363 – Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.
1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus’s book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.
1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa.
1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.
1860 – Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.
1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala.
1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.
1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.
1931 – The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed.
1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1936 – First flight of K5054, the first prototype Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom.
1940 – Six high-ranking members of Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung.
1943 – First Flight of the Gloster Meteor, Britain’s first combat jet aircraft.
1944 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR.
1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
1953 – Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
1960 – Indonesian President Sukarno dismissed the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaced with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members.
1963 – American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.
1965 – March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.
1966 – BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
1970 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
1978 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by “off the scale” gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world.
1982 – Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.
2003 – In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.
2012 – Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.
Births on March 5
1133 – Henry II of England (d. 1189)
1224 – Saint Kinga of Poland (d. 1292)
1324 – David II of Scotland (d. 1371)
1326 – Louis I of Hungary (d. 1382)
1340 – Cansignorio della Scala, Lord of Verona (d. 1375)
1451 – William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English Earl (d. 1491)
1512 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher (d. 1594)
1523 – Rodrigo de Castro Osorio, Spanish cardinal (d. 1600)
1527 – Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1603)
1539 – Christoph Pezel, German theologian (d. 1604)
1563 – John Coke, English civil servant and politician (d. 1644)
1575 – William Oughtred, English minister and mathematician (d. 1660)
1585 – John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)
1585 – Frederick I, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (d. 1638)
1637 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter and engineer (d. 1712)
1658 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French explorer and politician, 3rd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1730)
1693 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian and scholar (d. 1754)
1696 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)
1703 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1768)
1713 – Edward Cornwallis, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (d. 1776)
1713 – Frederick Cornwallis, English archbishop (d. 1783)
1723 – Princess Mary of Great Britain (d. 1773)
1733 – Vincenzo Galeotti, Italian-Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1816)
1739 – Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, American colonel and physician (d. 1819)
1748 – Jonas Carlsson Dryander, Swedish botanist and biologist (d. 1810)
1748 – William Shield, English violinist and composer (d. 1829)
1750 – Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d’Ansse de Villoison, French scholar and academic (d. 1805)
1751 – Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech organist, composer, and educator (d. 1829)
1774 – Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse, Danish organist and composer (d. 1842)
1779 – Benjamin Gompertz, English mathematician and statistician (d. 1865)
1785 – Carlo Odescalchi, Italian cardinal (d. 1841)
1794 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (d. 1872)
1794 – Robert Cooper Grier, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1870)
1814 – Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian and academic (d. 1889)
1800 – Georg Friedrich Daumer, German poet and philosopher (d. 1875)
1815 – John Wentworth, American journalist and politician, 19th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1888)
1817 – Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist, academic, and politician, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (d. 1894)
1830 – Étienne-Jules Marey, French physiologist and chronophotographer (d. 1904)
1830 – Charles Wyville Thomson, Scottish historian and zoologist (d. 1882)
1834 – Félix de Blochausen, Luxembourgian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1915)
1834 – Marietta Piccolomini, Italian soprano (d. 1899)
1853 – Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)
1862 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (d. 1934)
1867 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 14th Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)
1869 – Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal (d. 1952)
1870 – Frank Norris, American journalist and author (d. 1902)
1870 – Evgeny Paton, French-Ukrainian engineer (d. 1953)
1871 – Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-Russian economist and philosopher (d. 1919)
1871 – Konstantinos Pallis, Greek general and politician, Minister Governor-General of Macedonia (d. 1941)
1873 – Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian skier and explorer (d. 1961)
1874 – Henry Travers, English-American actor (d. 1965)
1875 – Harry Lawson, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Victoria (d. 1952)
1876 – Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, English lawyer and politician, 8th Lord Chief Justice of England (d. 1947)
1876 – Elisabeth Moore, American tennis player (d. 1959)
1879 – William Beveridge, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic (d. 1963)
1879 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
1880 – Sergei Natanovich Bernstein, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1968)
1882 – Dora Marsden, English author and activist (d. 1960)
1883 – Pauline Sperry, American mathematician (d. 1967)
1885 – Marius Barbeau, Canadian ethnographer and academic (d. 1969)
1886 – Dong Biwu, Chinese judge and politician, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1975)
1886 – Freddie Welsh, Welsh boxer (d. 1927)
1887 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian guitarist and composer (d. 1959)
1894 – Henry Daniell, English-American actor (d. 1963)
1898 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1976)
1898 – Misao Okawa, Japanese super-centenarian (d. 2015)
1900 – Lilli Jahn, Jewish German doctor (d. 1944)
1900 – Johanna Langefeld, German guard and supervisor of three Nazi concentration camps (d. 1974)
1901 – Friedrich Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg (d. 1971)
1901 – Julian Przyboś, Polish poet, essayist and translator (d. 1970)
1904 – Karl Rahner, German priest and theologian (d. 1984)
1905 – László Benedek, Hungarian-American director and cinematographer (d. 1992)
1908 – Fritz Fischer, German historian and author (d. 1999)
1908 – Irving Fiske, American author and playwright (d. 1990)
1908 – Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
1910 – Momofuku Ando, Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, founded Nissin Foods (d. 2007)
1910 – Ennio Flaiano, Italian author, screenwriter, and critic (d. 1972)
1912 – Jack Marshall, New Zealand colonel, lawyer, and politician, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1988)
1915 – Henry Hicks, Canadian academic and politician, 16th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1990)
1915 – Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician and academic (d. 2002)
1918 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
1918 – Red Storey, Canadian football player, referee, and sportscaster (d. 2006)
1918 – James Tobin, American economist and academic (d. 2002)
1920 – José Aboulker, Algerian surgeon and activist (d. 2009)
1920 – Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)
1920 – Rachel Gurney, English actress (d. 2001)
1920 – Wang Zengqi, Chinese writer (d. 1997)
1921 – Elmer Valo, American baseball player and coach (d. 1998)
1922 – James Noble, American actor (d. 2016)
1922 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
1923 – Juan A. Rivero, Puerto Rican biologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Laurence Tisch, American businessman, co-founded the Loews Corporation (d. 2003)
1924 – Roger Marche, French footballer (d. 1997)
1927 – Jack Cassidy, American actor and singer (d. 1976)
1927 – Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, Scottish businessman and politician
1928 – J. Hillis Miller, American academic and critic
1929 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish race car driver (d. 2015)
1929 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1967)
1930 – John Ashley, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 2008)
1930 – Del Crandall, American baseball player and manager
1931 – Fred, French author and illustrator (d. 2013)
1931 – Barry Tuckwell, Australian horn player and educator (d. 2020)
1932 – Paul Sand, American actor
1933 – Walter Kasper, German cardinal and theologian
1934 – Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist and psychologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1935 – Letizia Battaglia, Italian photographer and journalist
1935 – Philip K. Chapman, Australian-American astronaut and engineer
1936 – Canaan Banana, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
1936 – Dale Douglass, American golfer
1936 – Dean Stockwell, American actor
1937 – Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian general and politician, 5th President of Nigeria
1938 – Paul Evans, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1938 – Lynn Margulis, American biologist and academic (d. 2011)
1938 – Fred Williamson, American football player, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – Samantha Eggar, English actress
1939 – Tony Rundle, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Tasmania
1939 – Benyamin Sueb, Indonesian actor and comedian (d. 1995)
1939 – Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer (d. 2010)
1939 – Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef
1940 – Tom Butler, English bishop
1940 – Ken Irvine, Australian rugby league player (d. 1990)
1940 – Graham McRae, New Zealand race car driver
1940 – Sepp Piontek, German footballer and manager
1941 – Des Wilson, New Zealand-English businessman and activist
1942 – Felipe González, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
1942 – Mike Resnick, American author and editor (d. 2020)
1942 – David Watkins, Welsh rugby player
1943 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1944 – Peter Brandes, Danish painter and sculptor
1944 – Roy Gutman, American journalist and author
1945 – Wilf Tranter, English footballer
1946 – Richard Bell, Canadian pianist (d. 2007)
1946 – Guerrino Boatto, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 2018)
1946 – Graham Hawkins, English footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1946 – Murray Head, English actor and singer
1947 – Clodagh Rodgers, Northern Irish singer and actress
1947 – Kent Tekulve, American baseball player and sportscaster
1948 – Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1984)
1948 – Eddy Grant, Guyanese-British singer-songwriter and musician
1948 – Richard Hickox, English conductor and scholar (d. 2008)
1948 – Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
1948 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2011)
1949 – Bernard Arnault, French businessman, philanthropist, and art collector
1949 – Franz Josef Jung, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Defence
1949 – Tom Russell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Rodney Hogg, Australian cricketer and coach
1952 – Petar Borota, Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2010)
1952 – Mike Squires, American baseball player and scout
1953 – Katarina Frostenson, Swedish poet and author
1953 – Michael J. Sandel, American philosopher and academic
1953 – Tokyo Sexwale, South African businessman and politician, 1st Premier of Gauteng
1954 – Marsha Warfield, American actress
1954 – João Lourenço, Angolan president
1955 – Penn Jillette, American magician, actor, and author
1956 – Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
1956 – Christopher Snowden, English engineer and academic
1957 – Mark E. Smith, English singer, songwriter and musician (d. 2018)
1957 – Ray Suarez, American journalist and author
1958 – Volodymyr Bezsonov, Ukrainian footballer and manager
1958 – Bob Forward, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Andy Gibb, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1988)
1959 – Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Armenia (d. 1999)
1960 – Paul Drayson, Baron Drayson, English businessman and politician, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology
1963 – Joel Osteen, American pastor, author, and television host
1964 – Bertrand Cantat, French singer-songwriter
1964 – Gerald Vanenburg, Dutch footballer and manager
1965 – José Semedo, Portuguese footballer and coach
1966 – Oh Eun-sun, South Korean mountaineer
1966 – Bob Halkidis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1966 – Michael Irvin, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
1966 – Aasif Mandvi, Indian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Zachery Stevens, American singer-songwriter
1968 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian businessman and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Hungary
1968 – Theresa Villiers, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1969 – Paul Blackthorne, English actor and producer
1969 – Danny King, English author and playwright
1969 – Moussa Saïb, Algerian footballer and manager
1969 – M.C. Solaar, Afro-French rapper
1970 – Mike Brown, American basketball player and coach
1970 – John Frusciante, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Yuu Watase, Japanese illustrator
1971 – Greg Berry, English footballer and coach
1971 – Jeffrey Hammonds, American baseball player and scout
1971 – Yuri Lowenthal, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Filip Meirhaeghe, Belgian cyclist
1971 – Mark Protheroe, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Yannis Anastasiou, Greek footballer and manager
1973 – Nelly Arcan, Canadian author (d. 2009)
1973 – Juan Esnáider, Argentinian footballer and manager
1973 – Ryan Franklin, American baseball player
1973 – Nicole Pratt, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
1973 – Špela Pretnar, Slovenian skier
1974 – Kevin Connolly, American actor and director
1974 – Jens Jeremies, German footballer
1974 – Eva Mendes, American model and actress
1975 – Luciano Burti, Brazilian race car driver and sportscaster
1975 – Sasho Petrovski, Australian footballer
1975 – Chris Silverwood, English cricketer and coach
1976 – Neil Jackson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
1976 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1976 – Paul Konerko, American baseball player
1976 – Norm Maxwell, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Taismary Agüero, Cuban-Italian volleyball player
1978 – Jared Crouch, Australian footballer
1978 – Mike Hessman, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Kimberly McCullough, American actress, singer, and dancer
1978 – Carlos Ochoa, Mexican footballer
1979 – Martin Axenrot, Swedish drummer
1979 – Lee Mears, English rugby player
1980 – Shay Carl, American businessman, co-founded Maker Studios
1981 – Barret Jackman, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Paul Martin, American ice hockey player
1982 – Dan Carter, New Zealand rugby player
1982 – Philipp Haastrup, German footballer
1983 – Édgar Dueñas, Mexican footballer
1984 – Branko Cvetković, Serbian basketball player
1984 – Guillaume Hoarau, French footballer
1985 – David Marshall, Scottish footballer
1985 – Brad Mills, American baseball player
1985 – Kenichi Matsuyama, Japanese actor
1986 – Alexandre Barthe, French footballer
1986 – Matty Fryatt, English footballer
1987 – Anna Chakvetadze, Russian tennis player
1987 – Chris Cohen, English footballer
1988 – Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba, Algerian footballer
1990 – Danny Drinkwater, English footballer
1990 – Mason Plumlee, American basketball player
1990 – Alex Smithies, English footballer
1991 – Ramiro Funes Mori, Argentinian footballer
1991 – Daniil Trifonov, Russian pianist and composer
1993 – El Hadji Ba, French footballer
1993 – Joshua Coyne, American violinist and composer
1993 – Harry Maguire, English footballer
1994 – Daria Gavrilova, Russian-Australian tennis player
1994 – Kyle Schwarber, American baseball player
1996 – Taylor Hill, American model
1996 – Emmanuel Mudiay, Congolese basketball player
1997 – Milena Venega, Cuban rower
1998 – Bo Bichette, American baseball player
1999 – Madison Beer, American singer, songwriter and producer.
2007 – Roman Griffin Davis, British actor, second youngest Golden Globe recipient.
Deaths on March 5
254 – Pope Lucius I (b. 200)
824 – Suppo I, Frankish nobleman
1239 – Hermann Balk, German knight
1410 – Matthew of Kraków, Polish reformer (b. 1335)
1417 – Manuel III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1364)
1534 – Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter and educator (b. 1489)
1539 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1487)
1599 – Guido Panciroli, Italian historian and jurist (b. 1523)
1611 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1533)
1622 – Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)
1695 – Henry Wharton, English writer and librarian (b. 1664)
1726 – Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1655)
1770 – Crispus Attucks, American slave (b. 1723)
1778 – Thomas Arne, English composer and educator (b. 1710)
1815 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologist (b. 1734)
1827 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1749)
1827 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1745)
1829 – John Adams, English sailor and mutineer (b. 1766)
1849 – David Scott, Scottish historical painter (b. 1806)
1876 – Marie d’Agoult, German-French historian and author (b. 1805)
1893 – Hippolyte Taine, French historian and critic (b. 1828)
1895 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1831)
1895 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, English general and scholar (b. 1810)
1907 – Friedrich Blass, German philologist, scholar, and academic (b. 1843)
1925 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1859)
1927 – Franz Mertens, Polish-Austrian mathematician and academic (b. 1840)
1929 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick (b. 1854)
1934 – Reşit Galip, Turkish academic and politician, 6th Turkish Minister of National Education (b. 1893)
1935 – Roque Ruaño, Spanish priest and engineer (b. 1877)
1940 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher and academic (b. 1868)
1944 – Max Jacob, French poet and author (b. 1876)
1945 – Lena Baker, African American maid and murderer (b. 1900)
1947 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1883)
1950 – Edgar Lee Masters, American poet, author, and playwright (b. 1868)
1950 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (b. 1907)
1953 – Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1897)
1953 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1891)
1953 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1878)
1955 – Antanas Merkys, Lithuanian lawyer and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Lithuania (b. 1888)
1963 – Patsy Cline, American singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
1963 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1913)
1963 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)
1965 – Chen Cheng, Chinese general and politician, 27th Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1897)
1965 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1904)
1966 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet, author, and translator (b. 1889)
1967 – Mischa Auer, Russian-American actor (b. 1905)
1967 – Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian political scientist and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1882)
1967 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)
1971 – Allan Nevins, American journalist and author (b. 1890)
1973 – Robert C. O’Brien, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
1974 – John Samuel Bourque, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1894)
1974 – Billy De Wolfe, American actor (b. 1907)
1974 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American businessman (b. 1888)
1976 – Otto Tief, Estonian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1889)
1977 – Tom Pryce, Welsh race car driver (b. 1949)
1980 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (b. 1912)
1981 – Yip Harburg, American songwriter and composer (b. 1896)
1982 – John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)
1984 – Pierre Cochereau, French organist and composer (b. 1924)
1984 – Tito Gobbi, Italian operatic baritone (b. 1913)
1984 – William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)
1988 – Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian and actor (b. 1933)
1990 – Gary Merrill, American actor and director (b. 1915)
1995 – Vivian Stanshall, English singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1943)
1996 – Whit Bissell, American character actor (b. 1909)
1997 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American writer (b. 1909)
1997 – Jean Dréville, French director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
1999 – Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (b. 1922)
2000 – Lolo Ferrari, French dancer, actress and singer (b. 1963)
2005 – David Sheppard, English cricketer and bishop (b. 1929)
2008 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German computer scientist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Charles B. Pierce, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
2010 – Richard Stapley, British actor and writer (b. 1923)
AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).
306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.
938 – Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.
1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.
1238 – The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Rus’.
1351 – Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.
1386 – Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.
1461 – Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
1519 – Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
1628 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.
1665 – English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1675 – John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.
1681 – Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
1789 – In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress.
1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
1791 – The Constitutional Act of 1791 is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario).
1791 – Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.
1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1797 – John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.
1804 – Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
1813 – Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
1814 – Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
1837 – The city of Chicago is incorporated.
1848 – Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d’Italia.
1849 – President-Elect Zachary Taylor and Vice President-Elect Millard Fillmore did not take their respective oaths of office (they did so the following day), leading to the erroneous theory that outgoing President pro tempore of the United States Senate David Rice Atchison had assumed the role of acting president for one day.
1861 – The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the “Stars and Bars”) is adopted.
1865 – The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.
1882 – Britain’s first electric trams run in east London.
1890 – The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 1,710 feet (520 m) long, is opened by the Duke of Rothesay, later King Edward VII.
1899 – Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300.
1908 – The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
1909 – U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution’s Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.
1913 – First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.
1913 – The United States Department of Labor is formed.
1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States.
1933 – Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
1933 – The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, begins. It ends on 6 March with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion and the liberation of the town of Grevena.
1944 – World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
1957 – The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
1960 – The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100.
1962 – A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 – the worst crash of a DC-7.
1966 – A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
1966 – In an interview in the London Evening Standard, The Beatles’ John Lennon declares that the band is “more popular than Jesus now”.
1970 – French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
1974 – People magazine is published for the first time in the United States as People Weekly.
1976 – The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.
1977 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.
1980 – Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe’s first black prime minister.
1985 – The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
1986 – The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley’s Comet and the first images of its nucleus.
1990 – American basketball player Hank Gathers dies after collapsing during the semifinals of a West Coast Conference Tournament game.
1996 – A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.
1998 – Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
2001 – BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
2002 – Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
2009 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
2012 – A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people.
2015 – At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine.
2018 – Former MI6 spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England, causing a diplomatic uproar that results in mass-expulsions of diplomats from all countries involved.
2019 – The Indian Attack submarine was spotted by the Pakistan Navy.
2020 – Former Daredevil Nik Wallenda is the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.
Births on March 4
895 – Liu Zhiyuan, founder of the Later Han Dynasty (d. 948)
977 – Al-Musabbihi, Fatimid historian and official (d. 1030)
1188 – Blanche of Castile, French queen consort (d. 1252)
1394 – Henry the Navigator, Portuguese explorer (d. 1460)
1484 – George, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1543)
1492 – Francesco de Layolle, Italian organist and composer (d. 1540)
1502 – Elisabeth of Hesse, princess of Saxony (d. 1557)
1519 – Hindal Mirza, Mughal emperor (d. 1551)
1526 – Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (d. 1596)
1602 – Kanō Tan’yū, Japanese painter (d. 1674)
1634 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish philosopher (d. 1689)
1651 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English lawyer, jurist, and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1716)
1655 – Fra Galgario, Italian painter (d. 1743)
1665 – Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier (d. 1694)
1678 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1741)
1702 – Jack Sheppard, English criminal (d. 1724)
1706 – Lauritz de Thurah, Danish architect, designed the Hermitage Hunting Lodge and Gammel Holtegård (d. 1759)
1715 – James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, English historian and politician (d. 1763)
1719 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, English politician (d. 1777)
1729 – Anne d’Arpajon, French wife of Philippe de Noailles (d. 1794)
1745 – Charles Dibdin, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1814)
1745 – Casimir Pulaski, Polish-American general (d. 1779)
1756 – Henry Raeburn, Scottish painter and educator (d. 1823)
1760 – William Payne, English painter (d. 1830)
1760 – Hugh Ronalds, British nurseryman who cultivated and documented 300 varieties of apples (d. 1833)
1769 – Muhammad Ali, Ottoman military leader and pasha (d. 1849)
1770 – Joseph Jacotot, French philosopher and academic (d. 1840)
1778 – Robert Emmet, Irish commander (d. 1803)
1781 – Rebecca Gratz, American educator and philanthropist (d. 1869)
1782 – Johann Rudolf Wyss, Swiss philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1830)
1792 – Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist, and publisher (d. 1886)
1793 – Karl Lachmann, German philologist and critic (d. 1851)
1814 – Napoleon Collins, Rear Admiral of the United States Navy during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War (d. 1875)
1817 – Edwards Pierrepont, American lawyer and politician, 34th United States Attorney General (d. 1892)
1820 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian rebel leader (d. 1856)
1822 – Jules Antoine Lissajous, French mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
1823 – George Caron, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1902)
1826 – August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein, German linguist, ethnographer, and theologian (d. 1907)
1826 – John Buford, American general (d. 1863)
1826 – Elme Marie Caro, French philosopher and academic (d. 1887)
1826 – Theodore Judah, American engineer, founded the Central Pacific Railroad (d. 1863)
1828 – Owen Wynne Jones, Welsh clergyman and poet (d. 1870)
1838 – Paul Lacôme, French pianist, cellist, and composer (d. 1920)
1847 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist and academic (d. 1904)
1851 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (d. 1911)
1854 – Napier Shaw, English meteorologist and academic (d. 1945)
1856 – Alfred William Rich, English painter, author, and educator (d. 1921)
1861 – Arthur Cushman McGiffert, American theologian and author (d. 1933)
1862 – Jacob Robert Emden, Swiss astrophysicist and meteorologist (d. 1940)
1863 – R. I. Pocock, English zoologist and archaeologist (d. 1947)
1863 – John Henry Wigmore, American academic and jurist (d. 1943)
1864 – David W. Taylor, American admiral, architect, and engineer (d. 1940)
1866 – Eugène Cosserat, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1931)
1867 – Jacob L. Beilhart, American activist, founded the Spirit Fruit Society (d. 1908)
1867 – Charles Pelot Summerall, senior United States Army officer (d. 1955)
1870 – Thomas Sturge Moore, English author and poet (d. 1944)
1871 – Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
1873 – Guy Wetmore Carryl, American journalist and poet (d. 1904)
1873 – John H. Trumbull, American colonel and politician, 70th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1961)
1875 – Mihály Károlyi, Hungarian politician, President of the Hungary (d. 1955)
1875 – Enrique Larreta, Argentinian historian and author (d. 1961)
1876 – Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet and author (d. 1947)
1876 – Theodore Hardeen, Hungarian-American magician (d. 1945)
1877 – Alexander Goedicke, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1957)
1877 – Fritz Graebner, German geographer and ethnologist (d. 1934)
1877 – Garrett Morgan, African-American inventor (d. 1963)
1878 – Takeo Arishima, Japanese author and critic (d. 1923)
1878 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American pianist and songwriter (d. 1951)
1879 – Bernhard Kellermann, German author and poet (d. 1951)
1880 – Channing Pollock, American playwright and critic (d. 1946)
1881 – Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian educator and activist (d. 1924)
1881 – Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author (d. 1965)
1881 – Richard C. Tolman, American physicist and chemist (d. 1948)
1882 – Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian academic and politician, 61st Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1941)
1883 – Maude Fealy, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1971)
1883 – Robert Emmett Keane, American actor (d. 1981)
1883 – Sam Langford, Canadian-American boxer (d. 1956)
1884 – Red Murray, American baseball player (d. 1958)
1884 – Lee Shumway, American actor (d. 1959)
1886 – Paul Bazelaire, French cellist and composer (d. 1958)
1888 – Rafaela Ottiano, Italian-American actress (d. 1942)
1888 – Jeff Pfeffer, American baseball player (d. 1972)
1888 – Emma Richter, German paleontologist (d. 1956)
1888 – Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
1889 – Oscar Chisini, Italian mathematician and statistician (d. 1967)
1889 – Oren E. Long, American soldier and politician, 10th Territorial Governor of Hawaii (d. 1965)
1889 – Pearl White, American actress (d. 1938)
1889 – Robert William Wood, English-American painter (d. 1979)
1890 – Norman Bethune, Canadian soldier and physician (d. 1939)
1891 – Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (d. 1961)
1893 – Charles Herbert Colvin, American engineer, co-founded the Pioneer Instrument Company (d. 1985)
1893 – Adolph Lowe, German sociologist and economist (d. 1995)
1894 – Charles Corm, Lebanese businessman and philanthropist (d. 1963)
1895 – Milt Gross, American animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1953)
1896 – Kai Holm, Danish actor and director (d. 1985)
1897 – Lefty O’Doul, American baseball player and manager (d. 1969)
1898 – Georges Dumézil, French philologist and academic (d. 1986)
1898 – Hans Krebs, German general (d. 1945)
1899 – Peter Illing, Austrian born, British film and television actor (d. 1966)
1899 – Emilio Prados, Spanish poet and author (d. 1962)
1900 – Herbert Biberman, American director and screenwriter (d. 1971)
1901 – Wilbur R. Franks, Canadian scientist, invented the g-suit (d. 1986)
1901 – Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (d. 1991)
1901 – Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, Malagasy-French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
1902 – Rachel Messerer, Lithuanian-Russian actress (d. 1993)
1902 – Russell Reeder, American soldier and author (d. 1998)
1903 – William C. Boyd, American immunologist and chemist (d. 1983)
1903 – Malcolm Dole, American chemist and academic (d. 1990)
1903 – Dorothy Mackaill, English-American actress and singer (d. 1990)
1903 – John Scarne, American magician and author (d. 1985)
1904 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (d. 1973)
1904 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-American physicist and cosmologist (d. 1968)
1904 – Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor (d. 1942)
1906 – Meindert DeJong, Dutch-American soldier and author (d. 1991)
1906 – Avery Fisher, American violinist and engineer, founded Fisher Electronics (d. 1994)
1906 – Georges Ronsse, Belgian cyclist and manager (d. 1969)
1907 – Edgar Barrier, American actor (d. 1964)
1908 – T. R. M. Howard, American surgeon and activist (d. 1976)
1908 – Thomas Shaw, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
1909 – Harry Helmsley, American businessman (d. 1997)
1909 – George Edward Holbrook, American chemist and engineer (d. 1987)
1910 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (d. 1985)
1911 – Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, English actor (d. 1984)
1912 – Afro Basaldella, Italian painter and academic (d. 1976)
1912 – Ferdinand Leitner, German conductor and composer (d. 1996)
1912 – Carl Marzani, Italian-American activist and publisher (d. 1994)
1913 – Taos Amrouche, Algerian singer and author (d. 1976)
1913 – John Garfield, American actor and singer (d. 1952)
1914 – Barbara Newhall Follett, American author (d. 1939)
1914 – Ward Kimball, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
1914 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist, sculptor, and architect (d. 2000)
1915 – László Csatáry, Hungarian art dealer (d. 2013)
1915 – Frank Sleeman, Australian lieutenant and politician, Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2000)
1915 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish-Catalan composer and conductor (d. 1997)
1916 – William Alland, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
1916 – Giorgio Bassani, Italian author and poet (d. 2000)
1916 – Hans Eysenck, German-English psychologist and theorist (d. 1997)
1917 – Clyde McCullough, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1982)
1918 – Kurt Dahlmann, German pilot, lawyer, and journalist (d. 2017)
1918 – Margaret Osborne duPont, American tennis player (d. 2012)
1919 – Buck Baker, American race car driver (d. 2002)
1919 – Tan Chee Khoon, Malaysian physician and politician (d. 1996)
1920 – Jean Lecanuet, French politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 1993)
1920 – Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish-English actor (d. 2002)
1921 – Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-American composer and educator (d. 2017)
1921 – Joan Greenwood, English actress (d. 1987)
1921 – Dinny Pails, English-Australian tennis player (d. 1986)
1922 – Richard E. Cunha, American director and cinematographer (d. 2005)
1922 – Dina Pathak, Indian actor and director (d. 2002)
1923 – Russell Freeburg, American journalist and author
1923 – Francis King, English author and poet (d. 2011)
1923 – Patrick Moore, English astronomer and television host (d. 2012)
1924 – Kenneth O’Donnell, American soldier and politician (d. 1977)
1925 – Alan R. Battersby, English chemist and academic (d. 2018)
1925 – Paul Mauriat, French conductor and composer (d. 2006)
1926 – Henri de Contenson, French archaeologist and academic (d. 2019)
1926 – Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma, French businessman, soldier and race car driver (d. 2018)
1926 – Richard DeVos, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Amway (d. 2018)
1926 – Pascual Pérez, Argentinian boxer (d. 1977)
1926 – Don Rendell, English saxophonist and flute player (d. 2015)
1927 – Phil Batt, American soldier and politician, 29th Governor of Idaho
1927 – Thayer David, American actor (d. 1978)
1927 – Jacques Dupin, French poet and critic (d. 2012)
1927 – Robert Orben, American magician and author
1927 – Dick Savitt, American tennis player and businessman
1928 – Samuel Adler, German-American composer and conductor
1928 – Alan Sillitoe, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (d. 2010)
1929 – Bernard Haitink, Dutch violinist and conductor
1929 – Peter Swerling, American theoretician and engineer (d. 2000)
1931 – Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)
1931 – Bob Johnson, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
1931 – William Henry Keeler, American cardinal (d. 2017)
1931 – Alice Rivlin, American economist and politician (d. 2019)
1932 – Sigurd Jansen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and conductor
1932 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist, photographer, and poet (d. 2007)
1932 – Miriam Makeba, South African singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2008)
1932 – Ed Roth, American illustrator (d. 2001)
1932 – Frank Wells, American businessman (d. 1994)
1933 – Nino Vaccarella, Italian race car driver
1934 – Mario Davidovsky, Argentinian-American composer and academic (d. 2019)
1934 – John Duffey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
1934 – Anne Haney, American actress (d. 2001)
1934 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (d. 2007)
1934 – Sandra Reynolds, South African tennis player
1934 – Janez Strnad, Slovenian physicist and academic (d. 2015)
1935 – Edward Dębicki, Ukrainian-Polish poet and composer
1935 – Bent Larsen, Danish chess player and author (d. 2010)
1936 – Eric Allandale, Dominican trombonist and songwriter (d. 2001)
1936 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (d. 1968)
1936 – Aribert Reimann, German pianist and composer
1937 – José Araquistáin, Spanish footballer
1937 – William Deverell, Canadian lawyer, author, and activist
1937 – Graham Dowling, New Zealand cricketer
1937 – Leslie H. Gelb, American journalist and author (d. 2019)
1937 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian physician and explorer (d. 2003)
1937 – Barney Wilen, French saxophonist and composer (d. 1996)
1937 – Richard B. Wright, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2017)
1938 – Anton Balasingham, Sri Lankan-English negotiator (d. 2006)
1938 – Alpha Condé, Guinean politician, President of Guinea
1938 – Allan Kornblum, American police officer and judge (d. 2010)
1938 – Angus MacLise, American drummer and composer (d. 1979)
1938 – Don Perkins, American football player and sportscaster
1938 – Paula Prentiss, American actress
1938 – Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1939 – Jack Fisher, American baseball player
1939 – Robert Shaye, American film producer
1940 – Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, German scholar and judge
1940 – David Plante, American novelist
1941 – John Hancock, American film and television actor (d. 1992)
1941 – Adrian Lyne, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – James Zagel, American lawyer and judge
1942 – Gloria Gaither, American singer-songwriter
1942 – Charles C. Krulak, American general
1942 – David Matthews, American keyboard player and composer
1942 – Lynn Sherr, American journalist and author
1942 – James Gustave Speth, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Zorán Sztevanovity, Serbian-Hungarian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2012)
1943 – Aldo Rico, Argentinian commander and politician
1944 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (d. 1999)
1944 – Anthony Ichiro Sanda, Japanese-American physicist and academic
1944 – Len Walker, English footballer and manager
1944 – Bobby Womack, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1945 – Tommy Svensson, Swedish footballer and manager
1945 – Gary Williams, American basketball player and coach
1946 – Michael Ashcroft, English businessman and politician
1946 – Danny Frisella, American baseball player (d. 1977)
1946 – Haile Gerima, Ethiopian born US filmmaker
1946 – Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, American journalist and author
1947 – David Franzoni, American screenwriter and film producer
1947 – Jan Garbarek, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
1947 – Bob Lewis, American guitarist
1947 – Pēteris Plakidis, Latvian pianist and composer (d. 2017)
1948 – Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, New Zealand-Australian author
1948 – James Ellroy, American writer
1948 – Tom Grieve, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
1948 – Mike Moran, English musician, songwriter and record producer
1948 – Jean O’Leary, American nun and activist (d. 2005)
1948 – Chris Squire, English singer-songwriter and bass guitarist (d. 2015)
1948 – Shakin’ Stevens, British singer-songwriter
1949 – Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian politician, 2nd President of Abkhazia (d. 2011)
1949 – Carroll Baker, Canadian singer-songwriter
1950 – Ofelia Medina, Mexican actress and screenwriter
1950 – Rick Perry, American captain and politician, 47th Governor of Texas
1950 – Safet Plakalo, Bosnian author and playwright (d. 2015)
1951 – Edelgard Bulmahn, German educator and politician, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
1951 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-American author, director, and producer (d. 1982)
1951 – Kenny Dalglish, Scottish footballer and manager
1951 – Pete Haycock, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1951 – Peter O’Sullivan, Welsh international footballer, winger
1951 – Sam Perlozzo, American baseball player and manager
1951 – Chris Rea, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Glenis Willmott, English scientist and politician
1951 – Zoran Žižić, Montenegrin politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (d. 2013)
1952 – Peter Kuhfeld, English painter
1952 – Ronn Moss, American singer-songwriter and actor
1952 – Svend Robinson, American-Canadian lawyer and politician
1952 – Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1953 – John Edwards, Australian director and producer
1953 – Emilio Estefan, Cuban-American drummer and producer
1953 – Paweł Janas, Polish footballer and manager
1953 – Ray Price, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
1953 – Reinhold Roth, German motorcycle racer
1953 – Chris Smith, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Agustí Villaronga, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter
1953 – Daniel Woodrell, American novelist and short story writer
1954 – Timur Apakidze, Russian general and pilot (d. 2001)
1954 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Korean American author (d. 1982)
1954 – François Fillon, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France
1954 – Peter Jacobsen, American golfer and sportscaster
1954 – Catherine O’Hara, Canadian-American actress and comedian
1954 – Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian poet and author (d. 2017)
1955 – Tim Costello, Australian minister and politician
1955 – Joey Jones, Welsh footballer and manager
1957 – Nicholas Coleridge, English journalist and businessman
1957 – Ron Fassler, American film and television actor and author
1957 – Mykelti Williamson, American actor and director
1958 – Patricia Heaton, American actress
1958 – Massimo Mascioletti, Italian rugby player and coach
1958 – Tina Smith, American politician, junior senator of Minnesota
1959 – Rick Ardon, Australian journalist
1959 – Plamen Getov, Bulgarian footballer
1960 – Chonda Pierce, American comedian
1961 – Ray Mancini, American boxer
1961 – Steven Weber, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Roger Wessels, South African golfer and educator
1962 – Simon Bisley, English author and illustrator
1962 – Paul Canoville, English footballer
1962 – Stephan Reimertz, German historian and author
1963 – Jason Newsted, American heavy metal singer-songwriter and bass player
1964 – Dave Colclough, Welsh computer programmer and poker player (d. 2016)
1964 – Brian Crowley, Irish lawyer and politician
1964 – Tom Lampkin, American baseball player and sportscaster
1964 – Paolo Virzì, Italian director and screenwriter
1965 – Greg Alexander, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1965 – Paul W. S. Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Andrew Collins, English journalist and screenwriter
1965 – Khaled Hosseini, Afghan-born American novelist
1965 – Yury Lonchakov, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1965 – John Murphy British film composer
1966 – Emese Hunyady, Hungarian speed skater
1966 – Kevin Johnson, American basketball player and politician, 55th Mayor of Sacramento
1966 – Fiona Ma, American accountant and politician
1966 – Helmut Mayer, Austrian skier
1966 – Glen Nissen, Australian rugby league player
1966 – Dav Pilkey, American author and illustrator
1966 – Grand Puba, American rapper
1966 – Mike Small, American golfer and coach
1967 – Daryll Cullinan, South African cricketer and coach
1967 – Evan Dando, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Ivan Lewis, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1967 – Terry Matterson, Australian rugby league player and coach
1967 – Dave Rayner, English cyclist (d. 1994)
1967 – Sam Taylor-Johnson, English filmmaker and photographer
1967 – Kubilay Türkyilmaz, Swiss footballer
1967 – Tim Vine, English comedian, actor, and author
1968 – Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan baseball player
1968 – Jorge Celedón, Colombian singer
1968 – Patsy Kensit, English model and actress
1968 – Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek banker and politician, Prime Minister of Greece
1968 – Graham Westley, English footballer and manager
1969 – Pierluigi Casiraghi, Italian footballer and manager
1969 – Wayne Collins, English footballer, midfielder
1969 – Annie Yi, Taiwanese singer, actress, and writer
1970 – Àlex Crivillé, Spanish motorcycle racer
1970 – Will Keen, English actor
1970 – Caroline Vis, Dutch tennis player
1971 – Iain Baird, Canadian soccer player and manager
1971 – Claire Baker, Scottish politician
1971 – Emily Bazelon, American journalist
1971 – Jason Croot, English actor and director
1971 – Anders Kjølholm, Danish bass player
1971 – Satoshi Motoyama, Japanese race car driver
1971 – Geraldine O’Rawe, Northern Irish actress
1972 – Katherine Center, American journalist and author
1972 – Nocturno Culto, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Robert Smith, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Ivy Queen, Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actress and record producer
1972 – Jos Verstappen, Dutch race car driver
1972 – Alison Wheeler, English singer-songwriter
1973 – Massimo Brambilla, Italian footballer and coach
1973 – Phillip Daniels, American football player and coach
1973 – Valery Kobelev, Russian ski jumper
1973 – Penny Mordaunt, English lieutenant and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1973 – Linus of Hollywood, American singer-songwriter and producer
1973 – Len Wiseman, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, Indian director and screenwriter
1974 – Crowbar, American wrestler
1974 – Mladen Krstajić, Serbian footballer and manager
1974 – Karol Kučera, Slovak tennis player
1974 – Ariel Ortega, Argentinian footballer
1974 – Tommy Phelps, South Korean-American baseball player and coach
1974 – ICS Vortex, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – David Wagner, American tennis player and educator
1974 – Bill Young, Australian rugby player
1975 – Mats Eilertsen, Norwegian bassist and composer
1975 – Patrick Femerling, German basketball player
1975 – Antti Aalto, Finnish ice hockey player
1975 – Kristi Harrower, Australian basketball player
1975 – Hawksley Workman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Robbie Blake, English footballer
1976 – Tommy Jönsson, Swedish footballer
1977 – Nacho Figueras, Argentinian polo player and model
1977 – Traver Rains, American fashion designer and photographer
1978 – Pierre Dagenais, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Denis Dallan, Italian rugby player and singer
1978 – Jean-Marc Pelletier, American ice hockey player
1979 – Sarah Stock, Canadian wrestler and trainer
1980 – Rohan Bopanna, Indian tennis player
1980 – Omar Bravo, Mexican footballer
1980 – Suzanna Choffel, American singer-songwriter
1980 – Giedrius Gustas, Lithuanian basketball player
1980 – Scott Hamilton, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1980 – Jack Hannahan, American baseball player
1980 – Michael Henrich, American ice hockey player
1980 – Phil McGuire, Scottish footballer and manager
1980 – Aja Volkman, American singer-songwriter
1981 – Ariza Makukula, Portuguese footballer
1981 – Helen Wyman, English cyclist
1982 – Landon Donovan, American soccer player and coach
1982 – Cate Edwards, American lawyer and author
1982 – Ludmila Ezhova, Russian gymnast
1982 – Yasemin Mori, Turkish singer
1983 – Samuel Contesti, French-Italian figure skater
1983 – Adam Deacon, English film actor, rapper, writer and director
1983 – Jaque Fourie, South African rugby player
1983 – Drew Houston, American billionaire and Internet entrepreneur
1984 – Josh Bowman, English actor
1984 – Tamir Cohen, Israeli footballer
1984 – Anders Grøndal, Norwegian race car driver
1984 – Spencer Larsen, American football player
1984 – Jeremy Loops, South African singer-songwriter and record producer
1984 – Raven Quinn, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Zak Whitbread, American-English footballer
1985 – Jake Buxton, English footballer
1985 – Chinedum Ndukwe, American football player
1985 – Whitney Port, American fashion designer and author
1986 – Steven Burke, English road and track cyclist
1986 – Tom De Mul, Belgian footballer
1986 – Mike Krieger, Brazilian-American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Instagram
1986 – Siim Roops, Estonian footballer
1986 – Bohdan Shust, Ukrainian footballer
1986 – Manu Vatuvei, New Zealand rugby league player
1986 – Margo Harshman, American actress
1987 – Ben McKinley, Australian footballer
1987 – Cameron Wood, Australian footballer
1987 – Tamzin Merchant, English actress
1988 – Gal Mekel, Israeli basketball player
1988 – Laura Siegemund, German tennis player
1988 – Adam Watts, English footballer
1989 – Benjamin Kiplagat, Ugandan long-distance runner
1990 – Andrea Bowen, American actress
1990 – Draymond Green, American basketball player
1990 – Paddy Madden, Irish footballer
1990 – Fran Mérida, Spanish footballer
1992 – Nick Castellanos, American baseball player
1992 – Erik Lamela, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder
1992 – Bernd Leno, German footballer
1992 – Karl Mööl, Estonian footballer
1993 – Bobbi Kristina Brown, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
1993 – Richard Peniket, English footballer
1994 – Callum Harriott, English footballer
1994 – AJ Tracey, British hip-hop artist and record producer
1995 – Chlöe Howl, British singer-songwriter
1995 – Bill Milner, English actor
1996 – Lukas Webb, Australian rules footballer
2002 – Jacob Hopkins, American actor
Deaths on March 4
306 – Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia, Christian martyrs
480 – Landry of Sées, French bishop and saint
561 – Pelagius I, pope of the Catholic Church
934 – Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, Fatimid caliph (b. 873)
1172 – Stephen III, king of Hungary (b. 1147)
1193 – Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate (b. 1137)
1238 – Joan of England, queen of Scotland (b. 1210)
1238 – Yuri II, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1189)
1303 – Daniel of Moscow, Russian Grand Duke (b. 1261)
1314 – Jakub Świnka, Polish priest and archbishop
1371 – Jeanne d’Évreux, queen consort of France (b. 1310)
1388 – Thomas Usk, English author
1484 – Saint Casimir, Polish prince (b. 1458)
1496 – Sigismund, archduke of Austria (b. 1427)
1583 – Bernard Gilpin, English priest and theologian (b. 1517)
1604 – Fausto Sozzini, Italian theologian and educator (b. 1539)
1615 – Hans von Aachen, German painter and educator (b. 1552)
1710 – Louis III, duke of Bourbon (b. 1668)
1733 – Claude de Forbin, French admiral and politician (b. 1656)
1744 – John Anstis, English historian and politician (b. 1669)
1762 – Johannes Zick, German painter (b. 1702)
1793 – Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre (b. 1725)
1795 – John Collins, American politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1717)
1805 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (b. 1725)
1807 – Abraham Baldwin, American minister, lawyer, and politician (b. 1754)
537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.
986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks.
1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë.
1458 – George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.
1476 – Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchâtel.
1484 – The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England.
1498 – Vasco da Gama’s fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.
1561 – Mendoza, Argentina, is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro del Castillo.
1657 – Great Fire of Meireki: A fire in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, caused more than 100,000 deaths; it lasted three days
1717 – The Loves of Mars and Venus is the first ballet performed in England.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units arrest the Royal Governor of Georgia James Wright and attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in the Battle of the Rice Boats.
1791 – Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
1797 – The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.
1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
1808 – The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
1811 – Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolás on the River Plate.
1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.
1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.
1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, begins.
1865 – East Cape War: The Völkner Incident in New Zealand.
1867 – The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.
1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.
1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.
1896 – The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
1901 – United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
1901 – The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
1919 – The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
1933 – The film King Kong opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.
1939 – Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.
1941 – World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it joins the Axis Pact.
1943 – World War II: Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh is elected the President of North Vietnam.
1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
1955 – Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
1961 – John F. Kennedy announces the creation of the Peace Corps in a nationally televised broadcast.
1962 – In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d’état.
1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.
1965 – The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
1968 – Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.
1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.
1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
1977 – Libya becomes the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People’s Congress adopted the “Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People”.
1978 – Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
1983 – Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
1989 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.
1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.
1992 – Start of the war in Transnistria.
1992 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the United Nations.
1995 – Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.
1995 – Yahoo! is incorporated.
1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
2004 – War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
2012 – A tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.
2017 – The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson were officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.
Births on March 2
480 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian Christian saint (d. 543 or 547)
1316 – Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390)
1409 – Jean II, Duke of Alençon (d. 1476)
1432 – Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach, countess consort of Hanau (d. 1457)
1453 – Johannes Engel, German doctor, astronomer and astrologer (d. 1512)
1459 – Pope Adrian VI (d. 1523)
1481 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
1545 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (d. 1613)
1577 – George Sandys, English traveller, colonist and poet (d. 1644)
1628 – Cornelis Speelman, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1684)
1651 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer and poet (d. 1730)
1705 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1793)
1740 – Nicholas Pocock, English naval painter (d.1821)
1760 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (d. 1794)
1769 – DeWitt Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York (d. 1828)
1770 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (d. 1826)
1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American physician and politician, 15th United States Secretary of War (d. 1851)
1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1863)
1800 – Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian-Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1844)
1810 – Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)
1816 – Alexander Bullock, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
1817 – János Arany, Hungarian journalist and poet (d. 1882)
1820 – Multatuli, Dutch writer (d. 1887)
1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1884)
1829 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, lawyer, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1906)
1836 – Henry Billings Brown, American lawyer and judge (d. 1913)
1842 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer, art collector, and philanthropist (d. 1914)
1846 – Marie Roze, French soprano (d. 1926)
1849 – Robert Means Thompson, American commander, lawyer, and businessman (d. 1930)
1859 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (d. 1916)
1860 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (d. 1961)
1862 – John Jay Chapman, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1933)
1876 – Pope Pius XII (d. 1958)
1878 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American sailor and race car driver (d. 1944)
1886 – Willis H. O’Brien, American animator and director (d. 1962)
1886 – Kurt Grelling, German logician and philosopher (d. 1942)
1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (d. 1950)
1901 – Grete Hermann, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1984)
1902 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (d. 1972)
1902 – Edward Condon, American physicist and academic (d. 1974)
1904 – Dr. Seuss, American children’s book writer, poet, and illustrator (d. 1991)
1905 – Marc Blitzstein, American composer and songwriter (d. 1964)
1905 – Geoffrey Grigson, English poet and critic (d. 1985)
1908 – Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
1909 – Mel Ott, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1958)
1912 – Henry Katzman, American pianist, composer, and painter (d. 2001)
1913 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch television host and author (d. 1971)
1913 – Mort Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1958)
1914 – Martin Ritt, American actor and film director (d. 1990)
1915 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Ceylon (d. 2010)
1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1986)
1917 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (d. 1967)
1917 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (d. 2009)
1919 – Eddie Lawrence, American actor, singer, and playwright (d. 2014)
1919 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American ballerina and actress (d. 1996)
1921 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2006)
1921 – Ernst Haas, Austrian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
1922 – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
1922 – Bill Quackenbush, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1999)
1922 – Frances Spence, American computer programmer (d. 2012)
1923 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (d. 1999)
1923 – Robert H. Michel, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
1923 – Dave Strack, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
1924 – Cal Abrams, American baseball player (d. 1997)
1924 – Renos Apostolidis, Greek philologist, author, and critic (d. 2004)
1926 – Bernard Agré, Ivorian cardinal (d. 2014)
1926 – Murray Rothbard, American economist and historian (d. 1995)
1927 – Roger Walkowiak, French cyclist and economist (d. 2017)
1930 – John Cullum, American actor and singer
1930 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (d. 2007)
1930 – Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Gun Hägglund, Swedish journalist and translator (d. 2011)
1934 – Dottie Rambo, American singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1935 – Gene Stallings, American football player and coach
1936 – Haroon Ahmed, Pakistani-English engineer and academic
1936 – John Tusa, Czech-English journalist and academic
1937 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian soldier and politician, 5th President of Algeria
1938 – Ricardo Lagos, Chilean economist, lawyer, and politician, 33rd President of Chile
1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1938 – Clark Gesner, American author and composer (d. 2002)
1939 – Jan Howard Finder, American author and academic (d. 2013)
1940 – Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer (d. 2019)
1941 – John Cornell, Australian actor, director, and producer
1941 – David Satcher, American admiral and physician, 16th Surgeon General of the United States
1942 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
1942 – Claude Larose, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1942 – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iranian architect and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Iran
1942 – Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2013)
1942 – Derek Woodley, English footballer (d. 2002)
1943 – George Layton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1943 – Peter Straub, American author and poet
1943 – Robert Williams, American painter and cartoonist
1945 – Derek Watkins, English trumpet player and composer (d. 2013)
1947 – Nelson Ned, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1947 – Harry Redknapp, English footballer and manager
1948 – Larry Carlton, American guitarist and songwriter
1948 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1995)
1948 – Jeff Kennett, Australian journalist and politician, 43rd Premier of Victoria
1948 – Carmen Lawrence, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Western Australia
1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (d. 1983)
1952 – Mark Evanier, American author and screenwriter
1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress and comedian
1953 – Russ Feingold, American lawyer and politician
1954 – Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1955 – Dale Bozzio, American pop-rock singer-songwriter
1955 – Jay Osmond, American singer, drummer, actor, and TV/film producer
1955 – Ken Salazar, American lawyer and politician, 50th United States Secretary of the Interior
1955 – Steve Small, Australian cricketer
1956 – John Cowsill, American musician, songwriter, and producer
1956 – Mark Evans, Australian rock bass player
1957 – Hossein Dehghan, Iranian general and politician, Iranian Minister of Defense
1957 – Dito Tsintsadze, Georgian film director and screenwriter
1957 – Mark Dean, American inventor and computer engineer
1958 – Kevin Curren, South African-American tennis player
1958 – Ian Woosnam, English-Welsh golfer
1959 – Larry Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – Simone Young, Australian conductor, director, and composer
1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1962 – Paul Farrelly, English journalist and politician
1962 – Tom Nordlie, Norwegian footballer and coach
1962 – Brendan O’Connor, Australian politician, Australian Minister for Employment
1962 – Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Gabriele Tarquini, Italian race car driver
1963 – Alvin Youngblood Hart, American singer and guitarist
1963 – Anthony Albanese, Australian politician, 15th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1963 – Vidyasagar (composer), Indian composer, musician and singer
1964 – Laird Hamilton, American surfer and actor
1964 – Mike Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1987)
1965 – Ron Gant, American baseball player and journalist
1965 – Lembit Öpik, Northern Irish politician
1966 – Ann Leckie, American author
1966 – Simon Reevell, English lawyer and politician
1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor and producer
1970 – James Purnell, English politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1970 – Ciriaco Sforza, Swiss footballer and manager
1970 – Wibi Soerjadi, Dutch pianist and composer
1971 – Dave Gorman, English comedian, author and television presenter
1971 – Method Man, American rapper, record producer and actor
1972 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentinian footballer and manager
1973 – Dejan Bodiroga, Serbian basketball player
1973 – Trevor Sinclair, English footballer and manager
1974 – Hayley Lewis, Australian swimmer and television host
1975 – Daryl Gibson, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Dominique Canty, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter and producer
1977 – Stephen Parry, English swimmer and sportscaster
1977 – Andrew Strauss, South African-English cricketer
1978 – Gabby Eigenmann, Filipino actor and singer
1978 – Lee Hodges, English footballer and manager
1978 – Tomáš Kaberle, Czech ice hockey player
1979 – Damien Duff, Irish international footballer, winger
1979 – Gayatri Asokan, Indian playback singer
1979 – Jim Troughton, English cricketer
1979 – Nicky Weaver, English footballer
1980 – Chris Barker, English footballer and manager (d. 2020)
1980 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress and screenwriter
1981 – Lance Cade, American wrestler (d. 2010)
1981 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
1982 – Kevin Kurányi, German footballer
1982 – Henrik Lundqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
1982 – Ben Roethlisberger, American football player
1982 – Corey Webster, American football player
1983 – Deuce, American singer-songwriter and producer
1983 – Lisandro López, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Jay McClement, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Glen Perkins, American baseball player
1983 – Ryan Shannon, American ice hockey player
1985 – Reggie Bush, American football player
1985 – Suso Santana, Spanish footballer
1986 – Jonathan D’Aversa, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Jonas Jerebko, Swedish basketball player
1988 – Édgar Andrade, Mexican footballer
1988 – James Arthur, English singer-songwriter
1988 – Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012
1988 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver
1988 – Chris Rainey, American football player
1988 – Geert Arend Roorda, Dutch footballer
1989 – Alemão, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Toby Alderweireld, Belgian international footballer, defender
1989 – André Bernardes Santos, Portuguese footballer
1989 – Marcel Hirscher, Austrian skier
1989 – Shane Vereen, American football player
1989 – Chris Woakes, English cricketer
1990 – Rauno Alliku, Estonian footballer
1990 – Malcolm Butler, American football player
1990 – Josh McGuire, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Tiger Shroff, Indian actor
1991 – Nick Franklin, American baseball player
1992 – Jack Stockwell, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Ange-Freddy Plumain, French footballer
1997 – Becky G, American singer and actress
2010 – Hailey Dawson, American with a 3D-printed robotic hand
2016 – Prince Oscar, duke of Skåne and prince of Sweden
Deaths on March 2
274 – Mani, Persian prophet and founder of Manichaeism (b. 216)
672 – Chad of Mercia, English bishop and saint (b. 634)
986 – Lothair, king of West Francia (b.941)
968 – William, archbishop of Mainz (b. 929)
1009 – Mokjong, king of Goryeo (b. 980)
1127 – Charles the Good, Count of Flanders (b. 1084)
1316 – Marjorie Bruce, Scottish daughter of Robert the Bruce (b. 1296)
1333 – Wladyslaw I, king of Poland (b. 1261)
1589 – Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal and diplomat (b. 1520)
1619 – Anne of Denmark, queen of Scotland (b. 1574)
1729 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (b. 1662)
1755 – Louis de Rouvroy, French duke and diplomat (b. 1675)
1791 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (b. 1703)
1793 – Carl Gustaf Pilo, Swedish-Danish painter and academic (b. 1711)
1797 – Horace Walpole, English historian and politician (b. 1717)
1829 – Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Mexican revolutionary (b. ca. 1773)
1830 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, German physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (b. 1755)
1835 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1768)
1840 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (b. 1758)
1855 – Nicholas I, Russian emperor (b. 1796)
1864 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (b. 1842)
1865 – Carl Sylvius Völkner, German-New Zealand priest and missionary (b. 1819)
1880 – John Benjamin Macneill, Irish engineer (b. 1790)
202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
1246 – The siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.
1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.
1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
1710 – Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
1728 – Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire defeats Asaf Jah I in the Battle of Palkhed.
1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec).
1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing six people, including two United States Cabinet members.
1847 – The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua.
1849 – Regular steamship service from the east to the west coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
1867 – Seventy years of Holy See–United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.
1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
1874 – One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
1893 – The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day “Siege of Ladysmith” is lifted.
1904 – S.L. Benfica is founded in Portugal.
1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
1939 – The erroneous word “dord” is discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
1948 – Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots and looting in Accra.
1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April’s Nature (pub. April 2).
1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.
1972 – China–United States relations: The United States and China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.
1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
1993 – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and six Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the 1993 Australian federal election.
1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participate in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947.
2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.
Births on February 28
1119 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (d. 1150)
1155 – Henry the Young King, son and heir of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway (d. 1283)
1518 – Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Duke of Brittany (d. 1536)
1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (d. 1592)
1535 – Cornelius Gemma, Dutch astronomer and astrologer (d. 1578)
1552 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss mathematician and clockmaker (d. 1632)
1612 – John Pearson, English bishop, theologian, and scholar (d. 1686)
1627 – Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1703)
1675 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
1683 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French entomologist and academic (d. 1757)
1704 – Louis Godin, French astronomer and academic (d. 1760)
1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (d. 1759)
1724 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1807)
1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist, and geographer (d. 1876)
1812 – Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
1820 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
1833 – Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
1840 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
1848 – Arthur Giry, French historian and academic (d. 1899)
1851 – Samuel W. McCall, American journalist and politician, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
1858 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (d. 1941)
1865 – Wilfred Grenfell, English physician and missionary (d. 1940)
1866 – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1949)
1873 – William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor (d. 1912)
1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1929)
1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher, lawyer, and politician, Mexican Secretary of Public Education (d. 1959)
1883 – Seán Mac Diarmada, Irish rebel leader (d. 1916)
1884 – Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
1887 – William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter (d. 1966)
1894 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1964)
1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director (d. 1974)
1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
1898 – Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish footballer (d. 1969)
1900 – Wolf Hirth, German pilot and engineer, co-founded Schempp-Hirth (d. 1959)
1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
1908 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
1909 – Stephen Spender, English author and poet (d. 1995)
1911 – Otakar Vávra, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1915 – Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
1916 – Cesar Climaco, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Mayor of Zamboanga City (d. 1984)
1917 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (d. 2007)
1919 – Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls (d. 2013)
1919 – Brian Urquhart, English soldier and diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
1920 – Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish soldier, pilot, and architect (d. 2014)
1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French pilot, engineer, and author (d. 2006)
1922 – Yuri Lotman, Russian-Estonian historian and scholar (d. 1993)
1923 – Charles Durning, American soldier and actor (d. 2012)
1924 – Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2000)
1924 – Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
1925 – Harry H. Corbett, Burmese-English actor (d. 1982)
1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American author and educator (d. 2011)
1928 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (d. 1976)
1928 – Tom Aldredge, American actor (d. 2011)
1928 – Sylvia del Villard, actress, dancer, choreographer and Afro-Puerto Rican activist (d. 1990)
1929 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect, designed 8 Spruce Street and Walt Disney Concert Hall
1929 – John Montague, American-Irish poet and academic (d. 2016)
1929 – Rangaswamy Srinivasan, Indian-American physical chemist and inventor
1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi academic and politician, 14th President of Bangladesh (d. 2012)
1931 – Peter Alliss, English golfer and sportscaster
1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
1931 – Len Newcombe, Welsh footballer, outside forward and scout (d. 1996)
1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor, singer, and jazz musician (d. 2016)
1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist and politician
1934 – Willie Bobo, American Latin Jazz/Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist (d. 1983)
1937 – Jeff Farrell, American swimmer
1938 – Foge Fazio, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
1939 – John Fahey, American guitarist (d. 2001)
1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan philosopher and scholar (d. 1987)
1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1939 – Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director
1940 – Aldo Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
1940 – Joe South, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer (d. 2012)
1942 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1969)
1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer and manager
1943 – Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
1943 – Hans Dijkstal, Egyptian-Dutch educator and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2010)
1943 – Donnie Iris, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress and dancer
1944 – Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (d. 2014)
1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer and manager
1944 – Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer (d. 2013)
1945 – Mimsy Farmer, American-French actress and sculptor
1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
1945 – Linda Preiss Rothschild, American mathematician and academic
1946 – Philip Bailhache, English lawyer and politician
1946 – Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2005)
1946 – Syreeta Wright, African-American singer songwriter (d. 2004)
1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – Mike Figgis, English director, screenwriter, and composer
1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author
1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
1948 – Alfred Sant, Maltese politician, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
1951 – Bill Cratty, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
1951 – Debora Green, American physician convicted of murder
1953 – Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian race car driver
1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Ricky Steamboat, American wrestler, referee, and trainer
1954 – Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
1955 – Adrian Dantley, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer
1956 – Terry Leahy, English businessman
1956 – Guy Maddin, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
1957 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 1996)
1957 – Ainsley Harriott, English chef and author
1957 – Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
1957 – John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1957 – Cindy Wilson, American singer-songwriter
1958 – Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican criminal and narcotics trafficker (d. 2012)
1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian journalist and activist (d. 2009)
1958 – Jeanne Mas, Spanish-French singer-songwriter and actress
1958 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (d. 2010)
1959 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman and lobbyist
1959 – Megan McDonald, American librarian and author
1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress
1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician
1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish-British boxer
1962 – Gary Belcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1963 – Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
1964 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan sprinter and cyclist
1965 – Colum McCann, Irish-American author and academic
1965 – Norman Smiley, English-American wrestler and trainer
1966 – Vincent Askew, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
1966 – Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager
1967 – Martin Tielli, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Sean Farrel, English footballer, forward
1969 – Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver
1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
1969 – Patrick Monahan, American singer-songwriter and actor
1970 – Daniel Handler, American journalist, author, and accordion player
1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner
1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese pianist and composer
1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor and director
1972 – Rory Cochrane, American actor
1972 – Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor and screenwriter
1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Scott McLeod, New Zealand rugby player
1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver
1973 – Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler
1974 – Lee Carsley, English-Irish footballer and manager
1974 – Alexander Zickler, German footballer and manager
1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
1976 – Ali Larter, American actress
1977 – Jason Aldean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler
1978 – Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player
1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver
1979 – Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-Canadian boxer
1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
1981 – Brian Bannister, American baseball player and scout
1982 – Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model and actress
1984 – Noureen DeWulf, American actress
1984 – Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress
1985 – Tim Bresnan, English cricketer
1985 – Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
1985 – Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Travis Stevens, American judoka
1987 – Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
1988 – Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1989 – Carlos Dunlap, American football player
1989 – Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
1989 – Kevin Proctor, New Zealand rugby league player
1989 – Angelababy, Chinese actress
1990 – Takayasu Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler
1994 – Jake Bugg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1994 – Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer
1999 – Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player
Deaths on February 28
628 – Khosrow II, Shah of Iran – Sasanian Empire (b. c. 570)
911 – Abu Abdallah al-Shi’i, Muslim Shia imam
1105 – Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (b. c. 1042)
1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230)
1326 – Leopold I, Duke of Austria (b. 1290)
1453 – Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
1510 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer (b. 1450)
1551 – Martin Bucer, German Protestant reformer (b. 1491)
1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian and author (b. 1505)
1621 – Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
1648 – Christian IV of Denmark (b. 1577)
1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
1788 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1725)
1857 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic (b. 1809)
1869 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French author and poet (b. 1790)
2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (b. 1926)
2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (b. 1920)
2003 – Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (b. 1928)
2003 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadorian general and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (b. 1914)
2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author (b. 1921)
2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian sergeant (b. 1982)
2005 – Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (b. 1941)
2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2007 – Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-English businessman, founded the Forte Group (b. 1908)
2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (b. 1917)
2007 – Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1946)
2008 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (b. 1904)
2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio host (b. 1918)
2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
2011 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
2012 – Frisner Augustin, Haitian drummer and composer (b. 1948)
2012 – Jim Green, American-Canadian educator and politician (b. 1943)
2012 – Hal Roach, Irish comedian and author (b. 1927)
2013 – Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
2013 – Neil McCorkell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1912)
2014 – Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (b. 1935)
2014 – Lee Lorch, American mathematician and activist (b. 1915)
2015 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1942)
2015 – Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1923)
2016 – George Kennedy, American actor (b. 1925)
2017 – Pierre Pascau, Mauritian-Canadian journalist (b. 1938)
2019 – André Previn, German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. (b. 1929)
2020 – Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe’s (b. 1930)
2020 – Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician (b. 1923)
2020 – Sir Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances on February 28
Christian feast day:
Abercius (martyr)
Anna Julia Cooper and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (Episcopal Church (USA))
Hilarius
Mar Abba
Oswald of Worcester
Romanus of Condat
Rufinus
February 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Rare Disease Day can fall, while February 29 is the latest; observed on the last day of February (international)
The third day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn’t in all years)
Día de Andalucía (Andalusia, Spain)
Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture. (Finland)
747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy’s Nabonassar Era.
364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor
1233 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
1365 – The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) founded by King Thado Minbya
1606 – The Janszoon voyage of 1605–06 becomes the first European expedition to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea.
1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
1775 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates
1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea’s status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.
1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.
1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs an executive order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.
1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
1971 – U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
1979 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.
1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
1987 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.
1995 – The UK’s oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
2008 – The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.
2012 – Trayvon Martin was shot and killed at the age of 17 in Sanford, Florida.
2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
Births on February 26
1361 – Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (d. 1419)
1416 – Christopher of Bavaria (d. 1448)
1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet and translator (d. 1593)
1584 – Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1666)
1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer and educator (d. 1639)
1629 – Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, Scottish peer (d. 1685)
1651 – Quirinus Kuhlmann, German Baroque poet and mystic (d. 1689)
1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (d. 1713)
1672 – Antoine Augustin Calmet, French monk and theologian (d. 1757)
1677 – Nicola Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
1718 – Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
1746 – Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (d. 1806)
1770 – Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
1777 – Matija Nenadović, Serbian priest, historian, and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 1854)
1786 – François Arago, French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (d. 1853)
1799 – Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (d. 1864)
1802 – Victor Hugo, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1885)
1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
1808 – Nathan Kelley, American architect, designed the Ohio Statehouse (d. 1871)
1829 – Levi Strauss, German-American fashion designer, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (d. 1902)
1842 – Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and author (d. 1925)
1846 – Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (d. 1917)
1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, co-created Corn flakes (d. 1943)
1857 – Émile Coué, French psychologist and pharmacist (d. 1926)
1861 – Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
1861 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian soldier and politician (d. 1939)
1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (d. 1930)
1877 – Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
1877 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (d. 1968)
1879 – Frank Bridge, English viola player and composer (d. 1941)
1880 – Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
1881 – Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, Lithuanian farmer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player and coach (d. 1950)
1887 – William Frawley, American actor and vaudevillian (d. 1966)
1887 – Stefan Grabiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1936)
1893 – Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Islam (disappeared 1934)
1893 – Dorothy Whipple, English novelist (d. 1966)
1896 – Andrei Zhdanov, Ukrainian-Russian civil servant and politician (d. 1948)
1899 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss jurist and politician, 54th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1994)
1900 – Halina Konopacka, Polish discus thrower and poet (d. 1989)
1900 – Fritz Wiessner, German-American mountaineer (d. 1988)
1902 – Jean Bruller, French author and illustrator, co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit (d. 1991)
1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1903 – Orde Wingate, English general (d. 1944)
1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
1908 – Tex Avery, American animator, producer, and voice actor (d. 1980)
1908 – Nestor Mesta Chayres, Mexican operatic tenor and bolero vocalist (d. 1971)
1908 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
1909 – Fanny Cradock, English chef, author, and critic (d. 1994)
1909 – Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
1910 – Vic Woodley, English footballer (d. 1978)
1911 – Tarō Okamoto, Japanese painter and sculptor (d. 1996)
1912 – Dane Clark, American actor and director (d. 1998)
1913 – George Barker, English author and poet (d. 1991)
1914 – Robert Alda, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1986)
1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and singer (d. 1987)
1918 – Otis R. Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (d. 2013)
1918 – Pyotr Masherov, Leader of Soviet Belarus (d. 1980)
1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (d. 1985)
1919 – Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
1920 – Danny Gardella, American baseball player and trainer (d. 2005)
1920 – Tony Randall, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2004)
1920 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 2006)
1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1922 – Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer and businessman (d. 2007)
1922 – Margaret Leighton, English actress (d. 1976)
1924 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2000)
1924 – Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist, and dramatist (d. 2002)
1925 – Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer and referee
1926 – Doris Belack, American actress (d. 2011)
1926 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (d. 2015)
1927 – Tom Kennedy, American game show host and actor
1928 – Fats Domino, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2017)
1928 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)
1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)
1931 – Robert Novak, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1931 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2003)
1933 – James Goldsmith, French-British businessman and politician (d. 1997)
1934 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (d. 2014)
1937 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (d. 2011)
1939 – Chuck Wepner, American professional boxer
1940 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (d. 2013)
1942 – Jozef Adamec, Slovak footballer and manager (d. 2018)
1943 – Paul Cotton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
1943 – Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer
1943 – Bob “The Bear” Hite, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1981)
1944 – Christopher Hope, South African author and poet
1944 – Ronald Lauder, American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Austria
1945 – Peter Brock, Australian race car driver (d. 2006)
1945 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian-American actress
1945 – Mitch Ryder, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Colin Bell, English footballer
1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
1947 – Sandie Shaw, English singer and psychotherapist
1948 – Sharyn McCrumb, American author
1949 – Simon Crean, Australian trade union leader and politician, 14th Australian Minister for the Arts
1949 – Elizabeth George, American author and educator
1949 – Emma Kirkby, English soprano
1950 – Jonathan Cain, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1950 – Helen Clark, New Zealand academic and politician, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1951 – Steve Bell, English cartoonist
1951 – Wayne Goss, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (d. 2014)
1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer-songwriter and actor
1954 – Prince Ernst August of Hanover
1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish politician, 12th President of Turkey
1955 – Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian and academic, founded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
1956 – Michel Houellebecq, French author, poet, screenwriter, and director
1957 – David Beasley, American lawyer and politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina
1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player and coach
1957 – Keena Rothhammer, American swimmer
1958 – Paul Ackford, English rugby player
1958 – Greg Germann, American actor and director
1958 – Susan Helms, American general, engineer, and astronaut
1958 – Tim Kaine, American lawyer and politician, 70th Governor of Virginia
1959 – Rolando Blackman, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkish political scientist, academic, and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Turkey
1960 – Jaz Coleman, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1962 – Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean physician, academic, and politician
1963 – Chase Masterson, American actress, singer, and activist
1965 – James Mitchell, American wrestler and manager
1966 – Garry Conille, Haitian physician and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti
1966 – Marc Fortier, French-Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer
1967 – Mark Carroll, Australian rugby league player
1967 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
1968 – Tim Commerford, American bass player
1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer and producer
1970 – Mark Harper, English accountant and politician, Minister of State for Immigration
1970 – Scott Mahon, Australian rugby league player
1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1971 – Max Martin, Swedish-American record producer and songwriter
1971 – Hélène Segara, French singer-songwriter and actress
1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer and manager
1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French race car driver
1974 – Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Filipina television actress, host and equestrienne
1976 – Nalini Anantharaman, French mathematician
1976 – Chad Urmston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player and coach
1977 – Tim Thomas, American basketball player
1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby union player
1978 – Abdoulaye Faye, Senegalese footballer
1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Steve Evans, Welsh footballer
1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese international footballer, midfielder
1980 – Steve Blake, American basketball player
1981 – Kertus Davis, American race car driver
1981 – Oh Seung-bum, South Korean footballer
1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
1982 – Matt Prior, South African-English cricketer
1982 – Nate Ruess, American singer-songwriter
1983 – Jerome Harrison, American football player
1983 – Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer
1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese international footballer, forward
2014 – Phyllis Krasilovsky, American author and academic (b. 1927)
2014 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1947)
2015 – Sheppard Frere, English historian and archaeologist (b. 1916)
2015 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest, theologian, educator, and academic (b. 1917)
2015 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
2015 – Tom Schweich, American lawyer and politician, 36th State Auditor of Missouri (b. 1960)
2016 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1932)
2016 – Don Getty, Canadian football player and politician, 11th Premier of Alberta (b. 1933)
2017 – Joseph Wapner, American lieutenant and judge (b. 1919)
Holidays and observances on February 26
Christian feast day:
Alexander of Alexandria
Emily Malbone Morgan (Episcopal Church (USA))
Isabelle of France
Li Tim-Oi (Anglican Church of Canada)
Porphyry of Gaza
February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The first day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn’t in all years)
Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan)
303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.
1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
1554 – Mapuche forces, under the leadership of Lautaro, score a victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Marihueñu in Chile.
1653 – The Ballet Royal de la Nuit is first performed at the Salle du Petit-Bourbon in Paris
1739 – At York Castle, the outlaw Dick Turpin is identified by his former schoolteacher. Turpin had been using the name Richard Palmer.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.
1847 – Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
1870 – Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.
1885 – Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.
1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.
1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J’Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1900 – Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart’s Hill fails.
1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).
1927 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
1934 – Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.
1943 – A fire breaks out at Saint Joseph’s Orphanage, County Cavan, Ireland, killing 35 children and one adult.
1943 – Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.
1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as “the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies.”
1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.
1947 – International Organization for Standardization is founded.
1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
1966 – In Syria, Ba’ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1980 – Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran’s parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d’état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d’état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
1998 – In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.
1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 21⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.
2012 – A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.
2017 – The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.
2019 – Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.
Births on February 23
1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
1417 – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1479)
1443 – Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (d. 1490)
1529 – Onofrio Panvinio, Italian historian (d. 1568)
1539 – Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica (d. 1588)
1539 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (d. 1612)
1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer (d. 1656)
1592 – Balthazar Gerbier, Dutch painter (d. 1663)
1633 – Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician (d. 1703)
1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun (d. 1709)
1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
1685 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (d. 1759)
1723 – Richard Price, Welsh-English minister and philosopher (d. 1791)
1744 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker and businessman (d. 1812)
1792 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general. President three times (1844–1854) (d. 1854)
1831 – Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (d. 1915)
1840 – Carl Menger, Austrian economist and educator (d. 1921)
1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher and author (d. 1906)
1850 – César Ritz, Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz Hotel, London and Hôtel Ritz Paris (d. 1918)
1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (d. 1963)
1868 – Anna Hofman-Uddgren, Swedish actress, singer, and director (d. 1947)
1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (d. 1929)
1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Estonia (d. 1956)
1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and theorist (d. 1935)
1883 – Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1969)
1883 – Guy C. Wiggins, American painter (d. 1962)
1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
1889 – Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (d. 1975)
1889 – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 1949)
1889 – John Gilbert Winant, American captain, pilot, and politician, 60th Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1947)
1892 – Kathleen Harrison, English actress (d. 1995)
1892 – Agnes Smedley, American journalist and writer (d. 1950)
1894 – Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1978)
1899 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (d. 1974)
1899 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1904 – Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1904 – William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian (d. 1993)
1908 – William McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
1915 – Jon Hall, American actor and director (d. 1979)
1915 – Paul Tibbets, American general and pilot (d. 2007)
1919 – Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2018)
1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 2014)
1923 – Harry Clarke, English international footballer, defender (d. 2000)
1923 – Ioannis Grivas, Greek judge and politician, 176th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2016)
1923 – Dante Lavelli, American football player (d. 2009)
1923 – Clarence D. Lester, African-American fighter pilot (d.1986)
1923 – Mary Francis Shura, American author (d. 1991)
1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1925 – Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
1927 – Régine Crespin, French soprano and actress (d. 2007)
1928 – Hans Herrmann, German race car driver
1928 – Vasily Lazarev, Russian colonel, physician, and astronaut (d. 1990)
1929 – Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (d. 2008)
1929 – Elston Howard, American baseball player and coach (d. 1980)
1930 – Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (d. 2004)
1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (d. 2008)
1937 – Tom Osborne, American football player, coach, and politician
1938 – Sylvia Chase, American broadcast journalist (d. 2019)
1938 – Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1940 – Jackie Smith, American football player
1941 – Ron Hunt, American baseball player
1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
1943 – Bobby Mitchell, American golfer (d. 2018)
1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English author and educator
1944 – Florian Fricke, German keyboard player and composer (d. 2001)
1944 – Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
1945 – Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician
1946 – Rusty Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician, Speaker of the Danish Parliament
1947 – Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and author
1948 – Bill Alexander, English director and producer
1948 – Trevor Cherry, English footballer (d. 2020)
1948 – Steve Priest, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – César Aira, Argentinian author and translator
1949 – Marc Garneau, Canadian engineer, astronaut, and politician
1950 – Rebecca Goldstein, American philosopher and author
1951 – Eddie Dibbs, American tennis player
1951 – Debbie Friedman, American singer-songwriter of Jewish melodies (d. 2011)
1951 – Ed “Too Tall” Jones, American football player and boxer
1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress
1952 – Brad Whitford, American guitarist and songwriter
1953 – Kenny Bee, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1953 – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese race car driver
1954 – Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 1989)
1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian captain and politician, 3rd President of Ukraine
1955 – Howard Jones, English singer-songwriter
1955 – Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1956 – Sandra Osborne, Scottish politician
1958 – David Sylvian, English singer-songwriter
1959 – Clayton Anderson, American engineer and astronaut
1959 – Nick de Bois, English politician
1959 – Ian Liddell-Grainger, Scottish soldier and politician
1959 – Linda Nolan, Irish singer and actress
1960 – Naruhito, Emperor of Japan
1962 – Michael Wilton, American guitarist
1963 – Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player
1963 – Radosław Sikorski, Polish journalist and politician, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland
1964 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter
1965 – Michael Dell, American businessman
1965 – Helena Suková, Czech-Monacan tennis player
1967 – Steve Stricker, American golfer
1967 – Chris Vrenna, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1969 – Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer
1969 – Martine Croxall, English journalist and television news presenter
1969 – Daymond John, American fashion designer and businessman, founded FUBU
1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress and producer
1971 – Carin Koch, Swedish golfer
1971 – Melinda Messenger, English model and television host
1971 – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
1972 – Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer
1972 – Rondell White, American baseball player
1973 – Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player
1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
1974 – Robbi Kempson, South African rugby player
1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Ryan McCourt, Canadian artist
1976 – Scott Elarton, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
1976 – Jeff O’Neill, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1977 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier
1978 – Residente, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter
1978 – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
1979 – S. E. Cupp, American journalist and author
1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
1981 – Josh Gad, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor and screenwriter
1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer, striker, manager and sportscaster
1983 – Aziz Ansari, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1983 – Emily Blunt, English actress
1986 – Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter
1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
1986 – Jerod Mayo, American football player
1986 – Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter
1987 – Ab-Soul, American rapper
1987 – Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
1987 – Zak Kirkup, Member of the Parliament of Western Australia
1988 – Nicolás Gaitán, Argentinian footballer
1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
1989 – Jérémy Pied, French footballer
1990 – Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Terry Hawkridge, English footballer
1990 – Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Casemiro, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
1993 – Chris Grevsmuhl, Australian rugby league player
1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress
1995 – Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player
1996 – D’Angelo Russell, American basketball player
1997 – Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player
Deaths on February 23
715 – Al-Walid I, Umayyad caliph (b. 668)
908 – Li Keyong, Shatuo military governor during the Tang Dynasty in China (b. 856)
943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
943 – David I, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)
1011 – Willigis, German archbishop (b. 940)
1100 – Emperor Zhezong of Song (b. 1076)
1270 – Isabel of France (b. 1225)
1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
1447 – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
1464 – Emperor Yingzong of Ming (b. 1427)
1473 – Arnold, Duke of Gelderland (b. 1410)
1526 – Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies (b. c. 1479)
1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire (b. 1515)
1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
1603 – Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (b. 1540)
1620 – Nicholas Fuller, English politician (b. 1543)
1704 – Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (b. 1653)
1766 – Stanisław Leszczyński, Polish king (b. 1677)
1781 – George Taylor, Irish-American blacksmith and politician (b. 1716)
1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (b. 1723)
1821 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
1848 – John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
1859 – Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1812)
1879 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (b. 1803)
1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer and educator (b. 1828)
1900 – Ernest Dowson, English poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1867)
1908 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (b. 1823)
1918 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1882)
1930 – Horst Wessel, German SA officer (b. 1907)
1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (b. 1861)
1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (b. 1857)
1944 – Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (b. 1863)
1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (b. 1885)
1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-American publisher and educator (b. 1866)
1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
1965 – Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (b. 1890)
1969 – Madhubala, Indian actress and producer (b. 1933)
1969 – Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2nd King of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1976 – L. S. Lowry, English painter (b. 1887)
1979 – W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian businessman and politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (b. 1900)
1983 – Herbert Howells, English organist and composer (b. 1892)
1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
1995 – James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (b. 1916)
1997 – Tony Williams, American drummer, composer, and producer (b. 1945)
1998 – Philip Abbott, American actor and director (b. 1924)
1999 – The Renegade, American wrestler (b. 1965)
2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1957)
2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (b. 1915)
2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1955)
2003 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1934)
2004 – Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1918)
2006 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
2007 – John Ritchie, English footballer (b. 1941)
2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (b. 1950)
2008 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (b. 1917)
2010 – Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (b. 1967)
2011 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (b. 1923)
2012 – William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
2012 – David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1924)
2012 – Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (b. 1919)
2013 – Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (b. 1918)
2013 – Joseph Friedenson, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer and editor (b. 1922)
2013 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (b. 1920)
2013 – Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (b. 1945)
2014 – Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English Holocaust survivor, pianist and educator (b. 1903)
2014 – Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1919)
2015 – James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (b. 1918)
2015 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1942)
2015 – W. E. “Bill” Dykes, American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
2016 – Peter Lustig, German television host and author (b. 1937)
2016 – Jacqueline Mattson, American baseball player (b. 1928)
2019 – Katherine Helmond, American actress (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances on February 23
Christian feast day:
Polycarp of Smyrna
Serenus the Gardener
February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The Emperor’s Birthday, birthday of Naruhito, the current Emperor of Japan (Japan)
Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)
Meteņi (Latvia)
National Day (Brunei)
Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics:
Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)
Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces day (Belarus)
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)
706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
1002 – At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles, Arduin of Ivrea is restored to his domains and crowned King of Italy.
1113 – Pope Paschal II issues Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, recognizing the Order of Hospitallers.
1214 – During the Anglo-French War (1213–1214), an English invasion force led by John, King of England, lands at La Rochelle in France.
1493 – While on board the Niña, Christopher Columbus writes an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World.
1637 – Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1690 – Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, and the Holy Roman Empire sign a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.
1764 – The city of St. Louis is established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA).
1798 – The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier.
1835 – Serbia’s Sretenje Constitution briefly comes into effect.
1862 – American Civil War: Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd attack General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Unable to break the fort’s encirclement, Lloyd surrenders the following day.
1870 – Stevens Institute of Technology is founded in New Jersey, USA and offers the first Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering.
1879 – Women’s rights: US President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
1891 – Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) (Swedish Sports Club) is founded.
1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing 274. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
1901 – The association football club Alianza Lima is founded in Lima, Peru, under the name Sport Alianza.
1909 – The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.
1921 – Kingdom of Romania establishes its legation in Helsinki.
1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
1925 – The 1925 serum run to Nome: The second delivery of serum arrives in Nome, Alaska.
1933 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate US President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
1942 – World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
1944 – World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
1944 – World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.
1945 – World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden.
1946 – ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
1954 – Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.
1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.
1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
1972 – Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
1972 – José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.
1982 – The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.
1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
1991 – The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.
1992 – Air Transport International Flight 805 crashes near Toledo Express Airport in Ohio, killing all four people on board.
1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.
2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
2003 – Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.
2010 – Two trains collide in the Halle train collision in Halle, Belgium, killing 19 and injuring 171 people.
2012 – Three hundred sixty people die in a fire at a Honduran prison in the city of Comayagua.
2013 – A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.
Births on February 15
1377 – Ladislaus of Naples (d. 1414)
1458 – Ivan the Young, son of Ivan III of Russia (d. 1490)
1471 – Piero the Unfortunate, Italian ruler (d. 1503)
1506 – Juliana of Stolberg, German countess (d. 1580)
1519 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, first Spanish Governor of Florida (d. 1574)
1557 – Alfonso Fontanelli, Italian composer (d. 1622)
1564 – Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (d. 1642)
1571 – Michael Praetorius, German organist and composer (probable; d. 1621)
1612 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French soldier, founded Montreal (d. 1676)
1627 – Charles Morton, Cornish nonconformist minister (d. 1698)
1638 – Zeb-un-Nissa, Mughal princess and poet (d. 1702)
1705 – Charles-André van Loo, French painter (d. 1765)
1710 – Louis XV of France (d. 1774)
1725 – Abraham Clark, American surveyor, lawyer, and politician (d. 1794)
1734 – William Stacy, American colonel (d. 1802)
1739 – Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, French architect, designed the Paris Bourse (d. 1813)
1748 – Jeremy Bentham, English jurist and philosopher (d. 1832)
1759 – Friedrich August Wolf, German philologist and critic (d. 1824)
1760 – Jean-François Le Sueur, French composer and educator (d. 1837)
1797 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (d. 1871)
1809 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic (d. 1857)
1809 – Cyrus McCormick, American journalist and businessman, co-founded International Harvester (d. 1884)
1810 – Mary S. B. Shindler, American poet, writer, and editor (d. 1883)
1811 – Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentinian journalist and politician, 7th President of Argentina (d. 1888)
1812 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (d. 1902)
1820 – Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist and activist (d. 1906)
1825 – Carter Harrison, Sr., American lawyer and politician, 29th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1893)
1834 – V. A. Urechia, Moldavian-Romanian historian, author, and playwright (d. 1901)
1835 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek businessman and philanthropist (d. 1908)
1840 – Titu Maiorescu, Romanian philosopher, academic, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1917)
1841 – Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Brazil (d. 1913)
1845 – Elihu Root, American lawyer and politician, 38th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1847 – Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1927)
1849 – Rickman Godlee, English surgeon and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Sophie Bryant, Irish mathematician, academic and activist (d. 1922)
1851 – Spiru Haret, Romanian mathematician, astronomer, and politician, 55th Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs (d. 1912)
1856 – Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1926)
1861 – Martin Burns, American wrestler and coach (d. 1937)
1861 – Charles Édouard Guillaume, Swiss-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
1861 – Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1947)
1873 – Hans von Euler-Chelpin, German-Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
1874 – Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish captain and explorer (d. 1922)
1883 – Sax Rohmer, English-American author (d. 1959)
1890 – Robert Ley, German politician (d. 1945)
1892 – James Forrestal, American lieutenant and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1949)
1892 – Roy Rene, Australian comedian (d. 1954)
1893 – Roman Najuch, Polish professional tennis player (d. 1967)
1896 – Arthur Shields, Irish republican and actor (d. 1970)
1897 – Gerrit Kleerekoper, Jewish-Dutch gymnast and coach (d. 1943)
1898 – Totò, Italian actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1967)
1899 – Georges Auric, French composer (d. 1983)
1899 – Gale Sondergaard, Danish-American actress (d. 1985)
1904 – Mary Adshead, English painter (d. 1995)
1904 – Antonin Magne, French cyclist and manager (d. 1983)
1905 – Harold Arlen, Jewish-American composer (d. 1986)
1907 – Jean Langlais, French organist and composer (d. 1991)
1907 – Cesar Romero, American actor (d. 1994)
1908 – Sarto Fournier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 38th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1980)
1909 – Miep Gies, Austrian-Dutch humanitarian, helped hide Anne Frank and her family (d. 2010)
1910 – Irena Sendler, Polish nurse and humanitarian, Righteous Gentile (d. 2008)
1912 – George Mikes, Jewish Hungarian-English journalist and author (d. 1987)
1913 – Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (d. 1997)
1914 – Hale Boggs, American lawyer and politician (d. 1972)
1914 – Kevin McCarthy, Jewish-Irish American actor (d. 2010)
1916 – Mary Jane Croft, American actress (d. 1999)
1918 – Allan Arbus, Jewish-American actor and photographer (d. 2013)
1918 – Hank Locklin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
1919 – Ducky Detweiler, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1920 – Endicott Peabody, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1997)
1920 – Eio Sakata, Japanese Go player (d. 2010)
1922 – John B. Anderson, Swedish-American lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1923 – Yelena Bonner, Jewish Soviet-Russian activist (d. 2011)
1924 – Robert Drew, American director and producer (d. 2014)
1925 – Angella D. Ferguson, American pediatrician
1927 – Frank Dunlop, English actor and director
1927 – Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian (d. 2008)
1927 – Yehoshua Neuwirth, Israeli rabbi and scholar (d. 2013)
1928 – Norman Bridwell, American author and illustrator, created Clifford the Big Red Dog (d. 2014)
1928 – Joseph Willcox Jenkins, American composer, conductor, and educator (d. 2014)
1929 – Graham Hill, English race car driver and businessman (d. 1975)
1929 – James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2014)
1930 – Bruce Dawe, Australian poet and academic
1931 – Claire Bloom, English actress
1931 – Jonathan Steele, English journalist and author
1934 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English footballer and manager (d. 1983)
1934 – Graham Kennedy, Australian television host and actor (d. 2005)
1934 – Niklaus Wirth, Swiss computer scientist, created the Pascal programming language
1934 – Abe Woodson, American football player and minister (d. 2014)
1935 – Susan Brownmiller, American journalist and author
1935 – Roger B. Chaffee, American lieutenant, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1967)
1935 – Gene Hickerson, American football player (d. 2008)
1937 – Gregory Mcdonald, American author (d. 2008)
1937 – Coen Moulijn, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
1940 – İsmail Cem İpekçi, Turkish journalist and politician, 45th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2007)
1940 – John Hadl, American football player and coach
1940 – Hamzah Haz, Indonesian journalist and politician, 9th Vice President of Indonesia
1940 – Vaino Vahing, Estonian psychiatrist, author, and playwright (d. 2008)
1941 – Florinda Bolkan, Brazilian actress
1941 – Brian Holland, American songwriter and producer
1944 – Mick Avory, English drummer
1945 – Jack Dann, American-Australian author and poet
1945 – John Helliwell, English saxophonist and keyboard player
1945 – Douglas Hofstadter, American author and academic
1946 – Clare Short, English civil servant and politician, Secretary of State for International Development
1947 – John Adams, American composer
1947 – Marisa Berenson, American model and actress
1948 – Art Spiegelman, Swedish-American cartoonist and critic
1949 – Ken Anderson, American football quarterback and coach
1951 – Markku Alén, Finnish race car driver
1951 – Melissa Manchester, American singer-songwriter and actress
1951 – Jane Seymour, English-American actress, producer, and jewelry designer
1952 – Tomislav Nikolić, Serbian politician, 4th President of Serbia
1952 – Nikolai Sorokin, Russian actor and director (d. 2013)
1953 – Tony Adams, Irish-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1953 – Ernie Howe, English footballer, defender and manager
1954 – Matt Groening, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Janice Dickinson, American model, agent, and author
1955 – Christopher McDonald, American actor
1956 – Desmond Haynes, Barbadian cricketer and coach
1956 – Ann Westin, Swedish comedian
1957 – Jake E. Lee, American guitarist and songwriter
1957 – Jimmy Spencer, American race car driver and sportscaster
1958 – Chrystine Brouillet, Canadian author
1958 – Tony McKegney, Canadian ice hockey player
1958 – Matthew Ward, American singer-songwriter
1959 – Adam Boulton, English journalist
1959 – Ali Campbell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1959 – Brian Propp, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1959 – Martin Rowson, English author and illustrator
1959 – Hugo Savinovich, Ecuadorian wrestler and sportscaster
1960 – Darrell Green, American football player
1960 – Jock Hobbs, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
1962 – Milo Đukanović, Montenegrin politician, 29th Prime Minister of Montenegro
1964 – Chris Farley, American comedian and actor (d. 1997)
1964 – Leland D. Melvin, American engineer and astronaut
1964 – Mark Price, American basketball player and coach
1965 – Craig Matthews, South African cricketer
1967 – Jane Child, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1967 – Syed Kamall, English academic and politician
1967 – Craig Simpson, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1969 – Birdman, American rapper and producer
1970 – Shepard Fairey, American artist and activist
1971 – Alex Borstein, American actress, voice artist, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Renee O’Connor, American actress, director, and producer
1972 – Jaromír Jágr, Czech ice hockey player
1973 – Kateřina Neumannová, Czech skier
1973 – Amy van Dyken, American swimmer
1974 – Miranda July, American actress, director, and screenwriter
1974 – Ugueth Urbina, Venezuelan baseball player
1974 – Alexander Wurz, Austrian race car driver and businessman
1975 – Serge Aubin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Annemarie Kramer, Dutch sprinter
1975 – Brendon Small, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor
1976 – Brandon Boyd, American singer-songwriter
1976 – Óscar Freire, Spanish cyclist
1979 – Josh Low, English footballer
1979 – Hamish Marshall, New Zealand cricketer
1979 – James Marshall, New Zealand cricketer
1979 – Scott Severin, Scottish footballer
1979 – Gordon Shedden, Scottish race car driver
1980 – Conor Oberst, American singer-songwriter
1981 – Heurelho Gomes, Brazilian international footballer, goalkeeper
1981 – Matt Hoopes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Rita Jeptoo, Kenyan runner
1981 – Diego Martínez, Mexican footballer
1981 – Vivek Shraya, Canadian singer and songwriter
1982 – Shameka Christon, American basketball player
1982 – James Yap, Filipino basketball player
1983 – Don Cowie, Scottish footballer
1983 – David Degen, Swiss footballer
1983 – Philipp Degen, Swiss footballer
1983 – Alan Didak, Australian footballer
1983 – Russell Martin, Canadian baseball player
1985 – Serkan Kırıntılı, Turkish footballer
1986 – Valeri Bojinov, Bulgarian footballer
1986 – Johnny Cueto, Dominican baseball player
1986 – Laura Sallés, Andorran judoka
1987 – Jarrod Sammut, Australian rugby league player
1988 – Jarryd Hayne, Australian rugby league player and football player
1988 – Hironori Kusano, Japanese singer and actor
1988 – Tim Mannah, Australian-born Lebanese rugby league player
1988 – Rui Patrício, Portuguese footballer
1990 – Charles Pic, French race car driver
1991 – Ángel Sepúlveda, Mexican footballer
1993 – Ravi, South Korean rapper
Deaths on February 15
670 – Oswiu, king of Northumbria (b. c. 612)
706 – Leontios, Byzantine emperor
706 – Tiberios III, Byzantine emperor
956 – Su Yugui, Chinese chancellor (b. 895)
1043 – Gisela of Swabia, Holy Roman Empress (b. 990)
1145 – Lucius II, pope of the Catholic Church
1152 – Conrad III, king of Germany (b. 1093)
1382 – William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (b. c. 1339)
1417 – Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, English commander (b. 1385)
1508 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, tyrant of Bologna (b. 1443)
1600 – José de Acosta, Spanish Jesuit missionary and naturalist (b. 1540)
1621 – Michael Praetorius, German organist and composer (b. 1571)
1637 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1578)
1738 – Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (b. 1684)
1781 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1729)
1818 – Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen (b. 1746)
1835 – Henry Hunt, English farmer and politician (b. 1773)
1839 – François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, Canadian rebel (b. 1803)
1842 – Archibald Menzies, Scottish surgeon and botanist (b. 1754)
1844 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1757)
1847 – Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician and engineer (b. 1794)
1848 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (b. 1771)
1849 – Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician and theorist (b. 1804)
1857 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (b. 1804)
1869 – Ghalib, Indian poet and educator (b. 1796)
1885 – Gregor von Helmersen, Estonian-Russian geologist and engineer (b. 1803)
1897 – Dimitrie Ghica, Romanian lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1816)
1905 – Lew Wallace, American author, general, and politician, 11th Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1827)
1911 – Theodor Escherich, German-Austrian pediatrician and academic (b. 1859)
1924 – Lionel Monckton, English composer (b. 1861)
1928 – H. H. Asquith, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)
1932 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, American actress and playwright (b. 1865)
1933 – Pat Sullivan, Australian animator and producer, co-created Felix the Cat (b. 1887)
1935 – Basil Hall Chamberlain, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (b. 1850)
1939 – Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Russian painter and author (b. 1878)
1956 – Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, French lawyer and politician (b. 1878)
1959 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
1961 – Laurence Owen, American figure skater (b. 1944)
1965 – Nat King Cole, American singer and pianist (b. 1919)
1966 – Gerard Antoni Ciołek, Polish architect and historian (b. 1909)
660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
AD 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of “gerrymandering” for the first time.
1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.
1826 – University College London is founded as University of London.
1840 – Gaetano Donizetti’s opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.
1843 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.
1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed.
1858 – Bernadette Soubirous’s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
1873 – King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates.
1889 – Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.
1903 – Anton Bruckner’s 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.
1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.
1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
1929 – Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
1937 – The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.
1938 – BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot”.
1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
1970 – Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
1971 – Cold War: the Seabed Arms Control Treaty opened for signature outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing’s world Heavyweight title.
1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune’s orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune’s orbit again until 2231.
2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.
2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age.
2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.
2016 – A man shoots six people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.
2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.
2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors.
Births on February 11
1380 – Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar and translator (d. 1459)
1466 – Elizabeth of York (d. 1503)
1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (d. 1591)
1568 – Honoré d’Urfé, French author and playwright (d. 1625)
1649 – William Carstares, Scottish minister and academic (d. 1715)
1657 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (d. 1757)
1708 – Egidio Duni, Italian composer (d. 1775)
1764 – Joseph Chénier, French poet and playwright (d. 1811)
1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek politician, 1st Governor of Greece (d. 1831)
1800 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (d. 1877)
1802 – Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (d. 1880)
1805 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Native American-French Canadian explorer (d. 1866)
1812 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1883)
1813 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (d. 1865)
1821 – Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (d. 1881)
1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (d. 1913)
1833 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1910)
1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (d. 1903)
1845 – Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1936)
1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931)
1855 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
1860 – Rachilde, French author and playwright (d. 1953)
1863 – John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (d. 1950)
1864 – Louis Bouveault, French chemist (d. 1909)
1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (d. 1939)
1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (d. 1945)
1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (d. 1953)
1881 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (d. 1966)
1897 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (d.1954)
1898 – Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (d. 1964)
1900 – Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (d. 1994)
1900 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (d. 2002)
1900 – Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (d. 1958)
1902 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (d. 1971)
1904 – Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
1904 – Lucile Randon, French Supercentenarian
1908 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter (d. 1992)
1908 – Vivian Fuchs, English explorer (d. 1999)
1909 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (d. 1959)
1909 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1912 – Rudolf Firkušný, Czech-American pianist and educator (d. 1994)
1914 – Matt Dennis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2002)
1914 – Josh White, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1969)
1915 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, English soldier, author, and scholar (d. 2011)
1915 – Richard Hamming, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1920 – Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
1920 – Daniel F. Galouye, American author (d. 1976)
1920 – Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
1920 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (d. 1978)
1921 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 2006)
1921 – Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (d. 2013)
1923 – Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (d. 2010)
1924 – Budge Patty, American tennis player
1925 – Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
1925 – Kim Stanley, American actress (d. 2001)
1926 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (d. 2018)
1926 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (d. 2010)
1930 – Roy De Forest, American painter and academic (d. 2007).
1932 – Dennis Skinner, English miner and politician
1934 – Mel Carnahan, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, Governor of Missouri (d. 2000)
1934 – Tina Louise, American actress and singer
1934 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military leader of Panama (d. 2017)
1934 – Mary Quant, British fashion designer
1934 – David Taylor, English veterinarian and television host (d. 2013)
1935 – Gene Vincent, American singer and guitarist (d. 1971)
1936 – Burt Reynolds, American actor and director (d. 2018)
1937 – Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (d. 1990)
1937 – Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1937 – Eddie Shack, Canadian ice hockey player
1937 – Phillip Walker, American singer and guitarist (d. 2010)
1938 – Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2018)
1939 – Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (d. 2014)
1940 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
1941 – Sérgio Mendes, Brazilian pianist and composer
1942 – Otis Clay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1943 – Joselito, Spanish singer and actor
1943 – Alan Rubin, American trumpet player (d. 2011)
1944 – Mike Oxley, American lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
1944 – Joy Williams, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
1946 – Ian Porterfield, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2007)
1947 – Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese engineer and politician and Prime Minister of Japan
1947 – Derek Shulman, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer
1951 – Mike Leavitt, American politician, 14th Governor of Utah
1953 – Philip Anglim, American actor
1953 – Jeb Bush, American banker, politician and Governor of Florida
1953 – Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1954 – Wesley Strick, American director and screenwriter
1956 – Didier Lockwood, French violinist (d. 2018)
1959 – Roberto Moreno, Brazilian race car driver
1960 – Richard Mastracchio, American engineer and astronaut
1962 – Tammy Baldwin, American lawyer and politician
1962 – Sheryl Crow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Sarah Palin, American journalist, politician and Governor of Alaska
1964 – Ken Shamrock, American martial artist and wrestler
1965 – Vicki Wilson, Australian netball player
1968 – Mo Willems, American author and illustrator
1969 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer
1969 – Andreas Hilfiker, Swiss footballer
1969 – John Salako, Nigerian-English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
1971 – Damian Lewis, English actor
1972 – Steve McManaman, English footballer
1973 – Varg Vikernes, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter
1974 – Nick Barmby, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
1974 – D’Angelo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Jaroslav Špaček, Czech ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Andy Lally, American race car driver
1975 – Callum Thorp, Australian cricketer
1975 – Jacque Vaughn, American basketball player and coach
1976 – Tony Battie, American basketball player and sportscaster
1979 – Brandy Norwood, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1982 – Ľubomíra Kalinová, Slovak biathlete
1982 – Neil Robertson, Australian snooker player
1983 – Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch international footballer, midfielder
1984 – Maarten Heisen, Dutch sprinter
1984 – Marco Marcato, Italian cyclist
1984 – Maxime Talbot, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Šárka Strachová, Czech skier
1987 – Luca Antonelli, Italian footballer
1987 – Juanmi Callejón, Spanish footballer
1987 – Ellen van Dijk, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Brian Matusz, American baseball player
1987 – Jan Smeekens, Dutch speed skater
1988 – Vlad Moldoveanu, Romanian basketball player
1990 – Javier Aquino, Mexican footballer
1991 – Nikola Mirotic, Spanish basketball player
1992 – Lasse Norman Hansen, Danish track and road cyclist
1993 – Ben McLemore, American basketball player
1994 – Dansby Swanson, American baseball player
1996 – Jonathan Tah, German footballer
Deaths on February 11
AD 55 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (b. 41)
244 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (b. 225)
641 – Heraclius, Byzantine emperor (b. 575)
731 – Pope Gregory II (b. 669)
824 – Pope Paschal I
1141 – Hugh of Saint Victor, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1096)
1503 – Elizabeth of York (b. 1466)
1626 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1548)
1650 – René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1596)
1755 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist, playwright, and critic (b. 1675)
1763 – William Shenstone, English poet and gardener (b. 1714)
1795 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (b. 1740)
1829 – Alexander Griboyedov, Russian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1795)
1862 – Elizabeth Siddal, English poet and artist’s model (b. 1829)
1868 – Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (b. 1819)
1898 – Félix María Zuloaga, Mexican general and unconstitutional interim president (1858 and 1860-1862) (b. 1813)
1901 – Milan I of Serbia (b. 1855)
1917 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician and epidemiologist (b. 1872)
1918 – Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (b. 1861)
1931 – Charles Algernon Parsons, English-Irish engineer, invented the steam turbine (b. 1854)
1940 – John Buchan, Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
1940 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
1942 – Jamnalal Bajaj, Indian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1884)
1947 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler and coach (b. 1884)
1948 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
1949 – Axel Munthe, Swedish doctor (b. 1857)
1958 – Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1879)
1963 – John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1872)
1963 – Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1932)
1967 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American minister and activist (b. 1885)
1968 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1889)
1973 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
1975 – Richard Ratsimandrava, Malagasy colonel and politician, President of Madagascar (b. 1931)
1976 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
1976 – Alexander Lippisch, German pilot and engineer (b. 1894)
1977 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, President of India (b. 1905)
1977 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1902)
1978 – James Bryant Conant, American chemist and academic (b. 1893)
1978 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
1982 – Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (b. 1912)
1985 – Henry Hathaway, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1898)
1986 – Frank Herbert, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
1989 – George O’Hanlon, American actor and voice artist (b. 1912)
1993 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
1994 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (b. 1946)
1994 – Sorrell Booke, American lieutenant, actor, and director (b. 1930)
1994 – William Conrad, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
1994 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (b. 1924)
1996 – Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet and author (b. 1930)
2000 – Lord Kitchner, Trinidadian singer (b. 1922)
2000 – Roger Vadim, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
2002 – Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
2002 – Barry Foster, English actor (b. 1931)
2004 – Shirley Strickland, Australian runner (b. 1925)
2005 – Jack L. Chalker, American author (b. 1944)
2006 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (b. 1940)
2006 – Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (b. 1940)
2006 – Jackie Pallo, English wrestler and actor (b. 1926)
2008 – Tom Lantos, American lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
2008 – Frank Piasecki, American engineer (b. 1919)
2009 – Estelle Bennett, American singer (b. 1941)
2009 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch-American physician and academic (b. 1911)
2010 – Heward Grafftey, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1928)
2010 – Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founder of his eponymous brand (b. 1969)
2011 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
2012 – Siri Bjerke, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of the Environment (b. 1958)
2012 – Aharon Davidi, Israeli general (b. 1927)
2012 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (b. 1963)
2013 – Rick Huxley, English bass player (b. 1940)
2014 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o’ Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
1712 – Huilliches in Chiloé rebel against Spanish encomenderos.
1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
1920 – About 75 % of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launches the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope to overthrow French protectorate over Vietnam.
1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
1940 – Cartoon characters Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.
1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin, capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies.
1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
1947 – The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
1962 – Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
1962 – Roy Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1972 – Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
1984 – Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.
1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
2007 – Then Illinois senator Barack Obama announces his candidacy for president in the 2008 elections, which he later goes on to win.
2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
2016 – South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.
2018 – 19 people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double-decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.
Births on February 10
1486 – George of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1529)
1499 – Thomas Platter, Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
1514 – Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Milan (d. 1579)
1606 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1663)
1609 – John Suckling, English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
1627 – Cornelis de Bie, Flemish poet and jurist (d. 1715)
1685 – Aaron Hill, English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton, American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
1775 – Charles Lamb, English poet and essayist (d. 1834)
1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
1795 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
1797 – George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall (d. 1883)
1821 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
1843 – Adelina Patti, Italian-French opera singer (d. 1919)
1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
1847 – Nabinchandra Sen, Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
1859 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
1867 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
1868 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
1869 – Royal Cortissoz, American art critic (d. 1948)
1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932)
1881 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
1883 – Edith Clarke, American electrical engineer (d. 1959)
1883 – H.V. Hordern, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
1890 – Fanny Kaplan, Ukrainian-Russian activist (d. 1918)
1890 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
1892 – Alan Hale Sr., American actor and director (d. 1950)
1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
1893 – Bill Tilden, American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
1897 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
1897 – John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
1898 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (d. 1979)
1901 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (d. 1992)
1902 – Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1903 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
1903 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
1904 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
1905 – Walter A. Brown, American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
1905 – Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
1906 – Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
1907 – Anthony Cottrell, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
1908 – Jean Coulthard, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2000)
1909 – Min Thu Wun, Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
1910 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
1915 – Vladimir Zeldin, Russian actor (d. 2016)
1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
1920 – Alex Comfort, English physician and author (d. 2000)
1920 – Neva Patterson, American actress (d. 2010)
1920 – José Manuel Castañón, Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
1922 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
1922 – José Gabriel da Costa later known as Mestre Gabriel, Brazilian spiritual leader, founder of the União do Vegetal (d. 1971)
1923 – Allie Sherman, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
1924 – Max Ferguson, Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
1924 – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1925 – Pierre Mondy, French actor and director (d. 2012)
1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013)
1926 – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
1927 – Leontyne Price, American operatic soprano
1929 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1929 – Jim Whittaker, American mountaineer
1929 – Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer
1930 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
1930 – Robert Wagner, American actor and producer
1931 – James Edward Maceo West, American inventor and acoustician
1932 – Barrie Ingham, English-American actor (d. 2015)
1933 – Richard Schickel, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2017)
1933 – Faramarz Payvar, Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
1935 – Theodore Antoniou, Greek composer and conductor (d. 2018)
1937 – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
1937 – Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1939 – Adrienne Clarkson, Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
1939 – Deolinda Rodríguez de Almeida, Angolan nationalist (d. 1967)
1940 – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper
1940 – Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
1941 – Michael Apted, English director and producer
1944 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
1944 – Frank Keating, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
1944 – Frances Moore Lappé, American author and activist
1944 – Rufus Reid, American bassist and composer
1945 – Delma S. Arrigoitia, Puerto Rican historian, author, educator and lawyer
1947 – Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer and jurist
1947 – Butch Morris, American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
1947 – Nicholas Owen, English journalist
1949 – Nigel Olsson, English rock drummer and singer-songwriter
1950 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer
1951 – Bob Iger, American media executive
1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
1955 – Jim Cramer, American television personality, pundit, and author
1955 – Greg Norman, Australian golfer and sportscaster
1956 – Enele Sopoaga, Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
1957 – Katherine Freese, American astrophysicist and academic
1959 – John Calipari, American basketball player and coach
1960 – Jim Kent, American biologist, computer programmer, academic
1961 – Alexander Payne, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – George Stephanopoulos, American television journalist
1962 – Randy Velischek, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Cliff Burton, American heavy metal bassist (d. 1986)
1963 – Lenny Dykstra, American baseball player
1964 – Glenn Beck, American journalist, producer, and author
1966 – Natalie Bennett, Australian-English journalist and politician
1966 – Daryl Johnston, American football player and sportscaster
1967 – Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer
1967 – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster
1967 – Vince Gilligan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Peter Popovic, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Garrett Reisman, American engineer and astronaut
1969 – Joe Mangrum, American painter and sculptor
1969 – James Small, South African rugby player (d. 2019)
1970 – Melissa Doyle, Australian journalist and author
1970 – Noureddine Naybet, Moroccan international footballer, central defender and manager
1970 – Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist and author
1971 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
1972 – Michael Kasprowicz, Australian cricketer
1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, English businesswoman and politician
1974 – Elizabeth Banks, American actress
1974 – Ty Law, American football player
1974 – Ivri Lider, Israeli singer
1974 – Henry Paul, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1976 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Keeley Hawes, English actress
1977 – Salif Diao, Senegalese footballer
1979 – Joey Hand, American race car driver
1980 – César Izturis, Venezuelan baseball player
1980 – Enzo Maresca, Italian footballer
1980 – Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Uzo Aduba, American actress
1981 – Stephanie Beatriz, American actress
1981 – Andrew Johnson, English international footballer, forward and club ambassador
1981 – Holly Willoughby, English model and television host
1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter
1982 – Tarmo Neemelo, Estonian footballer
1982 – Hamad Al-Tayyar, Kuwaiti footballer
1982 – Iafeta Paleaaesina, New Zealand rugby league player
1983 – Vic Fuentes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Greg Bird, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Alex Gordon, American baseball player
1984 – Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress
1985 – Selçuk İnan, Turkish footballer
1985 – Paul Millsap, American basketball player
1986 – Jeff Adrien, American basketball player
1986 – Josh Akognon, American basketball player
1986 – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer
1986 – Roberto Jiménez Gago, Spanish footballer
1986 – Viktor Troicki, Serbian tennis player
1987 – Jakub Kindl, Czech ice hockey player
1987 – Facundo Roncaglia, Argentinian footballer
1988 – Francesco Acerbi, Italian footballer
1989 – Liam Hendriks, Australian baseball player
1990 – Barbara Guarischi, Italian cyclist
1990 – Choi Soo-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
1991 – Rebecca Dempster, Scottish footballer
1991 – Emma Roberts, American actress
1992 – Haruka Nakagawa, Japanese singer and actress
1992 – Reinhold Yabo, German footballer
1993 – Max Kepler, German baseball player
1993 – Filip Twardzik, Czech footballer
1993 – Luis Madrigal, Mexican footballer
1994 – Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer and member of Red Velvet
1995 – Carolane Soucisse, Canadian ice dancer
1996 – Emanuel Mammana, Argentinian footballer
1997 – Lilly King, American swimmer
1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
1997 – Nadia Podoroska, Argentinian tennis player
2000 – Yara Shahidi, American actress and model
Deaths on February 10
547 – Scholastica, Christian nun
1127 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
1163 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
1242 – Saint Verdiana, Italian recluse (b. 1182)
1280 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
1306 – John “the Red” Comyn, Scottish nobleman
1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
1346 – Blessed Clare of Rimini (b. 1282)
1471 – Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1413)
1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg, German noble (b. 1460)
1567 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1545)
1576 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)
1686 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
1755 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and author (b. 1702)
1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
1837 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
1854 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general. President three times (1844–1854) (b. 1792)
1857 – David Thompson, English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
1865 – Heinrich Lenz, Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
1879 – Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
1887 – Ellen Wood, English author (b. 1814)
1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)
1904 – John A. Roche, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)