Events

Up to 1900 
 457 – Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
 1074 - Pandulf IV of Benevento is killed battling the invading Normans at the Battle of Montesarchio.
 1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales.
 1497 - The Bonfire of the Vanities occurs, in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burns thousands of objects like cosmetics, art and books in Florence, Italy.
 1783 - Spanish and French forces end the Siege of Gibraltar.
 1785 - William Herschel discovers the Antennae Galaxies.
 1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is accepted.
 1807 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Eylau in Poland begins.
 1812 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
 1819 - Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore shortly after taking it over, leaving the governing duties to William Farquhar.
 1855 - The Treaty of Shimoda is signed, determining which of the Kuril islands are Japanese and which are Russian.
 1863 - The ship HMS Orpheus sinks off Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189 people.
 1897 - The first full-scale battle of the Greco-Turkish War occurs.
 1898 - Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse, in which he questioned the guilt of Alfred Dreyfus in the Dreyfus Affair.
 1900 – The British Labour Party is formed.

1901  2000 
 1904 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland, destroys 1,500 buildings.
 1922 - Antonio Maria da Silva becomes Prime Minister of Portugal for a second time.
 1935 - The Monopoly board game is invented.
 1940 - The second full-length animated Walt Disney movie, Pinocchio, is shown for the first time.
 1943 - World War II: Japanese forces complete the evacuation of the Imperial Japanese Army from Guadalcanal.
 1948 - Neil Harvey becomes the youngest Australian to score a century in a test cricket match.
 1951 - Korean War: Sancheong-Hamyang massacre.
 1962 - The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
 1971 – Women gain the right to vote in Switzerland.
 1974 – Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
 1976 - Daniel Sittler sets an National Hockey League record by scoring 10 points in a single game.
 1979 – For the first time since its discovery, the dwarf planet Pluto orbits the Sun closer than Neptune.
 1984 – US astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart perform the first untethered spacewalk.
 1986 - The rule of the Duvalier family in Haiti comes to an end when Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") leaves the country.
 1990 – Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly of power.
 1991 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide becomes President of Haiti.
 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed to officially form the European Union.
 1995 - Ramzi Yousef, who planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
 1998 – The 1998 Winter Olympics open in Nagano, Japan.
 1999 - Abdullah II of Jordan becomes King, after the death of his father, King Hussein of Jordan.
 1999 - A border conflict begins between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
 1999 - NASA's Stardust probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida to study comets.

From 2001 
 2005 - Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest round-the-world sailor, though this record has since been beaten.
 2009 – Bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria kill 173 people.
 2012 - After a political crisis in the Maldives, President Mohamed Nasheed resigns, and is replaced my Mohammed Waheed Hassan.
 2014 - The 2014 Winter Olympics begin in Sochi, southern Russia.
 2015 - More than 30 people are killed in separate bomb attacks in Baghdad.
 2016 - North Korea announces that it has launched a rocket.
 2016 - The Denver Broncos win the 50th Super Bowl, defeating the Carolina Panthers 24-10.

Births

Up to 1900 
 572 - Prince Shotoku of Japan (d. 622)
 1102 – Princess Matilda, Princess of England and wife of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1169)
 1478 – Sir Thomas More, English statesman, humanist, and writer (d. 1535)
 1606 - Nicolas Mignard, French painter (d. 1668)
 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia (d. 1740)
 1741 - Henri Fuseli, Swiss painter (d. 1825)
 1758 - Benedikt Schack, Czech composer and tenor (d. 1826)
 1804 - John Deere, American manufacturer (d. 1886)
 1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist (d. 1870)
 1816 - Jean Frédéric Frenet, French astronomer, mathematician and meteorologist (d. 1900)
 1817 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist (d. 1895)
 1824 - William Huggins, British astronomer and physicist (d. 1910)
 1825 - Karl Möbius, German zoologist (d. 1908)
 1837 - James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
 1842 - Alexandre Ribot, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
 1862 - Horace F. Graham, Governor of Vermont (d. 1941)
 1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American writer (d. 1957)
 1870 – Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (d. 1937)
 1873 - Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (d. 1912)
 1877 – G.H. Hardy, British mathematician (d. 1947)
 1878 - Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (d. 1936)
 1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1951)
 1887 - Eubie Blake, American musician and composer (d. 1983)
 1889 - Harry Nyquist, contributor to Information Theory (d. 1976)
 1893 - Joseph Algernon Pearce, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1988)
 1895 – Anita Stewart, American movie actress (d. 1961)
 1898 – Dock Boggs, American musician (d. 1971)

1901  1950 
 1901 - Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand politician (d. 1989)
 1905 – Paul Nizan, French writer (d. 1940)
 1905 - Rene de Cossel, French mathematician (d. 1974)
 1905 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist (d. 1983)
 1906 – Henry Pu-yi, Emperor of China (d. 1967)
 1906 - Oleg Antonov, Soviet aircraft designer (d. 1984)
 1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
 1909 – Helder Camara, Brazilian archbishop (d. 1999)
 1909 - Silvio Zavala, Mexican historian (d. 2014)
 1912 - Roberta McCain, mother of John McCain (d. 2020)
 1912 - Roy Sullivan, American survivor of seven lightning strikes (d. 1983)
 1914 – Ramón Mercader, Spanish assassin of Leon Trotsky (d. 1978)
 1915 - Teoctist, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 2007)
 1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor (d. 2002)
 1920 – An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
 1922 – Hattie Jacques, English actress (d. 1980)
 1923 - Dora Bryan, English actress (d. 2014)
 1926 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2009)
 1926 - Mark Taimanov, Russian pianist and chess player (d. 2016)
 1927 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress
 1927 – Vladimir Kuts, Russian runner
 1927 - Patsy Swayze, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2013)
 1928 - Lincoln D. Faurer, American general (d. 2014)
 1929 - Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean actor, director and screenwriter
 1932 – Gay Talese, American writer
 1932 – Alfred Worden, American astronaut
 1933 - K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
 1934 – Earl King, American musician (d. 2003)
 1934 – Eddie Fenech Adami, former President of Malta
 1934 - King Curtis, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1971)
 1934 - Murtaza Rakhimov, former leader of Bashkortostan in Russia
 1938 - S. Ramachandran Pillai, Indian Communist leader
 1938 - Cayetano Ré, Paraguayan footballer and coach (d. 2013)
 1939 - Ray Taliaferro, American radio talk show host
 1939 - Francisco Mendès, Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau
 1940 - Toshihide Maskawa, Japanese physicist
 1940 - Tony Tan, former President of Singapore
 1941 - Little Tony, Italian-Sammarinese singer (d. 2013)
 1943 – Gareth Hunt, English actor
 1945 – Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player
 1945 - Jörg Schneider, Swiss actor (d. 2015)
 1946 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
 1946 - Héctor Babenco, Argentine-Brazilian screenwriter, producer and actor (d. 2016)
 1947 - Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (d. 2009)
 1947 - Flemming Jorgensen, Danish musician and actor (d. 2011)
 1948 - Josef Ackermann, Swiss banker, former CEO of Deutsche Bank
 1948 - Jimmy Greenspoon, American singer (d. 2015)
 1949 – Paulo César Carpegiani, Brazilian footballer and coach
 1949 - Regina Derieva, Russian poet and writer (d. 2013)
 1950 – Mauro Bellugi, Italian footballer

1951  1975 
 1952 - John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado
 1952 - Vasco Rossi, Italian singer
 1953 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player (d. 1998)
 1954 – Dieter Bohlen, German composer and media personality
 1955 – Mario Coutinho, Brazilian physician
 1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (d. 2017)
 1955 – Rolf Benirschke, American football player
 1956 - Mark St. John, American musician (Kiss)
 1958 – Giuseppe Baresi, Italian footballer
 1959 – Mick McCarthy, English-Irish football manager
 1960 – James Spader, American actor
 1960 - Gabriel Humberto Calderon, Argentine footballer
 1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer
 1962 - David Bryan, American keyboardist and songwriter (Bon Jovi)
 1962 – Eddie Izzard, British actor and comedian
 1963 - Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, American astronaut
 1964 – Ray Mears, British television presenter and outdoor survival expert
 1965 - Petr Vasa, Czech poet, singer-songwriter, actor and artist
 1965 – Jason Gedrick, American actor
 1965 - Chris Rock, American comedian and actor
 1966 – Kristin Otto, German swimmer
 1966 - Monika Weber, German fencer
 1967 - Richie Burnett, Welsh darts player
 1968 – Peter Bondra, Ukrainian-born hockey player
 1968 – Sully Erna, American singer (Godsmack)
 1968 - Katja Kaan, Danish pornographic actress
 1969 - Adriano Silva Francisco, Brazilian footballer
 1969 - Yves Racine, Canadian ice hockey player
 1970 - Stanley Roberts, American basketball player
 1971 - Anita Tsoy, Russian singer-songwriter
 1972 - Robyn Lively, American actress
 1972 - Essence Atkins, American actress
 1972 - Amon Tobin, Brazilian musician, composer and producer
 1974 - Danny Goffey, English musician
 1974 – Steve Nash, Canadian basketball player
 1975 – Wes Borland, American guitarist (Limp Bizkit)
 1975 – Rafik Saïfi, Algerian footballer

From 1976 
 1977 – Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Japanese footballer
 1977 - Dimitris Papanikolaou, Greek basketball player
 1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor
 1978 – Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian footballer
 1979 – Tawakel Karman, Yemeni activist, co-winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
 1979 - Cerina Vincent, American actress
 1979 - Daniel Bierofka, German footballer
 1980 - Sasa Papac, Bosnia and Herzegovina footballer
 1981 - Lee Ok-Sung, South Korean boxer
 1985 – Tina Majorino, American actress
 1986 - Stephen Colletti, American actor
 1986 - Pippa Wilson, English sailor
 1986 - Giorgi Tsintzade, Georgian basketball player
 1987 - Joe Cardle, British footballer
 1987 - Kerli, Estonian singer
 1988 - Lee Don-Ku, South Korean ice hockey player
 1988 - Lee Joon, South Korean singer, dancer and actor
 1988 - Ai Kapo, Japanese singer and actress
 1988 - Matthew Stafford, American football player
 1989 - Louisa Lytton, English actress
 1990 - Anna Abreu, Finnish singer
 1991 - Zhou Yimiao, Chinese tennis player
 1992 - Maimi Yajima, Japanese singer and actress
 1993 – David Dorfman, American actor
 1993 - Chris Mears, English diver
 1996 - Mai Hagiwara, Japanese singer
 1996 - Aaron Ekblad, Canadian ice hockey player
 1999 - Bea Miller, American singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 531 - Emperor Keitai of Japan (b. 450)
 590 - Pope Pelagius II (b. 1520)
 812 - Li Ning, Chinese prince (b. 793)
 999 - Boleslaus II of Bohemia
 1045 - Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (b. 1009)
 1074 - Pandulf IV of Benevento
 1317 - Robert, Count of Clermont, French founder of the Bourbon Royal Family (b. 1526)
 1560 - Bartolomeo Bandinelli, Italian sculptor (b. 1493)
 1603 - Hermann Wilken, German humanist and mathematician (b. 1522)
 1609 - Ferdinando I de'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)
 1626 - William V, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1548)
 1652 - Gregorio Allegri, Italian composer (b. 1852)
 1693 - Paul Pellisson, French writer (b. 1624)
 1736 - Stephen Gray, English astronomer (b. 1666)
 1779 – William Boyce, English composer (b. 1711)
 1799 – Qianlong, Emperor of China (b. 1711)
 1801 - Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (b. 1726)
 1823 - Ann Radcliffe, British writer (b. 1764)
 1837 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (b. 1778)
 1839 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet (b. 1799)
 1862 - Francisco de Paula Martinez de la Rosa, Spanish statesman and dramatist (b. 1787)
 1864 - Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, Serbian philologist and linguist (b. 1787)
 1873 - Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish author (b. 1814)
 1878 – Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
 1883 - Edmund J. Davis, American general and 15th Governor of Texas (b. 1827)
 1897 - Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist (b. 1847)

1901  2000 
 1920 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander (b. 1876)
 1931 - Tommaso Tittoni, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1855)
 1932 - Augusto B. Leguia, President of Peru (b. 1863)
 1935 - Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Scottish writer (b. 1901)
 1937 – Elihu Root, American politician (b. 1845)
 1938 - Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman (b. 1868)
 1939 - Boris Grigoriev, Russian painter (b. 1886)
 1942 - Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator (b. 1876)
 1944 - Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano (b. 1874)
 1959 - Nap Lajoie, American baseball player (b. 1874)
 1959 - Guitar Slim, American guitarist (b. 1926)
 1959 – Daniel Francois Malan, South African politician, father of Apartheid (b. 1874)
 1960 - Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (b. 1903)
 1964 – Sophoklis Venizelos, Greek Prime Minister (b. 1894)
 1967 - William Preston Lane, Jr., Governor of Maryland (b. 1892)
 1971 - Douglass Cadwallader, American golfer (b. 1884)
 1972 - Walter Lang, American movie director (b. 1896)
 1979 – Josef Mengele, Nazi doctor (b. 1911)
 1980 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet aircraft pioneer (b. 1904)
 1985 - Matt Monro, English singer (b. 1930)
 1986 - Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist and physicist (b. 1923)
 1987 – Claudio Villa, Italian singer (b. 1926)
 1990 - Jimmy Van Heusen, American songwriter (b. 1913)
 1993 - Nic Broca, Belgian comic artist (b. 1932)
 1994 - Witold Lutoslawski, Polish composer (b. 1913)
 1994 - Stephen Milligan, English journalist and politician (b. 1948)
 1994 - Arnold Smith, Canadian diplomat (b. 1915)
 1996 - Boris Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (b. 1925)
 1999 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
 2000 – Big Pun, American rapper (b. 1971)
 2000 - Doug Henning, Canadian magician (b. 1947)

From 2001 
 2001 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer and pilot (b. 1906)
 2001 - Dale Evans, American actress and singer (b. 1912)
 2005 - Atli Dam, 5th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1932)
 2005 - Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1934)
 2006 - Princess Duhru Shehvar of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1914)
 2008 - Tamara Desni, German-born British actress (b. 1913)
 2010 – Franco Ballerini, Italian road racing cyclist (b. 1964)
 2010 – André Kolingba, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1936)
 2013 - Krsto Papic, Croatian director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
 2014 - Doug Mohns, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
 2014 - Georgina Henry, British journalist (b. 1960)
 2014 - Nico Nicolaiewsky, Brazilian actor, musician and comedian (b. 1957)
 2014 - Mohamed Guessous, Moroccan sociologist and politician (b. 1937)
 2015 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach (b. 1931)
 2015 - Joe B. Mauldin, American musician (b. 1940)
 2015 - John C. Whitehead, American financier and civil servant (b. 1922)
 2015 - Billy Casper, American golfer (b. 1931)
 2015 - René Lavand, Argentine magician and illusionist (b. 1928)
 2015 - Donald H. Clausen, American politician (b. 1923)
 2015 - Marshall Rosenberg, American psychologist (b. 1934)
 2016 - Roger Willemsen, German author, essayist and television presenter (b. 1955)
 2017 - Svend Asmussen, Danish jazz violinist (b. 1916)
 2017 - Sotsha Dlamini, 5th Prime Minister of Swaziland (b. 1940)
 2017 - Smail Hamdani, 11th Prime Minister of Algeria (b. 1930)
 2017 - Richard Hatch, American actor, writer and producer (b. 1945)
 2017 - Hans Rosling, Swedish physician, statistician and public speaker (b. 1948)
 2017 - Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian-French philosopher (b. 1939)
 2017 - Richard B. Wright, Canadian novelist (b. 1937)
 2017 - Valeriu Bularca, Romanian wrestler (b. 1931)
 2017 - Loukianos Kilaidonis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
 2017 - John Salt, British Anglican bishop (b. 1941)
 2018 - Mickey Jones, American drummer and actor (b. 1941)
 2018 - Pat Torpey, American drummer (b. 1953)

Observances
 Independence Day in Grenada

February 07