On this day in History - Feb. 15

• 0399 - Philosopher Socrates sentenced to death.
• 0438 -Publicación del Código Teodosiano .
• 1145 - Pope Lucius II [Gherardo Caccianemici], Italian Pope (from 12.03.1144 until his death), dies.
• 1145 - Bernardo elected Pope Eugene III.
• 1564- Galileo Galilei, was born in Pisa ( d. 8 Jan 1642). Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who applied the new techniques of the scientific method to make significant discoveries in physics and astronomy.
• 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died .
• 1710 - King Louis XV of France was born, (d. 1774) .
• 1758 - mustard was first advertised for sale in America, by Benjamin Jackson.
• 1759 - Friedrich August Wolf, was born, philologist and archaeologist (d. 1824) .
• 1763 - Assinado o Tratado de Hubertusburgo, entre a Prússia e a Áustria que põe fim à Guerra dos Sete Anos.
• 1764 - The American city of St. Louis is established.
• 1775 - Angelo Braschi chosen as Pope Pius VI.
• 1781 - Muere el poeta y filósofo Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
• 1783 - Reconhecimento oficial por Portugal da independência dos Estados Unidos da América. Portugal recognizes American independence.
• 1803 - John Sutter, was born, California pioneer (d. 1880) .
• 1805 - Harmony Society officially formed.
• 1809 - Cyrus McCormick, was born, inventor (d. 1884) .
• 1811 - Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, nacimiento de, escritor, político y presidente de Argentina.
• 1812- Charles Louis Tiffany, was born, jeweler (d. 1902) .
• 1815 - Constantin von Tischendorf, was born, Biblical scholar (d. 1874) .
• 1820 - Susan B. Anthony, was born, feminist and suffragist (d. 1906) .
• 1820 - In the U.S. Senate, Sen. Rufus King condemns slavery as contrary to natural law.
• 1825 - Carter Harrison, Sr., was born, mayor of Chicago, IL (d. 1893) .
• 1835 - Demetrius Vikelas, was born, Greek IOC president (d. 1908) .
• 1835 - Henry Hunt, dies, British politician (b. 1773) .
• 1835 -Alexander Stewart Webb was born in New York City, Major General (Union Army), died in 1911.
• 1845 - Robert Wood Johnson was born (d. 7 Feb 1910). American manufacturer who, with his two brothers, founded the Johnson & Johnson Corporation, to make surgical dressings (1885), and was its first President.
• 1845 - Elihu Root, nascimento de (m. 07 Feb 1937). Político estadounidense, premio Nobel de la Paz em 1912.
• 1847 - Composer Robert Fuchs was born.
• 1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient.
• 1861 - Alfred North Whitehead was born (d. 30 Dec 1947). English mathematician and philosopher, who worked in logic, physics, philosophy of science and metaphysics. He is best known for his work with Bertrand Russell on one of probably the most famous books of the century, Principia Mathematica (1910-13).
• 1861 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, was born (d. 13 Jun 1938). French physicist who studied ferronickel alloys and discovered invar (a nickel-steel alloy) which gained him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1920.
• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1873 - Hans von Euler-Chelpin, was born (d. 7 Nov 1964). German-born Swedish biochemist, shared the 1929 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Sir Arthur Harden for work on the role of enzymes in the alcoholic fermentation of sugar.
• 1874 - Sir Ernest Shackleton, was born, British polar explorer (d. 1922) .
• 1879 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1882 - John Barrymore, was born, US actor (d. 1942) .
• 1883 - Sax Rohmer, was born, author (d. 1959) .
• 1884 -Albert Carlton Gilbert was born (d. 1961). He was the inventor of the Erector set. Gilbert founded the A.C. Gilbert Co. New Haven, Connecticut in 1908 as a manufacturer of boxed magic sets.
• 1892 - James Forrestal, was born, first United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1949) .
• 1895 - Earl Thomson, was born, Canadian athlete .
• 1898 - Allen Woodring, was born, American sprinter .
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba for then unknown reasons killing more than 260. This event led the United States to declare war on Spain.
• 1899 - Georges Auric, was born, French composer (d. 1983) .
• 1899 - Gale Sondergaard, was born, actress (d. 1985) .
• 1901 - Nascimento do Cavaleiro Tauromáquico João Branco Núncio. Morreu em 26 de Janeiro de 1976.
• 1901 - Fundación del Alianza Lima, Equipo peruano de fútbol bajo el nombre de Sport Alianza.
• 1902 - Puesta en servicio en Berlín del metro subterráneo y aéreo.
• 1903 - Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.
• 1906 - The British Labour Party is organized.
• 1907 - Cesar Romero, was born, actor (d. 1994) .
• 1908 - HAP Grieshaber, was born, painter and graphic artist (d. 1981) .
• 1909 - Miep Gies, was born, Anne Frank friend, biographer .
• 1909 - Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes, was born, Spanish football player (d. 1966) .
• 1911 - Portugal - Criação de uma comissão para o estudo do problema da ortografia. Pretendia-se aproximar a ortografia da fonética(Portugal).
• 1922 - Herman Kahn was born (d. 7 Jul 1983). American physicist, military analyst (1948-61) and futurist best known for his controversial studies of nuclear warfare.
• 1922 - John Bayard Anderson, was born, U.S Representative and presidential candidate .
• 1926 - Dieter Lattmann, was born, writer and politician .
• 1927 - Harvey Korman, was born, actor, comedian .
• 1928 - Portugal - O ensino misto (ou "coeducação") é denunciado, sendo determinada a "separação dos sexos" em todas as localidades em que houvesse mais do que um estabelecimento de ensino .
• 1929 - Graham Hill, was born, Formula One racer (d. 1975) .
• 1931 - Claire Bloom, was born, English actress .
• 1932 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, dies, Broadway actress, (b. 1865) .
• 1933 - In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
• 1934 - Niklaus Wirth, was born, Swiss computer scientist .
• 1941 - Florinda Bolkan , was born in Ceara Brazil, actress (Damned, Last Valley, Word) .
• 1942 - Kim Jong-il, was born, leader of North Korea .
• 1942 - World War II: Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces. About 130,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender of British military personnel in history.
• 1943 - Elke Heidenreich, was born, journalist and writer .
• 1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
• 1949 - Ken Anderson, was born, American football quarterback .
• 1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
• 1951 - Melissa Manchester, was born, singer .
• 1951 - Jane Seymour, [Joyce Frankenberg], was born in Middlesex England, actress .
• 1953 - 17-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.
• 1954 - Matt Groening, was born, cartoonist .
• 1959 - Owen Willans Richardson, dies (b. 26 Apr 1879). English physicist and recipient of the 1928 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on electron emission by hot metals, the basic principle used in vacuum tubes.
• 1961 - A Boeing 707 crashes in Belgium killing 73, including the entire United States figure
  skating team and several coaches.
• 1964 - Chris Farley, actor, comedian (d. 1997) .
• 1964 - Robert L. Thornton, dies, Dallas businessman, philanthropist and mayor (b. 1880) .
• 1965 - Nat King Cole, dies, singer, musician (b. 1919) .
• 1965 - A new red and white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
• 1966 - Camilo Torres, dies. Colombian priest/guerrilla fighter.
• 1967 - J. Frank Duryea, dies, automobile pioneer .
• 1967 - Michael Easton Corner was born in Long Beach, California, actor (Ally McBeal, Total Recall 2070, VR.5, Tanner-Days of Our Lives) .
• 1970 - A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo killing 102.
• 1971- Decimalization of British coinage completed on Decimal Day.
• 1971 - Renée O'Connor, was born, actress and director .
• 1972 - Jaromir Jagr, was born, ice hockey star .
• 1973 - Wally Cox, dies, actor .
• 1974 - Kurt Atterberg, dies, composer .
• 1974 - Seattle Slew, was born, Triple Crown-winning race horse (d. 2002) .
• 1974 - Ugueth Urbina, was born, Venezuelan baseball pitcher .
• 1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn arrives in Switzerland after being expelled from the USSR .
• 1974 - 12th Winter Olympics games close at Innsbruck, Austria .
• 1978 - O boxeur Leon Spinks derrota Muhammad Ali na disputa pelo título dos pesos-pesados, que Ali havia mantido por sete anos.
• 1979 - 21st Grammy Awards: Just the Way You Are, Taste of Honey wins .
• 1980 - Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time .
• 1980 - Conor Oberst, was born, singer/songwriter (Bright Eyes) .
• 1981 - Mike Bloomfield, dies, musician .
• 1981 - Karl Richter, dies, German conductor (b. 1926) .
• 1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
• 1984 - Ethel Merman, deis, singer, actress (b. 1908) .
• 1985 - World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23 .
• 1986 - Ferdinand Marcos wins rigged Philippines presidential election .
• 1988 - Richard Feynman, dies, physicist (b. 1918) .
• 1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.
• 1990 -Grã-Bretanha e Argentina re-estabelecem relações diplomáticas, afirmando a reconciliação dos dois países após a Guerra das Malvinas, ocorrida em 1982.
• 1991 - The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
• 1995 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems.
• 1996 - Um depósito de munição explode no palácio presidencial afegão em Kabul, matando mais de 60 pessoas.
• 2000 - Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator failed.
• 2002 - At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find that bodies that were supposed to have been cremated were in fact disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
• 2002 - Howard K. Smith, dies, journalist (b. 1914) .
• 2002 - Kevin Smith, dies, actor (b. 1963) .
• 2003 - Global protests against war on Iraq occur in over 600 cities worldwide. Estimates from 10,000,000-15,000,000 make this the largest day of protest in history.
• 2004 - John Daly the PGA golfer, won his first PGA TOUR event in 9 years by winning the Buick Invitational golf tournament on the first hole of a playoff in San Diego, California.
• 2004 - Jan Miner, dies, actress (b. 1917).
• 2004 - Jens Evensen, dies, Norwegian minister, International Court of Justice judge (b. 1917).