1429 – English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
1502 – Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
1593 – Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
1689 – The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
1733 – Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.
1771 – Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
1817 – An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.
1818 – Bernardo O’Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
1825 – The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1855 – Michigan State University is established.
1894 – Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, killing one person and wounding 20.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1909 – New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
1912 – The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1921 – Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music”, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.
1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
1946 – World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1946 – African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
1947 – The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
1947 – Christian Dior unveils a “New Look”, helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
1961 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
1963 – Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
1965 – Malcolm X visits Smethwick in Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.
1968 – Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1983 – One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq’s proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
1988 – Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown(CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
1990 – Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
1992 – The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
1993 – Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.
1994 – Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
2001 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
2002 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
2002 – An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
2004 – The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
2019 – The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.
Births on February 12
AD 41 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (d. 55)
528 – Daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, nominal empress regnant of Northern Wei
661 – Princess Ōku of Japan (d. 702)
1074 – Conrad II of Italy (d. 1101)
1218 – Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shōgun (d. 1256)
1322 – John Henry, Margrave of Moravia (d. 1375)
1443 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Italian noble (d. 1508)
1480 – Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (d. 1547)
1540 – Won Gyun, Korean general and admiral (d. 1597)
1567 – Thomas Campion, English composer, poet, and physician (d. 1620)
1584 – Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch historian, poet, and theologian (d. 1648)
1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (d. 1660)
1606 – John Winthrop the Younger, English-American lawyer and politician, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
1608 – Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (d. 1685)
1637 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and zoologist (d. 1680)
1663 – Cotton Mather, English-American minister and author (d. 1728)
1665 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
1704 – Charles Pinot Duclos, French author (d. 1772)
1706 – Johann Joseph Christian, German Baroque sculptor and woodcarver (d. 1777)
1728 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
1753 – François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
1761 – Jan Ladislav Dussek, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1812)
1768 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
1775 – Louisa Adams, English-American wife of John Quincy Adams, 6th First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
1777 – Bernard Courtois, French chemist and academic (d. 1838)
1777 – Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German author and poet (d. 1843)
1785 – Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (d. 1838)
1787 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1853)
1788 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
1791 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (d. 1883)
1794 – Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player and composer (d. 1867)
1794 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843-1844) (d. 1850)
1804 – Heinrich Lenz, German-Italian physicist and academic (d. 1865)
1809 – Charles Darwin, English geologist and theorist (d. 1882)
1809 – Abraham Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
1819 – William Wetmore Story, American sculptor, architect, poet and editor
1824 – Dayananda Saraswati, Indian monk and philosopher, founded Arya Samaj (d. 1883)
1828 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (d. 1909)
1837 – Thomas Moran, British-American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School (d. 1926)
1857 – Eugène Atget, French photographer (d. 1927)
1857 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer and coach (d. 1943)
1861 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1937)
1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
1869 – Kiến Phúc, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1884)
1870 – Marie Lloyd, English actress and singer (d. 1922)
1876 – 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933)
1877 – Louis Renault, French engineer and businessman, co-founded Renault (d. 1944)
1880 – George Preca, Maltese priest and saint (d. 1962)
1880 – John L. Lewis, American miner and union leader (d. 1969)
1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina and actress (d. 1931)
1882 – Walter Nash, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1968)
1884 – Max Beckmann, German painter and sculptor (d. 1950)
1884 – Johan Laidoner, Estonian-Russian general (d. 1953)
1884 – Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American author (d. 1980)
1884 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (d. 1957)
1885 – Julius Streicher, German publisher, founded Der Stürmer (d. 1946)
1889 – Bhante Dharmawara, Cambodian monk, lawyer, and judge (d. 1999)
1893 – Omar Bradley, American general (d. 1981)
1895 – Kristian Djurhuus, Faroese lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1984)
1897 – Charles Groves Wright Anderson, South African-Australian colonel and politician (d. 1988)
1897 – Lincoln LaPaz, American astronomer and academic (d. 1985)
1898 – Wallace Ford, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
1900 – Roger J. Traynor, American lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (d. 1983)
1902 – William Collier, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1903 – Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian (d. 1980)
1903 – Chick Hafey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1973)
1904 – Ted Mack, American radio and television host (d. 1976)
1907 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (d. 1962)
1908 – Jean Effel, French painter, caricaturist, illustrator and journalist (d. 1982)
1908 – Jacques Herbrand, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1931)
1909 – Zoran Mušič, Slovene painter and illustrator (d. 2005)
1909 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (d. 1945)
1911 – Charles Mathiesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1994)
1912 – R. F. Delderfield, English author and playwright (d. 1972)
1914 – Tex Beneke, American singer, saxophonist, and bandleader (d. 2000)
1914 – Johanna von Caemmerer, German mathematician (d. 1971)
1915 – Lorne Greene, Canadian-American actor (d. 1987)
1915 – Olivia Hooker, African-American sailor (d. 2018)
1916 – Joseph Alioto, American lawyer and politician, 36th Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
1917 – Al Cervi, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
1917 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1918 – Norman Farberow, American psychologist and academic (d. 2015)
1918 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1919 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
1920 – Raymond Mhlaba, South African anti-apartheid and ANC activist (d. 2005)
1922 – Hussein Onn, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
1923 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director, producer, and politician (d. 2019)
1925 – Sir Anthony Berry, British Conservative politician (d. 1984)
1925 – Joan Mitchell, American-French painter (d. 1992)
1926 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (d. 2014)
1926 – Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2016)
1926 – Charles Van Doren, American academic (d. 2019)
1928 – Vincent Montana, Jr., American drummer and composer (d. 2013)
1930 – John Doyle, Irish hurler and politician (d. 2010)
1930 – Arlen Specter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
1931 – Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch-American author and translator (d. 2008)
1932 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author and poet (d. 2003)
1932 – Julian Simon, American economist, author, and academic (d. 1998)
1933 – Costa-Gavras, Greek-French director and producer
1933 – Brian Carlson, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
1934 – Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
1934 – Anne Osborn Krueger, American economist and academic
1934 – Bill Russell, American basketball player and coach
1935 – Gene McDaniels, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1936 – Alan Ebringer, Australian immunologist, professor at King’s College in the University of London
1938 – Judy Blume, Jewish-American author and educator
1939 – Leon Kass, American physician, scientist, and educator
1939 – Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2013)
1941 – Hubert Marcoux, Canadian solo sailor and author (d. 2009)
1941 – Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 2013)
1941 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese mountaineer and explorer (d. 1984)
1942 – Ehud Barak, Israeli general and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Israel
1942 – Pat Dobson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2006)
1945 – Maud Adams, Swedish model and actress
1945 – David D. Friedman, American economist, physicist, and scholar
1946 – Jean Eyeghé Ndong, Gabonese politician, Prime Minister of Gabon
1946 – Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
1948 – Ray Kurzweil, American computer scientist and engineer
1948 – Nicholas Soames, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1950 – Angelo Branduardi, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Steve Hackett, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1950 – Michael Ironside, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
1952 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
1952 – Michael McDonald, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1953 – Joanna Kerns, American actress and director
1954 – Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist and academic
1954 – Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author (d. 2018)
1954 – Phil Zimmermann, American cryptographer and programmer
1955 – Bill Laswell, American bass player and producer
1955 – Chet Lemon, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
1956 – Ad Melkert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment
1956 – Brian Robertson, Scottish rock guitarist and songwriter
1958 – Outback Jack, Australian-American wrestler
1961 – Jim Harris, Canadian environmentalist and politician
1961 – Michel Martelly, Haitian singer and politician, 56th President of Haiti
1961 – Di Farmer, Queensland Member of Parliament
1964 – Omar Hakim, American drummer, producer, arranger, and composer
1965 – Rubén Amaro, Jr., American baseball player and manager
1965 – Christine Elise, American actress and producer
1965 – David Westlake, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Paul Crook, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1968 – Josh Brolin, American actor
1968 – Chynna Phillips, American singer and actress
1969 – Darren Aronofsky, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian educator and politician (d. 2014)
1969 – Steve Backley, English javelin thrower
1969 – Anneli Drecker, Norwegian singer and actress
1969 – Hong Myung-bo, South Korean footballer and manager
1970 – Jim Creeggan, Canadian singer-songwriter and bass player
1970 – Bryan Roy, Dutch footballer and manager
1970 – Judd Winick, American author and illustrator
1971 – Scott Menville, American voice actor, singer, actor and musician
1973 – Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress and singer
1974 – Naseem Hamed, English boxer
1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player and manager
1978 – Paul Anderson, English actor
1978 – Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league player and coach
1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
1979 – Jesse Spencer, Australian actor and violinist
1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
1980 – Sarah Lancaster, American actress
1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress and producer
1980 – Gucci Mane, American rapper
1981 – Wade McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Jonas Hiller, Swiss ice hockey player
1982 – Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
1982 – Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Carlton Brewster, American football player and coach
1984 – Brad Keselowski, American race car driver
1984 – Andrei Sidorenkov, Estonian footballer
1984 – Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
1988 – DeMarco Murray, American football player
1988 – Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine footballer
1988 – Mike Posner, American singer-songwriter and producer
1990 – Robert Griffin III, American football player
1991 – Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
1994 – Arman Hall, American sprinter
1999 – Maggie Coles-Lyster, Canadian cyclist
2000 – Kim Ji-min, South Korean actress
Deaths on February 12
821 – Benedict of Aniane, French monk and saint (b. 747)
890 – Henjō, Japanese priest and poet (b. 816)
981 – Ælfstan, bishop of Ramsbury
901 – Antony II, patriarch of Constantinople
914 – Li, empress of Yan
941 – Wulfhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury
1247 – Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg, ruler (b. 1185)
1266 – Amadeus of the Amidei, Italian saint
1517 – Catherine of Navarre (b. 1468)
1538 – Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter, engraver, and architect (b. 1480)
1554 – Lord Guildford Dudley, English son of Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland (b. 1536; executed)
1554 – Lady Jane Grey, de facto monarch of England and Ireland for nine days (b. 1537; executed)
1571 – Nicholas Throckmorton, English politician and diplomat (b. 1515)
1590 – François Hotman, French lawyer and author (b. 1524)
1600 – Edward Denny, Knight Banneret of Bishop’s Stortford, English soldier, privateer and adventurer (b. 1547)
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)
AD 60 – The earliest date for which the day of the week is known. A graffito in Pompeii identifies this day as a dies Solis (Sunday). In modern reckoning, this date would have been a Wednesday.
1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.
1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
1778 –New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1806 – Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.
1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
1851 – The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
1919 – The American Legion is founded.
1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.
1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
1934 – Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.
1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.
1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
1996 – Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
1996 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.
1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
2006 – Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
2018 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.
Births on February 6
885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan (d. 930)
1402 – Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1458)
1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)
1453 – Girolamo Benivieni, Florentine poet (d. 1542)
1465 – Scipione del Ferro, Italian mathematician and theorist (d. 1526)
1536 – Sassa Narimasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1588)
1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian murderer (d. 1599)
1582 – Mario Bettinus, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1657)
1608 – António Vieira, Portuguese priest and philosopher (d. 1697)
1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (d. 1644)
1612 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1694)
1643 – Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, Prussian politician, 1st Minister President of Prussia (d. 1712)
1649 – Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp, German noblewoman (d. 1728)
1664 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1703)
1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)
1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (d. 1714)
1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1726)
1719 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1759)
1726 – Patrick Russell, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (d. 1805)
1732 – Charles Lee, English-American general (d. 1782)
1736 – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, German-Austrian sculptor (d. 1783)
1744 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830)
1753 – Évariste de Parny, French poet and author (d. 1814)
1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
1758 – Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Belarusian-Polish poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1841)
1769 – Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, Austrian general (d. 1862)
1772 – George Murray, Scottish general and politician, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (d. 1830)
1778 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (d. 1827)
1781 – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, Irish general and politician, Governor of Saint Lucia (d. 1844)
1796 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist and geologist (d. 1861)
1797 – Joseph von Radowitz, Prussian general and politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (d. 1853)
1799 – Imre Frivaldszky, Hungarian botanist and entomologist (d. 1870)
1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
1802 – Charles Wheatstone, English-French physicist and cryptographer (d. 1875)
1811 – Henry Liddell, English priest, author, and academic (d. 1898)
1814 – Auguste Chapdelaine, French missionary and saint (d. 1856)
1818 – William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (d. 1901)
1820 – Thomas C. Durant, American railroad tycoon (d. 1885)
1829 – Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, French architect, designed the La Santé Prison and Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge (d. 1914)
1832 – John Brown Gordon, American general and politician, 53rd Governor of Georgia (d. 1904)
1833 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author and academic (d. 1906)
1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
1834 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist and academic (d. 1913)
1834 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian-German soprano (d. 1889)
1834 – Wilhelm von Scherff, German general and author (d. 1911)
1838 – Henry Irving, English actor and manager (d. 1905)
1838 – Israel Meir Kagan, Lithuanian-Polish rabbi and author (d. 1933)
1839 – Eduard Hitzig, German neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1907)
1842 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
1843 – Inoue Kowashi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 1895)
1843 – Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet and philologist, co-founded the Society for Psychical Research (d. 1901)
1845 – Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (d. 1912)
1847 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (d. 1918)
1852 – C. Lloyd Morgan, English zoologist and psychologist (d. 1936)
1852 – Vasily Safonov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1918)
1861 – Nikolay Zelinsky, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1953)
1864 – John Henry Mackay, Scottish-German philosopher and author (d. 1933)
1866 – Karl Sapper, German linguist and explorer (d. 1945)
1872 – Robert Maillart, Swiss engineer, designed the Salginatobel Bridge and Schwandbach Bridge (d. 1940)
1874 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
1875 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)
1876 – Henry Blogg, English fisherman and sailor (d. 1954)
1879 – Othon Friesz, French painter (d. 1949)
1879 – Magnús Guðmundsson, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1937)
1879 – Edwin Samuel Montagu, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1924)
1879 – Carl Ramsauer, German physicist and author (d. 1955)
1880 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (d. 1931)
1884 – Marcel Cohen, French linguist and scholar (d. 1974)
1887 – Josef Frings, German cardinal (d. 1978)
1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (d. 1988)
1890 – James McGirr, Australian politician, 28th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1957)
1892 – Maximilian Fretter-Pico, German general (d. 1984)
1892 – William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1893 – Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan (d. 1985)
1894 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand-English lexicographer and academic (d. 1979)
1894 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (d. 1974)
1895 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician (d. 1953)
1895 – María Teresa Vera, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1965)
1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
1898 – Harry Haywood, American soldier and politician (d. 1985)
1899 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1968)
1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
1902 – George Brunies, American trombonist (d. 1974)
1903 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist and composer (d. 1991)
1905 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (d. 1982)
1905 – Jan Werich, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1980)
1906 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (d. 1980)
1908 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
1908 – Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (d. 1987)
1908 – Geo Bogza, Romanian poet and journalist (d. 1993)
1908 – Michael Maltese, American actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1981)
1910 – Roman Czerniawski, Polish air force officer and spy (d. 1985)
1910 – Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
1910 – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-American gangster (d. 1993)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
1912 – Christopher Hill, English historian and author (d. 2003)
1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (d. 2005)
1915 – Kavi Pradeep, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1998)
1916 – John Crank, English mathematician and physicist (d. 2006)
1917 – Louis-Philippe de Grandpré, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
1918 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author and painter (d. 2007)
1919 – Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (d. 2013)
1921 – Carl Neumann Degler, American historian and author (d. 2014)
1921 – Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
1922 – Patrick Macnee, English-American actor and costume designer (d. 2015)
1922 – Denis Norden, English actor, screenwriter, and television host (d. 2018)
1922 – Haskell Wexler, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2015)
1923 – Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1981)
1924 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (d. 1994)
1924 – Jin Yong, Hong Kong author and publisher, founded Ming Pao (d. 2018)
1925 – Walker Edmiston, American actor and puppeteer (d. 2007)
1927 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1992)
1928 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008)
1929 – Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan author and critic (d. 2011)
1929 – Valentin Yanin, Russian historian and author (d. 2020)
1930 – Jun Kondo, Japanese physicist and academic
1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
1931 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer (d. 2006)
1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model
1931 – Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (d. 2017)
1932 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier and anarchist (d. 1959)
1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1933 – Leslie Crowther, English comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 1996)
1936 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
1938 – Fred Mifflin, Canadian admiral and politician, 19th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2013)
1939 – Jean Beaudin, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1939 – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, activist and public speaker
1939 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (d. 2014)
1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author
1940 – Petr Hájek, Czech mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
1940 – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian and actor
1941 – Stephen Albert, American pianist and composer (d. 1992)
1941 – Dave Berry, English pop singer
1941 – Gigi Perreau, American actress and director
1942 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (d. 2015)
1942 – Charlie Coles, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1942 – Ahmad-Jabir Ahmadov Ismail oghlu, Azerbaijani philosopher and academic
1942 – James Loewen, American sociologist and historian
1942 – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (d. 2012)
1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
1943 – Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
1944 – Christine Boutin, French politician, French Minister of Housing and Urban Development
1944 – Willie Tee, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2007)
1944 – Michael Tucker, American actor and producer
1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2010)
1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1946 – Jim Turner, American captain and politician
1947 – Bill Staines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Charlie Hickcox, American swimmer (d .2010)
1949 – Mike Batt, English singer-songwriter and producer
1949 – Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
1949 – Jim Sheridan, Irish director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)
1950 – Timothy M. Dolan, American cardinal
1950 – Punky Meadows, American rock guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, coach, and politician
1952 – Viktor Giacobbo, Swiss actor, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Ricardo La Volpe, Argentinian footballer, manager, and coach
1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
1955 – Michael Pollan, American journalist, author, and academic
1955 – Bruno Stolorz, French rugby player and coach
1956 – Jerry Marotta, American drummer
1957 – Andres Lipstok, Estonian economist and politician, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs
1957 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
1957 – Simon Phillips, English drummer and producer
1957 – Robert Townsend, American actor and director
1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (d. 2004)
1960 – Jeremy Bowen, Welsh journalist
1960 – Megan Gallagher, American actress
1961 – Michael Bolt, Australian rugby league player
1961 – Cam Cameron, American football player and coach
1961 – Bill Lester, American race car driver
1961 – Yury Onufriyenko, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1962 – Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
1962 – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
1963 – David Capel, English cricketer
1963 – Scott Gordon, American ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Quentin Letts, English journalist and critic
1964 – Laurent Cabannes, French rugby player
1964 – Gordon Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
1964 – Colin Miller, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1964 – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director
1965 – Jan Svěrák, Czech actor, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter
1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1967 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1968 – Adolfo Valencia, Colombian footballer
1968 – Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer and producer
1969 – David Hayter, American actor and screenwriter
1969 – Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1969 – Tim Sherwood, English international footballer midfielder and manager
1969 – Bob Wickman, American baseball player
1970 – Per Frandsen, Danish footballer and manager
1970 – Tim Herron, American golfer
1971 – Brad Hogg, Australian cricketer
1971 – Carlos Rogers, American basketball player
1972 – Stefano Bettarini, Italian footballer
1972 – David Binn, American football player
1974 – Aljo Bendijo, Filipino journalist
1975 – Chad Allen, American baseball player and coach
1975 – Orkut Büyükkökten, Turkish computer scientist and engineer, created Orkut
1975 – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder and educator
506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of “Roman law”.
880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1899 – The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.
1909 – The Paris Film Congress opens. An attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPCC cartel in the United States.
1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
1935 – Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
2002 – Wedding of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men’s singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
2005 – The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.
Births on February 2
1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
1282 – Maud Chaworth, Countess of Leicester (d. 1322).
1425 (or 1426) – Eleanor of Navarre, Queen regnant of Navarre (d. 1479)
1443 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (d. 1486)
1455 – John, King of Denmark (d. 1513)
1457 – Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, Italian-Spanish historian and author (d. 1526)
1467 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican sister (d. 1501)
1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
1502 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher and historian (d. 1574)
1506 – René de Birague, Italian-French cardinal and politician (d. 1583)
1509 – John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1536)
1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)
1536 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)
1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer (d. 1600)
1576 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (d. 1622)
1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)
1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptised; d. 1596)
1588 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, German nobleman (d. 1644)
1600 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
1611 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (d. 1633)
1613 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
1621 – Johannes Schefferus, Swedish author and hymn-writer (d. 1679)
1650 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
1650 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II of England (d. 1687)
1651 – William Phips, Royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1695)
1669 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (d. 1732)
1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French composer (d. 1745)
1695 – William Borlase, English geologist and archaeologist (d. 1772)
1695 – François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German author and critic (d. 1766)
1711 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (d. 1794)
1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, German organist and composer (d. 1785)
1717 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1838)
1782 – Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)
1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (d. 1887)
1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (d. 1862)
1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist and illustrator (d. 1884)
1829 – William Stanley, English engineer and philanthropist (d. 1909)
1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and hydrologist (d. 1912)
1842 – Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
1849 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet and playwright (d. 1921)
1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican illustrator and engraver (d. 1913)
1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
1856 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (d. 1905)
1857 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (d. 1918)
1860 – Curtis Guild, Jr., American journalist and politician, 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
1862 – Émile Coste, French fencer (d. 1927)
1862 – Cornelius McKane, American physician, educator, and hospital founder (d. 1912)
1866 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and academic (d. 1927)
1873 – Leo Fall, Austrian composer (d. 1925)
1873 – Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1956)
1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (d. 1962)
1877 – Frank L. Packard, Canadian author (d. 1942)
1878 – Joe Lydon, American boxer (d. 1937)
1880 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
1881 – Orval Overall, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
1882 – Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (d. 1944)
1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)
1883 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter, created Zorro (d. 1958)
1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, Mexican activist and writer (d. 1964)
1886 – William Rose Benét, American poet and author (d. 1950)
1887 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German businessman (d. 1975)
1889 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (d. 1952)
1890 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1972)
1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna (d. 1959)
1893 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1974)
1893 – Raoul Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1970)
1893 – Damdin Sükhbaatar, Mongolian soldier and politician (d. 1924)
1895 – George Halas, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
1895 – Robert Philipp, American painter (d. 1981)
1895 – George Sutcliffe, Australian public servant (d. 1964)
1896 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
1897 – Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (d. 1972)
1897 – Gertrude Blanch, Russian-American mathematician (d. 1996)
1900 – Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)
1900 – Willie Kamm, American baseball player and manager (d. 1988)
1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-born American violinist and educator (d. 1987)
1902 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
1902 – John Tonkin, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1995)
1904 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian author and activist (d. 1997)
1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)
1908 – Wes Ferrell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
1909 – Frank Albertson, American actor (d. 1964)
1911 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (d. 1968)
1912 – Millvina Dean, English civil servant and cartographer (d. 2009)
1912 – Burton Lane, American songwriter and composer (d. 1997)
1913 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor and singer (d. 1985)
1914 – Eric Kierans, Canadian economist and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2004)
1915 – Abba Eban, South African-Israeli politician and diplomat, 1st Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
1915 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (d. 2005)
1915 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (d. 2014)
1916 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1985)
1917 – Mary Ellis, British World War II ferry pilot (d. 2018)
1917 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2018)
1918 – Hella Haasse, Indonesian-Dutch author (d. 2011)
1919 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano and actress (d. 2012)
1919 – Georg Gawliczek, German footballer and manager (d. 1999)
1920 – George Hardwick, English footballer and coach (d. 2004)
1920 – John Russell, American Olympic equestrian
1920 – Arthur Willis, English footballer, full-back, player-manager (d. 1987)
1922 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey player (d. 1978)
1922 – Robert Chef d’Hôtel, French athlete (d. 2019)
1922 – James L. Usry, American politician, first African-American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2002)
1922 – Stoyanka Mutafova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2019)
1923 – Jean Babilée, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
1923 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (d. 1997)
1923 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster (d.2012)
1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress and producer (d. 1988)
1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1923 – Liz Smith, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
1923 – Clem Windsor, Australian rugby player and surgeon (d. 2007)
1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American singer, pianist, producer (d. 2007)
1924 – Sonny Stitt, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
1925 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France
1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)
1927 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (d. 2012)
1928 – Ciriaco De Mita, 47th Prime minister of Italy
1928 – Jay Handlan, American basketball player and engineer (d. 2013)
1928 – Tommy Harmer, English footballer, inside forward, youth team coach (d. 2007)
1929 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
1929 – George Band, English engineer and mountaineer (d. 2011)
1929 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1929 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015)
1929 – Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (d. 2015)
1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1931 – Les Dawson, English comedian and author (d. 1993)
1931 – Glynn Edwards, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2018)
1931 – John Paul Harney, Canadian educator and politician
1931 – Judith Viorst, American journalist and author
1932 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (d. 2002)
1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018)
1933 – M’el Dowd, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1933 – Tony Jay, English-American actor (d. 2006)
1933 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (d. 2009)
1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
1935 – Pete Brown, American golfer (d. 2015)
1935 – Evgeny Velikhov, Russian physicist and academic
1936 – Duane Jones, American actor (d. 1988)
1936 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 1991)
1937 – Don Buford, American baseball player and coach
1937 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (d. 2015)
1937 – Anthony Haden-Guest, British journalist, poet, and critic
1937 – Remak Ramsay, American actor
1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist
1937 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian Singer (d. 2019)
1938 – Norman Fowler, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1938 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1939 – Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress (d. 2010)
1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, American chemist and inventor and one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
1939 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
1940 – Alan Caddy, English guitarist and producer (d. 2000)
1940 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (d. 2008)
1940 – Wayne Fontes, American football player and coach
1940 – David Jason, English actor, director, and producer
1941 – Terry Biddlecombe, English jockey (d. 2014)
1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
1942 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Andrew Davis, English organist and conductor
1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (d. 2012)
1944 – Ursula Oppens, American pianist and educator
1945 – John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, English economist and academic
1946 – John Armitt, English engineer and businessman
1946 – Alpha Oumar Konaré, Malian academic and politician, 3rd President of Mali
1946 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman and academic (d. 2009)
1947 – Greg Antonacci, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)
1948 – Ina Garten, American chef and author
1948 – Al McKay, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (d. 1973)
1949 – Duncan Bannatyne, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
1949 – Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (d. 1996)
1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer
1949 – Ross Valory, American rock bass player and songwriter
1950 – Osamu Kido, Japanese wrestler
1950 – Libby Purves, British journalist and author
1950 – Barbara Sukowa, German actress
1950 – Genichiro Tenryu, Japanese wrestler
1951 – Vangelis Alexandris, Greek basketball player and coach
1951 – Ken Bruce, Scottish radio host
1952 – John Cornyn, American lawyer and politician, 49th Attorney General of Texas
1952 – Rick Dufay, French-American guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea
1952 – Ralph Merkle, American computer scientist and academic
1952 – Carol Ann Susi, American actress (d. 2014)
1953 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
1953 – Jerry Sisk, Jr., American gemologist, co-founded Jewelry Television (d. 2013)
1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman
1954 – Hansi Hinterseer, Austrian skier and actor
1954 – Nelson Ne’e, Solomon Islander politician (d. 2013)
1954 – John Tudor, American baseball player
1955 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet and author
1955 – Bob Schreck, American author
1955 – Michael Talbott, American actor
1955 – Kim Zimmer, American actress
1956 – Adnan Oktar, Turkish theorist and author
1957 – Phil Barney, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
1958 – Michel Marc Bouchard, Canadian playwright
1961 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (d. 2013)
1961 – Lauren Lane, American actress and academic
1962 – Philippe Claudel, French author, director, and screenwriter
1962 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
1962 – Paul Kilgus, American baseball player
1962 – Kate Raison, Australian actress
1962 – Michael T. Weiss, American actor
1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist (d. 1996)
1963 – Kjell Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
1963 – Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia
1963 – Philip Laats, Belgian martial artist
1963 – Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist
1965 – Carl Airey, English footballer
1965 – Naoki Sano, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1966 – Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis player and coach
1966 – Robert DeLeo, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Adam Ferrara, American actor and comedian
1966 – Michael Misick, Caicos Islander politician, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
1967 – Artūrs Irbe, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
1967 – Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
1968 – Sean Elliott, American basketball player and sportscaster
1968 – Scott Erickson, American baseball player and coach
1969 – Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter
1969 – Valeri Karpin, Estonian-Russian footballer and manager
1970 – Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
1970 – Jennifer Westfeldt, American actress and singer
1971 – Michelle Gayle, English singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Arly Jover, Spanish actress
1971 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1971 – Jason Taylor, Australian rugby league player and coach
1971 – Hwang Seok-jeong, South Korean actress
1972 – Melvin Mora, Venezuelan baseball player
1972 – Aleksey Naumov, Russian footballer
1973 – Andrei Luzgin, Estonian tennis player and coach
1973 – Aleksander Tammert, Estonian discus thrower
1973 – Marissa Jaret Winokur, American actress and singer
1975 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Donald Driver, American football player
1975 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
1976 – Ryan Farquhar, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
1976 – James Hickman, English swimmer
1976 – Ana Roces, Filipino actress
1977 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1977 – Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
1978 – Adam Christopher, New Zealand writer
1978 – Eden Espinosa, American actress and singer
1978 – Annabel Ellwood, Australian tennis player
1978 – Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
1978 – Rich Sommer, American actor
1978 – Faye White, English footballer
1979 – Urmo Aava, Estonian race car driver
1979 – Fani Chalkia, Greek hurdler and sprinter
1979 – Christine Lampard, Irish television host
1979 – Klaus Mainzer, German rugby player
1979 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
1979 – Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
1980 – Angela Finger-Erben, German journalist
1980 – Teddy Hart, Canadian wrestler
1980 – Oleguer Presas, Spanish footballer
1981 – Emre Aydın, Turkish singer-songwriter
1981 – Michelle Bass, English model and singer
1981 – Salem al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 77 (d. 2001)
1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
1982 – Kan Mi-youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete and jumper
1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
1983 – Alex Westaway, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Brian Cage, American wrestler
1984 – Mao Miyaji, Japanese actress
1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Masoud Azizi, Afghan sprinter
1985 – Renn Kiriyama, Japanese actor
1985 – Kristo Saage, Estonian basketball player
1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
1986 – Miwa Asao, Japanese volleyball player
1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
1987 – Victoria Song, Chinese singer and actress
1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
1989 – Southside, American record producer
1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
1992 – Lammtarra, American race horse (d. 2014)
1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakstani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder
Deaths on February 2
619 – Laurence of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint
880 – Bruno, duke of Saxony
1124 – Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1064)
1218 – Konstantin of Rostov (b. 1186)
1237 – Joan, Lady of Wales
1250 – Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
1294 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1229)
1347 – Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln, was the bishop of Lincoln (b. 1282)
1348 – Narymunt, Prince of Pinsk
1435 – Joan II of Naples, Queen of Naples (b. 1371)
1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist (b. 1378)
1448 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (b. 1372)
1461 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (b. c. 1400)
1512 – Hatuey, Caribbean tribal chief
1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (b. 1478)
1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1558)
1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (b. 1525)
1648 – George Abbot, English author and politician (b. 1603)
1660 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans (b. 1608)
1660 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
1661 – Lucas Holstenius, German geographer and historian (b. 1596)
1675 – Ivan Belostenec, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1594)
1688 – Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)
1704 – Guillaume de l’Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (b. 1661)
1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)
1714 – John Sharp, English archbishop (b. 1643)
1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (b. 1666)
1768 – Robert Smith, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1689)
1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
1802 – Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1713)
1804 – George Walton, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1749)
2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances on February 2
Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia)
Christian Feast Day:
Adalbard
Cornelius the Centurion
Martyrs of Ebsdorf
February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Philippines)
Day of Youth (Azerbaijan)
Earliest day on which Shrove Monday can fall, while March 8 is the latest; celebrated on Monday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity), and its related observances:
Bun Day (Iceland)
Fastelavn (Denmark/Norway)
Nickanan Night (Cornwall)
Rosenmontag (Germany)
Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland)
Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé)
Le Jour des Crêpes (France)
Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics)
Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain)
Groundhog Day (United States and Canada), and its related observances:
1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.
1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
1703 – The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
1789 – Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.
1806 – The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
1820 – Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.
1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.
1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.
1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.
1858 – The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
1889 – Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.
1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.
1908 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.
1925 – The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.
1930 – The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the extermination of the Kulaks.
1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Ambon. Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are massacred at Laha airfield. Three-fourths of remaining POWs will not have survived by the end of the war, including 250 men who will be shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.
1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1959 – The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
1960 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh’s military junta in South Vietnam.
1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.
1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.
2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.
Births on January 30
58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
133 – Didius Julianus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 193)
1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494)
1520 – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)
1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638)
1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658)
1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)
1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773)
1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778)
1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864)
1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838)
1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899)
1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899)
1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932)
1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)
1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937)
1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)
1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983)
1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000)
1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988)
1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000)
1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976)
1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006)
1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (d. 2008)
1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018)
1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999)
1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013)
1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005)
1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996)
1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011)
1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016)
1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007)
1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973)
1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998)
1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician
1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense
1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic
1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge
1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016)
1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue
1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author
1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
1948 – Nick Broomfield, English director and producer
1948 – Miles Reid, English mathematician and academic
1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer
1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995)
1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer
1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator
1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
1955 – Tom Izzo, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster
1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
1958 – Derek White, Scottish rugby player
1959 – Cynthia Carter, Welsh journalist, author, and academic
1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018)
1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan
1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach
1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Felipe VI of Spain
1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer, midfielder and manager
1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
1972 – Jill McGill, American golfer
1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese musician and singer
1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
1977 – Dan Hinote, American ice hockey player and coach
1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler
1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer
1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
1981 – Jonathan Bender, American basketball player
1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
1981 – Afonso Alves, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian race car driver
1982 – Jorge Cantú, Mexican baseball player
1984 – Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler
1984 – Arthur Chu, Asian-American columnist and former Jeopardy! contestant
1984 – Kid Cudi, American entertainer
1985 – Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player
1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor and director
1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
1990 – Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2015)
Deaths on January 30
680 – Balthild, Frankish queen (b. 626)
970 – Peter I of Bulgaria
1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
1240 – Pelagio Galvani, Leonese lawyer and cardinal (b. 1165)
1314 – Nicholas III of Saint Omer
1344 – William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (b. 1301)
1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (b. 1330)
1497 – Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese historian and philosopher (b. 1502)
1606 – Everard Digby, English criminal (b. 1578)
1606 – John Grant, English conspirator (b. 1570)
1606 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1565)
1649 – Charles I of England (b. 1600)
1664 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (b. 1599)
1730 – Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
1770 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)
1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1778)
1867 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (b. 1831)
1869 – William Carleton, Irish author (b. 1794)
1881 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (b. 1844)
1889 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary (b. 1858)
1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
1928 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866)
1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
1947 – Frederick Blackman, English botanist and physiologist (b. 1866)
1948 – Arthur Coningham, Australian air marshal (b. 1895)
1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule (b. 1869)
1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (b. 1875)
1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss painter (b. 1878)
1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman; founded the Heinkel Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician and engineer (b. 1894)
1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (b. 1899)
1966 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (b. 1912)
1968 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1889)
1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
1974 – Olav Roots, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1977 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (b. 1883)
1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
1994 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (b. 1912)
1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French soldier and actor (b. 1911)
2001 – Johnnie Johnson, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1915)
2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons’ War.
1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.
1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.
1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.).
1793 – Second Partition of Poland.
1795 – After an extraordinary charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of a battle between ships and cavalry.
1846 – Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.
1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States’ first female doctor.
1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
1899 – The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first President.
1900 – Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
1904 – Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.
1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
1937 – The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin’s regime.
1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan’s invasion of Australia’s Territory of New Guinea.
1943 – World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.
1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
1950 – The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee”.
1958 – After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.
1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.
1963 – The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
1967 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
1967 – Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
1968 – USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by naval forces of North Korea.
1973 – United States President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
1998 – Netscape announced Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
2001 – Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
2002 – U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.
2003 – A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.
2018 – A 7.9 Mw earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.
2018 – A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds “dozens” of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.
Births on January 23
599 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 649)
1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
1378 – Louis III, Elector Palatine (d. 1436)
1514 – Hai Rui, Chinese politician (d. 1587)
1585 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (d. 1645)
1622 – Abraham Diepraam, Dutch painter (d. 1670)
1719 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1790)
1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1793)
1745 – William Jessop, English engineer, built the Cromford Canal (d. 1814)
1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1832)
1780 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (d. 1827)
1783 – Stendhal, French novelist (d. 1842)
1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French-Russian architect, designed Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and Alexander Column (d. 1858)
1799 – Alois Negrelli, Tyrolean engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire (d. 1858)
1809 – Surendra Sai, Indian activist (d. 1884)
1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (d. 1895)
1828 – Saigō Takamori, Japanese samurai (d. 1877)
1832 – Édouard Manet, French painter (d. 1883)
1833 – Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1879)
1838 – Marianne Cope, German-American nun and saint (d. 1918)
1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (d. 1905)
1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1915)
1855 – John Browning, American weapons designer, founded the Browning Arms Company (d. 1926)
1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian meteorologist and seismologist (d. 1936)
1862 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1943)
1862 – Frank Shuman, American inventor and engineer (d. 1918)
1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist and academic (d. 1946)
1872 – Jože Plečnik, Slovenian architect, designed Plečnik Parliament (d. 1957)
1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
1878 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
1880 – Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, Mexican politician (d. 1967)
1889 – Claribel Kendall, American mathematician (d.1965)
1894 – Jyotirmoyee Devi, Indian author (d. 1988)
1896 – Alf Blair, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1944)
1896 – Alf Hall, English-South African cricketer (d. 1964)
1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician (d. 1945)
1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
1897 – Ieva Simonaitytė, Lithuanian author (d. 1978)
1897 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (d. 1989)
1898 – Georg Kulenkampff, German violinist (d. 1948)
1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
1898 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (d. 1978)
1899 – Glen Kidston, English race car driver and pilot (d. 1931)
1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh organist and conductor (d. 1988)
1901 – Arthur Wirtz, American businessman (d. 1983)
1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia (d. 1948)
1905 – Erich Borchmeyer, German sprinter (d. 2000)
1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (d. 1968)
1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (d. 1953)
1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian director and manager (d. 2009)
1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, Algerian-French painter (d. 1960)
1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (d. 2007)
1915 – Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower and handball player (d. 2003)
1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-Barbadian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1915 – Potter Stewart, American lawyer and judge (d. 1985)
1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and journalist (d. 2018)
1916 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (d. 1979)
1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1918 – Florence Rush, American social worker and theorist (d. 2008)
1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian-American actress (d. 2011)
1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (d. 2013)
1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (d. 1962)
1919 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (d. 1996)
1920 – Gottfried Böhm, German architect
1920 – Henry Eriksson, Swedish runner (d. 2000)
1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (d. 2010)
1922 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (d. 2004)
1922 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 2016)
1923 – Horace Ashenfelter, American runner (d. 2018)
1923 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (d. 1996)
1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American soldier, businessman, and politician (d. 2013)
1925 – Marty Paich, American pianist, composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1926 – Bal Thackeray, Indian journalist, cartoonist, and politician (d. 2012)
1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (d. 1994)
1927 – Fred Williams, Australian painter (d. 1982)
1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (d. 2017)
1929 – Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
1929 – Phillip Knightley, Australian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2016)
1929 – John Polanyi, German-Canadian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Filaret, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan
1930 – Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017)
1930 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1932 – George Allen, English footballer (d. 2016)
1932 – Larri Thomas, American actress and dancer (d. 2013)
1933 – Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia
1933 – Chita Rivera, American actress, singer, and dancer
1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2003)
1935 – Mike Agostini, Trinidadian sprinter (d. 2016)
1935 – Tom Reamy, American author (d. 1977)
1935 – Teresa Żylis-Gara, Polish operatic soprano
1936 – Brian Howe, Australian minister and politician, 8th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player and sportscaster
1936 – Cécile Ousset, French pianist
1938 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and promoter, founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (d. 1999)
1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
1939 – Ed Roberts, American disability rights activist (d. 1995)
1940 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (d. 2015)
1940 – Joe Dowell, American pop singer (d. 2016)
1941 – Jock R. Anderson, Australian economist and academic
1941 – João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Brazilian journalist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
1942 – Laurie Mayne, Australian cricketer
1942 – Herman Tjeenk Willink, Dutch judge and politician
1942 – Phil Clarke, New Zealand rugby union player
1943 – Gary Burton, American vibraphone player and composer
1943 – Özhan Canaydın, Turkish basketball player and businessman (d. 2010)
1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor and producer
1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (d. 2019)
1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, 22nd Premier of Ontario
1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, Nicaraguan lawyer and politician, President of Nicaragua
1946 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian-English businessman and mathematician (d. 2013)
1946 – Zvonko Bušić, Croatian terrorist, hijacker of TWA Flight 355 (d. 2013)
1946 – Don Whittington, American race car driver
1947 – Tom Carper, American captain and politician, 71st Governor of Delaware
1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian politician, 5th President of Indonesia
1948 – Anita Pointer, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor, producer, and composer
1950 – Bill Cunningham, American bass and keyboard player
1950 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (d. 2018)
1950 – Suzanne Scotchmer, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
1950 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (d. 2012)
1951 – Margaret Bailes, American sprinter
1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, American captain and pilot
1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
1953 – John Luther Adams, American composer
1953 – Alister McGrath, Irish priest, historian, and theologian
1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, American politician, 41st Mayor of Los Angeles
1953 – Robin Zander, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Trevor Hohns, Australian cricketer
1957 – Caroline, Princess of Hanover
1958 – Sergey Litvinov, Russian hammer thrower (d. 2018)
1959 – Clive Bull, English radio host
1960 – Jean-François Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Greg Ritchie, Australian cricketer
1961 – Neil Henry, Australian rugby league player and coach
1961 – Yelena Sinchukova, Russian long jumper
1962 – David Arnold, English composer
1962 – Aivar Lillevere, Estonian footballer and coach
1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish journalist and author
1964 – Jonatha Brooke, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress and producer
1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyanese economist and politician, 7th President of Guyana
1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Louie Clemente, American drummer
1966 – Damien Hardman, Australian surfer
1966 – Haywoode Workman, American basketball player and referee
1967 – Owen Cunningham, Australian rugby league player
1968 – Taro Hakase, Japanese violinist and composer
1968 – Petr Korda, Czech-Monacan tennis player
1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager
1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player and actor
1969 – Susen Tiedtke, German long jumper
1970 – Spyridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
1971 – Scott Gibbs, Welsh-South African rugby player and sportscaster
1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player and coach
1971 – Marc Nelson, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Adam Parore, New Zealand cricketer and mountaineer
1971 – Claire Rankin, Canadian actress
1971 – Lisa Snowdon, English television and radio presenter and fashion model
1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
1973 – Tomas Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
1974 – Glen Chapple, English cricketer
1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
1974 – Richard T. Slone, English painter
1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
1975 – Nick Harmer, German musician
1975 – Phil Dawson, American football player
1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player and scout
1976 – Anne Margrethe Hausken, Norwegian orienteering competitor
1976 – Alex Shaffer, American skier
1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
1979 – Dawn O’Porter, Scottish-English fashion designer and journalist
1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian soccer player
1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
1982 – Oceana Mahlmann, German singer and songwriter
1982 – Andrew Rock, American sprinter
1983 – Irving Saladino, Panamanian long jumper
1984 – Robbie Farah, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch model and actress
1985 – Yevgeny Lukyanenko, Russian pole vaulter
1985 – Aselefech Mergia, Ethiopian runner
1985 – Jeff Samardzija, American baseball player
1985 – San E, South Korean rapper
1986 – Gelete Burka, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Marc Laird, Scottish footballer
1986 – José Enrique, Spanish footballer
1986 – Michael Stevens, American YouTuber and educator
1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
1986 – Sandro Viletta, Swiss skier
1987 – Leo Komarov, Finnish ice hockey player
1988 – Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Şener Özbayraklı, Turkish footballer
1990 – Alex Silva, Canadian wrestler
1990 – Martyn Waghorn, English footballer
1992 – Reina Triendl, Japanese model and actress
1994 – Addison Russell, American baseball player
1995 – Luke Bateman, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Tuimoala Lolohea, New Zealand rugby league player
1998 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018)
Deaths on January 23
667 – Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo
989 – Adalbero, archbishop of Reims
1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
1199 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, Moroccan caliph (b. 1160)
1252 – Isabella, Queen of Armenia
1297 – Florent of Hainaut, Prince of Achaea (b. c. 1255)
1423 – Margaret of Bavaria, Burgundian regent (b. 1363)
1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian priest, scholar, and composer (b. 1490)
1549 – Johannes Honter, Romanian-Hungarian cartographer and theologian (b. 1498)
1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China (b. 1507)
1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Scottish politician (b. 1531)
1620 – John Croke, English politician and judge (b. 1553)
1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator (b. 1584)
1650 – Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (b. 1584)
1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian historian and philosopher (b. 1668)
1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician and academic (b. 1717)
1789 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (b. 1724)
1789 – John Cleland, English author (b. 1709)
1800 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1749)
1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (b. 1725)
1805 – Claude Chappe, French engineer (b. 1763)
1806 – William Pitt the Younger, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
1812 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (b. 1764)
1820 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (b. 1757)
1837 – John Field, Irish pianist and composer (b. 1782)
1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English author and poet (b. 1785)
1875 – Charles Kingsley English priest and author (b. 1819)
1883 – Gustave Doré, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1832)
1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American lawyer and politician, 16th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1825)
1893 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1817)
1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer and conductor (b. 1877)
1922 – René Beeh, Alsatian painter and draughtsman (b. 1886)
1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic (b. 1855)
1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian physician and author (b. 1849)
1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina (b. 1881)
1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (b. 1876)
1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (b. 1903)
1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (b. 1887)
1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1863)
1947 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian-English director and producer (b. 1893)
1963 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (b. 1908)
1966 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1895)
1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (b. 1871)
1973 – Alexander Onassis, American-Greek businessman (b. 1948)
1973 – Kid Ory, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1886)
1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1898)
1977 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (b. 1903)
1978 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1946)
1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
1980 – Giovanni Michelotti, Italian engineer (b. 1921)
1981 – Samuel Barber, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
1984 – Muin Bseiso, Palestinian-Egyptian poet and critic (b. 1926)
1985 – James Beard, American chef and cookbook author for whom the James Beard Foundation Awards are named (b.1905)
1986 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and painter (b. 1921)
1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist and academic (b. 1896)
1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1904)
1989 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish race car driver (b. 1961)
1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1952)
1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian author and critic (b. 1912)
1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, American actor (b. 1924)
1993 – Keith Laumer, American soldier, author, and diplomat (b. 1925)
1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Russian field marshal (b. 1917)
1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and author (b. 1929)
1999 – Joe D’Amato, Italian director and cinematographer (b. 1936)
1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman, co-founded the Hyatt Corporation (b. 1922)
2002 – Paul Aars, American race car driver (b. 1934)
2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (b. 1930)
2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1938)
2003 – Nell Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
2004 – Bob Keeshan, American television personality and producer (b. 1927)
2004 – Helmut Newton, German-Australian photographer (b. 1920)
2005 – Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1921)
2005 – Johnny Carson, American talk show host, television personality, and producer (b. 1925)
763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.
1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
1854 – The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.
1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.
1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.
1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day.
1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.
1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.
1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.
1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
2004 – NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government’s new taxes erupts into riots.
2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.
2011 – Anti government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Five people lose their lives from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister’s office. To date, no one has been held accountable for the deaths.
2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women’s march, on Donald Trump’s first full day as President of the United States.
2018 – Rocket Lab’s Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine and deploys three CubeSats.
Births on January 21
1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (d. 1284)
1277 – Galeazzo I Visconti, lord of Milan
1338 – Charles V of France (d. 1380)
1493 – Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (d. 1556)
1598 – Matsudaira Tadamasa, Japanese samurai and daimyō (d. 1645)
1612 – Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz (d. 1640)
1636 – Melchiorre Cafà, Maltese Baroque sculptor (baptised; d. 1667)
1655 – Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (d. 1704)
1659 – Adriaen van der Werff, Dutch painter (d. 1722)
1675 – Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of Baden-Baden (d. 1733)
1714 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Spanish anatomist (d. 1774)
1717 – Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer and governor of Cuba (d. 1779)
1721 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1794)
1724 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French rococo painter (d. 1805)
1732 – Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1797)
1738 – Ethan Allen, American general (d. 1789)
1741 – Chaim of Volozhin, Orthodox rabbi (d. 1821)
1763 – Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (d. 1794)
1775 – Manuel Garcia, Spanish opera singer and composer (d. 1832)
1784 – Peter De Wint, English painter (d. 1849)
1788 – William Henry Smyth, Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist
1796 – Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1880)
1797 – Joseph Méry, French author and journalist (d. 1866)
1800 – Theodor Fliedner, German Lutheran minister (d. 1864)
1801 – John Batman, Australian entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1839)
1804 – Moritz von Schwind, Austrian painter (d. 1871)
1808 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, 16th President of Peru (d. 1875)
1810 – Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French general (d. 1892)
1811 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, British statesman (d. 1885)
1813 – John C. Frémont, American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona (d. 1890)
1813 – Giuseppe Montanelli, Italian statesman and author (d. 1862)
1814 – Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, German bibliographer and historian (d. 1885)
1815 – Horace Wells, American dentist (d. 1848)
1820 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (d. 1899)
1820 – Egide Walschaerts, Belgian mechanical engineer (d. 1901)
1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)
1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1900)
1829 – Oscar II of Sweden (d. 1907)
1839 – Caterina Volpicelli, Italian Roman Catholic nun (d. 1894)
1840 – Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist (d. 1912)
1841 – Édouard Schuré, French philosopher and author (d. 1929)
1843 – Émile Levassor, French engineer (d. 1897)
1845 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
1846 – Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
1846 – Albert Lavignac, French music scholar (d. 1916)
1847 – Joseph Achille Le Bel, French chemist (d. 1930)
1848 – Henri Duparc, French soldier and composer (d. 1933)
1851 – Giuseppe Allamano, Italian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1926)
1854 – Karl Julius Beloch, German classical and economic historian (d. 1929)
1854 – Eusapia Palladino, Italian Spiritualist (d. 1918)
1855 – Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1874)
1860 – Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
1864 – Israel Zangwill, British author (d. 1926)
1865 – Heinrich Albers-Schonberg, German gynecologist and radiologist (d. 1921)
1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German paramedic and author (d. 1921)
1867 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (d. 1965)
1868 – Felix Hoffmann, German chemist (d. 1946)
1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian Mystic (d. 1916)
1871 – Olga Preobrajenska, Russian ballerina (d. 1962)
1873 – Arturo Labriola, Italian revolutionary syndicalist (d. 1959)
1874 – René-Louis Baire, French mathematician (d. 1932)
1875 – Paul E. Kahle, German orientalist (d. 1964)
1877 – Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1948)
1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1948)
1879 – Joseph Roffo, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1933)
1880 – George Van Biesbroeck, Belgian–American astronomer (d. 1974)
1881 – Ernst Fast, Swedish runner (d. 1959)
1881 – André Godard, French archaeologist, architect and historian (d. 1965)
1881 – Ivan Ribar, Yugoslav politician (d. 1968)
1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician and theologian (d. 1937)
1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer (d. 1972)
1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet and educator (d. 1929)
1883 – Mathias Hynes, British tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
1885 – Duncan Grant, British painter and designer (d. 1978)
1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer and explorer (d. 1978)
1885 – Harold A. Wilson, English runner (d. 1932)
1886 – John M. Stahl, American director and producer (d. 1950)
1887 – Wolfgang Köhler, German psychologist and phenomenologist (d. 1967)
1887 – Ernest Holmes, American New Thought writer (d. 1960)
1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
1889 – Pitirim Sorokin, American sociologist and political activist (d. 1968)
1891 – Albert Battel, German Army lieutenant and lawyer (d. 1952)
1891 – Francisco Lázaro, Portuguese marathon runner (d. 1912)
1895 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga (d. 1972)
1895 – Daniel Chalonge, French astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1977)
1895 – Noe Itō, Japanese anarchist, author and feminist (d. 1923)
1896 – Guy Gilpatric, American pilot and journalist (d. 1950)
1896 – Paula Hitler, younger sister of Adolf Hitler (d. 1960)
1896 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (d. 1973)
1896 – Masa Perttilä, Finnish wrestler (d. 1968)
1897 – René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
1898 – Rudolph Maté, Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, producer and director (d. 1964)
1898 – Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (d. 1930)
1898 – Eduard Zintl, German chemist (d. 1941)
1899 – John Bodkin Adams, British general practitioner and convict (d. 1983)
1899 – Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1969)
1899 – Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien (d. 1971)
1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
1900 – Elof Ahrle, Swedish actor and director (d. 1965)
1900 – Anselm Franz, Austrian engineer (d. 1994)
1900 – Bernhard Rensch, German evolutionary biologist (d. 1990)
1900 – Fernando Quiroga Palacios, Spanish Cardinal (d. 1971)
1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
1903 – William Lyon, American film editor (d. 1974)
1903 – Raymond Suvigny, French weightlifter (d. 1945)
1904 – Puck van Heel, Dutch footballer (d. 1984)
1904 – John Porter, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957)
1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (d. 1978)
1906 – Leo Halle, Dutch footballer (d. 1992)
1906 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
1907 – Carlo Cavagnoli, Italian boxer (d. 1991)
1907 – Jānis Mendriks, Latvian Catholic priest (d. 1953)
1909 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1909 – Teofilo Spasojević, Serbian footballer (d. 1970)
1910 – Hideo Shinojima, Japanese footballer (d. 1975)
1910 – Albert Rosellini, American lawyer and politician, 15th Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
1910 – Rosa Kellner, German athlete (d. 1984)
1910 – Károly Takács, Hungarian shooter (d. 1976)
1911 – Dick Garrard, Australian wrestler (d. 2003)
1911 – Lee Yoo-hyung, Korean footballer and manager (d. 2003)
1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
1915 – André Lichnerowicz, French mathematician (d. 1998)
1915 – Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
1916 – Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
1916 – Zypora Spaisman, Polish midwife; American and Yiddish-language actress; producer of the Yiddish stage (d. 2002)
1917 – Erling Persson, H&M founder (d. 2002)
1918 – Jimmy Hagan, English footballer (d. 1998)
1918 – Richard Winters, American soldier (d. 2011)
1918 – Antonio Janigro, Italian cellist and conductor (d. 1989)
1919 – Eric Brown, Scottish-English captain and pilot (d. 2016)
1920 – Errol Barrow, first Prime Minister of Barbados (d. 1987)
1921 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2012)
1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
1922 – Paul Scofield, English actor (d. 2008)
1922 – Predrag Vranicki, Croatian Marxist Humanist, and member of the Praxis school in the 1960s in Yugoslavia (d. 2002)
1923 – Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1995)
1923 – Alberto de Mendoza, Argentine actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Pahiño, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1925 – Charles Aidman, American actor (d. 1993)
1925 – Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer (d. 2014)
1925 – Eva Ibbotson, Austrian-English author (d. 2010)
1925 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
1926 – Clive Donner, British director (d. 2010)
1926 – Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (d. 1980)
1926 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder (d. 2000)
1926 – Roger Taillibert, French architect (d. 2019)
1926 – Robert J. White, American neurosurgeon (d. 2010)
1927 – Rudolf Kraus, German footballer (d. 2003)
1928 – Gene Sharp, American political scientist and academic, founded the Albert Einstein Institution (d. 2018)
1928 – Reynaldo Bignone, Argentinian general and politician, 41st President of Argentina (d. 2018)
1929 – Radley Metzger, American filmmaker (d. 2017)
1930 – Mainza Chona, Zambian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zambia (d. 2001)
1931 – Yoshiko Kuga, Japanese actress
1933 – Habib Thiam, Senegalese politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Tony Marchi, English footballer, wing half
1934 – Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
1934 – Antonio Karmany, Spanish cyclist
1934 – Alfonso Portugal, Mexican footballer (d. 2016)
1934 – Ann Wedgeworth, American actress (d. 2017)
1936 – Dick Davies, American basketball player (d. 2012)
1937 – Judit Ágoston-Mendelényi, Hungarian fencer (d. 2013)
1937 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria, the youngest son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria
1938 – Sandy Barr, American wrestler and referee (d. 2007)
1938 – Romano Fogli, Italian footballer
1938 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (d. 1995)
1938 – Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
1939 – Paul Genevay, French sprinter
1939 – Friedel Lutz, German footballer
1939 – Steve Paxton, American dancer and choreographer
1939 – Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2005)
1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster
1940 – Patrick Robinson, British novelist
1941 – Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (d. 2013)
1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor
1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1941 – Mike Medavoy, Chinese-American film producer, co-founded Orion Pictures
1941 – Ivan Putski, Polish-American wrestler and bodybuilder
1941 – Elaine Showalter, American author and critic
1942 – Freddy Breck, German singer, producer, and news anchor (d. 2008)
1942 – Eugène Camara, Prime Minister of Guinea (d. 2019)
1942 – Han Pil-hwa, North Korean speed skater
1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1942 – Michael G. Wilson, American producer and screenwriter
1943 – Zdravko Hebel, Croatian water polo player (d. 2017)
1943 – Arnar Jónsson, Icelandic actor
1943 – Alfons Peeters, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
1943 – Kenzo Yokoyama, Japanese footballer
1944 – Uto Ughi, Italian violinist
1945 – Pete Kircher, English drummer
1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor and producer
1946 – Ichiro Hosotani, Japanese footballer
1946 – Nella Martinetti, Swiss singer (d. 2011)
1946 – Tomás Pineda, El Salvadoran footballer
1946 – Miguel Reina, Spanish footballer
1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
1947 – Andrzej Bachleda, Polish former alpine skier
1947 – Dorian M. Goldfeld, American mathematician
1947 – Pye Hastings, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Michel Jonasz, French singer-songwriter and actor
1947 – Joseph Nicolosi, American clinical psychologist (d. 2017)
1947 – Giuseppe Savoldi, Italian footballer
1947 – Roberto Zywica, Argentine footballer
1948 – Zygmunt Kukla, Polish footballer (d. 2016)
1948 – Hugo Tocalli, Argentine footballer
1949 – Trương Tấn Sang, Vietnamese politician and 7th President of Vietnam
1949 – Clifford Ray, American basketball coach and player
1950 – Marion Becker, German javelin thrower
1950 – Gary Locke, American politician and diplomat, 36th United States Secretary of Commerce
1950 – José Marín, Spanish racewalker
1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian-English singer-songwriter
1950 – Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch politician and diplomat, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation
1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
1952 – Marco Camenisch, Swiss activist and murderer
1952 – Werner Grissmann, Austrian alpine skier
1952 – Mikhail Umansky, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
1953 – Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft (d. 2018)
1953 – Felipe Yáñez, Spanish cyclist
1954 – Thomas de Maizière, German politician of the Christian Democratic Union
1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkinabé director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1954 – Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
1955 – Peter Fleming, American tennis player
1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor
1955 – Nello Musumeci, Italian politician and President of Sicily
1956 – Robby Benson, American actor and director
1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer
1958 – Matt Salmon, American politician
1958 – Hussein Saeed, Iraqi footballer
1958 – Sergei Walter, Ukrainian politician (d. 2015)
1958 – Michael Wincott, Canadian actor
1959 – Sergei Alifirenko, Russian pistol shooter
1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
1960 – Sidney Lowe, American basketball player
1960 – Mike Terrana, American hard rock and heavy metal drummer
1961 – Kevin Cramer, American politician
1961 – Cornelia Pröll, Austrian alpine skier
1961 – Ivo Pukanić Croatian journalist (d. 2008)
1961 – Gary Shaw, English footballer
1961 – Piotr Ugrumov, Russian cyclist
1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist and academic
1962 – Isabelle Nanty, French actress, director and screenwriter
1962 – Gabriele Pin, Italian footballer and coach
1962 – Zoran Thaler, Slovenian politician
1962 – Erik Verlinde, Dutch theoretical physicist
1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player and coach
1964 – Andreas Bauer, German ski jumper
1964 – Tony Dolan, English musician and actor
1964 – Gérald Passi, French footballer
1964 – Ricardo Serna, Spanish footballer
1964 – Aleksandar Šoštar, Serbian water polo player
1964 – Danny Wallace, English footballer
1965 – Robert Del Naja, British artist, musician and singer
1965 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ, rapper, and producer (d. 2002)
1965 – Masahiro Wada, Japanese footballer
1967 – Artashes Minasian, Armenian chess player
1967 – Alfred Jermaniš, Slovenian footballer
1967 – Gorō Miyazaki, Japanese film director and landscaper
1968 – Dmitry Fomin, Soviet and Russian volleyball player
1968 – Ilya Smirin, Israeli chess Grandmaster
1968 – Artur Dmitriev, Soviet and Russian ice skater
1968 – Sébastien Lifshitz, French director
1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
1969 – John Ducey, American actor
1969 – Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
1969 – Karina Lombard, French-American actress and singer
1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese comic artist
1970 – Alen Bokšić, former Croatian footballer
1970 – Marina Foïs, French actress
1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
1970 – Oren Peli, Israeli-American director, producer and screenwriter
1971 – Uni Arge, Faroese footballer and entertainer
1971 – Rafael Berges, Spanish footballer
1971 – Doug Edwards, American basketball player
1971 – Dmitri Khlestov, Russian footballer
1971 – Dylan Kussman, American actor
1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Billel Dziri, Algerian footballer and manager
1972 – Rick Falkvinge, Swedish businessman and politician
1972 – Sead Kapetanović, Bosnian footballer
1972 – Yasunori Mitsuda, Japanese composer and producer
1972 – Cat Power, American singer, musician and actress
1972 – Shawn Rojeski, American curler
1972 – Sabina Valbusa, Italian cross-country skier
1973 – Rob Hayles, English cyclist
1973 – Chris Kilmore, American musician and DJ
1973 – Edvinas Krungolcas, Lithuanian modern pentathlete
1973 – Flavio Maestri, Peruvian footballer
1974 – Malena Alterio, Spanish actress
1974 – Maxwell Atoms, American animator, screenwriter and voice actor
1974 – Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist
379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She’er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
1511 – The Italian city-fortress of Mirandola surrenders to the French.
1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.
1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
1764 – Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world’s first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
1795 – The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
1806 – Britain occupies the Dutch Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.
1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.
1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
1871 – Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
1915 – German strategic bombing during World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing at least 20 people, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1917 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
1940 – You Nazty Spy!, the first Hollywood film of any kind to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis premieres, starring The Three Stooges, with Moe Howard as the character “Moe Hailstone” satirizing Hitler.
1941 – World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Falkonera.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
1953 – Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
1960 – Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.
1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam
1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose”).
1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.
1981 – Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
1986 – The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written.
1991 – Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
1995 – After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.
1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
2007 – Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper’s Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.
2007 – Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.
2012 – The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.
2014 – A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.
Births on January 19
399 – Pulcheria, Byzantine empress and saint (d. 453)
1200 – Dōgen Zenji, founder of Sōtō Zen (d. 1253)
1544 – Francis II of France (d. 1560)
1617 – Lucas Faydherbe, Flemish sculptor and architect (d. 1697)
1628 – Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, English noble (d. 1672)
1676 – John Weldon, English organist and composer (d. 1736)
1721 – Jean-Philippe Baratier, German scholar and author (d. 1740)
1736 – James Watt, Scottish-English chemist and engineer (d. 1819)
1737 – Giuseppe Millico, Italian soprano, composer, and educator (d. 1802)
1739 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect, designed Longford Hall and Barrells Hall (d. 1808)
1752 – James Morris III, American captain (d. 1820)
1757 – Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (d. 1831)
1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
1790 – Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet and academic (d. 1855)
1798 – Auguste Comte, French economist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1857)
1807 – Robert E. Lee, American general and academic (d. 1870)
1808 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and author (d. 1887)
1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story writer, poet, and critic (d. 1849)
1810 – Talhaiarn, Welsh poet and architect (d.1869)
1813 – Henry Bessemer, English engineer and businessman (d. 1898)
1832 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1875)
1833 – Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician and academic (d. 1872)
1839 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
1848 – Arturo Graf, Italian poet, of German ancestry (d. 1913).
1848 – John Fitzwilliam Stairs, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1904)
1848 – Matthew Webb, English swimmer and diver (d. 1883)
1851 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1922)
1852 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909)
1863 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (d. 1941)
1866 – Harry Davenport, American stage and film actor (d. 1949)
1871 – Dame Gruev, Bulgarian educator and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1906)
1874 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (d. 1922)
1876 – Wakashima Gonshirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 21st Yokozuna (d. 1943)
1876 – Dragotin Kette, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1899)
1878 – Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1934)
1879 – Boris Savinkov, Russian soldier and author (d. 1925)
1882 – John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (d. 1957)
1883 – Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (d. 1956)
1887 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (d. 1943)
1889 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1943)
1892 – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1964)
1893 – Magda Tagliaferro, Brazilian pianist and educator (d. 1986)
1903 – Boris Blacher, German composer and playwright (d. 1975)
1905 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
1907 – Briggs Cunningham, American race car driver, sailor, and businessman (d. 2003)
1908 – Ish Kabibble, American comedian and cornet player (d. 1994)
1908 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1971)
1911 – Choor Singh, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and judge (d. 2009)
1912 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1913 – Rex Ingamells, Australian author and poet (d. 1955)
1913 – Rudolf Wanderone, American professional pocket billiards player (d. 1996)
1918 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (d. 2005)
1920 – Bernard Dunstan, English painter and educator (d. 2017)
1920 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian politician and diplomat, 135th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 2020)
1921 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1995)
1922 – Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 2015)
1922 – Miguel Muñoz, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1990)
1923 – Jean Stapleton, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1924 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and director (d. 1985)
1924 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (d. 2006)
1925 – Nina Bawden, English author (d. 2012)
1926 – Hans Massaquoi, German-American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1926 – Fritz Weaver, American actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Tippi Hedren, American model, actress, and animal rights-welfare activist
1930 – John Waite, South African cricketer (d. 2011)
1931 – Robert MacNeil, Canadian-American journalist and author
1932 – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1932 – Richard Lester, American-English director, producer, and screenwriter
1932 – Harry Lonsdale, American chemist, businessman, and politician (d. 2014)
1933 – George Coyne, American priest, astronomer, and theologian
1935 – Johnny O’Keefe, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1978)
1936 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (d. 1981)
1936 – Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, American singer, harmonica player, and drummer (d. 2011)
1936 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1937 – John Lions, Australian computer scientist and academic (d. 1998)
1939 – Phil Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
1940 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
1940 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (d. 2007)
1941 – Colin Gunton, English theologian and academic (d. 2003)
1941 – Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler, trainer, and referee
1942 – Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
1942 – Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet and politician
1943 – Larry Clark, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1943 – Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
1944 – Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
1944 – Thom Mayne, American architect and academic, designed the San Francisco Federal Building and Phare Tower
1944 – Dan Reeves, American football player and coach
1945 – Trevor Williams, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1946 – Julian Barnes, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic
1946 – Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
1947 – Frank Aarebrot, Norwegian political scientist and academic (d. 2017)
1947 – Paula Deen, American chef and author
1947 – Rod Evans, English singer-songwriter
1948 – Nancy Lynch, American computer scientist and academic
1948 – Frank McKenna, Canadian politician and diplomat, 27th Premier of New Brunswick
1948 – Mal Reilly, English rugby league player and coach
1949 – Arend Langenberg, Dutch voice actor and radio host (d. 2012)
1949 – Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1950 – Sébastien Dhavernas, Canadian actor
1951 – Martha Davis, American singer
1952 – Dewey Bunnell, British-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Nadiuska, German television actress
1952 – Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)
1953 – Desi Arnaz, Jr., American actor and singer
1953 – Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player and politician
1953 – Wayne Schimmelbusch, Australian footballer and coach
1954 – Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
1954 – Cindy Sherman, American photographer and director
1954 – Esther Shkalim, Israeli poet and Mizrahi feminist
1955 – Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-American comedian and actor
1956 – Carman, American singer-songwriter, actor, and television host
1956 – Susan Solomon, American atmospheric chemist
1957 – Ottis Anderson, American football player and sportscaster
1957 – Roger Ashton-Griffiths, English actor, screenwriter and film director
1957 – Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rican public servant and politician, 22nd Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
1958 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter (d. 2012)
1959 – Danese Cooper, American computer scientist and programmer
1959 – Jeff Pilson, American bass player, songwriter, and actor
1961 – William Ragsdale, American actor
1961 – Wayne Hemingway, English fashion designer, co-founded Red or Dead
1962 – Hans Daams, Dutch cyclist
1962 – Chris Sabo, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Jeff Van Gundy, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Michael Adams, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Martin Bashir, English journalist
1963 – John Bercow, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons
1964 – Janine Antoni, Bahamian sculptor and photographer
1964 – Ricardo Arjona, Guatemalan singer-songwriter and basketball player
1966 – Sylvain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player and coach
1966 – Lena Philipsson, Swedish singer-songwriter
1968 – David Bartlett, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of Tasmania
1968 – Whitfield Crane, American singer-songwriter
1969 – Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist and short story writer
1969 – Luc Longley, Australian basketball player and coach
1969 – Predrag Mijatović, Montenegrin footballer and manager
1969 – Junior Seau, American football player (d. 2012)
1969 – Steve Staunton, Irish footballer and manager
1970 – Steffen Freund, German footballer defensive midfielder and manager
1970 – Kathleen Smet, Belgian triathlete
1970 – Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian and singer
1971 – Phil Nevin, American baseball player
1971 – Shawn Wayans, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – John Wozniak, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Ron Killings, American wrestler and rapper
1972 – Troy Wilson, Australian footballer and race car driver
1972 – Sergei Zjukin, Estonian chess player and coach
1972 – Yoon Hae-young, South Korean actress
1973 – Antero Manninen, Finnish cellist
1973 – Yevgeny Sadovyi, Russian swimmer and coach
1974 – Dainius Adomaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1974 – Frank Caliendo, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1974 – Ian Laperrière, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer and manager
1975 – Natalie Cook, Australian volleyball player
1975 – Zdeňka Málková, Czech tennis player
1976 – Natale Gonnella, Italian footballer
1976 – Tarso Marques, Brazilian race car driver
1977 – Benjamin Ayres, Canadian actor, director, and photographer
1979 – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast and sportscaster
1979 – Josu Sarriegi, Spanish footballer
1979 – Wiley, English rapper and producer
1980 – Jenson Button, English race car driver
1980 – Pasha Kovalev, Russian-American dancer and choreographer
1980 – Luke Macfarlane, Canadian-American actor and singer
1980 – Arvydas Macijauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
1980 – Michael Vandort, Sri Lankan cricketer
1981 – Paolo Bugia, Filipino basketball player
1981 – Asier del Horno, Spanish footballer
1981 – Lucho González, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Pete Buttigieg, American politician
1982 – Mike Komisarek, American ice hockey player
1982 – Jodie Sweetin, American actress and singer
1982 – Shane Tronc, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Kim Yoo-suk, South Korean pole vaulter
1982 – Robin tom Rink, German singer-songwriter
1983 – Hikaru Utada, American-Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1984 – Fabio Catacchini, Italian footballer
1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian race car driver
1984 – Jimmy Kébé, Malian footballer
1984 – Thomas Vanek, Austrian ice hockey player
1985 – Jake Allen, American football player
1985 – Pascal Behrenbruch, German decathlete
1985 – Benny Feilhaber, American soccer player
1985 – Esteban Guerrieri, Argentinian race car driver
1985 – Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer and actress
1985 – Elliott Ward, English footballer
1985 – Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Nikulin, Russian footballer
2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricketer and pilot (b. 1921)
2007 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist (b. 1954)
2007 – Denny Doherty, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2007 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (b. 1937)
2008 – John Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
2008 – Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1936)
2010 – Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
2012 – Peter Åslin, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1962)
2012 – Sarah Burke, Canadian skier (b. 1982)
2012 – Winston Riley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
2012 – Rudi van Dantzig, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
2013 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (b. 1940)
2013 – Stan Musial, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
2013 – Frank Pooler, American conductor and composer (b. 1926)
2013 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (b. 1930)
2013 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (b. 1944)
2014 – Azaria Alon, Ukrainian-Israeli environmentalist, co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (b. 1918)
2014 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (b. 1931)
2015 – Justin Capră, Romanian engineer and academic (b. 1933)
2015 – Michel Guimond, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1953)
2015 – Ward Swingle, American-French singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1927)
2016 – Richard Levins, American ecologist and geneticist (b. 1930)
2016 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2016 – Sheila Sim, English actress (b. 1922)
2017 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1955)
Holidays and observances on January 19
Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (commemorated by the Poe Toaster at his grave in Baltimore)
Christian feast day:
Bassianus of Lodi
Henry of Uppsala
Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Mark of Ephesus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Pontianus of Spoleto
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester
January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), and its related observance:
Robert E. Lee Day (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi)
Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty), first day of the 17th month of the Bahá’í calendar (Bahá’í Faith) (only if Nowruz falls on March 21, otherwise the dates shifts)
Husband’s Day (Iceland)
Kokborok Day (Tripura, India)
Theophany / Epiphany (Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy), and its related observances:
Timkat, or 20 during Leap Year (Ethiopian Orthodox)
27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba.
1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1362 – Saint Marcellus’s flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
1547 – Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.
1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
1757 – Forces of the Maratha Empire defeat a 5,000-strong army of the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
1862 – Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.
1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
1920 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.
1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.
1921 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
1964 – Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.
1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets’ crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
1979 – The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.
2016 – Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.
2018 – Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.
2020 – The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
Births on January 16
972 – Sheng Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 1031)
1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. 1152)
1245 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1296)
1362 – Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland (d. 1392)
1409 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (d. 1480)
1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
1516 – Bayinnaung, king of Burma (d. 1581)
1558 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)
1616 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (d. 1669)
1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Belgian painter and educator (d. 1699)
1630 – Guru Har Rai, Sikh Guru (d. 1661)
1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1716)
1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1755)
1691 – Peter Scheemakers, Belgian sculptor and educator (d. 1781)
1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and educator (d. 1800)
1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1803)
1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, English admiral and politician, 3rd Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American admiral (d. 1877)
1815 – Henry Halleck, American lawyer, general, and scholar (d. 1872)
1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American lawyer and politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1906)
1836 – Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
1851 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
1853 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and manager (d. 1937)
1853 – Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, Greek-English general (d. 1947)
1853 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (d. 1931)
1870 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, State Elder of Estonia (d. 1942)
1872 – Henri Büsser, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1973)
1874 – Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet and author (d. 1958)
1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German biochemist and physician (d. 1949)
1876 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1937)
1878 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
1880 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (d. 1954)
1882 – Margaret Wilson, American author (d. 1973)
1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (d. 1967)
1888 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (d. 1945)
1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (d. 1949)
1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian-English violinist (d. 1981)
1894 – Irving Mills, American publisher (d. 1985)
1895 – Evripidis Bakirtzis, Greek soldier and politician (d. 1947)
1895 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
1895 – Nat Schachner, American lawyer, chemist, and author (d. 1955)
1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet and academic (d. 1977)
1898 – Margaret Booth, American producer and editor (d. 2002)
1898 – Irving Rapper, American film director and producer (d. 1999)
1900 – Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator (d. 1978)
1900 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (d. 1973)
1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner, rugby player, and missionary (d. 1945)
1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French race car driver (d. 1945)
1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
1906 – Johannes Brenner, Estonian footballer and pilot (d. 1975)
1906 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1907 – Paul Nitze, American banker and politician, 10th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2004)
1908 – Sammy Crooks, English footballer (d. 1981)
1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
1908 – Günther Prien, German captain (d. 1941)
1909 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (d. 1994)
1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974)
1911 – Ivan Barrow, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1979)
1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (d. 1982)
1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
1914 – Roger Wagner, French-American conductor and educator (d. 1992)
1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1916 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2004)
1916 – Philip Lucock, English-Australian minister and politician (d. 1996)
1917 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl’s Jr. (d. 2008)
1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet and educator (d. 2005)
1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish director, producer, and production manager (d. 2009)
1918 – Clem Jones, Australian surveyor and politician, 8th Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)
1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
1919 – Jerome Horwitz, American chemist and academic (d. 2012)
1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1991)
1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
1923 – Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company (d. 2014)
1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
1925 – Peter Hirsch, German-English metallurgist and academic
1925 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (d. 2013)
1928 – William Kennedy, American novelist and journalist
1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 1996)
1929 – Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Sri Lankan anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
1930 – Norman Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1931 – John Enderby, English physicist and academic
1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist and academic
1931 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th Federal President of Germany (d. 2006)
1932 – Victor Ciocâltea, Romanian chess player (d. 1983)
1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (d. 1985)
1933 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004)
1934 – Bob Bogle, American rock guitarist and bass player (d. 2009)
1934 – Marilyn Horne, American soprano and actress
1935 – A. J. Foyt, American race car driver
1935 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1936 – Michael White, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2016)
1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2011)
1937 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015)
1938 – Marina Vaizey, American journalist and critic
1939 – Ralph Gibson, American photographer
1941 – Christine Truman, English tennis player and sportscaster
1942 – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager (d. 2016)
1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Gavin Bryars, English bassist and composer
1943 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and pianist
1944 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (d. 2015)
1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Jill Tarter, American astronomer and biologist
1944 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1945 – Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer and manager
1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano and actress
1947 – Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy, English academic and politician
1947 – Harvey Proctor, English politician
1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American physiologist, talk show host, and author
1948 – John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
1948 – Ants Laaneots, Estonian general
1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
1948 – Ruth Reichl, American journalist and critic
1949 – Anne F. Beiler, American businesswoman, founded Auntie Anne’s
1949 – R. F. Foster, Irish historian and academic
1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian physician and politician, 13th Deputy Premier of New South Wales
1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
1950 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and producer (d. 2010)
1952 – Fuad II, King of Egypt
1952 – Piercarlo Ghinzani, Italian race car driver and manager
1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1952 – Julie Anne Peters, American engineer and author
1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant, founded The Order (d. 1984)
1954 – Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
1954 – Vasili Zhupikov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, American captain, physician, and astronaut
1956 – Wayne Daniel, Barbadian cricketer
1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch footballer and manager
1956 – Greedy Smith, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist (d. 2019)
1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer and manager
1957 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
1957 – Mark Pawsey, English businessman and politician
1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1997)
1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish lawyer and politician, 9th Swedish Minister for the Environment
1958 – Andris Šķēle, Latvian businessman and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Latvia
1959 – Lisa Milroy, Canadian painter and educator
1959 – Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer
1961 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (d. 2006)
1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian electrician and politician, 51st Australian Minister of Defence
1962 – Maxine Jones, American R&B singer–songwriter and actress
1963 – James May, British journalist/co-host of Top Gear
1964 – Gail Graham, Canadian golfer
1966 – Jack McDowell, American baseball player
1968 – Rebecca Stead, American author
1969 – Neil Back, English rugby player and coach
1969 – Marinus Bester, German footballer
1969 – Stevie Jackson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player and coach
1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player and coach
1971 – Josh Evans, American film producer, screenwriter and actor
1971 – Jonathan Mangum, American actor
1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
1972 – Ang Christou, Australian footballer
1972 – Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer and manager
1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer and manager
1972 – Joe Horn, American football player and coach
1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1974 – John Hopoate, Tongan-Australian rugby league player and boxer
1974 – Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer
1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian race car driver
1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player
1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player
1979 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American actor, playwright, and composer
1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-American baseball player
1981 – Jamie Lundmark, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Paul Rofe, Australian cricketer
1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer, striker
1982 – Preston, English singer-songwriter
1982 – Tuncay, Turkish footballer
1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
1983 – Andriy Rusol, Ukrainian footballer
1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer
1984 – Miroslav Radović, Serbian footballer
1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player
1985 – Jayde Herrick, Australian cricketer
1985 – Gintaras Januševičius, Russian-Lithuanian pianist
1985 – Twins Jonathan and Simon Richter, Danish-Gambian footballers
1985 – Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor
1986 – Johannes Rahn, German footballer
1986 – Mark Trumbo, American baseball player
1986 – Reto Ziegler, Swiss footballer, left back
1987 – Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
1987 – Charlotte Henshaw, English swimmer
1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
1988 – Jorge Torres Nilo, Mexican footballer
1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Hannes Anier, Estonian footballer
1993 – Amandine Hesse, French tennis player
1994 – Chris Smith, Australian rugby league player
1354 – Joanna of Châtillon, duchess of Athens (b. c.1285)
1373 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (b. 1342)
1391 – Muhammed V of Granada, Nasrid emir (b. 1338)
1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1352)
1443 – Erasmo of Narni, Italian mercenary (b. 1370)
1545 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (b. 1484)
1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (b. 1480)
1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral and politician (b. 1512)
1595 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1546)
1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
1710 – Higashiyama, Japanese emperor (b. 1675)
1711 – Joseph Vaz, Indian-Sri Lankan priest and saint (b. 1651)
1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet and playwright (b. 1680)
1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch lawyer and scholar (b. 1684)
1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1667)
1752 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (b. 1705)
1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (b. 1737)
1809 – John Moore, Scottish general and politician (b. 1761)
1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, Jamaican-American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1759)
1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (b. 1769)
1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (b. 1795)
1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian secretary and author (b. 1795)
1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (b. 1828)
1879 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (b. 1827)
1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and academic (b. 1834)
1891 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (b. 1836)
1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
1901 – Jules Barbier, French poet and playwright (b. 1825)
1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (b. 1827)
1901 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, American soldier, minister, and politician (b. 1822)
1906 – Marshall Field, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Marshall Field’s (b. 1834)
1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)
1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Brazil (b. 1848)
1933 – Bekir Sami Kunduh, Turkish politician (b. 1867)
1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer, rapist and cannibal (b. 1870)
1938 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian author and playwright (b. 1876)
1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (b. 1850)
1942 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (b. 1885)
1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
1942 – Ernst Scheller, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1899)
1957 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English general and politician, 16th Governor General of Canada (b. 1874)
1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (b. 1867)
1959 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (b. 1887)
1960 – Arthur Darby, English rugby player (b. 1876)
1961 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (b. 1880)
1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer, director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1885)
1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, designed the Monument to the Unknown Hero (b. 1883)
1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic (b. 1901)
1968 – Bob Jones Sr., American evangelist, founded Bob Jones University (b. 1883)
1968 – Panagiotis Poulitsas, Greek archaeologist and judge (b. 1881)
1969 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
1972 – Teller Ammons, American soldier and politician, 28th Governor of Colorado (b. 1895)
1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (b. 1919)
1973 – Edgar Sampson, American musician and composer (b. 1907)
1975 – Israel Abramofsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1888)
1978 – A. V. Kulasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1890)
1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
1983 – Virginia Mauret, American musician and dancer
1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian physician and activist (b. 1928)
1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, 1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (b. 1899)
1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet and critic (b. 1924)
1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (b. 1903)
1996 – Kaye Webb, English journalist and publisher (b. 1914)
1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 12th Minister for Industry and Science (b. 1915)
2000 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
2001 – Auberon Waugh, English author and journalist (b. 1939)
2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
2006 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (b. 1923)
2007 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and runner (b. 1930)
2009 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (b. 1923)
2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
2010 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (b. 1923)
2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
2010 – Takumi Shibano, Japanese author and translator (b. 1926)
2012 – Joe Bygraves, Jamaican-English boxer (b. 1931)
2012 – Jimmy Castor, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1940)
2012 – Sigursteinn Gíslason, Icelandic footballer and manager (b. 1968)
2012 – Lorna Kesterson, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch pianist, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1928)
2013 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
2013 – André Cassagnes, French technician and toy maker, created the Etch A Sketch (b. 1926)
2013 – Gussie Moran, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
2013 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (b. 1918)
2013 – Glen P. Robinson, American businessman, founded Scientific Atlanta (b. 1923)
2014 – Gary Arlington, American author and illustrator (b. 1938)
2014 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (b. 1918)
2014 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (b. 1931)
2014 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (b. 1922)
2015 – Miriam Akavia, Polish-Israeli author and translator (b. 1927)
