Title: February 1 Content: ==Events== === Up to 1900 === * 1327 – Edward III is crowned King of England. * 1329 - King John of Bohemia captures Medvegalis, an important fortress of the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and baptizes 6,000 of its defenders. * 1662 – The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine- month siege. * 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being stranded on one of the Juan Fernandez Islands (now belonging to Chile). This inspires the story of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. * 1713 – The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized. * 1788 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat. * 1790 – In New York City the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time. * 1793 – France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. * 1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York. * 1814 – The Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people. This is the most devastating eruption of the Mayon Volcano. * 1835 - Slavery is banned in Mauritius. * 1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States. * 1862 – Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time (Atlantic Monthly). * 1865 - Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, banning slavery and slave keeping. * 1880 – The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published. * 1884 – Volume 1 of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. * 1893 – Thomas Edison finishes construction of the first movie studio (West Orange, New Jersey). * 1895 - Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger. * 1896 – The opera La bohème premieres (Turin). * 1897 - The Shinhan Bank opens in Seoul. It is the oldest bank in what is now South Korea. === 1901 1950 === * 1904 - Iceland gets increased autonomy from Denmark. * 1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon. * 1913 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station. * 1915 - Photographs are required in United Kingdom passports for the first time. * 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar. * 1919 – The first Miss America is crowned (New York City). * 1920 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations. * 1924 – The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR. * 1929 – Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method. * 1933 - Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the Reichstag under recommendation from Adolf Hitler. * 1942 – World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers. * 1942 - Voice of America begins broadcasting. * 1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General. * 1946 - Hungary is declared a republic with Zoltan Tildy as President. * 1948 - The Federation of Malaya is founded. === 1951 2000 === * 1953 – In the night following January 31 large parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and the southeastern United Kingdom are flooded after heavy storms. * 1958 – Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961. * 1959 - Neuchatel and Vaud become the first cantons of Switzerland to allow women to vote. * 1960 – Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. * 1964 - The Beatles have their first US Number One - "I Want to Hold Your Hand". * 1965 - Hamilton River in Labrador, Canada, is renamed Churchill River, after Winston Churchill, who had died just over a week earlier. * 1968 – Vietnam War: NLF officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war. * 1970 - Two trains collide in Benavidez, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. With 236 people being killed, this is the deadliest accident in Argentine rail travel. * 1972 - Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by Royal Charter. * 1974 - Kuala Lumpur is declared a federal territory of Malaysia. * 1974 – In São Paulo, Brazil, a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293. Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory. * 1978 – Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl. * 1978 - In Finland, Urho Kekkonen is elected to a fifth term in-a-row as President. * 1979 – Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter. * 1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile. * 1982 – Senegal and The Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia. * 1985 - Aeroflot Flight 7841 crashes shortly after take-off from Minsk, killing 58 people. * 1989 - Boulder and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia form the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. * 1991 - USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 collide on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 34 people. * 1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex- CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case. * 1993 - Gary Bettman becomes the first commissioner of the NHL. * 1994 – In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. * 1995 – Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK. * 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. * 1998 - Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. * 1999 – North Dakota Public Radio is launched. === From 2001 === * 2002 - Having been taken hostage, American journalist Daniel Pearl is killed by his captors. * 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts on board. * 2004 – At least 244 people are trampled to death in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. * 2004 – At the Super Bowl half-time show, part of Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during a routine with Justin Timberlake. This started the 'Nipplegate' scandal. * 2009 – Johanna Sigurdardottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland. She is the world's first national head of government in a same-sex relationship. * 2012 – Violence following a football match in Port Said, Egypt, results in 74 deaths. * 2013 - John Kerry becomes United States Secretary of State. * 2013 - The Shard in London, the EU's tallest building, opens to the public. * 2014 - Janet Yellen becomes the first woman to serve as Head of the United States Federal Reserve, succeeding Ben Bernanke. * 2016 - The Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes and causing deformities in newborn babies in South America and Central America, is declared a major world health emergency by the World Health Organization. * 2017 - Rex Tillerson is confirmed as United States Secretary of State. * 2021 - The coup d'état in Myanmar happens. ==Births== === Up to 1900 === * 1261 - Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (d. 1326) * 1394 - Ikkyu, Japanese Zen master and poet (d. 1481) * 1435 - Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (d. 1472) * 1459 - Conrad Celtis, German poet (d. 1508) * 1462 - Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (d. 1516) * 1501 - Queen Munjeong of Korea (d. 1565) * 1552 – Edward Coke, English jurist and politician (d. 1634) * 1648 - Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (d. 1724) * 1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729) * 1673 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian poet, composer, and philosopher (d. 1747) * 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German composer, and violinist (d. 1733) * 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (d. 1768) * 1701 - Johan Agrell, Swedish-born German composer (d. 1765) * 1761 – Christian Hendrik Persoon, mycologist (d. 1836) * 1801 – Thomas Cole, English-born American painter (d. 1848) * 1807 - William B. Campbell, 16th Governor of Tennessee (d. 1867) * 1825 - James W. Throckmorton, 25th Governor of Texas (d. 1894) * 1844 – G. Stanley Hall, psychologist (d. 1844) * 1851 - Durham Stevens, American diplomat (d. 1908) * 1858 - Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (d. 1942) * 1859 – Victor Herbert, composer (d. 1924) * 1872 - Clara Butt, English contralto (d. 1936) * 1873 - Joseph Allard, Canadian fiddler (d. 1947) * 1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (d. 1929) * 1878 - Alfred Hajos, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d. 1955) * 1878 - Milan Hodza, Slovakian politician (d. 1944) * 1878 - Hattie Wyatt Caraway, United States Senator (d. 1950) * 1879 - Henry Chrétien, French astronomer, professor, and inventor (d. 1956) * 1882 – Louis Stephen St. Laurent, twelfth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973) * 1882 - Prince Andrew of Greece (d. 1944) * 1884 - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer (d. 1937) * 1885 - Camille Chautemps, Prime Minister of France (d. 1963) * 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born writer (d. 1947) * 1888 - Charles January, American soccer player (d. 1970) * 1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973) * 1894 – James P. Johnson, pianist, composer (d. 1955) * 1894 - Lucian Grigorescu, Romanian painter (d. 1965) * 1896 - Anastasio Somoza Garcia, President of Nicaragua (d. 1956) * 1898 – Leila Denmark, American physician and supercentenarian (d. 2012) === 1901 1925 === * 1901 – Frank Buckles, American World War I veteran and supercentenarian (d. 2011) * 1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960) * 1902 – Langston Hughes, American writer (d. 1967) * 1904 - Franciska Gaal, Jewish-Hungarian cabaret artist and actress (d. 1973) * 1904 – S. J. Perelman, humorist, writer (d. 1979) * 1905 – Emilio G. Segré, Italian physicist (d. 1989) * 1906 - Adetokunbo Ademola, Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993) * 1907 – Günter Eich, lyricist (d. 1972) * 1908 – George Pal, director, producer (d. 1980) * 1909 - George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013) * 1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (d. 2009) * 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (d. 2000) * 1915 - Alicia Rhett, American actress (d. 2014) * 1915 - Victor Shem-Tov, Bulgarian-Israeli politician (d. 2014) * 1917 - Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player * 1918 – Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish writer (d. 2006) * 1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017) * 1921 - Ann Z. Caracristi, American cryptanalyst (d. 2016) * 1921 - Winton M. Blount, United States Postmaster General (d. 2002) * 1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004) * 1924 - Richard Hooker, American writer (d. 1997) * 1924 - Emmanuel Scheffer, German-born Israeli footballer and coach (d. 2012) * 1925 – Alfred Grosser, political scientist and publicist === 1926 1950 === * 1927 - Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014) * 1927 – Günter Guillaume, German spy (d. 1995) * 1928 – Tom Lantos, American politician (d. 2008) * 1928 (or 1929) – Stuart Whitman, American actor * 1930 - Maria Helena Walsh, Argentine writer and journalist (d. 2011) * 1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, former President of Bangladesh * 1930 - Hussein Muhammad Ershad, former President of Bangladesh * 1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, former President of Bangladesh (d. 2012) * 1931 – Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia (d. 2007) * 1932 - Hassan al-Turabi, Sudanese religious and political leader (d. 2016) * 1933 - Wendell R. Anderson, former Governor of Minnesota * 1934 - Nicolae Breban, Romanian writer * 1934 - Ninan Koshy, Indian thinker, theologian and social analyst (d. 2015) * 1934 - Bob Shane, American singer * 1935 – Dieter Kühn, writer * 1936 - Azie Taylor Morton, American politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003) * 1937 – Don Everly, American musician * 1937 – Garrett Morris, American comedian * 1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor (d. 2012) * 1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009) * 1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, philosopher and writer * 1939 - Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014) * 1939 - Claude François, French singer and composer (d. 1978) * 1939 - Yuri Rost, Russian photographer, journalist and traveller * 1940 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996) * 1941 - Jerry Spinelli, American writer * 1941 - Teofil Codreanu, Romanian footballer (d. 2016) * 1942 – Terry Jones, British actor and writer (Monty Python's Flying Circus) (d. 2020) * 1942 - Muna Wassef, Syrian actress * 1943 - Rosemarie Frankland, Welsh actress and model (d. 2000) * 1944 - Petru Popescu, Romanian-American writer, director, movie producer and writer * 1944 - Dick Snyder, American basketball player * 1944 – Mike Enzi, United States Senator for Wyoming (d. 2021) * 1946 – Bart Braverman, American actor * 1946 - Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011) * 1947 - Adam Ingram, Scottish politician * 1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983) * 1948 – Rick James, American musician, composer (d. 2004) * 1949 - Franco Causio, Italian footballer * 1950 - Mike Campbell, American guitarist and producer * 1950 - Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician * 1950 - Alan Moller, American meteorologist, storm chaser and photographer (d. 2014) === 1951 1975 === * 1951 - John McNally, Scottish politician * 1951 - Andrew Smith, English politician * 1952 - Roger Y. Tsien, Chinese-American cell biologist and Nobel Prize winner (d. 2016) * 1953 - Periko Alonso, Spanish footballer * 1954 – Bill Mumy, American actor and musician * 1955 - Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian politician (d. 2012) * 1955 - Ernie Camacho, American baseball player * 1956 - Brahmanandam, Indian actor * 1956 – Exene Cervenka, American musician (X) * 1956 - Mike Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player * 1957 - Renae Jacobs, American voice actress * 1957 - Walter Schachner, Austrian footballer * 1958 - William Dufris, American voice actor and audiobook narrator (d. 2020) * 1958 - Ryo Horikawa, Japanese guitarist * 1958 - Margie Abbott, wife of Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott * 1958 - Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician * 1961 - Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut * 1962 - Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi politician * 1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese rock guitarist * 1963 - Takashi Murakami, Japanese artist * 1964 - Linus Roache, British actor * 1964 – Jani Lane, American musician (d. 2011) * 1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993) * 1965 – Princess Stéphanie of Monaco * 1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress * 1966 - Vasilis Dimitriades, Greek footballer * 1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player * 1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American actress * 1968 – Pauly Shore, American comedian * 1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer * 1969 – Joshua Redman, American jazz musician * 1969 - Brian Krause, American actor * 1969 - Nino Salukvadze, Georgian sports shooter * 1969 - Andrew Breitbart, American conservative publicist and journalist (d. 2012) * 1971 – Jill Kelly, erotic actress * 1971 – Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer * 1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor * 1972 - Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner * 1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer * 1972 - Johan Wadem, Belgian footballer * 1973 - Oscar Perez, Mexican footballer * 1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist * 1974 - Walter McCarty, American basketball player * 1975 - Katerina Thanou, Greek athlete * 1975 – Big Boi, American musician (Outkast) === From 1976 === * 1976 - Katrin Jakobsdottir, Icelandic politician, Prime Minister of Iceland * 1977 - Kevin Kilbane, English-Irish footballer * 1977 - Libor Sionko, Czech footballer * 1978 - K'naan, Somali singer * 1978 – Julie Roberts, American country music singer * 1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer * 1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorean footballer (d. 2005) * 1980 - Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player * 1980 - Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player * 1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer * 1982 - Daisy Betts, Australian actress * 1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player * 1982 - Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer * 1982 - Kim Jong-wook, South Korean singer * 1983 - Andrew VanWyngarden, American musician * 1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer * 1984 - Lee Thompson Young, American actor (d. 2013) * 1985 - Karine Sergerie, Canadian taekwondo world champion * 1985 – Dean Shiels, Northern Irish footballer * 1986 - Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater * 1986 – Lauren Conrad, American television personality * 1986 – Johan Vonlanthen, Swiss footballer * 1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer * 1987 - Heather Morris, American actress and dancer * 1987 - Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer * 1987 - Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist, judoka and actress * 1989 - Alfred Finnbogason, Icelandic footballer * 1990 - Dan Gosling, English footballer * 1990 – Laura Marling, English singer-songwriter * 1994 - Harry Styles, English singer (One Direction) * 1994 - Skylar Laine, American singer-songwriter * 1995 - Oliver Heldens, Dutch DJ, musician and producer * 1996 - Dionne Bromfield, English singer-songwriter * 2000 - Paris Smith, American actress and singer ==Deaths== === Up to 1900 === * 772 - Pope Stephen III (b. 720) * 1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207) * 1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294) * 1542 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480) * 1563 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia * 1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610) * 1733 – Augustus III of Poland (b. 1670) * 1734 - John Floyer, English physician and writer (b. 1649) * 1743 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657) * 1750 - Bakar of Georgia, Georgian prince and politician (b. 1699) * 1793 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, English statesman (b. 1717) * 1851 – Mary Shelley, British writer of Frankenstein (b. 1797) * 1871 - Alexander Serov, Russian composer (b. 1820) * 1873 - Matthew Fontaine Maury, American naval officer (b. 1806) * 1893 - George Henry Sanderson, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824) * 1897 - Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826) === 1901 2000 === * 1903 - George Gabriel Stokes, Irish physicist (b. 1819) * 1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863) * 1908 – Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal (b. 1887) * 1922 - William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872) * 1928 - Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869) * 1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and Prime Minister (b. 1878) * 1941 - Walter Abbott, English footballer (b. 1877) * 1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch artist (b. 1872) * 1945 – Prince Kiril of Bulgaria (b. 1895) * 1949 - Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and activist (b. 1880) * 1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890) * 1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist (b. 1888) * 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895) * 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist (b. 1901) * 1976 – George Whipple, American doctor, won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878) * 1980 - Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (b. 1930) * 1981 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908) * 1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1902) * 1987 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director (b. 1900) * 1988 – Heather O'Rourke, American child actress (b. 1975) * 1989 - Elaine de Kooning, American painter (b. 1918) * 1995 - Richey James Edwards, Welsh singer and musician (b. 1967) * 1999 - Baris Manco, Turkish musician (b. 1943) === From 2001 === * 2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (b. 1925) * 2002 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist * 2003 - Deaths in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster: **Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959) **David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956) **Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut (b. 1961) **Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961) **Rick D. Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957) **Willie McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961) **Ilan Ramon, Israeli astronaut (b. 1954) * 2004 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer (b. 1931) * 2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer (b. 1911) * 2007 – Ahmed Abu Laban, Danish Muslim leader (b. 1946) * 2009 – Lukas Foss, German- born composer (b. 1922) * 2010 – Steingrimur Hermannsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1928) * 2010 – Justin Mentell, American actor (b. 1982) * 2012 – Wislawa Szymborska, Polish poet (b. 1923) * 2012 – Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer (b. 1921) * 2012 - Don Cornelius, American TV host (b . 1936) * 2013 - Ed Koch, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924) * 2013 - Barney, pet dog of George W. Bush (b. 2000) * 2013 - Robin Sachs, British actor (b. 1951) * 2014 - Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938) * 2014 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1930) * 2014 - Vasily Ivanovich Petrov, Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1917) * 2014 - Rene Ricard, American poet (b. 1946) * 2015 - Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925) * 2015 - Ann Mara, American football team owner (b. 1929) * 2015 - Monty Oum, American animator (b. 1981) * 2016 - Thomas Tigue, American politician (b. 1945) * 2016 - Paul Pholeros, Australian architect (b. 1953) * 2017 - E. Ahamed, Indian politician (b. 1938) * 2017 - Albano Bortoletto Cavallin, Brazilian archbishop (b. 1930) * 2017 - Sandy Gandhi, Indian- Australian comedian (b. 1958) * 2017 - Desmond Carrington, English actor (b. 1926) * 2017 - Stig Grybe, Swedish actor (b. 1928) * 2017 - Ken Morrison, English businessman (b. 1931) * 2017 - Cor van der Hoeven, Dutch footballer (b. 1921) * 2017 - Asim Basu, Indian theatre director (b. 1935) * 2017 - Lars- Erik Berenett, Swedish actor (b. 1942) * 2017 - Ken Morrison, English businessman (b. 1931) * 2017 - Edward Tipper, American World War II veteran (b. 1921) * 2018 - Niranjan Bhagat, Indian poet (b. 1926) * 2018 - Hazar Khan Bijarani, Pakistani politician (b. 1946) * 2018 - Dennis Edwards, American singer (b. 1943) * 2018 - Barys Kit, Belarussian mathematician, physicist, chemist and rocket scientist (b. 1910) * 2018 - Su Bai, Chinese archaeologist (b. 1922) * 2018 - Omar Aggad, Palestinian-Saudi businessman (b. 1927) * 2018 - John Jacob Lavranos, South African botanist (b. 1926) ==Observances== * Start of Black History Month (Canada and United States) * Start of LGBT History Month (UK) * Freedom Day (United States) * Heroes Day (Rwanda) * Imbolc, a cross-quarter day in the Celtic calendar * St. Brigid's Day (Ireland) * Basque region - The alluvial Pheasant Island is controlled by Spain from this date until July 31 02-01