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)
756 – An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang Dynasty, declares himself emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
789 – Idris I reaches Volubilis and founds the Idrisid dynasty, ceding Morocco from the Abbasid caliphate and founding the first Moroccan state.
1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
1649 – Charles Stuart, the son of King Charles I, is declared King Charles II of England and Scotland by the Scottish Parliament.
1778 – South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1782 – Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.
1783 – In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.
1807 – HMS Blenheim and HMS Java disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.
1810 – Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.
1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
1849 – University of Wisconsin–Madison’s first class meets at Madison Female Academy.
1852 – The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.
1859 – Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as the prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.
1862 – Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.
1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger”, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.
1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
1905 – In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.
1907 – Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic.
1913 – Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
1917 – The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
1917 – The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.
1918 – SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
1933 – Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
1939 – Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th “Caudillo de España“, or Leader of Spain.
1941 – World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
1945 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
1958 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
1962 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
1963 – The European Court of Justice’s ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.
1971 – Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
1975 – Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
1985 – Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
1988 – Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
1994 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
1994 – Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
1997 – The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
2000 – Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
2004 – Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
2008 – A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.
2020 – United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
Births on February 5
976 – Sanjō, emperor of Japan (d. 1017)
1321 – John II, marquess of Montferrat (d. 1372)
1438 – Philip II, duke of Savoy (d. 1497)
1505 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss statesman and historian (d. 1572)
1519 – René of Châlon, prince of Orange (d. 1544)
1525 – Juraj Drašković, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1587)
1533 – Andreas Dudith, Croatian-Hungarian nobleman and diplomat (d. 1589)
1534 – Giovanni de’ Bardi, Italian soldier, composer, and critic (d. 1612)
1589 – Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet and educator (d. 1669)
1594 – Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1663)
1605 – Bernard of Corleone, Italian saint (d. 1667)
1608 – Gaspar Schott, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1666)
1626 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (d. 1696)
1650 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (d. 1708)
1703 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister (d. 1764)
1723 – John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (d. 1794)
1725 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1783)
1748 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor (d. 1798)
1788 – Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
1795 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (d. 1871)
1804 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet and hymn-writer (d. 1877)
1808 – Carl Spitzweg, German painter and poet (d. 1885)
1810 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (d. 1880)
1827 – Peter Lalor, Irish-Australian activist and politician (d. 1889)
1837 – Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers (d. 1899)
1840 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber (d. 1921)
1840 – Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun (d. 1916)
1847 – Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver (d. 1903)
1848 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (d. 1907)
1848 – Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean lieutenant (d. 1882)
1852 – Terauchi Masatake, Japanese field marshal and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1919)
1866 – Domhnall Ua Buachalla, Irish politician, 3rd and last Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1963)
1870 – Charles Edmund Brock, British painter and book illustrator (d. 1938)
1876 – Ernie McLea, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1931)
1878 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded Citroën (d. 1935)
1880 – Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (d. 1973)
1889 – Patsy Hendren, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1962)
1889 – Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
1889 – Recep Peker, Turkish officer and politician (d. 1950)
1891 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (d. 1976)
1892 – Elizabeth Ryan, American tennis player (d. 1979)
1897 – Dirk Stikker, Dutch businessman and politician, 3rd Secretary General of NATO (d. 1979)
1900 – Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1965)
1903 – Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1994)
1903 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 1975)
1906 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
1907 – Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
1907 – Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
1908 – Marie Baron, Dutch swimmer and diver (d. 1948)
1908 – Peg Entwistle, Welsh-American actress (d. 1932)
1908 – Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twins (d. 1969)
1908 – Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (d. 1939)
1909 – Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1969)
1910 – Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (d. 2007)
1910 – Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2010)
1911 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
1914 – William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1997)
1914 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist, biophysicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1915 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
1917 – Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University (d. 2002)
1917 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
1919 – Red Buttons, American actor (d. 2006)
1919 – Tim Holt, American actor (d. 1973)
1919 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
1921 – Ken Adam, German-born English production designer and art director (d. 2016)
1923 – Claude King, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1923 – James E. Bowman, American physician and academic (d. 2011)
1924 – Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (d. 2014)
1927 – Robert Allen, American pianist and composer (d. 2000)
1927 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch captain and pilot (d. 1977)
1928 – Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director (d. 1985)
1928 – Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author (d. 2013)
1928 – P. J. Vatikiotis, Israeli-American historian and political scientist (d. 1997)
1929 – Hal Blaine, American session drummer (d. 2019)
1929 – Luc Ferrari, French pianist and composer (d. 2005)
1929 – Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician, 19th Chancellor of Austria (d. 2008)
1932 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1933 – Jörn Donner, Finnish director and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1933 – B. S. Johnson, English author, poet, and critic (d. 1973)
1934 – Hank Aaron, American baseball player
1934 – Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
1935 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1982)
1935 – Johannes Geldenhuys, South African military commander (d. 2018)
1936 – K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic
1937 – Stuart Damon, American actor and singer
1937 – Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1937 – Gaston Roelants, Belgian runner
1937 – Alar Toomre, Estonian-American astronomer and mathematician
1937 – Wang Xuan, Chinese computer scientist and academic (d. 2006)
1938 – Rafael Nieto Navia, Colombian lawyer, jurist, and diplomat
1939 – Brian Luckhurst, English cricketer (d. 2005)
1940 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (d. 2014)
1940 – Luke Graham, American wrestler (d. 2006)
1941 – Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1941 – Henson Cargill, American country music singer (d. 2007)
1941 – David Selby, American actor and playwright
1941 – Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter and pianist
1941 – Kaspar Villiger, Swiss engineer and politician, 85th President of the Swiss Confederation
1941 – Cory Wells, American pop-rock singer (d. 2015)
1942 – Roger Staubach, American football player, sportscaster, and businessman
1943 – Nolan Bushnell, American engineer and businessman, founded Atari, Inc.
1943 – Michael Mann, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Craig Morton, American football player and sportscaster
1943 – Dušan Uhrin, Czech and Slovak footballer and manager
1944 – J. R. Cobb, American guitarist and songwriter
1944 – Henfil, Brazilian journalist, author, and illustrator (d. 1988)
1944 – Al Kooper, American singer-songwriter and producer
1944 – Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 51st Yokozuna (d. 1971)
1945 – Douglas Hogg, English lawyer and politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
1946 – Amnon Dankner, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2013)
1946 – Charlotte Rampling, English actress
1947 – Mary L. Cleave, American engineer and astronaut
1947 – Clemente Mastella, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Justice
1947 – Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
1948 – Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager
1948 – Christopher Guest, American actor and director
1948 – Barbara Hershey, American actress
1948 – Errol Morris, American director and producer
1948 – Tom Wilkinson, English actor
1949 – Kurt Beck, German politician
1949 – Yvon Vallières, Canadian educator and politician
1950 – Jonathan Freeman, American actor and singer
1950 – Rafael Puente, Mexican footballer
1951 – Nikolay Merkushkin, Mordovian engineer and politician, 1st Head of the Republic of Mordovia
1952 – Daniel Balavoine, French singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1986)
1952 – Vladimir Moskovkin, Ukrainian-Russian geographer, economist, and academic
1953 – Freddie Aguilar, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – John Beilein, American basketball player and coach
1953 – Gustavo Benítez, Paraguayan footballer and manager
1954 – Cliff Martinez, American drummer and songwriter
1954 – Frank Walker, Australian journalist and author
1955 – Mike Heath, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Vinnie Colaiuta, American drummer
1956 – Héctor Rebaque, Mexican race car driver
1956 – David Wiesner, American author and illustrator
1956 – Mao Daichi, Japanese actress
1957 – Jüri Tamm, Estonian hammer thrower and politician
1959 – Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Michigan
1960 – Aris Christofellis, Greek soprano and musicologist
1960 – Bonnie Crombie, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 6th Mayor of Mississauga
1960 – Micky Hazard, English footballer, central midfielder
1961 – Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
1961 – Tim Meadows, American actor and screenwriter
1962 – Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress, screenwriter, producer and director
1963 – Steven Shainberg, American film director and producer
1964 – Laura Linney, American actress
1964 – Ha Seungmoo, Korean Poet, Pastor, Historical theologian
1964 – Duff McKagan, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1965 – Tarik Benhabiles, Algerian-French tennis player and coach
1965 – Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer and manager
1965 – Keith Moseley, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Quique Sánchez Flores, Spanish footballer and manager
1966 – José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
1966 – Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier (d. 1993)
1967 – Chris Parnell, American actor and comedian
1968 – Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
1968 – Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
1969 – Bobby Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
1969 – Michael Sheen, Welsh actor and director
1969 – Derek Stephen Prince, American voice actor
1970 – Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
1970 – Darren Lehmann, Australian cricketer and coach
1971 – Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player (d. 1996)
1971 – Sara Evans, American country singer
1972 – Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
1972 – Brad Fittler, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
1973 – Richard Matvichuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
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)
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:
69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the “Holy Catholic faith”.
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
1582 – Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 – The British Museum opens to the public.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris addresses the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
1818 – A paper by David Brewster is read to the Royal Society, belatedly announcing his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a “supplement” (submitted four days later) on reflection of polarized light.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1867 – Forty people die when ice covering the boating lake at Regent’s Park, London, collapses.
1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey (“A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly).
1876 – The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta.
1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
1911 – Palestinian Arabic-language Falastin newspaper founded.
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
1919 – Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
1934 – The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 – The Black Dahlia murder: the dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short was found in Los Angeles.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
1962 – Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.
1966 – The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d’état.
1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
1970 – Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1975 – The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
1976 – Gerald Ford’s would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1981 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 – ESA’s SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less than two minutes after take-off.
2013 – A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
2015 – The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the franc’s value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets
2016 – The Kenyan Army suffers its worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle.
2019 – Somali militants attack the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.
2019 – Theresa May’s UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times, when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement, giving her opponents a majority of 230.
Births on January 15
961 – Seongjong of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 997)
1432 – Afonso V of Portugal (d. 1481)
1462 – Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, German noble (d. 1528)
1481 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun (d. 1511)
1538 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)
1595 – Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (d. 1661)
1622 – Molière, French actor and playwright (d. 1673)
1623 – Algernon Sidney, British philosopher (d. 1683)
1671 – Abraham de la Pryme, English archaeologist and historian (d. 1704)
1674 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French poet and playwright (d. 1762)
1716 – Philip Livingston, American merchant and politician (d. 1778)
1747 – John Aikin, English surgeon and author (d. 1822)
1754 – Richard Martin, Irish activist and politician, co-founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (d. 1834)
1791 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1872)
1795 – Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright, composer, and poet (d. 1829)
1803 – Marjorie Fleming, Scottish poet and author (d. 1811)
1809 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French economist and politician (d. 1865)
1812 – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian author and scholar (d. 1885)
1815 – William Bickerton, English-American religious leader, 3rd President of the Church of Jesus Christ (d. 1905)
1834 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (d. 1911)
1841 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, 6th Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)
1842 – Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychiatrist (d. 1925)
1842 – Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (d. 1909)
1850 – Leonard Darwin, English soldier, eugenicist, and politician (d. 1943)
1850 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1889)
1850 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (d. 1891)
1855 – Jacques Damala, Greek-French soldier and actor (d. 1889)
1858 – Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter (d. 1899)
1859 – Archibald Peake, English-Australian politician, 25th Premier of South Australia (d. 1920)
1863 – Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)
1866 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
1869 – Ruby Laffoon, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Kentucky (d. 1941)
1869 – Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish poet, playwright, and painter (d. 1907)
1870 – Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1954)
1872 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (d. 1944)
1875 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and journalist (d. 1929)
1877 – Lewis Terman, American psychologist, eugenicist, and academic (d. 1956)
1878 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
1879 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1961)
1882 – Henry Burr, Canadian singer, radio performer, and producer (d. 1941)
1885 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and author (d. 1973)
1885 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1890 – Michiaki Kamada, Japanese admiral (d. 1947)
1891 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
1891 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet and translator (d. 1938)
1893 – Ivor Novello, Welsh singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1951)
1895 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1896 – Marjorie Bennett, Australian-American actress (d. 1982)
1902 – Nâzım Hikmet, Greek-Turkish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1963)
1902 – Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1903 – Paul A. Dever, American lieutenant and politician, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1907 – Janusz Kusociński, Polish runner and soldier (d. 1940)
1908 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (d. 2003)
1909 – Jean Bugatti, German-French engineer (d. 1939)
1909 – Gene Krupa, American drummer, composer, and actor (d. 1973)
1912 – Michel Debré, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1996)
1913 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (d. 2002)
1913 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
1913 – Miriam Hyde, Australian pianist and composer (d. 2005)
1913 – Alexander Marinesko, Ukrainian-Russian lieutenant (d. 1963)
1914 – Stefan Bałuk, Polish general (d. 2014)
1914 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (d. 2003)
1917 – K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor and comedian (d. 1994)
1918 – João Figueiredo, Brazilian general and politician, 30th President of Brazil (d. 1999)
1918 – Édouard Gagnon, Canadian cardinal (d. 2007)
1918 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Egypt (d. 1970)
1919 – Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer and politician, French Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (d. 2012)
1919 – George Cadle Price, Belizean politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belize (d. 2011)
1920 – Bob Davies, American basketball player and coach (d. 1990)
1920 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1920 – John O’Connor, American cardinal (d. 2000)
1921 – Babasaheb Bhosale, Indian lawyer and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2007)
1921 – Frank Thornton, English actor (d. 2013)
1922 – Sylvia Lawler, English geneticist (d. 1996)
1922 – Eric Willis, Australian sergeant and politician, 34th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1999)
1923 – Ivor Cutler, Scottish pianist, songwriter, and poet (d. 2006)
1923 – Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese-Chinese economist and politician, 4th President of the Republic of China
1924 – George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (d. 2013)
1925 – Ruth Slenczynska, American pianist and composer
1925 – Ignacio López Tarso, Mexican actor
1926 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (d. 2005)
1927 – Phyllis Coates, American actress
1928 – W. R. Mitchell, English journalist and author (d. 2015)
1929 – Earl Hooker, American guitarist (d. 1970)
1929 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (assassinated in 1968)
1930 – Eddie Graham, American wrestler and promoter (d. 1985)
1931 – Lee Bontecou, American painter and sculptor
1932 – Lou Jones, American sprinter (d. 2006)
1933 – Frank Bough, English journalist and radio host
1933 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author and academic (d. 2019)
1933 – Peter Maitlis, English chemist and academic
1934 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian civil servant and politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (d. 2013)
1937 – Margaret O’Brien, American actress and singer
1938 – Ashraf Aman, Pakistani engineer and mountaineer
1938 – Estrella Blanca, Mexican wrestler
1938 – Chuni Goswami, Indian footballer and cricketer
1939 – Per Ahlmark, Swedish journalist and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2018)
1939 – Tony Bullimore, British sailor
1941 – Captain Beefheart, American singer-songwriter, musician, and artist (d. 2010)
1942 – Frank Joseph Polozola, American academic and judge (d. 2013)
1943 – George Ambrum, Australian rugby league player (d. 1986)
1943 – Margaret Beckett, English metallurgist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
1943 – Stuart E. Eizenstat, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the European Union
1943 – Mike Marshall, American baseball player
1944 – Jenny Nimmo, English author
1945 – Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director, and politician (d. 2015)
1945 – Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (d. 1993)
1945 – William R. Higgins, American colonel (d. 1990)
1945 – Princess Michael of Kent
1945 – David Pleat, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
1946 – Charles Brown, American actor (d. 2004)
1947 – Mary Hogg, English lawyer and judge
1947 – Andrea Martin, American-Canadian actress, singer, and screenwriter
1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter (d. 1977)
1949 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2001)
1949 – Alasdair Liddell, English businessman (d. 2012)
1949 – Ian Stewart, Scottish runner
1949 – Howard Twitty, American golfer
1950 – Marius Trésor, French footballer and coach
1952 – Boris Blank, Swiss singer-songwriter
1952 – Andrzej Fischer, Polish footballer
1953 – Randy White, American football player
1954 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino poet, author, and screenwriter
1955 – Nigel Benson, English author and illustrator
1955 – Andreas Gursky, German photographer
1955 – Khalid Islambouli, Egyptian lieutenant (d. 1982)
1956 – Vitaly Kaloyev, Russian architect
1956 – Mayawati, Indian educator and politician, 23rd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
1956 – Marc Trestman, American football player and coach
1957 – David Ige, American politician
1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player and sportscaster
1957 – Andrew Tyrie, English journalist and politician
1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor and director
1958 – Ken Judge, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2016)
1958 – Boris Tadić, Serbian psychologist and politician, 16th President of Serbia
1959 – Greg Dowling, Australian rugby league player
1959 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian mountaineer and photographer (d. 2008)
1959 – Pete Trewavas, English bass player and songwriter
1961 – Serhiy N. Morozov, Ukrainian footballer and coach
1961 – Yves Pelletier, Canadian actor and director
1963 – Conrad Lant, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1963 – Bruce Schneier, American cryptographer and author
1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
1965 – Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer and coach
1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
1966 – Lisa Lisa, American R&B singer
1967 – Ted Tryba, American golfer
1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor, director, and producer
1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player and manager
1970 – Shane McMahon, American wrestler and businessman
1971 – Regina King, American actress
1972 – Shelia Burrell, American heptathlete
1972 – Christos Kostis, Greek footballer
1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English journalist and critic
1973 – Essam El Hadary, Egyptian footballer
1973 – Suparno Satpathy, Indian socio-political leader
1974 – Séverine Deneulin, international development academic
1974 – Ray King, American baseball player
1975 – Mary Pierce, Canadian-American tennis player and coach
1976 – Doug Gottlieb, American basketball player and sportscaster
1976 – Iryna Lishchynska, Ukrainian runner
1976 – Scott Murray, Scottish rugby player
1976 – Florentin Petre, Romanian footballer and manager
1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor
1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer
1979 – Drew Brees, American football player
1979 – Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer
1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player
1981 – El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese football player
1981 – Pitbull, American rapper and producer
1981 – Dylan Armstrong, Canadian shot putter and hammer thrower
1981 – Vanessa Henke, German tennis player
1981 – Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby player
1982 – Benjamin Agosto, American skater
1982 – Armando Galarraga, Venezuelan baseball player
1982 – Brett Lebda, American ice hockey player
1982 – Ari Pulkkinen, Finnish pianist and composer
1982 – Francis Zé, Cameroonian footballer
1983 – Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
1984 – Ben Shapiro, American author and commentator
1985 – René Adler, German footballer
1985 – Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player
1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer
1986 – Fred Davis, American football player
1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner
1987 – David Knight, English footballer
1987 – Kelleigh Ryan, Canadian fencer
1987 – Michael Seater, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1988 – Daniel Caligiuri, German footballer
1988 – Skrillex, American DJ and producer
1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
1990 – Paul Blake, English sprinter
1990 – Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer
1990 – Robert Trznadel, Polish footballer
1991 – Marc Bartra, Spanish footballer
1991 – Nicolai Jørgensen, Danish footballer
1991 – Darya Klishina, Russian long jumper
1991 – James Mitchell, Australian basketball player
1992 – Joël Veltman, Dutch footballer
1994 – Eric Dier, English footballer
1998 – Alexandra Eade, Australian artistic gymnast
2004 – Grace VanderWaal, American singer-songwriter
Deaths on January 15
AD 69 – Galba, Roman emperor (b. 3 BC)
378 – Chak Tok Ich’aak I, Mayan ruler
570 – Íte of Killeedy, Irish nun and saint (b. 475)
849 – Theophylact, Byzantine emperor (b. 793)
936 – Rudolph of France (b. 880)
950 – Wang Jingchong, Chinese general
1149 – Berengaria of Barcelona, queen consort of Castile (b. 1116)
1568 – Nicolaus Olahus, Romanian archbishop (b. 1493)
1569 – Catherine Carey, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (b. 1524)
1584 – Martha Leijonhufvud, Swedish noblewoman (b. 1520)
1595 – Murad III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)
1623 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian lawyer, historian, and scholar (b. 1552)
1672 – John Cosin, English bishop and academic (b. 1594)
1683 – Philip Warwick, English politician (b. 1609)
1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1700)
1790 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1719)
1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (b. 1725)
1813 – Anton Bernolák, Slovak linguist and priest (b. 1762)
1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English-French mistress of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (b. 1761)
1855 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (b. 1780)
1864 – Isaac Nathan, English-Australian composer and journalist (b. 1792)
2012 – Hulett C. Smith, American lieutenant and politician, 27th Governor of West Virginia (b. 1918)
2013 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1932)
2013 – John Thomas, American high jumper (b. 1941)
2014 – Curtis Bray, American football player and coach (b. 1970)
2014 – John Dobson, Chinese-American astronomer and author (b. 1915)
2014 – Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (b. 1944)
2015 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (b. 1919)
2015 – Kim Fowley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and manager (b. 1939)
2015 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (b. 1927)
2016 – Francisco X. Alarcón, American poet and educator (b. 1954)
2016 – Ken Judge, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1958)
2016 – Manuel Velázquez, Spanish footballer (b. 1943)
2017 – Jimmy Snuka, Fijian professional wrestler (b. 1943)
2018 – Dolores O’Riordan, Irish pop singer (b. 1971)
2019 – Carol Channing, American actress (b. 1921)
2019 – Ida Kleijnen, Dutch chef (b. 1936)
Holidays and observances on January 15
Arbor Day (Egypt)
Armed Forces Day (Nigeria)
Army Day (India)
Christian feast day:
Abeluzius (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church)
Arnold Janssen
Francis Ferdinand de Capillas (one of Martyr Saints of China)
Ita
Our Lady of the Poor
Macarius of Egypt (Western Christianity)
Maurus and Placidus (Order of Saint Benedict)
Paul the Hermit
January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Martin Luther King Jr. Day can fall (the 15th being his birthday), while January 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in January. (United States)
Earliest day on which Sinulog Festival can fall, while January 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday in January. (Philippines)
John Chilembwe Day (Malawi)
Korean Alphabet Day (North Korea)
Ocean Duty Day (Indonesia)
Sagichō at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū. (Kamakura, Japan)
Teacher’s Day (Venezuela)
The second day of the sidereal winter solstice festivals in India (see January 14):
