February 15

## Events
### Up to 1900 
* 1637 &ndash; Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned.
* 1690 &ndash; Constantin Cremer, Prince of Moldavia, and the Holy Roman Empire sign a secret treaty in Sitiu.
* 1760 &ndash; British ship HMS *Ramilles* strands at Bolt Head near Plymouth, England, after a navigation error. Around 700 people on board are killed. 26 survive.
* 1764 &ndash; The city of St. Louis, Missouri is established.
* 1786 &ndash; The "Cat's Eye" nebula is discovered by William Herschel.
* 1794 &ndash; The Tricolore becomes the national flag of France.
* 1798 &ndash; The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon Bonaparte, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier.
* 1804 &ndash; The Serbian Revolution begins.
* 1835 &ndash; The first constitutional law in modern Serbia is adopted.
* 1855 &ndash; French frigate *La Semillante* breaks apart in the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia, killing all 693 people on board.
* 1862 &ndash; American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
* 1879 &ndash; Women's rights: US President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases at the United States Supreme Court.
* 1898 &ndash; Spanish-American War: The USS *Maine* explodes and sinks in Havana, Cuba, killing over 260 people. This leads to the US declaring war on Spain.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; Peruvian football club Alianza Lima is founded under the name "Sport Alianza".
* 1909 &ndash; The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico, kills 250 people.
* 1923 &ndash; Greece adopts the Gregorian calendar, becoming the last European country to do so.
* 1925 &ndash; 1925 serum run to Nome: The serum arrives in Nome, Alaska, with Balto as the lead dog of the last team.
* 1933 &ndash; In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara tries to kill President–elect Franklin D. Roosevelt but instead shoots Mayor of Chicago Anton J. Cermak, who dies on March 6.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: Singapore falls to the Japanese.
* 1944 &ndash; World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino in Italy begins.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: Third day of the Fire Bombing of Dresden.
* 1946 &ndash; ENIAC, the first electronic  general–purpose computer is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania.
* 1952 &ndash; The funeral of King George VI of the United Kingdom is held in London.
* 1953 &ndash; Liechtenstein holds its first parliamentary election.
* 1956 &ndash; Urho Kekkonen is elected President of Finland.
* 1961 &ndash; Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73 people, including the entire US figure skating team.
* 1965 &ndash; The Maple Leaf flag becomes Canada's flag
* 1967 &ndash; Chicago, a musical group forms.
* 1970 &ndash; A Dominican DC–9 airplane crashes into the sea shortly after take–off from Santo Domingo, killing 102 people.
* 1971 &ndash; Britain adopts decimal currency.
* 1972 &ndash; Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, President of Ecuador, is overthrown by a military coup.
* 1979 &ndash; Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia.
* 1989 &ndash; The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan.
* 1994 &ndash; A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Sumatra, killing 207 people.
* 1996 &ndash; The tanker *Sea Empress* runs aground at Milford Haven, South Wales, leaking oil.
* 2000 &ndash; The European Union starts membership talks with Slovakia, Latvia and Bulgaria.

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; The first draft of the complete human genome is published in the *Nature* journal.
* 2003 &ndash; Millions of people around the world protest against the planned US–led invasion of Iraq.
* 2005 &ndash; YouTube is founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.
* 2012 &ndash; A major fire at a prison in Honduras kills over 360 people.
* 2013 &ndash; 2013 Russian meteor event: A meteor crashes down over Chelyabinsk, Russia, shattering windows and injuring over 1,000 people. Coincidentally, near–Earth asteroid *2012 DA14* passed within 27,700 kilometers of distance to Earth's surface later on this date.

## Births
### Up to 1825 
* 1368 &ndash; Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1437)
* 1377 &ndash; Ladislaus of Naples (died 1414)
* 1458 &ndash; Ivan the Young, son of Ivan III of Russia (died 1490)
* 1471 &ndash; Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian ruler (died 1503)
* 1564 &ndash; Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and mathematician (died 1642)
* 1571 &ndash; Michael Praetorius, German composer (died 1621)
* 1620 &ndash; Francois Charpentier, French archaeologist (died 1702)
* 1621 &ndash; Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French founder of Montreal (died 1676)
* 1710 &ndash; King Louis XV of France (died 1774)
* 1725 &ndash; Abraham Clark, American founding father (died 1794)
* 1739 &ndash; Alexander-Theodore Brogniart, French architect (died 1813)
* 1748 &ndash; Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher (died 1832)
* 1751 &ndash; Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, German painter (died 1829)
* 1759 &ndash; Friedrich August Wolf, German archaeologist (died 1824)
* 1760 &ndash; Jean-François Le Sueur, French composer (died 1837)
* 1774 &ndash; Prince Frederick of Orange-Nassau (died 1799)
* 1792 &ndash; Floride Calhoun, Second Lady of the United States (died 1866)
* 1803 &ndash; John Sutter, Swiss–American pioneer (died 1880)
* 1809 &ndash; André Dumont, Belgian geologist (died 1857)
* 1809 &ndash; Cyrus McCormack, American inventor (died 1884)
* 1811 &ndash; Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, President of Argentina (died 1888)
* 1812 &ndash; Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweller (died 1902)
* 1813 &ndash; Fredrick Holbrook, Governor of Vermont (died 1909)
* 1820 &ndash; Susan B. Anthony, American women's civil rights leader (died 1906)
* 1820 &ndash; Arvid Posse, Prime Minister of Sweden (died 1901)
* 1825 &ndash; Carter Harrison, Sr., Mayor of Chicago (died 1893)

### 1826 &ndash; 1900 
* 1826 &ndash; George Johnstone Stoney, Irish physicist (d. 1911)
* 1831 &ndash; Adolf Deucher, Swiss politician (d. 1912)
* 1834 &ndash; Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia, Moldovan–Romanian politician, historian and writer (died 1901)
* 1835 &ndash; Demetrius Vikelas, Greek sports official (died 1908)
* 1835 &ndash; Nguyen Khuyen, Vietnamese scholar, poet and teacher (died 1909)
* 1840 &ndash; Titu Maiorescu, Prime Minister of Romania (died 1917)
* 1841 &ndash; Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles, Brazilian politician (died 1913)
* 1845 &ndash; Elihu Root, American politician (died 1937)
* 1847 &ndash; Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (died 1927)
* 1851 &ndash; Spiru Haret, Romanian–American mathematician, astronomer and politician (died 1912)
* 1856 &ndash; Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist (died 1926)
* 1858 &ndash; William Henry Pickering, American astronomer (died 1938)
* 1859 &ndash; Louis-Joseph Maurin, French cardinal (died 1936)
* 1860 &ndash; Scott C. Pone, American Territorial Governor of Alaska (died 1936)
* 1861 &ndash; Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist (died 1938)
* 1861 &ndash; Alfred North Whitehead, British philosopher and mathematician (died 1947)
* 1861 &ndash; Billy Adams, 24th Governor of Colorado (died 1954)
* 1873 &ndash; Hans von Euler-Chelpin, German chemist (died 1964)
* 1874 &ndash; Ernest Shackleton, Irish Antarctic explorer (died 1922)
* 1877 &ndash; Louis Renault, French automobile executive (died 1944)
* 1890 &ndash; Robert Ley, German Nazi official (died 1945)
* 1891 &ndash; Dino Borgioli, Italian lyric tenor (died 1960)
* 1892 &ndash; James Forrestal, United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1949)
* 1893 &ndash; Walter Donaldson, American songwriter (died 1947)
* 1899 &ndash; Gale Sondergaard, American actress (died 1985)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1904 &ndash; Antonin Magne, French cyclist (died 1893)
* 1905 &ndash; Harold Arlen, American composer (died 1986)
* 1907 &ndash; Jean Langlais, French composer and organist (died 1991)
* 1907 &ndash; Cesar Romero, American actor (died 1994)
* 1908 &ndash; Sarto Fournier, 38th Mayor of Montreal (died 1980)
* 1908 &ndash; Totò, Italian actor (died 1967)
* 1909 &ndash; Miep Gies, Dutch helper of Anne Frank and other Jews (died 2010)
* 1909 &ndash; Guillermo Gorostiza, Spanish footballer (died 1966)
* 1910 &ndash; Irena Sendler, Polish humanitarian (died 2008)
* 1910 &ndash; Stanley Vann, British musician (died 2010)
* 1912 &ndash; Andrei Lupan, Moldovan writer and politician (died 1992)
* 1913 &ndash; Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (died 1997)
* 1914 &ndash; Hale Boggs, American politician (died 1972)
* 1914 &ndash; Kevin McCarthy, American actor (died 2010)
* 1916 &ndash; Mary Jane Croft, American actress
* 1917 &ndash; Gösta Andersson, Swedish wrestler (died 1975)
* 1920 &ndash; Endicott Peabody, Governor of Massachusetts (died 1997)
* 1922 &ndash; John B. Anderson, American politician
* 1923 &ndash; Yelena Bonner, Russian activist (died 2011)
* 1927 &ndash; Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (died 2012)
* 1928 &ndash; Norman Bridwell, American writer and cartoonist (died 2014)
* 1929 &ndash; Graham Hill, British racing driver (died 1975)
* 1929 &ndash; James R. Schlesinger, American politician (died 2014)
* 1931 &ndash; Claire Bloom, British actress
* 1934 &ndash; Niklaus Wirth, Swiss computer scientist (died 2024)
* 1935 &ndash; Roger Chaffee, American astronaut (died 1967)
* 1939 &ndash; Robert Hansen, American serial killer (died 2014)
* 1940 &ndash; Hamzah Haz, 9th Vice President of Indonesia
* 1941 &ndash; Florinda Bolkan, Brazilian actress
* 1944 &ndash; Mick Avory, English drummer (The Kinks)
* 1945 &ndash; John Helliwell, English musician (Supertramp)
* 1946 &ndash; Clare Short, British politician
* 1947 &ndash; Marisa Berenson, American actress
* 1948 &ndash; Art Spiegelman, American cartoonist
* 1948 &ndash; Tino Insana, American actor, writer and movie producer
* 1948 &ndash; Bernd Pischetsrieder, German automobile engineer and manager
* 1949 &ndash; Francisco Maturana, Colombian footballer

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Jane Seymour, British actress
* 1951 &ndash; Melissa Manchester, American singer
* 1952 &ndash; Tomislav Nikolic, President of Serbia
* 1953 &ndash; Derek Conway, English politician
* 1954 &ndash; Matt Groening, American writer and cartoonist, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama
* 1954 &ndash; Armand Parmentier, Belgian athlete
* 1955 &ndash; Janice Dickinson, American supermodel
* 1955 &ndash; Christopher McDonald, American actor
* 1956 &ndash; Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese racing driver (died 1992)
* 1956 &ndash; Desmond Haynes, Barbadian cricketer
* 1957 &ndash; Jimmy Spencer, American racing driver
* 1959 &ndash; Ali Campbell, British musician (UB40)
* 1959 &ndash; Martin Rowson, English writer and illustrator
* 1960 &ndash; Mikey Craig, English musician (Culture Club)
* 1960 &ndash; Roman Kostrzewski, Polish musician
* 1961 &ndash; Neale Daniher, Australian rules footballer
* 1962 &ndash; Milo Dukanovic, 29th Prime Minister of Montenegro
* 1964 &ndash; Chris Farley, American comedian (died 1997)
* 1964 &ndash; Leland D. Melvin, American engineer and astronaut
* 1964 &ndash; Mark Price, American basketball player and coach
* 1967 &ndash; Craig Simpson, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1968 &ndash; Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
* 1972 &ndash; Anna-Jane Casey, English actress, writer and dancer
* 1972 &ndash; Jaromir Jagr, Czech ice hockey player
* 1973 &ndash; Katerina Neumannova, Czech cross–country skier
* 1973 &ndash; Alex Borstein, American actress
* 1973 &ndash; Amy Van Dyken, American swimmer
* 1974 &ndash; Toni Puutansuu, Finnish singer (Lordi)
* 1974 &ndash; Omarosa Manigault Newman, American businesswoman and actress
* 1974 &ndash; Miranda July, American actress, screenwriter and director

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Brandon Boyd, American musician
* 1976 &ndash; Oscar Freire, Spanish cyclist
* 1976 &ndash; Giorgos Karagoutis, Greek basketball player
* 1976 &ndash; Ronnie Vannucci, Jr., American musician (The Killers)
* 1979 &ndash; Scott Severin, Scottish footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Conor Oberst, American singer and songwriter
* 1980 &ndash; Josh Sole, New Zealand–Italian rugby player
* 1981 &ndash; Heurelho Gomes, Brazilian footballer
* 1981 &ndash; Olivia, American singer
* 1981 &ndash; Rita Jeptoo, Kenyan runner
* 1983 &ndash; David Degen, Swiss footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Philipp Degen, Swiss footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Ashley Tesoro, American actress and singer
* 1984 &ndash; Dorota Rabczewska, Polish singer
* 1986 &ndash; Valeri Bojinov, Bulgarian footballer
* 1986 &ndash; Gabriel Paletta, Argentine footballer
* 1986 &ndash; Amber Riley, American actress and singer
* 1987 &ndash; Jarrod Sammut, Australian rugby player
* 1988 &ndash; Hironori Kusano, Japanese singer
* 1988 &ndash; Rui Patricio, Portuguese footballer
* 1988 &ndash; Tim Mannah, Australian rugby player
* 1990 &ndash; Erwin Sak, Polish footballer
* 1990 &ndash; Charles Pic, French racing driver
* 1990 &ndash; Stephanie Vogt, Liechtenstein tennis player
* 1991 &ndash; Angel Sepulveda, Mexican footballer
* 1991 &ndash; Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Greek footballer
* 1992 &ndash; Greer Grammer, American actress
* 1995 &ndash; Sara Daebritz, German footballer
* 1998 &ndash; Zachary Gordon, American actor

## Deaths
### Up to 1900 
* 670 &ndash; Oswiu of Northumbria (b. 612)
* 706 &ndash; Leontios, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
* 706 &ndash; Tiberios III, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
* 1145 &ndash; Pope Lucius II
* 1152 &ndash; Conrad, Holy Roman Emperor
* 1621 &ndash; Michael Praetorius, German composer (b. 1571)
* 1637 &ndash; Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1578)
* 1738 &ndash; Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (b. 1684)
* 1775 &ndash; Peter Dens, Belgian Catholic theologian (b. 1690)
* 1781 &ndash; Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German writer and philosopher (b. 1729)
* 1818 &ndash; Friedrich Ludwig, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Prussian general (b. 1746)
* 1835 &ndash; Henry Hunt, British politician (b. 1773)
* 1844 &ndash; Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1757)
* 1847 &ndash; Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (b. 1794)
* 1848 &ndash; Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (b. 1771)
* 1849 &ndash; Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician (b. 1804)
* 1857 &ndash; Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (b. 1804)
* 1864 &ndash; Adam Wilhelm Moltke, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1785)
* 1869 &ndash; Mirza Ghalib, poet of Urdu (b. 1796)
* 1897 &ndash; Dimitrie Ghica, Romanian politician (b. 1816)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1905 &ndash; Lew Wallace, American politician (b. 1827)
* 1911 &ndash; Theodor Escherich, German paediatrician (b. 1859)
* 1919 &ndash; André Prévost, French tennis player (b. 1880)
* 1924 &ndash; Lionel Monckton, English composer (b. 1861)
* 1926 &ndash; Piero Gobetti, Italian publisher, activist and politician (b. 1901)
* 1928 &ndash; H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)
* 1932 &ndash; Minnie Maddern Fiske, Broadway actress (b. 1865)
* 1933 &ndash; Pat Sullivan, Australian cartoonist, animator and producer (b. 1887)
* 1953 &ndash; Karl Staaf, Swedish athlete (b. 1881)
* 1959 &ndash; Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
* 1961 &ndash; Bradley Lord, American figure skater (b. 1939)
* 1961 &ndash; Laurence Owen, American figure skater (b. 1944)
* 1964 &ndash; Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist, and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1880)
* 1965 &ndash; Nat King Cole, American singer and musician (b. 1919)
* 1966 &ndash; Gerard Ciołek, Polish architect and historian of gardens (b. 1909)
* 1967 &ndash; William Christian Bullitt, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1891)
* 1968 &ndash; Little Walter, American singer and guitarist (b. 1930)
* 1970 &ndash; Hugh Dowding, English RAF commander (b. 1882)
* 1973 &ndash; Wally Cox, American actor (b. 1924)
* 1973 &ndash; Tim Holt, American actor (b. 1919)
* 1974 &ndash; Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (b. 1887)
* 1981 &ndash; Mike Bloomfield, American musician (b. 1944)
* 1981 &ndash; Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
* 1984 &ndash; Ethel Merman, American singer and actress (b. 1908)
* 1988 &ndash; Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
* 1991 &ndash; Birger Malmsten, Swedish actor (b. 1920)
* 1996 &ndash; Tommy Rettig, American actor (b. 1941)
* 1996 &ndash; McLean Stevenson, American actor (b. 1929)
* 1999 &ndash; Big L (Lamont Coleman), American rapper (b. 1974)
* 1999 &ndash; Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
* 2000 &ndash; Angus MacLean, 25th Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1914)

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; Howard K. Smith, American journalist (b. 1914)
* 2002 &ndash; Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
* 2004 &ndash; Jens Evensen, Norwegian minister and International Court of Justice judge (b. 1917)
* 2004 &ndash; Jan Miner, American actress (b. 1917)
* 2004 &ndash; Hasse Ekman, Swedish actor and director (b. 1915)
* 2005 &ndash; Samuel Francis, American journalist (b. 1947)
* 2005 &ndash; Pierre Bachelet, French singer and songwriter (b. 1944)
* 2007 &ndash; Ray Evans, American songwriter (b. 1915)
* 2013 &ndash; Todor Kolev, Bulgarian actor (b. 1939)
* 2014 &ndash; Federico Campbell, Mexican writer (b. 1941)
* 2014 &ndash; Christopher Malcolm, Scottish actor (b. 1946)
* 2015 &ndash; Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1979)
* 2015 &ndash; Haron Amin, Afghan diplomat (b. 1969)
* 2015 &ndash; Eileen Essell, English actress (b. 1922)
* 2016 &ndash; Vanity, Canadian singer (b. 1959)
* 2016 &ndash; Fighton Simukonda, Zambian footballer (b. 1958)
* 2016 &ndash; George Gaynes, Finnish–born American actor (b. 1917)
* 2016 &ndash; Salman Natour, Israeli–Palestinian writer (b. 1949)
* 2017 &ndash; Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra, Portuguese royal (b. 1949)
* 2017 &ndash; Manfred Kaiser, German footballer (b. 1929)
* 2017 &ndash; Stuart McLean, Canadian radio broadcaster (b. 1948)

## Observances
* Day of the Flag of Canada
* Liberation Day (Afghanistan)
* National Day (Serbia)
* Candlemas (Eastern Orthodox Church)