On this day in History - Feb. 08

• 0412 - Proclus, was born, Neoplatonic philosopher.
• 0421 - Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire .
• 1290 - King Afonso IV of Portugal was born, (d. 1357) .
• 1555 - Laurence Saunders was led barefoot to his execution and burned at the stake.
• 1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots is executed. After 19 years of imprisonment, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire. For her part in a plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Elizabeth I of England - revolt is quickly crushed.
• 1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots dies (b. 1542).
• 1612 - Nace Samuel Butler, escritor inglés.
• 1622 - King James I of England disbands the English Parliament.
• 1672 - Isaac Newton lee su trabajo sobre óptica en la Royal Society.
• 1677 - Jacques Cassini, was born (d. 18 Apr 1756). French astronomer who made direct measurement of the proper motions of the stars (1738) which disproved the ancient belief in the unchanging sphere of the stars. He also studied the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and the structure of Saturn's rings. ("Elements of Astronomy and Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon, Planets, Fixed Stars, and Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn")
• 1692 - A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony declares that three teenaged girls are under domination of Satan, leading to the Salem witch trials.
• 1693 - The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter.
• 1700 - Daniel Bernoulli, was born (d. 17 Mar 1782). The most distinguished of the second generation of the Bernoulli family of Swiss mathematicians. Bernoulli's theorem, which he derived, is named after him. He investigated also other fields fields as medicine, biology, physiology, mechanics, physics, astronomy, and oceanography.
• 1711 - Alvará em que se determina que só integrando uma frota comercial, poderão os navios estrangeiros comerciar com o Brasil.
• 1725 - Tsar Peter I of Russia dies (b. 1672) .
• 1768 - George Dance the Elder, dies, architect (b. 1695) .
• 1786 - Nicholas Biddle was born, financier .
• 1807 - Battle of Eylau - Napoleon defeats Russians under General Benigssen .
• 1807 - Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, was born, sculptor and naturalist (d. 1889) .
• 1810 - Eliphas Lévi, nascimento de, escritor e mágico francês.
• 1813 - Nace Carlos Morel, considerado el primer pintor argentino.
• 1814 - Simón Bolívar ordena que sean pasados por las armas 836 prisioneros españoles, la mayoría de ellos neutrales.
• 1818 - João VI é aclamado rei de Portugal e do Brasil.
• 1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman, was born, soldier (d. 1891) .
• 1824 - Wilkie Collins was born, author.
• 1827 - Batalla naval de Juncal entre argentinos y brasileños, que ganaron los primeros.
• 1828 - Jules Verne, was born, author (d. 1905) .
• 1834 - Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev was born (d. 2 Feb 1907). (Also spelled Mendeleev) Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements.
• 1837 - Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
• 1850 - Kate Chopin, was born, author (d. 1904) .
• 1855 - The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed. Jefferson Davis is selected as first president.
• 1866 - Moses Gomberg, was born (d. 12 Feb 1947). Russian-born American chemist who initiated the study of free radicals in chemistry when in 1900 he prepared the first authentic one, triphenylmethyl.
• 1868 - Lionel Walter Rothschild, was born (d. 27 Aug 1937). (2nd Baron Rothschild (of Tring)) British zoologist who became a great collector and founded the Rothschild Natural History Museum in London. The museum was opened to the public in 1892.
• 1868 - Nace Luis G. Urbina, escritor y poeta mexicano.
• 1878- Martin Buber, was born, philosopher (d. 1965) .
• 1880 - Franz Marc, was born, painter and graphic artist, co-founder of Blauer Reiter (d. 1916) .
• 1883 - On this day, Louis Waterman began the series of experiments that led to his invention of the fountain pen.
• 1883 - Joseph Alois Schumpeter was born. Austria/US economist/minister of finance
• 1886 - Charles Ruggles, was born, actor (d. 1970) .
• 1894 - Ludwig Marcuse, was born, author and philosopher (d. 1971) .
• 1895 - King Vidor, was born, director (d. 1982) .
• 1898 - Muere asesinado el presidente guatemalteco, Rafael Barrios.
• 1900 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
• 1902 - Lyle Talbot, was born, actor (d. 1996) .
• 1904 - Russo-Japanese War: Japanese surprise attack at Port Arthur, Manchuria, starting the war.
• 1906 - Chester F. Carlson was born (d. 19 Sep 1968). American physicist who invented xerography, an electrostatic dry-copying process that found applications ranging from office copying to reproducing out-of-print books.
• 1906 - Tahiti and the Cook Islands were hit by a cyclone. 10,000 were killed by 192 km/h (120mph) winds.
• 1908 - Emil Staiger, was born, cientist of literature (d. 1987) .
• 1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
• 1911 - Joaquín Costa, fallecimiento, político español.
• 1911 - Elizabeth Bishop, was born, poet, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1979) .
• 1911 - Big Joe Turner, was born, blues singer (d. 1985) .
• 1912 - William Piper was born, airplane manufacturer .
• 1915 - The controversial film The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith premieres in Los Angeles.
• 1918 - Louis Renault, fallecimiento de, jurista francés, premio Nobel de la Paz en 1907.
• 1918 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper publishes for the first time.
• 1918 - Fred Blassie, was born, former professional wrestler (d. 2003) .
• 1920 - Un referéndum celebrado en Suiza rechaza el derecho al voto de la mujer.
• 1921 - Lana Turner, was born, actress (d. 1995) Sweater Girl of the 1940s, her father was murdered when Lana was eight. Had seven husbands included Lex Barker and Artie Shaw and starred in 15 1950s movies, with one Oscar nomination for Peyton Place in 1957.
• 1921 - Peter Kropotkin, dies, (b. 21 Dec 1842) Russian geographer and revolutionist, who combined biological and historical fact to arrive at his theory of Mutual Aid .
• 1922 - President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
• 1924 - Death penalty: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.
• 1925 - Jack Lemmon, was born (d. 2001) , actor and film director (Days of Wine and Roses, Missing) .
• 1926 - Neal Cassady, was born, writer (d. 1968) .
• 1926 - Nace Guillermo Morón, escritor venezolano .
• 1929 - Maria Christina, dies, Queen Regent of Spain (b. 1858) .
• 1929 - Fallece Eusebio A. Morales, político panameño.
• 1931 - James Dean, was born in Marion, Indiana. Actor, he made just three films before he died in a car crash in England. (d. 1955) .
• 1932 - John Williams, was born, composer, conductor .
• 1936 - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru é nomeado presidente do Partido do Congresso indiano.
• 1936 - Jay Berwanger becomes the first person to be selected by a National Football League draft, by the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 1937 - Manfred Krug, was born, actor .
• 1940 - Ted Koppel, was born, journalist .
• 1941- Nick Nolte, was born, actor .
• 1942 - Robert Klein, was born, stand-up comedian .
• 1942 - Óscar Carmona é eleito novamente Presidente da Republica Portuguesa .
• 1942 - Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford. British theoretical physicist.
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of Kursk - the Russian army captures the city .
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
• 1945 - World War II: United States bombs Dresden, Germany with fire-bombs; 135,000 die.
• 1949 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced for treason.
• 1953 - Mary Steenburgen, was born, actress .
• 1955 - John Grisham, was born, novelist .
• 1955 - Georgi Malenkov é forçado a renunciar ao cargo de primeiro ministro soviético e é substituído por Nikolai Bulganin.
• 1956 - Connie Mack, dies, baseball executive, manager (b. 1862) .
• 1957 - Cindy Wilson, was born, singer, of The B-52's .
• 1957 - John von Neumann, dies, mathematician, quantum physicist (b. 1903) .
• 1957 - Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe, dies (b. 8 Jan 1891). German physicist who shared(with Max Born) the Nobel Prize for 1954.
• 1960 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, dies, architect (b. 1880) .
• 1960 - John L. Austin, nascimento de filósofo.
• 1960 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".
• 1963 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
• 1963 - O presidente do Iraque, Abdel-Karim Kassem é deposto e morto em um golpe militar.
• 1968 - Gary Coleman, was born, actor .
• 1968 - American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken-up by highway patrolmen leading to the deaths of three college students.
• 1969 - The last weekly issue of the Saturday Evening Post hits magazine stands.
• 1969 -A meteorite weighing over one ton was recovered in Chihuahua, Mexico.
• 1971- A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
• 1972 - Paul Wight, was born, professional wrestler .
• 1974 - Seth Green, was born, actor .
• 1974 - After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station Skylab return to Earth.
• 1974 - Military coup in Upper Volta.
• 1975 - Bolivia restablece sus relaciones con Chile, rotas trece años antes.
• 1975 - Sir Robert Robinson dies (b. 13 Sep 1886) British chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1947 for his research on a wide range of organic compounds, notably alkaloids (complex, naturally occurring, nitrogen-containing organic compounds that can have profound effects on living things).
• 1977 - Eivind Groven, dies, Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist (b. 1901).
• 1977 - Yucef Merhi, was born, artist .
• 1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcasted on radio for the first time.
• 1979 - Portugal estabelece relações diplomáticas com a República Popular da China.
• 1979 - Dennis Gabor, dies (b. 5 Jun 1900) Hungarian-born British electrical engineer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1971 for his invention of holography, a system of lensless, three-dimensional photography that has many applications.
• 1983 - Jim Verraros, was born, American Idol singer .
• 1984 - 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo.
• 1985 - After 6-1/2 years, the television series The Dukes of Hazzard goes off the air.
• 1985 - Sir William Lyons, dies, founder of Jaguar Motors
• 1985 - Morre o escritor José Gomes Ferreira, antigo cônsul de Portugal na Noruega, entre 1925 e 1930, tendo dedicado-se ao jornalismo, à tradução de filmes e à literatura.
• 1989 - An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain in Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal killing 144.
• 1990 - Del Shannon, dies, entertainer (suicide) (b. 1934) .
• 1991 - Assinatura do acordo de exploração do petróleo no Mar de Timor, conhecido por Timor Gap, pelos governos Australiano e Indonésio.
• 1993 - General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the next day.
• 1993 - As repúblicas Tcheca e Eslováquia, recém divididas, começam a utilizar moedas distintas.
• 1996 - The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
• 1998 - Halldór Laxness, dies, author (b. 1902) .
• 1998 - Julian Simon, dies, economist, author (b. 1932) .
• 1999 - Iris Murdoch, dies, author (b. 1919) .
• 1999 - O rei Hussein da Jordânia é sepultado após um funeral de quatro horas em Amã. Seu enterro foi marcado pela presença de personalidades de todo o mundo, incluindo os ex-presidentes Clinton, Bush, Carter e Ford.
• 2001 - Ivo Caprino, dies, Norwegian animated film director .
• 2001 - Disney's California Adventure, the Disneyland Resort's second park in its 46-year history, opens.
• 2002 - Opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.
• 2002 - España: el Consejo de Ministros del Gobierno aprueba el Proyecto de la Ley de Servicios de la Sociedad de la Información y Comercio Electrónico (LSSI).