Events

Up to 1900 
 146 BC - Third Punic War: The Romans take over Carthage.
 2 BC - The Roman senate grants Augustus Caesar the title of "Pater Patriae", meaning "Father of the Fatherland".
 62 - An earthquake strikes Pompeii.
 756 - An Lushan in China declares himself Emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
 1597 - A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
 1638 – The city of Rheinfelden, Switzerland was attacked.
 1778 - South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
 1782 – Spain defeats British forces to win control of Minorca.
 1783 – A series of earthquakes begins in Calabria, Italy.
 1805 – The ship Earl of Abergavenny sinks off Weymouth, southern England, killing 261 people.
 1810 - The Siege of Cadiz begins during the Peninsular War.
 1811 – Due to the continuous health problems of King George III, his son, the future King George IV of the United Kingdom becomes regent.
 1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte becomes king of Sweden.
 1859 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza as the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, on the way to creating the modern Romanian state.
 1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as his own private property.
 1900 – The United States and United Kingdom sign a treaty for the Panama Canal.

1901  2000 
 1909 - Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic. "Synthetic" means it is not a real plastic.
 1913 - Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
 1917 – Mexico's current constitution is adopted, establishing a Federal Republic.
 1918 – The British military transporter ship Tuscania is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Northern Ireland.
 1919 - United Artists is formed by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith.
 1924 – The Winter Olympics in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France end.
 1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
 1937 - The six principles of "Kemalism" become part of Turkey's Constitution.
 1939 - Francisco Franco becomes Caudillo of Spain.
 1945 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
 1958 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is proposed as the first President of the United Arab Republic.
 1961 - The Sunday Telegraph newspaper is founded in the UK.
 1962 - Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be given independence.
 1971 – Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
 1972 – Bob Douglas becomes the first African American in the basketball Hall of Fame.
 1974 - The Mariner 10 space probe passes the planet Venus.
 1975 - Riots break out in Lima, Peru, after the police forces went on strike the day before. The uprising is violently crushed by the country's military dictatorship.
 1985 – After being closed since 1969, Spain's border with Gibraltar is fully reopened.
 1988 – Panama's leader Manuel Noriega is indicted for drug smuggling and money laundering.
 1994 – A mortar shell hits a market place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, killing 60 people and injuring around 200.
 1994 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the murder of Civil rights activist Medgar Evans in 1963.
 1997 - An earthquake in Northeastern Iran kills 100 people.
 2000 - Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.

From 2001 
 2004 – Morecambe Bay, England: 23 Chinese cockle pickers drown after being caught by the incoming tide.
 2006 – Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Seattle Seahawks to win their 5th Super Bowl championship.
 2008 – A tornado outbreak in the southern United States kills 57 people.
 2017 - Cameroon defeats Egypt 2-1 to win the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament in Libreville, Gabon.
 2017 - American football: The New England Patriots come from behind to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in the 51st Super Bowl.

Births

Up to 1900 
 976 – Emperor Sanjo of Japan (d. 1017)
 1505 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (d. 1572)
 1534 - Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian soldier, composer and critic (d. 1612)
 1589 - Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet (d. 1669)
 1594 - Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1663)
 1725 - James Otis, American lawyer and patriot (d. 1783)
 1748 - Elias Stein, Dutch chess player (d. 1812)
 1748 - Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor (d. 1798)
 1784 - Nancy Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1818)
 1788 – Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
 1795 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist and geologist (d. 1871)
 1804 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (d. 1877)
 1808 - Carl Spitzweg, German painter (d. 1885)
 1810 – Ole Bull, Norwegian composer (d. 1880)
 1824 - Alfonso Capecelatro, Italian archbishop, author and librarian (d. 1921)
 1827 – Peter Lalor, leader of the miners at the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (d. 1889)
 1840 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (d. 1921)
 1840 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American inventor (d. 1916)
 1840 - Simeon E. Baldwin, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1927)
 1846 - John C. Cutler, Governor of Utah (d. 1928)
 1848 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (d. 1889)
 1848 - Ignacio Carrero Pinto, Chilean war hero (d. 1882)
 1852 - Terauchi Masatake, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1919)
 1862 - Aleksander Kakowski, Archbishop of Warsaw (d. 1938)
 1866 - Domhnall Ua Buachalla, 3rd Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1963)
 1875 - Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr., American mammalogist, bacteriologist and pathologist (d. 1942)
 1878 – Andre Citroen, French automobile pioneer (d. 1935)
 1880 – Gabriel Voison, French aviation pioneer (d. 1973)
 1889 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
 1892 - Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1959)
 1897 - Dirk Stikker, Dutch NATO Secretary-General (d. 1979)
 1900 – Adlai Stevenson, American politician, 31st Governor of Illinois (d. 1965)

1901  1950 
 1906 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
 1907 – Pierre Pflimlin, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
 1908 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twins (d. 1969)
 1910 – Charles Leblond, Canadian cell biologist (d. 2007)
 1910 – Francisco Varallo, Argentine footballer (d. 2010)
 1911 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
 1914 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (d. 1997)
 1914 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British physiologist and biophysicist (d. 1998)
 1915 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist (d. 1990)
 1915 - Margaret Millar, Canadian author (d. 1994)
 1916 - Ugo Locatelli, Italian footballer (d. 1993)
 1917 - Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
 1919 – Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
 1919 - Red Buttons, American actor (d. 2006)
 1919 - Tim Holt, American actor (d. 1973)
 1921 - Ken Adam, German-born British motion picture designer (d. 2016)
 1921 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
 1923 - Fatmawati, First Lady of Indonesia (d. 1980)
 1923 - Claude King, American musician (d. 2013)
 1924 - Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (d. 2014)
 1926 - Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, American publisher (d. 2012)
 1926 - Stefan Gierasch, American actor (d. 2014)
 1929 – Fred Sinowatz, Chancellor of Austria (d. 2008)
 1929 - Luc Ferrari, French composer (d. 2005)
 1929 - Al Worthington, American baseball player
 1929 - Hal Blaine, American musician
 1930 - Ilon Wikland, Estonian-Swedish illustrator
 1932 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer (d. 2016)
 1933 - Milos Milutinovic, Yugoslavian footballer (d. 2003)
 1933 - Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, Nicaraguan priest, diplomat and politician (d. 2017)
 1934 – Hank Aaron, American Baseball Hall of Famer
 1934 - Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player
 1935 - Charles Turnbull, Governor of the United States Virgin Islands
 1937 – Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player
 1939 - Miguel Boyer, French-Spanish economist and politician (d. 2014)
 1940 - H. R. Giger, Swiss artist (d. 2014)
 1941 – Stephen J. Cannell, American television producer and writer (d. 2010)
 1941 - Cory Wells, American musician (d. 2015)
 1941 – David Selby, American actor
 1941 - Kaspar Villiger, Swiss Federal Councillor
 1943 – Michael Mann, American movie director
 1944 - Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1971)
 1945 - Chubby Brown, British comedian
 1946 – Charlotte Rampling, British actress
 1946 - Mauro Pagani, Italian singer-songwriter and violinist
 1947 - Clemente Mastella, Italian politician
 1948 – Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager
 1948 – Christopher Guest, American actor and director
 1949 – Kurt Beck, German politician
 1950 - Catherine Castel, French actress and make-up artist
 1950 - Marie-Pierre Cassel, French actress
 1950 - Jonathan Freeman, American actor

1951  1975 
 1951 - Russell Grant, British astrologer
 1951 - Robin Sachs, British actor (d. 2013)
 1951 - Nikolay Merkushkin, Russian politician 
 1952 - Daniel Balavoine, French singer and songwriter
 1953 - Gustavo Benitez, Paraguayan footballer
 1954 - Cliff Martinez, American musician
 1959 – Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-born American politician, former Governor of Michigan
 1961 - Albert Anderson, New Zealand rugby player
 1961 - Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
 1961 - Jim Meadows, American actor
 1961 - Hakan Peker, Turkish dancer, songwriter, singer and musical composer
 1962 - Jacqui Dankworth, English jazz singer
 1964 – Laura Linney, American actress
 1964 – Duff McKagan, American musician
 1964 - David Gilmore, American jazz musician
 1965 - Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer
 1966 - Jose Maria Olazabal, Spanish golfer
 1966 - Vivian Wu, Chinese actress
 1969 – Bobby Brown, American singer
 1969 – Michael Sheen, Welsh actor
 1970 - Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
 1972 – Mary E. Donaldson, Crown Princess of Denmark
 1975 – Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dutch footballer
 1975 - Alison Hammond, English television presenter

From 1976 
 1976 – Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
 1976 – John Aloisi, Australian footballer
 1977 – Ben Ainslie, English sailor
 1980 - Patrick Grady, Scottish politician
 1980 - Jo Swinson, Scottish politician
 1980 - Brad Fitzpatrick, American programmer
 1980 - Peter, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia
 1980 - Tiwa Savage, Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress
 1981 - Nora Zehetner, American actress
 1982 - Aidin Nikkah Behrami, Iranian basketball player (d. 2007)
 1982 – Rodrigo Palacio, Argentine footballer
 1984 – Carlos Tevez, Argentine footballer
 1985 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
 1985 - Paul Vandervort, American actor and model
 1986 - Andreas Beck, German tennis player
 1986 – Vedran Corluka, Croatian footballer
 1987 - Linus Omark, Swedish ice hockey player
 1988 - Natalie Geisenberger, German luger
 1990 - Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer
 1991 – Alba Riquelme, Paraguayan model
 1992 – Neymar, Brazilian footballer
 1992 - Stefan de Vrij, Dutch footballer
 1992 - Carina Vogt, German ski jumper, first women's Ski jumping Olympic champion
 1994 - Saki Nakajima, Japanese singer
 1995 - Adnan Januzaj, Belgian footballer
 1995 - Trayvon Martin, American teenager, shooting victim (d. 2012)
 2002 – Davis Cleveland, American actor
 2016 - Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Crown Prince of Bhutan

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 1520 – Sven Sture the Younger, regent of Sweden (b. 1493)
 1578 - Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian painter (b. 1520)
 1661 - Shunzhi Emperor of China (b. 1638)
 1705 - Philipp Jakob Spener, German theologian (b. 1635)
 1754 - Nicolaas Kruik, Dutch astronomer and cartographer (b. 1678)
 1790 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (b. 1710)
 1807 - Pasquale Paoli, Corsican military leader and politician (b. 1725)
 1818 – King Charles XIII of Sweden (b. 1748)
 1881 – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish physician and chemist (b. 1795)
 1882 - Adolfo Rivadeneyra, Spanish traveler, writer and diplomat (b. 1841)
 1889 - Ole Jacob Broch, Norwegian scientist and politician (b. 1818)

1901  2000 
 1917 – Jaber II al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
 1922 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian inventor (b. 1871)
 1927 - Inayat Khan, Indian educator (b. 1882)
 1931 - Athanasios Eftaxias, Greek politician (b. 1849)
 1933 - Joseph Roffo, French rugby player (b. 1879)
 1938 – Hans Litten, German lawyer (b. 1903)
 1941 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (b. 1864)
 1941 - Otto Strandman, 1st Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1864)
 1947 – Hans Fallada, German writer (b. 1893)
 1952 - Adela Verne, English pianist and composer (b. 1877)
 1953 - Iuliu Maniu, Romanian politician (b. 1873)
 1955 - Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and author (b. 1885)
 1969 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1902)
 1972 - Marianne Moore, American writer (b. 1887)
 1976 - Rudy York, American baseball player (b. 1926)
 1981 – Ella Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1919)
 1993 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American writer, producer and director (b. 1909)
 1993 - Tip Tipping, English actor and stuntman (b. 1958)
 1993 - Adnan Kahveci, Turkish politician (b. 1949)
 1997 - Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat (b. 1920)
 1999 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist (b. 1906)

From 2001 
 2005 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, President of Togo (b. 1937)
 2008 – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritual guru (b. 1917)
 2009 – Dana Vavrova, Czech actress (b. 1967)
 2010 – Harry Schwarz, South African lawyer, politician and diplomat (b. 1924)
 2011 – Brian Jacques, British writer (b. 1939)
 2013 - Stuart Freeborn, British make-up artist (b. 1914)
 2013 - Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer (b. 1924)
 2014 - Carlos Borges, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1931)
 2015 - Henri Coppens, Belgian footballer (b. 1930)
 2015 - K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
 2015 - Val Logsdon Fitch, American nuclear physicist (b. 1923)
 2016 - Bodil Malmsten, Swedish poet and novelist (b. 1944)
 2016 - Bill Birchfield, American politician (b. 1935)
 2016 - Ciriaco Cañete, Filipino martial artist (b. 1919)
 2017 - Sonny Geraci, American musician (b. 1947)
 2017 - Björn Granath, Swedish actor (b. 1946)
 2018 - Margot Duhalde, Chilean pilot (b. 1920)
 2021 - Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor (b. 1929)

Observances 
 Constitution Day (Mexico)
 Kashmir Solidarity Day (Kashmir)
 Unity Day (Burundi)
 Runeberg's birthday (Finland)

Trivia 
 A large number of successful footballers and football managers were born on February 5. This includes ones that are currently active in either playing or management, and some who are currently not.

February 05