Title: February 11 Content: ==Events== === Up to 1900 === * 660 BC – Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno. * 244 - mutinous soldiers in Zaitha, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) murder Roman Emperor Gordian III. * 731 – Gregory II ends his reign as Pope. * 824 – Paschal I ends his reign as Pope. * 1531 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England. * 1543 – Battle of Wayna Daga – Ethiopian/Portuguese troops beat Muslim army. * 1752 – Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens. * 1790 – Society of Friends petitions United States Congress for abolition of slavery. * 1794 – First session of United States Senate open to the public. * 1808 – Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally. * 1809 – Robert Fulton patents the steamboat. * 1810 – Napoléon marries Marie-Louise of Austria. * 1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time. * 1814 – Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union. * 1826 – University College London is founded under the name University of London. * 1837 – American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts. * 1840 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris. * 1843 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan. * 1855 - Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia is crowned. * 1858 – The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes. * 1861 – American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. * 1873 – King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates. * 1889 – Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890. === 1901 1950 === * 1902 – Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels. * 1903 – Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna. * 1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos. * 1907 - Paddle steamer Larchmont sinks after colliding with a schooner in Rhode Island Sound, killing 140 people. * 1908 – Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England. * 1916 – Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control. * 1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany. * 1928 – 1928 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland. * 1929 – Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty. * 1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union. * 1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (This play coined the term 'robot.') * 1941 – First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo". * 1943 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe. * 1945 – Yalta Conference ends. * 1948 – John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland. === 1951 2000 === * 1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg * 1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel. * 1961 – Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. * 1963 – The Beatles record 10 tracks for their first album, Please Please Me. * 1964 – At the Washington, DC Coliseum, The Beatles have their 1st live appearance in the United States. * 1964 – Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus. * 1964 – The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France. * 1968 – Israeli- Jordanian border clashes. * 1968 – Madison Square Garden III closes and Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York City. * 1971 – US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters. * 1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place. * 1975 - Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of the Conservative Party. This will lead to her becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. * 1978 – Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens. * 1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran. * 1981 – 100,000 gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers. * 1986 – Rights activist Anatoly Scharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country. * 1987 – Philippines constitution goes into effect. * 1990 – James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win heavyweight boxing crown. * 1990 – Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa. * 1991 – UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands. * 1992 – Art band The KLF subvert the United Kingdom's BRIT Awards. * 1999 – Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet farthest from the sun. It had been the eighth farthest since 1979. It is downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006. === From 2001 === * 2001 - A Dutch programmer starts the Anna Kournikova virus, infecting millions of emails through a trick photo of the tennis player. * 2006 - On a hunting trip near Corpus Christi, Texas, US Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots and injures his friend, multimillionaire lawyer Harry Whittington. * 2008 – East Timor's President José Ramos-Horta is injured in a rebel attack. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado dies in the attack. * 2011 – 2011 Egyptian protests: In the wake of anti-government protests, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak resigns. * 2012 - American singer and actress Whitney Houston is found dead in her hotel room in Los Angeles. * 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI announces that he is to resign as Pope on February 28, as the first Pope to resign in 598 years. * 2014 - At least 76 people are killed in a plane crash in northeastern Algeria. * 2014 - 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: The first Olympic women's Ski jumping competition takes place. The gold medal is won by Carina Vogt of Germany. * 2016 - Scientists announce the discovery of gravitational waves, as predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. ==Births== ===Before 1800=== * 1261 - Otto III, Duke of Bavaria (died 1312) * 1377 - King Ladislaus of Naples (died 1414) * 1380 – Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (died 1459) * 1466 – Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England (died 1503) * 1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (died 1591) * 1568 – Honore d'Urfe, French writer (died 1625) * 1657 - Bernard Le Bovier de Fontanelle, French scientist and writer (died 1757) * 1715 - Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, British collector of art and nature specimens (died 1785) * 1755 – Albert Christoph Dies, German composer (died 1822) * 1764 – Marie-Joseph de Chénier, French poet (died 1611) * 1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek diplomat and Head of State (died 1836) * 1780 – Karoline von Günderode, poet (died 1806) * 1800 – William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer (died 1877) ===1801 - 1900=== * 1802 – Lydia Child, novelist and abolitionist (died 1880) * 1812 – Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy) (died 1883) * 1812 – Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, (died 1883) * 1813 – Otto Ludwig, German novelist, playwright, critic (died 1865) * 1819 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer (died 1890) * 1821 – Auguste Edouard Mariette, French Egyptologist (died 1881) * 1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, musician (died 1913) * 1833 – Melville Weston Fuller, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1910) * 1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, theoretical physicist, chemist (died 1903) * 1847 – Thomas Alva Edison, inventor (died 1931) * 1860 – Rachilde (Marguérite Vallette-Eymery), French writer (died 1953) * 1863 - John F. Fitzgerald, American politician (died 1950) * 1869 – Helene Kroller-Muller, Dutch museum founder and patron of the arts (died 1939) * 1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, lyricist, dramatist and narrator (died 1945) * 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian singer (died 1938) * 1874 – Elsa Beskow (Maartman), Swedish children's book and fairy tale writer, (died 1953) * 1881 – Arthur Davidson, American businessman (d. 1950) * 1887 – John van Melle, South African writer (died 1953) * 1894 – Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer (died 1974) * 1897 - Colgate W. Darden, Governor of Virginia (died 1981) * 1898 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian physicist, peace activist (died 1964) * 1900 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (died 2002) ===1901 - 1925=== * 1902 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect and designer (died 1971) * 1903 – Hans Redlich, composer (d. 1968) * 1904 – Sir Keith Holyoake, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1983) * 1904 - Clarence W. Meadows, Governor of West Virginia (died 1961) * 1908 – Vivian Fuchs, British geologist, explorer (died 1999) * 1908 - Philip Dunne, American screenwriter, director and producer (died 1992) * 1909 – Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), American boxer and actor (died 1959) * 1909 – Joseph Mankiewicz, director (died 1993) * 1911 – Alec Cairncross, chancellor of the University of Glasgow (d. 1998) * 1912 – Roy Fuller, English poet and novelist (died 1991) * 1912 – Rudolf Firkusny, Czech-American pianist (died 1994) * 1914 – Matt Dennis, American singer (died 2002) * 1914 – Menelaos Pallantios, composer * 1915 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, English writer (died 2011) * 1915 – Mervyn Levy, British artist, critic (died 1996) * 1915 – Haakon Stotijn, Dutch oboist * 1916 – Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco, California (died 1998) * 1916 – Bernice Levin Neugarten, social scientist, gerontologist * 1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American writer (died 2007) * 1917 - Giuseppe Santis, Italian film director (died 1997) * 1919 – Gretchen Fraser, American slalom skier (died 1994) * 1919 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (died 1995) * 1919 - Anne-Stine Ingstad, Norwegian archaeologist (died 1997) * 1919 – Eddie Robinson, college football coach. * 1920 – King Farouk I of Egypt (died 1965) * 1920 – Daniel Galouye, American science fiction writer (died 2006) * 1920 – Billy Halop, American actor (died 1976) * 1920 – Paul Peter Piech, artist (died 1996) * 1921 – Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (died 2006) * 1921 - Jacques Friedel, French physicist (died 2014) * 1921 - Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer (died 2013) * 1922 – Tudor Jarda, composer * 1923 – Ronald Arculus, British diplomat * 1924 – Mary Tregear, Chinese-British Oriental art historian (died 2010) * 1924 - Budge Patty, American tennis player * 1925 – Peter Berger, British Vice-Admiral (died 2003) * 1925 – Virginia E. Johnson, American doctor and sexologist (died 2013) * 1925 – Kim Stanley, American actress (died 2001) === 1926 - 1950 === * 1926 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (died 2018) * 1926 – Alexander Gibson, British conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (died 1995) * 1926 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor (died 2010) * 1927 - Albano Harguindeguy, Argentine military (died 2012) * 1928 – Gotthilf Fischer, German choirmaster * 1928 – Archibald Forster, CEO (Esso UK) * 1928 – Conrad Janis, American actor * 1929 - Albert Azaryan, Armenian gymnast * 1929 – Leonard Kastle, American composer (died 2011) * 1931 – Larry Merchant, American writer, boxing commentator * 1932 – Jerome Lowenthal, American pianist, professor * 1932 - Dennis Skinner, English politician * 1934 – Tina Louise, American singer, actress and author * 1934 – Francesco Pennisi, composer * 1934 – Mary Quant, British fashion designer * 1934 – John Surtees, British race car driver (died 2017) * 1934 - Mel Carnahan, 51st Governor of Missouri * 1935 – Bent Lorentzen, composer * 1936 – Burt Reynolds, American actor * 1937 – Lodewijk Boer, Dutch violinist, playwright * 1937 – Marilyn Butler, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford * 1937 – Peter Lashley, West Indies cricketer * 1937 – Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer * 1937 - Mauro Staccioli, Italian sculptor (died 2018) * 1938 – Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer (died 2018) * 1938 – Willy Correa de Oliveira, composer * 1938 - Mohammed Gammoudi, Tunisian athlete * 1938 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator (died 2017) * 1939 – Gerry Goffin, American lyricist (died 2014) * 1939 – Jane Yolen, American science fiction writer * 1940 – Bobby Picket, American musician (died 2007) * 1940 - Mick Staton, American politician (died 2014) * 1941 – Sergio Mendes, Brazilian musician and songwriter * 1942 – Otis Clay, American gospel and R&B; singer (died 2016) * 1943 – Iain Cameron, British brigadier * 1943 - Gerhard Glogowski, German politician * 1943 - Joselito, Spanish singer * 1943 - Serge Lama, French singer * 1944 – Buddhadev Dasgupta, Indian movie director * 1944 – Bert Greene, golfer * 1944 - Mike Oxley, American politician (died 2016) * 1945 - Ralph Doubell, Australian athlete * 1945 - Burhan Ghalioun, French-Syrian professor of sociology * 1946 – Ian Porterfield, British footballer (died 2007) * 1947 – Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan * 1947 - Derek Shulman, Scottish musician * 1948 - Chris Rush, American comedian, actor and author * 1948 - Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (died 2014) ===1951 - 1975=== * 1953 – Jeb Bush, American politician, former Governor of Florida * 1953 – Philip Anglim, American actor * 1954 - Wesley Strick, American screenwriter * 1955 - Anneli Jaatteenmaki, former Prime Minister of Finland * 1956 - Catherine Hickland, American actress and singer * 1959 - Bradley Cole, American actor * 1959 - Harold J. Greene, American general (died 2014) * 1959 - Deborah Meaden, British businesswoman * 1960 - Richard Mastracchio, American engineer and astronaut * 1960 - Momus, Scottish musician, author and journalist * 1961 – Mary Docter, speed skater * 1961 – Carey Lowell, American actress * 1962 - Tammy Baldwin, American politician, United States Senator for Wisconsin * 1962 – Sheryl Crow, American musician * 1964 – Sarah Palin, American politician, former Governor of Alaska * 1964 - Adrian Hasler, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein * 1964 - Ken Shamrock, American professional wrestler and martial artist * 1966 - Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, controversial French comedian * 1969 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress * 1970 – Alistair Brown, English cricketer * 1971 - Damian Lewis, English actor * 1972 - Dennis McManaman, English footballer * 1972 - Kelly Slater, American surfer * 1973 - Varg Vikernes, Norwegian musician * 1974 – D'Angelo, singer * 1974 - Nick Barmby, English footballer * 1974 – Alex Jones, American radio host * 1974 - Jaroslav Spacek, Czech ice hockey player * 1975 – Chuck Watanabe, American kayaker === From 1976 === * 1977 - Mike Shinoda, American musician * 1979 – Brandy Norwood, American singer and actress * 1980 – Natasha Bobo, actress * 1980 – Mark Bresciano, Australian footballer * 1980 – Matthew Lawrence, American actor * 1981 – Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child) * 1982 – Neil Robertson, Australian snooker player * 1982 - Natalie Dormer, British actress * 1983 – Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch footballer * 1983 - Huang Shengyi, Chinese actress * 1984 - Maxime Talbot, Canadian ice hockey player * 1985 - Sarah Butler, American actress * 1987 - Lembi Vaher, Estonian pole vaulter * 1987 - Ebba Busch Thor, Swedish politician * 1988 - Junjun, Chinese- Japanese singer * 1990 - Javier Aquino, Mexican footballer * 1990 - Princess Ayah bint Al Faisal, of Jordan * 1990 - Go Ara, South Korean actress * 1990 - Q'orianka Kilcher, American actress * 1990 - Hwang Chan-sung, South Korean singer, rapper and actor * 1991 - Georgia May Foote, British actress * 1991 - Nikola Mirotic, Montenegrin-Spanish basketball player * 1991 - Christofer Drew, American singer and composer * 1992 – Taylor Lautner, American actor * 1992 - Georgia Groome, British actress * 1993 - Ben McLemore, American basketball player * 1994 - Dominic Janes, American actor * 1996 - Jonathan Tah, German footballer ==Deaths== ===Before 1900=== * 55 - Britannicus, son of Claudius (b. 41) * 244 - Gordian III, Roman Emperor * 641 – Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium in 610–641 (born ca. 575) * 731 – Pope Gregory II * 821 – Saint Benedict of Aniane (born ca. 747) * 824 – Pope Paschal I * 1141 – Hugo of St. Victor, philosopher, theologian, mystic * 1160 - Minamoto no Yoshitomo, Japanese general (born 1123) * 1503 – Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England (born 1466) * 1543 – Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal * 1622 – Alfonso Fontanelli, composer * 1626 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (born 1552) * 1650 – René Descartes, French philosopher (born 1596) * 1685 – David Teniers III, Flemish painter (born 1638) * 1713 - Jahandar Shah, Mughal Emperor (born 1664) * 1762 – Johann Tobias Krebs, composer (born 1690) * 1763 – William Shenstone, poet (born 1714) * 1795 - Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (born 1740) * 1797 – Antoine Dauvergne, composer (born 1713) * 1806 – Vicente Martín y Soler, composer * 1829 - Alexander Griboyedov, Russian diplomat, playwright, poet and composer (born 1795) * 1841 – J H Ferdinand Olivier, German painter * 1848 - Thomas Cole, British-American painter (born 1801) * 1862 – Elizabeth Siddal, poet and artist (born 1829) * 1868 – Léon Foucault, French astronomer (born 1819) * 1870 – Leopold Eugen Mechura, composer * 1871 – Gaspard Théodore Ignace de la Fontaine, Luxembourg politician * 1879 – Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter (born 1808) * 1879 – Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch writer * 1882 – Gustav Schmidt, composer (born 1874) * 1892 – Erik Anthon Valdemar Siboni, composer * 1894 – Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera, composer ===1901 - 2000=== * 1903 – Henryk Szulc, composer * 1907 – Peter J Savelberg, Dutch monastery founder * 1911 – Albert von Rothschild, baron, Austrian banker * 1917 - Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician (born 1872) * 1918 - Taytou Betul, Empress of Ethiopia (born 1851) * 1922 – Gerardus J P Bolland, Dutch philosopher * 1931 – Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (born 1854) * 1937 - Walter Burley Griffin, American architect and city planner (born 1876) * 1939 – Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (born 1874) * 1940 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish writer and Governor-General of Canada (born 1875) * 1942 - Jamnalal Bajaj, Indian industrialist, philanthropist and independence activist (born 1884) * 1945 – Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter (born 1891) * 1945 – J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter * 1948 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian movie director (born 1898) * 1958 - Ernest Jones, British neurologist and psychoanalyst (born 1879) * 1959 – Marshall Teague, race car driver (born 1922) * 1960 – Ernst von Dohnanyi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877) * 1960 - Victor Klemperer, German writer (born 1881) * 1961 – Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor, director * 1963 – Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist (born 1932) * 1968 – Howard Lindsay, playwright (born 1888) * 1970 – Emil Abranyi, composer * 1971 – Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director * 1972 – Jan Wils, architect (born 1891) * 1973 – Hans D Jensen, German physicist (born 1907) * 1975 - Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar (born 1931) * 1976 – Lee J Cobb, actor (born 1911) * 1976 – Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (born 1894) * 1977 – Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1946–1948, 1958–1959) (born 1902) * 1977 - Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, 5th President of Pakistan (born 1905) * 1978 – James B Conant, headmaster of Harvard University * 1978 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer (born 1904) * 1982 – Eleanor Powell, actress, dancer (born 1912) * 1982 – Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (born 1905) * 1985 – Henry Hathaway American actor, director (born 1898) * 1985 – Ulysses Simpson Kay, composer * 1985 – Heinz Eric Roemheld, composer (born 1901) * 1986 – Frank Herbert, science fiction writer (born 1920) * 1989 – George O'Hanlon, American actor, director (born 1912) * 1991 – Oscar Nitzchke, German architect * 1993 - Robert W. Holley, American scientist (born 1922) * 1993 – George A Stephen, inventor * 1994 – Neil Bonnett, NASCAR driver (born 1946) * 1994 – Sorrell Brooke, actor * 1994 – William Conrad, actor * 1994 - Paul Feyerabend, Austrian philosopher (born 1924) * 1996 – Kebby Musokotwane, Prime Minister of Zambia (born 1946) * 1996 – Cyril Poole, English cricket player * 1996 – Amelia Rosselli, poet * 2000 – Roger Vadim, French director (born 1928) * 2000 - Jacqueline Auriol, French pilot (born 1917) === From 2001 === * 2003 – Arndt Brause, Schlager singer * 2003 – Daniel Toscan du Plantier, movie producer * 2006 - Peter Benchley, American writer (born 1940) * 2008 – Tom Lantos, American politician (born 1928) * 2008 - Alfredo Reinado, East Timorese rebel leader (born 1967) * 2010 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (born 1969) * 2010 – Irina Arkhipova, Russian singer (born 1925) * 2011 - Bo Carpelan, Finnish writer (born 1926) * 2011 – Bad News Brown, Canadian musician (born 1977) * 2012 – Whitney Houston, American singer and actress (born 1963) * 2014 - Alice Babs, Swedish singer (born 1924) * 2015 - Roger Hanin, French actor and director (born 1925) * 2015 - Bob Simon, American journalist (born 1941) * 2015 - Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player (born 1930) * 2015 - Anne Cuneo, Swiss journalist and author (born 1936) * 2016 - Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial arts fighter and wrestler (born 1971) * 2017 - Chavo Guerrero Sr., American professional wrestler (born 1949) * 2017 - Fab Melo, Brazilian basketball player (born 1990) * 2017 - Jiro Taniguchi, Japanese manga artist (born 1947) * 2017 - Harvey Lichtenstein, American arts administrator (born 1929) * 2018 - Asma Jahangir, Pakistani lawyer (born 1952) * 2018 - Vic Damone, American singer and actor (born 1928) * 2018 - Jon D. Fox, American politician (born 1947) * 2018 - Jan Maxwell, American actress (born 1956) * 2018 - Nicholas Shehadie, Australian rugby player (born 1925) ==Holidays and observances== * Catholicism – Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes * World Day of the Sick * Armed Forces Day (Liberia) * Islamic Revolution's Victory Day (Iran) * National Foundation Day (Japan) * Youth Day (Cameroon) * Inventors' Day (United States) Category:Days of the year