and playwright (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Kristof Goddaert, Belgian cyclist (b. 1986)
- 2014 – Nikhil Baran Sengupta, Indian art director and production designer (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (b. 1914)
- 2015 – Cass Ballenger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
- 2016 – Abdul Rashid Khan, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1908)
- 2016 – Pantelis Pantelidis, Greek singer (b. 1983)
- 2017 – Ivan Koloff, Canadian wrestler (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Norma McCorvey, American abortion rights activist; Plaintiff, Roe v. Wade (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Clyde Stubblefield, American drummer (b. 1943)
- 2019 – Alessandro Mendini, Italian designer and architect (b.1931)
 Holidays and observances on February 18
- Christian feast day:
- Bernadette Soubirous (France)
- Colmán of Lindisfarne
- Flavian of Constantinople
- Geltrude Comensoli
- Simeon of Jerusalem (Western Christianity)
- February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Dialect Day (Amami Islands, Japan)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Gambia from the United Kingdom in 1965.
- Kurdish Students Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- National Democracy Day, celebrates the 1951 overthrow of the Rana dynasty (Nepal)
- Wife’s Day (Konudagur) (Iceland)
 
 
 
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		February 13 in History
- 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.
- 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
- 1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
- 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
- 1503 – Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
- 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
- 1660 – With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.
- 1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
- 1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
- 1726 – Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.
- 1755 – Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into 2: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
- 1849 – The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.
- 1861 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
- 1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.
- 1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.
- 1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- 1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
- 1931 – The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.
- 1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
- 1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
- 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
- 1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the “high-water mark” of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
- 1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.
- 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
- 1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed “Gerboise Bleue”, France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
- 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
- 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
- 1975 – Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.
- 1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
- 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1⁄2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
- 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
- 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
- 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).
- 1999 – The last hockey game is played in Maple Leaf Gardens: the Toronto Maple Leafs lose 6–2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
- 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 944.
- 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
- 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
- 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
- 2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
- 2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
- 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
- 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
 Births on February 13
- 1440 – Hartmann Schedel, German physician (d. 1514)
- 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
- 1469 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (d. 1549)
- 1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (d. 1542)
- 1523 – Valentin Naboth, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1593)
- 1539 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (d. 1582)
- 1569 – Johann Reinhard I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1625)
- 1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
- 1602 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1637)
- 1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (d. 1731)
- 1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
- 1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician (d. 1792)
- 1721 – John Reid, Scottish general (d. 1807)
- 1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist (d. 1793)
- 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (d. 1834)
- 1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (d. 1835)
- 1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1844)
- 1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (d. 1859)
- 1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French general (d. 1888)
- 1815 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, editor, poet and critic (d. 1857)
- 1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American general and politician, 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
- 1834 – Heinrich Caro, Sephardic Jewish Polish-German chemist and academic (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader (d. 1908)
- 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1895)
- 1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Hugo Becker, German cellist and composer (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (d. 1905)
- 1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player and umpire (d. 1933)
- 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (d. 1949)
- 1880 – Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, Jewish-English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1965)
- 1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
- 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian actor and director (d. 1922)
- 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (d. 1961)
- 1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of Harry S. Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
- 1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian playwright and critic (d. 1919)
- 1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
- 1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and director (d. 1974)
- 1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (d. 1985)
- 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (d. 1942)
- 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
- 1898 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist and academic (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and theorist (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Georgy Beriev, Georgian-Russian engineer, founded the Beriev Aircraft Company (d. 1979)
- 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher and author (d. 1994)
- 1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino-American singer and actress (d. 2004)
- 1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Indian-Pakistani poet and journalist (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Jean Muir, American actress and educator (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Harald Riipalu, Russian-Estonian commander (d. 1961)
- 1912 – Margaretta Scott, English actress (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Khalid of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
- 1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (d. 1947)
- 1916 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist (d. 1987)
- 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)
- 1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football player and coach (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
- 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French pianist and composer (d. 1968)
- 1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Francis Pym, Baron Pym, Welsh soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American soldier, judge, and politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier
- 1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, Military Leader of Panama (d. 1981)
- 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author, and academic
- 1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician, 2nd President of Cameroon
- 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
- 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer (d. 2019)
- 1934 – George Segal, American actor
- 1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese author and academic (d. 1992)
- 1937 – Angelo Mosca, American-Canadian football player and wrestler
- 1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- 1940 – Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, Mayor of Rotterdam
- 1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter and photographer (d. 2010)
- 1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor, director, and producer
- 1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Donald E. Williams, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2016)
- 1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic
- 1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
- 1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati
- 1945 – Marian Dawkins, English biologist and academic
- 1945 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author
- 1945 – William Sleator, American author and composer (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American sergeant and politician, 23rd Attorney General of Connecticut
- 1946 – Janet Finch, English sociologist and academic
- 1946 – Colin Matthews, English composer and educator
- 1947 – Stephen Hadley, American soldier and diplomat, 21st United States National Security Advisor
- 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
- 1947 – Bogdan Tanjević, Montenegrin-Bosnian professional basketball coach
- 1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
- 1949 – Peter Kern, Austrian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1950 – Vera Baird, English lawyer and politician
- 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
- 1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American bass player (d. 2014)
- 1953 – Akio Sato, Japanese wrestler and manager
- 1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer, judge, and politician
- 1956 – Peter Hook, English singer, songwriter, bass player, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
- 1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer and author
- 1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
- 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian publisher and activist
- 1958 – Jean-François Lisée, Canadian journalist and politician
- 1958 – Derek Riggs, English painter and illustrator
- 1958 – Øivind Elgenes, Norwegian vocalist, guitarist and composer
- 1959 – Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian footballer and referee
- 1960 – John Healey, English journalist and politician
- 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football player and coach
- 1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player and author
- 1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – cEvin Key, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboard player, and producer
- 1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Baby Doll, American wrestler and manager
- 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress
- 1964 – Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain, and astronaut
- 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Employment
- 1965 – Peter O’Neill, Papua New Guinean accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
- 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor and producer
- 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1966 – Freedom Williams, American rapper and singer
- 1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
- 1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
- 1969 – Joyce DiDonato, American soprano and actress
- 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1971 – Sonia Evans, English singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
- 1972 – Virgilijus Alekna, Lithuanian discus thrower
- 1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
- 1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American rapper and actor
- 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Ben Collins, English race car driver
- 1975 – Katie Hopkins, English media personality and columnist
- 1976 – Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver
- 1976 – Shannon Nevin, Australian rugby league player
- 1977 – Randy Moss, American football player and coach
- 1978 – Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French countertenor
- 1979 – Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian murderer
- 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Rachel Reeves, English economist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress and fashion designer
- 1980 – Carlos Cotto, Puerto Rican-American wrestler and boxer
- 1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Even Helte Hermansen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
- 1982 – Michael Turner, American football player
- 1983 – Mike Nickeas, Canadian baseball player
- 1983 – Anna Watkins, English rower
- 1984 – Hinkelien Schreuder, Dutch swimmer
- 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
- 1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
- 1986 – Aqib Talib, American football player
- 1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Ryan Goins, American baseball player
- 1988 – Eddy Pettybourne, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
- 1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
- 1991 – Eliaquim Mangala, French footballer
- 1991 – Junior Roqica, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1991 – Vianney, French singer
- 1994 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer
 Deaths on February 13
- 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi) of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty (b. AD 79)
- 721 – Chilperic II, Frankish king (b. 672)
- 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish king (probable; b. 810)
- 921 – Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia
- 936 – Xiao Wen, empress of the Liao Dynasty
- 942 – Muhammad ibn Ra’iq, Abbasid emir and regent
- 988 – Adalbert Atto, Lombard nobleman
- 1021 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 985)
- 1130 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1060
- 1141 – Béla II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1110)
- 1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian grand prince (b. 1113)
- 1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1192)
- 1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1259)
- 1351 – Kō no Morofuyu, Japanese general
- 1539 – Isabella d’Este, Italian noblewoman (b. 1474)
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, English wife of Henry VIII of England (executed;b. 1521)
- 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1500)
- 1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish priest and scholar (b. 1515)
- 1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman and theologian (b. 1507)
- 1660 – Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden (b. 1622)
- 1662 – Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (b. 1596)
- 1693 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (b. 1627)
- 1727 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (b. 1666)
- 1728 – Cotton Mather, American minister and author (b. 1663)
- 1732 – Charles-René d’Hozier, French historian and author (b. 1640)
- 1741 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer and theorist (b. 1660)
- 1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1711)
- 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French lawyer and politician, Foreign Minister of France (b. 1717)
- 1813 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- 1818 – George Rogers Clark, American general (b. 1752)
- 1826 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1745)
- 1831 – Edward Berry, English admiral (b. 1768)
- 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1809)
- 1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher and poet (b. 1773)
- 1877 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (b. 1815)
- 1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
- 1888 – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (b. 1814)
- 1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (b. 1791)
- 1893 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican intellectual and journalist (b. 1834)
- 1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
- 1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
- 1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1864)
- 1942 – Otakar Batlička, Czech journalist (b. 1895)
- 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian lawyer, judge, and politician, 11th President of Brazil (b. 1865)
- 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (b. 1875)
- 1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American minister and author (b. 1877)
- 1952 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1896)
- 1954 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1890)
- 1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician and philosopher (b. 1878)
- 1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, English activist, co-founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (b. 1880)
- 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
- 1964 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1896)
- 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1902)
- 1967 – Yoshisuke Aikawa, entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founded Nissan Motor Company (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (1932-1934) (b. 1889)
- 1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1968 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (b. 1911)
- 1973 – Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, Dutch architect and educator (b. 1883)
- 1975 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general and politician, 4th President of Nigeria (b. 1938)
- 1976 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (b. 1904)
- 1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1984 – Cheong Eak Chong, Singaporean entrepreneur (b. 1888)
- 1986 – Yuri Ivask, Russian-American poet and critic (b. 1907)
- 1989 – Wayne Hays, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor and illustrator (b. 1900)
- 1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1914)
- 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (b. 1921)
- 2000 – John Leake, English soldier (b. 1949)
- 2002 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Kid Gavilán, Cuban-American boxer (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist; 7th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1916)
- 2004 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1942)
- 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician, 2nd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
- 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (b. 1907)
- 2006 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher and author (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American captain and politician (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, English air marshal (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 2009 – Edward Upward, English author and educator (b. 1903)
- 2010 – Lucille Clifton, American poet and academic (b. 1936)
- 2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Louise Cochrane, American-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Daniel C. Gerould, American playwright and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Gerry Day, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Miles J. Jones, American pathologist and physician (b. 1952)
- 2013 – Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch judge and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Andrée Malebranche, Haitian artist (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Yuko Tojo, Japanese activist and politician (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Richard Møller Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Ralph Waite, American actor and activist (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Faith Bandler, Australian activist and author (b. 1918)
- 2015 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (b. 1923)
- 2016 – O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet and academic (b. 1931)
- 2016 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Ricardo Arias Calderón, Panamanian politician, Vice President (1990–1992) (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Aileen Hernandez, American union organizer and activist (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Seijun Suzuki, Japanese filmmaker (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, North Korean politician (b. 1971)
- 2017 – E-Dubble, American rapper (b. 1982)
- 2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, French-born Danish royal (b. 1934)
 Holidays and observances on February 13
- Children’s Day (Myanmar)
- Christian feast day:
- Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Beatrice of Ornacieux
- Castor of Karden
- Catherine of Ricci
- Ermenilda of Ely
- Fulcran
- Jordan of Saxony
- Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)
- February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- World Radio Day
 
 
 
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 February 2 in History
- 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of “Roman law”.
- 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
- 962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
- 1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
- 1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
- 1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
- 1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
- 1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
- 1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
- 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
- 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
- 1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
- 1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
- 1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
- 1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
- 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
- 1899 – The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
- 1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.
- 1909 – The Paris Film Congress opens. An attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPCC cartel in the United States.
- 1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
- 1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
- 1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
- 1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
- 1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
- 1935 – Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
- 1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
- 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
- 1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
- 1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
- 1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
- 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
- 1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
- 1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
- 1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
- 1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
- 1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
- 2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
- 2002 – Wedding of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
- 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men’s singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
- 2005 – The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
- 2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
- 2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.
 Births on February 2
- 1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
- 1282 – Maud Chaworth, Countess of Leicester (d. 1322).
- 1425 (or 1426) – Eleanor of Navarre, Queen regnant of Navarre (d. 1479)
- 1443 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (d. 1486)
- 1455 – John, King of Denmark (d. 1513)
- 1457 – Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, Italian-Spanish historian and author (d. 1526)
- 1467 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican sister (d. 1501)
- 1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
- 1502 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher and historian (d. 1574)
- 1506 – René de Birague, Italian-French cardinal and politician (d. 1583)
- 1509 – John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1536)
- 1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)
- 1536 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)
- 1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer (d. 1600)
- 1576 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (d. 1622)
- 1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)
- 1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptised; d. 1596)
- 1588 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, German nobleman (d. 1644)
- 1600 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
- 1611 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (d. 1633)
- 1613 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1621 – Johannes Schefferus, Swedish author and hymn-writer (d. 1679)
- 1650 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
- 1650 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II of England (d. 1687)
- 1651 – William Phips, Royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1695)
- 1669 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (d. 1732)
- 1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French composer (d. 1745)
- 1695 – William Borlase, English geologist and archaeologist (d. 1772)
- 1695 – François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
- 1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German author and critic (d. 1766)
- 1711 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (d. 1794)
- 1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, German organist and composer (d. 1785)
- 1717 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
- 1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1838)
- 1782 – Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)
- 1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
- 1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (d. 1887)
- 1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (d. 1862)
- 1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist and illustrator (d. 1884)
- 1829 – William Stanley, English engineer and philanthropist (d. 1909)
- 1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and hydrologist (d. 1912)
- 1842 – Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
- 1849 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet and playwright (d. 1921)
- 1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican illustrator and engraver (d. 1913)
- 1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
- 1856 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (d. 1905)
- 1857 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (d. 1918)
- 1860 – Curtis Guild, Jr., American journalist and politician, 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
- 1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
- 1862 – Émile Coste, French fencer (d. 1927)
- 1862 – Cornelius McKane, American physician, educator, and hospital founder (d. 1912)
- 1866 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and academic (d. 1927)
- 1873 – Leo Fall, Austrian composer (d. 1925)
- 1873 – Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1956)
- 1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (d. 1962)
- 1877 – Frank L. Packard, Canadian author (d. 1942)
- 1878 – Joe Lydon, American boxer (d. 1937)
- 1880 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
- 1881 – Orval Overall, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
- 1882 – Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (d. 1944)
- 1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)
- 1883 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter, created Zorro (d. 1958)
- 1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, Mexican activist and writer (d. 1964)
- 1886 – William Rose Benét, American poet and author (d. 1950)
- 1887 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German businessman (d. 1975)
- 1889 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (d. 1952)
- 1890 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1972)
- 1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna (d. 1959)
- 1893 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Raoul Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1970)
- 1893 – Damdin Sükhbaatar, Mongolian soldier and politician (d. 1924)
- 1895 – George Halas, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Robert Philipp, American painter (d. 1981)
- 1895 – George Sutcliffe, Australian public servant (d. 1964)
- 1896 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
- 1897 – Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Gertrude Blanch, Russian-American mathematician (d. 1996)
- 1900 – Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)
- 1900 – Willie Kamm, American baseball player and manager (d. 1988)
- 1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-born American violinist and educator (d. 1987)
- 1902 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
- 1902 – John Tonkin, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1995)
- 1904 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian author and activist (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)
- 1908 – Wes Ferrell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
- 1909 – Frank Albertson, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1911 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (d. 1968)
- 1912 – Millvina Dean, English civil servant and cartographer (d. 2009)
- 1912 – Burton Lane, American songwriter and composer (d. 1997)
- 1913 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor and singer (d. 1985)
- 1914 – Eric Kierans, Canadian economist and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2004)
- 1915 – Abba Eban, South African-Israeli politician and diplomat, 1st Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (d. 2014)
- 1916 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1985)
- 1917 – Mary Ellis, British World War II ferry pilot (d. 2018)
- 1917 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2018)
- 1918 – Hella Haasse, Indonesian-Dutch author (d. 2011)
- 1919 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano and actress (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Georg Gawliczek, German footballer and manager (d. 1999)
- 1920 – George Hardwick, English footballer and coach (d. 2004)
- 1920 – John Russell, American Olympic equestrian
- 1920 – Arthur Willis, English footballer, full-back, player-manager (d. 1987)
- 1922 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey player (d. 1978)
- 1922 – Robert Chef d’Hôtel, French athlete (d. 2019)
- 1922 – James L. Usry, American politician, first African-American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2002)
- 1922 – Stoyanka Mutafova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Jean Babilée, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
- 1923 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster (d.2012)
- 1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress and producer (d. 1988)
- 1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
- 1923 – Liz Smith, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
- 1923 – Clem Windsor, Australian rugby player and surgeon (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American singer, pianist, producer (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Sonny Stitt, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
- 1925 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France
- 1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)
- 1927 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Ciriaco De Mita, 47th Prime minister of Italy
- 1928 – Jay Handlan, American basketball player and engineer (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Tommy Harmer, English footballer, inside forward, youth team coach (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
- 1929 – George Band, English engineer and mountaineer (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1929 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1931 – Les Dawson, English comedian and author (d. 1993)
- 1931 – Glynn Edwards, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2018)
- 1931 – John Paul Harney, Canadian educator and politician
- 1931 – Judith Viorst, American journalist and author
- 1932 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (d. 2002)
- 1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018)
- 1933 – M’el Dowd, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Tony Jay, English-American actor (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (d. 2009)
- 1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
- 1935 – Pete Brown, American golfer (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Evgeny Velikhov, Russian physicist and academic
- 1936 – Duane Jones, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1936 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 1991)
- 1937 – Don Buford, American baseball player and coach
- 1937 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Anthony Haden-Guest, British journalist, poet, and critic
- 1937 – Remak Ramsay, American actor
- 1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist
- 1937 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian Singer (d. 2019)
- 1938 – Norman Fowler, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1938 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
- 1939 – Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, American chemist and inventor and one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
- 1939 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Alan Caddy, English guitarist and producer (d. 2000)
- 1940 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (d. 2008)
- 1940 – Wayne Fontes, American football player and coach
- 1940 – David Jason, English actor, director, and producer
- 1941 – Terry Biddlecombe, English jockey (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
- 1942 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1944 – Andrew Davis, English organist and conductor
- 1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (d. 2012)
- 1944 – Ursula Oppens, American pianist and educator
- 1945 – John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, English economist and academic
- 1946 – John Armitt, English engineer and businessman
- 1946 – Alpha Oumar Konaré, Malian academic and politician, 3rd President of Mali
- 1946 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman and academic (d. 2009)
- 1947 – Greg Antonacci, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)
- 1948 – Ina Garten, American chef and author
- 1948 – Al McKay, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1948 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (d. 1973)
- 1949 – Duncan Bannatyne, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
- 1949 – Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (d. 1996)
- 1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer
- 1949 – Ross Valory, American rock bass player and songwriter
- 1950 – Osamu Kido, Japanese wrestler
- 1950 – Libby Purves, British journalist and author
- 1950 – Barbara Sukowa, German actress
- 1950 – Genichiro Tenryu, Japanese wrestler
- 1951 – Vangelis Alexandris, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1951 – Ken Bruce, Scottish radio host
- 1952 – John Cornyn, American lawyer and politician, 49th Attorney General of Texas
- 1952 – Rick Dufay, French-American guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea
- 1952 – Ralph Merkle, American computer scientist and academic
- 1952 – Carol Ann Susi, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1953 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
- 1953 – Jerry Sisk, Jr., American gemologist, co-founded Jewelry Television (d. 2013)
- 1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman
- 1954 – Hansi Hinterseer, Austrian skier and actor
- 1954 – Nelson Ne’e, Solomon Islander politician (d. 2013)
- 1954 – John Tudor, American baseball player
- 1955 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet and author
- 1955 – Bob Schreck, American author
- 1955 – Michael Talbott, American actor
- 1955 – Kim Zimmer, American actress
- 1956 – Adnan Oktar, Turkish theorist and author
- 1957 – Phil Barney, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
- 1958 – Michel Marc Bouchard, Canadian playwright
- 1961 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (d. 2013)
- 1961 – Lauren Lane, American actress and academic
- 1962 – Philippe Claudel, French author, director, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
- 1962 – Paul Kilgus, American baseball player
- 1962 – Kate Raison, Australian actress
- 1962 – Michael T. Weiss, American actor
- 1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1963 – Kjell Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1963 – Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia
- 1963 – Philip Laats, Belgian martial artist
- 1963 – Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist
- 1965 – Carl Airey, English footballer
- 1965 – Naoki Sano, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
- 1966 – Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis player and coach
- 1966 – Robert DeLeo, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1966 – Adam Ferrara, American actor and comedian
- 1966 – Michael Misick, Caicos Islander politician, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- 1967 – Artūrs Irbe, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
- 1967 – Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
- 1968 – Sean Elliott, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1968 – Scott Erickson, American baseball player and coach
- 1969 – Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Valeri Karpin, Estonian-Russian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
- 1970 – Jennifer Westfeldt, American actress and singer
- 1971 – Michelle Gayle, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1971 – Arly Jover, Spanish actress
- 1971 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer and sportscaster (d. 2014)
- 1971 – Jason Taylor, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1971 – Hwang Seok-jeong, South Korean actress
- 1972 – Melvin Mora, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1972 – Aleksey Naumov, Russian footballer
- 1973 – Andrei Luzgin, Estonian tennis player and coach
- 1973 – Aleksander Tammert, Estonian discus thrower
- 1973 – Marissa Jaret Winokur, American actress and singer
- 1975 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Donald Driver, American football player
- 1975 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
- 1976 – Ryan Farquhar, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
- 1976 – James Hickman, English swimmer
- 1976 – Ana Roces, Filipino actress
- 1977 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1977 – Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
- 1978 – Adam Christopher, New Zealand writer
- 1978 – Eden Espinosa, American actress and singer
- 1978 – Annabel Ellwood, Australian tennis player
- 1978 – Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1978 – Rich Sommer, American actor
- 1978 – Faye White, English footballer
- 1979 – Urmo Aava, Estonian race car driver
- 1979 – Fani Chalkia, Greek hurdler and sprinter
- 1979 – Christine Lampard, Irish television host
- 1979 – Klaus Mainzer, German rugby player
- 1979 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
- 1979 – Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
- 1980 – Angela Finger-Erben, German journalist
- 1980 – Teddy Hart, Canadian wrestler
- 1980 – Oleguer Presas, Spanish footballer
- 1981 – Emre Aydın, Turkish singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Michelle Bass, English model and singer
- 1981 – Salem al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 77 (d. 2001)
- 1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
- 1982 – Kan Mi-youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
- 1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete and jumper
- 1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
- 1983 – Alex Westaway, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1984 – Brian Cage, American wrestler
- 1984 – Mao Miyaji, Japanese actress
- 1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
- 1985 – Masoud Azizi, Afghan sprinter
- 1985 – Renn Kiriyama, Japanese actor
- 1985 – Kristo Saage, Estonian basketball player
- 1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
- 1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
- 1986 – Miwa Asao, Japanese volleyball player
- 1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
- 1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
- 1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
- 1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
- 1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
- 1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
- 1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
- 1987 – Victoria Song, Chinese singer and actress
- 1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
- 1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
- 1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
- 1989 – Southside, American record producer
- 1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
- 1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
- 1992 – Lammtarra, American race horse (d. 2014)
- 1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
- 1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
- 1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
- 1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
- 1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
- 1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakstani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
- 1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder
 Deaths on February 2
- 619 – Laurence of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint
- 880 – Bruno, duke of Saxony
- 1124 – Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1064)
- 1218 – Konstantin of Rostov (b. 1186)
- 1237 – Joan, Lady of Wales
- 1250 – Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
- 1294 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1229)
- 1347 – Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln, was the bishop of Lincoln (b. 1282)
- 1348 – Narymunt, Prince of Pinsk
- 1435 – Joan II of Naples, Queen of Naples (b. 1371)
- 1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist (b. 1378)
- 1448 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (b. 1372)
- 1461 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (b. c. 1400)
- 1512 – Hatuey, Caribbean tribal chief
- 1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (b. 1478)
- 1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1558)
- 1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (b. 1525)
- 1648 – George Abbot, English author and politician (b. 1603)
- 1660 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans (b. 1608)
- 1660 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
- 1661 – Lucas Holstenius, German geographer and historian (b. 1596)
- 1675 – Ivan Belostenec, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1594)
- 1688 – Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)
- 1704 – Guillaume de l’Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (b. 1661)
- 1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)
- 1714 – John Sharp, English archbishop (b. 1643)
- 1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (b. 1666)
- 1768 – Robert Smith, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1689)
- 1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
- 1802 – Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1713)
- 1804 – George Walton, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1749)
- 1831 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (b. 1768)
- 1836 – Letizia Ramolino, Italian noblewoman (b. 1750)
- 1861 – Théophane Vénard, French Catholic missionary (b. 1829)
- 1881 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1808)
- 1904 – Ernest Cashel, American-Canadian criminal (b. 1882)
- 1904 – William Collins Whitney, American financier and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1841)
- 1905 – Henri Germain, French banker and politician, founded Le Crédit Lyonnais (b. 1824)
- 1907 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (b. 1834)
- 1909 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
- 1913 – Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer (b. 1845)
- 1918 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (b. 1858)
- 1919 – Julius Kuperjanov, Estonian lieutenant (b. 1894)
- 1925 – Antti Aarne, Finnish historian and academic (b. 1867)
- 1925 – Jaap Eden, Dutch speed skater and cyclist (b. 1873)
- 1926 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general and politician (b. 1848)
- 1932 – Agha Petros, Assyrian general and politician (b. 1880)
- 1939 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (b. 1879)
- 1942 – Ado Birk, Estonian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1883)
- 1942 – Daniil Kharms, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1905)
- 1942 – Hugh D. McIntosh, Australian businessman (b. 1876)
- 1945 – Alfred Delp, German priest and philosopher (b. 1907)
- 1945 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German economist and politician (b. 1884)
- 1945 – Johannes Popitz, German lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
- 1948 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker and philanthropist (b. 1870)
- 1948 – Bevil Rudd, South African runner and journalist (b. 1894)
- 1950 – Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
- 1952 – Callistratus of Georgia, Georgian patriarch (b. 1866)
- 1954 – Hella Wuolijoki, Estonian-Finnish author and politician (b. 1886)
- 1956 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (b. 1869)
- 1956 – Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower (b. 1878)
- 1956 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (b. 1876)
- 1957 – Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1890)
- 1962 – Shlomo Hestrin, Canadian-Israeli biochemist and academic (b. 1914)
- 1966 – Hacı Ömer Sabancı, Turkish businessman (b. 1906)
- 1968 – Tullio Serafin, Italian conductor and director (b. 1878)
- 1969 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
- 1970 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (b. 1898)
- 1970 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)
- 1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1876)
- 1973 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian academic and politician, 9th Mayor of Ghent (b. 1902)
- 1974 – Imre Lakatos, Hungarian-English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1922)
- 1975 – Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1883)
- 1979 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (b. 1930)
- 1979 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (b. 1957)
- 1980 – William Howard Stein, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1982 – Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
- 1983 – Sam Chatmon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1897)
- 1986 – Anita Cobby, Australian murder victim (b. 1959)
- 1986 – Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (b. 1957)
- 1987 – Carlos José Castilho, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
- 1987 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 1988 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 1989 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (b. 1951)
- 1989 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (b. 1905)
- 1990 – Joe Erskine, Welsh boxer (b. 1934)
- 1992 – Bert Parks, American actor, singer, television personality; Miss America telecast presenter (b. 1914)
- 1993 – François Reichenbach, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1994 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (b. 1921)
- 1995 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (b. 1919)
- 1996 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1912)
- 1997 – Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (b. 1913)
- 1997 – Sanford Meisner, American actor and coach (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Haroun Tazieff, German-French geologist and cinematographer (b. 1914)
- 1999 – David McComb, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
- 2002 – Paul Baloff, American singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
- 2002 – Claude Brown, American author (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Lou Harrison, American composer and educator (b. 1917)
- 2004 – Bernard McEveety, American director and producer (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Birgitte Federspiel, Danish actress (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
- 2007 – Vijay Arora, Indian actor (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Billy Henderson, American singer (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Joe Hunter, American pianist (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (b. 1967)
- 2007 – Eric Von Schmidt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
- 2007 – Masao Takemoto, Japanese gymnast (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Barry Morse, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Katoucha Niane, Guinean model and author (b. 1960)
- 2011 – Edward Amy, Canadian general (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish actress (b. 1975)
- 2011 – Margaret John, Welsh actress (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Joyce Barkhouse, Canadian author (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Frederick William Danker, American lexicographer and scholar (b. 1920)
- 2012 – George Esper, American journalist and academic (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (b. 1923)
- 2012 – James F. Lloyd, American pilot and politician (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (b. 1961)
- 2013 – John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Chris Kyle, American soldier and sniper (b. 1974)
- 2013 – Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2013 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Walt Sweeney, American football player (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Guy F. Tozzoli, American architect (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (b. 1992)
- 2014 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
- 2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
- 2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
- 2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
- 2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
- 2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
- 2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
- 2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
 Holidays and observances on February 2
- Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Adalbard
- Cornelius the Centurion
- Martyrs of Ebsdorf
- February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Constitution Day (Philippines)
- Day of Youth (Azerbaijan)
- Earliest day on which Shrove Monday can fall, while March 8 is the latest; celebrated on Monday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity), and its related observances:
- Bun Day (Iceland)
- Fastelavn (Denmark/Norway)
- Nickanan Night (Cornwall)
- Rosenmontag (Germany)
 
- Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
- A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland)
- Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé)
- Le Jour des Crêpes (France)
- Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics)
- Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain)
 
- Groundhog Day (United States and Canada), and its related observances:
- Inventor’s Day (Thailand)
- Trader’s Day (Poland)
- Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia)
- World Wetlands Day
 
 
 
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 January 28 in History
- 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.
- 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels. This incident leads to the Harrying of the North.
- 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is lifted after he humbles himself before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Italy.
- 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
- 1547 – Edward VI, the nine-year-old son of Henry VIII, becomes King of England on his father’s death.
- 1568 – The Edict of Torda prohibited the persecution of individuals on the religious ground in John Sigismund Zápolya’s Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.
- 1573 – Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
- 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.
- 1671 – Original city of Panama (founded in 1519) was destroyed by a fire when privateer Henry Morgan sacked and set fire to it. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see Panama Viejo).
- 1724 – The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
- 1754 – Sir Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to a friend.
- 1813 – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
- 1846 – The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
- 1851 – Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.
- 1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
- 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
- 1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first independent daily college newspaper in the United States.
- 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).
- 1902 – The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
- 1908 – Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d’état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
- 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
- 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.
- 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
- 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
- 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.’s biggest snowfall, causes the city’s greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.
- 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
- 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
- 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
- 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).
- 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
- 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
- 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
- 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
- 1960 – The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.
- 1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
- 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
- 1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in one day in Upstate New York, with Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.
- 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
- 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
- 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
- 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.
- 1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
- 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
- 1988 – In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.
- 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.
- 2006 – The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.
 Births on January 28
- 1312 – Joan II, queen of Navarre (d. 1349)
- 1368 – Razadarit, king of Hanthawaddy (d. 1421)
- 1457 – Henry VII, king of England (d. 1509)
- 1533 – Paul Luther, German scientist (d. 1593)
- 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1610)
- 1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621)
- 1600 – Clement IX, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1669)
- 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
- 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687)
- 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (d. 1691)
- 1693 – Gregor Werner, Austrian composer (d. 1766)
- 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774)
- 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer and typographer (d. 1775)
- 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shōgun (d. 1761)
- 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1774)
- 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1749)
- 1726 – Christian Felix Weiße, German poet and playwright (d. 1802)
- 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, Polish-German physician, anthropologist, and paleontologist (d. 1830)
- 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
- 1797 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (d. 1867)
- 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905)
- 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian soldier, journalist, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892)
- 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885)
- 1841 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-American explorer and journalist (d. 1904)
- 1843 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet and linguist (d. 1890)
- 1853 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (d. 1895)
- 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1900)
- 1855 – William Seward Burroughs I, American businessman, founded the Burroughs Corporation (d. 1898)
- 1858 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (d. 1934)
- 1861 – Julián Felipe, Filipino composer and educator (d. 1944)
- 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (d. 1918)
- 1864 – Charles Williams Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
- 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author and politician (d. 1928)
- 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952)
- 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954)
- 1873 – Monty Noble, Australian cricketer (d. 1940)
- 1874 – Alex Smith, Scottish golfer (d. 1930)
- 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965)
- 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer and conductor (d. 1940)
- 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (d. 1970)
- 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962)
- 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920)
- 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973)
- 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976)
- 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and 1st female FRS (d. 1971)
- 1906 – Pat O’Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991)
- 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992)
- 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998)
- 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931)
- 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973)
- 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (d. 2018)
- 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
- 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976)
- 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Jimmy Bryan, American race car driver (d. 1960)
- 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996)
- 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
- 1929 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist
- 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat
- 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier
- 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
- 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)
- 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic
- 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer
- 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter and coach (d. 2016)
- 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso
- 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater
- 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish director and producer
- 1943 – Dick Taylor, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013)
- 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Frank Doubleday, American actor (d. 2018)
- 1945 – Maxwell Fuller, Australian chess player (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director
- 1945 – John Perkins, American author and activist
- 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire
- 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer
- 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
- 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand union leader and politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach
- 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress, singer and model
- 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king
- 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut
- 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic
- 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
- 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut
- 1951 – Billy Bass Nelson, American R&B/funk bass player
- 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian
- 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
- 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems
- 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France
- 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer and educator
- 1956 – Peter Schilling, German singer-songwriter
- 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean-South African golfer
- 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author
- 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer
- 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician
- 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – David Lawrence, English cricketer
- 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer
- 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster
- 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1968 – Rakim, American rapper
- 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer
- 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist
- 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician
- 1972 – Mark Regan, English rugby player
- 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer and manager
- 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist
- 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player and coach
- 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
- 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet
- 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player and politician
- 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese-American journalist
- 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player and coach
- 1976 – Sireli Bobo, Fijian rugby player
- 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player and coach
- 1976 – Rick Ross, American rapper and producer
- 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
- 1977 – Sandis Buškevics, Latvian basketball player and coach
- 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player
- 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and television personality
- 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver
- 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
- 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster
- 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer
- 1978 – Stephen Farrelly, Irish professional wrestler
- 1978 – Big Freedia, New Orleans musician, “Queen of Bounce”
- 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1980 – Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer
- 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
- 1980 – Brian Fallon, American singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer
- 1984 – Ben Clucas, English race car driver
- 1984 – Stephen Gostkowski, American football player
- 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
- 1984 – Anne Panter, English field hockey player
- 1985 – J. Cole, American singer
- 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Lauris Dārziņš, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
- 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer
- 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler
- 1986 – Nathan Outteridge, Australian sailor
- 1986 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer
- 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer
- 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler
- 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer
- 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer
- 1998 – Ariel Winter, American actress
 Deaths on January 28
- 592 – Guntram, French king (b. 532)
- 814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (pleurisy; b. 742)
- 919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general
- 929 – Gao Jixing, founder of Chinese Jingnan (b. 858)
- 947 – Jing Yanguang, Chinese general (b. 892)
- 1061 – Spytihněv II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1031)
- 1142 – Yue Fei, Chinese general (b. 1103)
- 1256 – William II, Count of Holland, King of Germany (b. 1227)
- 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (b. 1247)
- 1290 – Dervorguilla of Galloway, Scottish noble, mother of king John Balliol of Scotland (b. c. 1210)
- 1443 – Robert le Maçon, French diplomat (b. 1365)
- 1501 – John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham, English baron and Lord High Treasurer (b. 1433)
- 1547 – Henry VIII, king of England (b. 1491)
- 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (b. 1545)
- 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550)
- 1666 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (b. 1591)
- 1672 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1588)
- 1681 – Richard Allestree, English priest and academic (b. 1619)
- 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (b. 1611)
- 1688 – Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary in China (b. 1623)
- 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645)
- 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684)
- 1782 – Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, French geographer and cartographer (b. 1697)
- 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
- 1859 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782)
- 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (b. 1799)
- 1873 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (b. 1809)
- 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (b. 1847)
- 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist and theorist (b. 1819)
- 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872)
- 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1883)
- 1930 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano and poet (b. 1878)
- 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1859)
- 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and target shooter (b. 1862)
- 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909)
- 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881)
- 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1924)
- 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1875)
- 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906)
- 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
- 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1883)
- 1953 – James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
- 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher and poet (b. 1879)
- 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
- 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (b. 1891)
- 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884)
- 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
- 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867)
- 1971 – Donald Winnicott, English paediatrician and psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
- 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910)
- 1976 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1924)
- 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903)
- 1983 – Billy Fury. English pop star (b. 1940)
- 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian educator and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
- 1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew
- Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
- Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
- Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
- Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
- Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
- Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
- Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
 
- 1988 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and politician (b. 1911)
- 1989 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
- 1993 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (b. 1905)
- 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)
- 1996 – Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist and author (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Jerry Siegel, American author and illustrator, co-created Superman (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1938)
- 1999 – Valery Gavrilin, Russian composer (b. 1939)
- 2001 – Ranko Marinković, Croatian author and playwright (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 2002 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (b. 1946)
- 2003 – Mieke Pullen, Dutch runner (b. 1957)
- 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, American captain (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Mel Pritchard, English drummer (b. 1948)
- 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Robert Drinan, American priest, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963)
- 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer (b. 1938)
- 2009 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Roman Juszkiewicz, Polish astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Don Starkell, Canadian adventurer and author (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Hattie N. Harrison, American educator and politician (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – John Cacavas, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Nigel Jenkins, Welsh poet, journalist, and geographer (b. 1949)
- 2014 – Jorge Obeid, Argentinian engineer and politician, Governor of Santa Fe (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Suraj Abdurrahman, Nigerian general, architect, and engineer (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Signe Toly Anderson, American singer (b. 1941)
- 2016 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2016 – Franklin Gene Bissell, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
- 2016 – Buddy Cianci, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Mayor of Providence (b. 1941)
- 2016 – Bob Tizard, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 6th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Alexander Chancellor, British journalist (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Geoff Nicholls, British musician (b. 1948)
- 2019 – Pepe Smith, Filipino rock musician (b. 1947)
 Holidays and observances on January 28
- Christian feast day:
- Joseph Freinademetz
- Julian of Cuenca
- Thomas Aquinas
- January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Army Day (Armenia)
- Data Privacy Day
 
 
 
- 
	
				
			
		
				
			
	
		
 January 18 in History
- 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
- 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
- 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
- 1486 – King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
- 1562 – Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
- 1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Mingyi Swa of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
- 1670 – Henry Morgan captures Panama.
- 1701 – Frederick I crowns himself King of Prussia in Königsberg.
- 1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands”.
- 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
- 1806 – Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.
- 1866 – Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia.
- 1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.
- 1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
- 1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
- 1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
- 1913 – First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
- 1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
- 1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
- 1919 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
- 1941 – World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
- 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1945 – World War II: Liberation of Kraków, Poland by the Red Army.
- 1958 – Willie O’Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
- 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.
- 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
- 1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
- 1976 – Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut.
- 1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease.
- 1977 – Australia’s worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
- 1977 – SFR Yugoslavia’s Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 1978 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom’s government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
- 1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
- 1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family.
- 1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- 1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.
- 2002 – The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.
- 2003 – A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
- 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
- 2007 – The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
- 2008 – The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- 2018 – A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.
 Births on January 18
- 1404 – Sir Philip Courtenay, British noble (d. 1463)
- 1457 – Antonio Trivulzio, seniore, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1508)
- 1519 – Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary (d. 1559)
- 1540 – Catherine, Duchess of Braganza (d. 1614)
- 1641 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 1691)
- 1659 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher and theologian (d. 1708)
- 1672 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (d. 1731)
- 1688 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
- 1689 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (d. 1755)
- 1701 – Johann Jakob Moser, German jurist (d. 1785)
- 1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1803)
- 1751 – Ferdinand Kauer, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1831)
- 1752 – John Nash, English architect (d. 1835)
- 1764 – Samuel Whitbread, English politician (d. 1815)
- 1779 – Peter Mark Roget, English physician, lexicographer, and theologian (d. 1869)
- 1782 – Daniel Webster, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
- 1793 – Pratap Singh Bhosle, Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1847)
- 1815 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German theologian and scholar (d. 1874)
- 1835 – César Cui, Russian general, composer, and critic (d. 1918)
- 1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet and author (d. 1921)
- 1841 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (d. 1894)
- 1842 – A. A. Ames, American physician and politician, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1848 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1925)
- 1849 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
- 1850 – Seth Low, American academic and politician, 92nd Mayor of New York City (d. 1916)
- 1853 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker (d. 1900)
- 1854 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1934)
- 1856 – Daniel Hale Williams, American surgeon and cardiologist (d. 1931)
- 1867 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (d. 1916)
- 1868 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
- 1877 – Sam Zemurray, Russian-American businessman, founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company (d. 1961)
- 1879 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (d. 1949)
- 1880 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian-Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1933)
- 1880 – Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
- 1881 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (d. 1975)
- 1882 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
- 1886 – Clara Nordström, Swedish-German author and translator (d. 1962)
- 1888 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player, sailor, and pilot (d. 1989)
- 1892 – Oliver Hardy, American actor and comedian (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Bill Meanix, American hurdler and coach (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (d. 1956)
- 1893 – Jorge Guillén, Spanish poet, critic, and academic (d. 1984)
- 1894 – Toots Mondt, American wrestler and promoter (d. 1976)
- 1896 – C. M. Eddy Jr., American author (d. 1967)
- 1896 – Ville Ritola, Finnish-American runner (d. 1982)
- 1898 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1978)
- 1901 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1973)
- 1903 – Berthold Goldschmidt, German pianist and composer (d. 1996)
- 1904 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (d. 2006)
- 1904 – Cary Grant, English-American actor (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mob boss (d. 2002)
- 1907 – János Ferencsik, Hungarian conductor (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, historian, and television host (d. 1974)
- 1910 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist and academic (d. 1993)
- 1911 – José María Arguedas, Peruvian anthropologist, author, and poet (d. 1969)
- 1911 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
- 1913 – Carroll Cloar, American artist (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Giannis Papaioannou, Greek composer (d. 1972)
- 1914 – Arno Schmidt, German author and translator (d. 1979)
- 1914 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovene author, poet, and playwright (d. 1987)
- 1915 – Syl Apps, Canadian pole vaulter, ice hockey player, and politician (d. 1998)
- 1915 – Santiago Carrillo, Spanish soldier and politician (d. 2012)
- 1915 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1984)
- 1917 – Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese-American businessman (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Gustave Gingras, Canadian-English physician and educator (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Toni Turek, German footballer (d. 1984)
- 1921 – Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
- 1923 – John Graham, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Wales (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Gilles Deleuze, French metaphysician and philosopher (d. 1995)
- 1925 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Sol Yurick, American soldier and author (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Randolph Bromery, American geologist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian actor, singer, and veena player (d. 1990)
- 1928 – Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet and Russian professional basketball coach (d. 2005)
- 1931 – Chun Doo-hwan, South Korean general and politician, 5th President of South Korea
- 1932 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (d. 2007)
- 1933 – Emeka Anyaoku, Nigerian politician, 8th Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1933 – David Bellamy, English botanist, author and academic (d. 2019)
- 1933 – John Boorman, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1933 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (d. 2013)
- 1933 – William Goodhart, Baron Goodhart, English lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Frank McMullen, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2004)
- 1933 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (d. 2017)
- 1934 – Raymond Briggs, English author and illustrator
- 1935 – Albert Millaire, Canadian actor and director (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Jon Stallworthy, English poet, critic, and academic (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Gad Yaacobi, Israeli academic and diplomat, 10th Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2007)
- 1936 – David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1937 – John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 – Curt Flood, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
- 1938 – Anthony Giddens, English sociologist and academic
- 1938 – Werner Olk, German footballer and manager
- 1938 – Hargus “Pig” Robbins, American Country Music Hall of Fame session keyboard and piano player
- 1940 – Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1971)
- 1941 – Denise Bombardier, Canadian journalist and author
- 1941 – Bobby Goldsboro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1941 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
- 1943 – Paul Freeman, English actor
- 1943 – Kay Granger, American educator and politician
- 1943 – Dave Greenslade, English keyboard player and composer
- 1943 – Charlie Wilson, American businessman and politician (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Paul Keating, Australian economist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
- 1944 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (d. 1983)
- 1944 – Kei Ogura, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer
- 1944 – Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria
- 1945 – Rocco Forte, English businessman and philanthropist
- 1946 – Perro Aguayo, Mexican wrestler (d. 2019)
- 1946 – Joseph Deiss, Swiss economist and politician, 156th President of the Swiss Confederation
- 1946 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, Japanese baseball player and journalist (d. 2018)
- 1947 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
- 1949 – Bill Keller, American journalist
- 1949 – Philippe Starck, French interior designer
- 1950 – Gianfranco Brancatelli, Italian race car driver
- 1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1951 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and activist (d. 1982)
- 1951 – Bob Latchford, English footballer
- 1952 – Michael Behe, American biochemist, author, and academic
- 1952 – R. Stevie Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1953 – Brett Hudson, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1953 – Peter Moon, Australian comedian and actor
- 1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor, director, and producer
- 1956 – Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton, English banker and politician
- 1960 – Mark Rylance, English actor, director, and playwright
- 1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and manager
- 1961 – Bob Hansen, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1961 – Jeff Yagher, American actor and sculptor
- 1962 – Alison Arngrim, Canadian-American actress
- 1963 – Maxime Bernier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada
- 1963 – Ian Crook, English footballer, central midfielder and manager
- 1963 – Carl McCoy, English singer-songwriter
- 1963 – Martin O’Malley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 61st Governor of Maryland
- 1964 – Brady Anderson, American baseball player
- 1964 – Richard Dunwoody, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
- 1964 – Virgil Hill, American boxer
- 1964 – Jane Horrocks, English actress and singer
- 1966 – Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player and author
- 1966 – Kazufumi Miyazawa, Japanese singer
- 1966 – André Ribeiro, Brazilian race car driver
- 1967 – Dean Bailey, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
- 1967 – Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
- 1969 – Dave Bautista, American wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
- 1969 – Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
- 1969 – Jim O’Rourke, American guitarist and producer
- 1970 – Peter Van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
- 1971 – Amy Barger, American astronomer
- 1971 – Jonathan Davis, American singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
- 1971 – Pep Guardiola, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1971 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (d. 2019)
- 1972 – Vinod Kambli, Indian cricketer, sportscaster, and actor
- 1972 – Mike Lieberthal, American baseball player
- 1972 – Kjersti Plätzer, Norwegian race walker
- 1973 – Burnie Burns, American actor, director, and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth Productions
- 1973 – Luke Goodwin, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1973 – Benjamin Jealous, American civic leader and activist
- 1973 – Anthony Koutoufides, Australian footballer
- 1973 – Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
- 1973 – Rolando Schiavi, Argentinian footballer and coach
- 1974 – Christian Burns, English singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Leslie Knope, Protagonist of Parks and Recreation (fictional)
- 1976 – Laurence Courtois, Belgian tennis player
- 1976 – Marcelo Gallardo, Argentinian footballer and coach
- 1976 – Damien Leith, Irish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Richard Archer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
- 1978 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
- 1978 – Bogdan Lobonț, Romanian footballer
- 1979 – Ruslan Fedotenko, Ukrainian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1979 – Brian Gionta, American ice hockey player
- 1979 – Kenyatta Jones, American football player (d. 2018)
- 1980 – Estelle, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1980 – Robert Green, English footballer
- 1980 – Kert Haavistu, Estonian footballer and manager
- 1980 – Julius Peppers, American football player
- 1980 – Jason Segel, American actor and screenwriter
- 1981 – Otgonbayar Ershuu, Mongolian painter and illustrator
- 1981 – Olivier Rochus, Belgian tennis player
- 1981 – Khari Stephenson, Jamaican footballer
- 1981 – Kang Dong-won, South Korean actor
- 1982 – Quinn Allman, American guitarist and producer
- 1982 – Mary Jepkosgei Keitany, Kenyan runner
- 1983 – Amir Blumenfeld, Israeli-American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Samantha Mumba, Irish singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Kristy Lee Cook, American singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Ioannis Drymonakos, Greek swimmer
- 1984 – Makoto Hasebe, Japanese footballer
- 1984 – Michael Kearney, American biochemist and academic
- 1984 – Seung-Hui Cho, South Korean student who perpetrated the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech (d. 2007)
- 1984 – Benji Schwimmer, American dancer and choreographer
- 1984 – Viktoria Shklover, Estonian figure skater
- 1985 – Dale Begg-Smith, Canadian-Australian skier
- 1985 – Mark Briscoe, American wrestler
- 1985 – Riccardo Montolivo, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Hyun Woo, South Korean actor
- 1986 – Marya Roxx, Estonian-American singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Ikusaburo Yamazaki, Japanese actor and singer
- 1987 – Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer
- 1987 – Christopher Liebig, German rugby player
- 1987 – Grigoris Makos, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Ronnie Day, American singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Angelique Kerber, German tennis player
- 1988 – Anastasios Kissas, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Boy van Poppel, Dutch cyclist
- 1989 – Rubén Miño, Spanish footballer
- 1990 – Nacho, Spanish footballer
- 1990 – Hayle Ibrahimov, Ethiopian-Azerbaijani runner
- 1990 – Gift Ngoepe, South African baseball player
- 1991 – Diego Simões, Brazilian footballer
- 1992 – Francesco Bardi, Italian footballer
- 1993 – Sean Keenan, Australian actor
- 1994 – Kang Ji-young, South Korean singer
- 1994 – Ilona Kremen, Belarusian tennis player
- 1995 – Bryce Alford, American basketball player
- 1998 – Aitana Bonmatí, Spanish footballer
 Deaths on January 18
- 52 BC – Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician (b. 93 BC)
- 474 – Leo I, Byzantine emperor (b. 401)
- 748 – Odilo, duke of Bavaria
- 896 – Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, ruler of the Tulunids, murdered (b. 864)
- 1213 – Tamar of Georgia (b. 1160)
- 1253 – King Henry I of Cyprus (b. 1217)
- 1271 – Saint Margaret of Hungary (b. 1242)
- 1326 – Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter, English baron (b. 1247)
- 1357 – Maria of Portugal, infanta (b. 1313)
- 1367 – Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
- 1411 – Jobst of Moravia, ruler of Moravia, King of the Romans
- 1425 – Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
- 1471 – Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
- 1479 – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1417)
- 1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal and scholar (b. 1470)
- 1586 – Margaret of Parma (b. 1522)
- 1589 – Magnus Heinason, Faroese naval hero (b. 1545)
- 1677 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch politician, founded Cape Town (b. 1619)
- 1756 – Francis George of Schönborn-Buchheim, Archbishop-Elector of Trier (b. 1682)
- 1783 – Jeanne Quinault, French actress and playwright (b. 1699)
- 1803 – Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet and academic (b. 1743)
- 1849 – Panoutsos Notaras, Greek politician (b. 1752)
- 1862 – John Tyler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790)
- 1873 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, poet, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1803)
- 1878 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and academic (b. 1788)
- 1886 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
- 1892 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
- 1896 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, 55th Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
- 1923 – Wallace Reid, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1891)
- 1936 – Hermanus Brockmann, Dutch rower (b. 1871)
- 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1940 – Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Polish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1865)
- 1951 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (b. 1867)
- 1952 – Curly Howard, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1954 – Sydney Greenstreet, English-American actor (b. 1879)
- 1955 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 1956 – Makbule Atadan, Turkish lawyer and politician (b. 1885)
- 1956 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 1st President of Estonia (b. 1874)
- 1963 – Hugh Gaitskell, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1906)
- 1966 – Kathleen Norris, American journalist and author (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Goose Tatum, American basketball player and soldier (b. 1921)
- 1969 – Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1887)
- 1970 – David O. McKay, American religious leader, 9th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- 1971 – Virgil Finlay, American illustrator (b. 1914)
- 1973 – Irina Nikolaevna Levchenko, Russian tank commander (b. 1924)
- 1975 – Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher and author (b. 1919)
- 1980 – Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer and photographer (b. 1904)
- 1984 – Panteleimon Ponomarenko, Belarusian general and politician (b. 1902)
- 1984 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Bruce Chatwin, English-French author (b. 1940)
- 1990 – Melanie Appleby, English singer (b. 1966)
- 1990 – Rusty Hamer, American actor (b. 1947)
- 1993 – Dionysios Zakythinos, Greek historian, academic, and politician (b. 1905)
- 1995 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1995 – Ron Luciano, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
- 1996 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (b. 1923)
- 1997 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
- 1998 – Dan Georgiadis, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1922)
- 2000 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
- 2003 – Ed Farhat, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1924)
- 2003 – Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Indian poet and author (b. 1907)
- 2005 – Lamont Bentley, American actor and rapper (b. 1973)
- 2006 – Jan Twardowski, Polish priest and poet (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Brent Liles, American bass player (b. 1963)
- 2008 – Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Frank Lewin, American composer and theorist (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (b. 1927)
- 2008 – John Stroger, American politician (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (b. 1925)
- 2009 – Nora Kovach, Hungarian-American ballerina (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1913)
- 2009 – Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet and author (b. 1935)
- 2010 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Robert B. Parker, American author and academic (b. 1932)
- 2011 – Sargent Shriver, American politician and diplomat, 21st United States Ambassador to France (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Anthony Gonsalves, Indian composer and educator (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Georg Lassen, German captain (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Yuri Rasovsky, American playwright and producer, founded The National Radio Theater of Chicago (b. 1944)
- 2013 – Sean Fallon, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Jim Horning, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (b. 1989)
- 2013 – Lewis Marnell, Australian skateboarder (b. 1982)
- 2013 – Ron Nachman, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Kathryn Abbe, American photographer and author (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Michael Botmang, Nigerian politician, 17th Governor of Plateau State (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Andy Graver, English footballer (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Sarah Marshall, English actress (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Eugenio Cruz Vargas, Chilean poet and painter (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Alberto Nisman, Argentinian lawyer and prosecutor (b. 1963)
- 2015 – Christine Valmy, Romanian cosmetologist and author (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Piet van der Sanden, Dutch journalist and politician (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Tony Verna, American director and producer, invented instant replay (b. 1933)
- 2016 – Johnny Bach, American basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Glenn Frey, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1948)
- 2016 – T. S. Sinnathuray, Judge of the High Court of Singapore (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Michel Tournier, French journalist and author (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Peter Abrahams, South African-Jamaican writer (b. 1919)
- 2017 – David P. Buckson, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Delaware (b. 1920)
- 2017 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer, businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Roberta Peters, American coloratura soprano (b. 1930)
- 2019 – John Coughlin, American figure skater (b. 1985)
 Holidays and observances on January 18
- Christian feast day:
- Amy Carmichael (Church of England)
- Athanasius of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Confession of Peter (Eastern Orthodox, some Anglican and Lutheran Churches)
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Deicolus
- Margaret of Hungary
- Prisca
- Volusianus of Tours
- January 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 
- Royal Thai Armed Forces Day (Thailand)
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18–25) (Christianity)