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 laywer (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)

Days of the year