On this day in History - Feb. 11

• 60 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno.
• 0641 - Heraclius, dies, Emperor of Byzantium in 610-641 (b. ca. 575).
• 0731 - Pope Gregory II ends his reign as Pope because dies.
• 0821 - Saint Benedict of Aniane dies (b. ca. 747).
• 0824 - Pope Paschal I dies.
• 1141 - Hugo of St. Victor dies. Philosopher, theologian, mystic.
• 1380 - Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (d. 1459).
• 1466 - Elizabeth of York, was born, consort of King Henry VII of England (d. 1503).
• 1503 - Elizabeth of York , dies, consort of King Henry VII of England (b. 1466) .
• 1531 - Henry VIII of England recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1535 -Gregory XIV [Nicolo Sfondrati],was born Roman Catholic Pope (1590-91). (d. 1591) .
• 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - Ethiopian/Portuguese troops beat Muslim army.
• 1543 - Ahmed Gran, dies, sultan of Adal .
• 1557 - John Uijtenbogaert, Dutch remonstrant theologian.
• 1568 - Honore d'Urfe, French writer .
• 1596 - Concluye en Manila la única expedición española de descubrimiento conducida por una mujer: Isabel Barreto.
• 1606 - La Corte de Felipe III se traslada de Valladolid a Madrid.
• 1622 - Alfonso Fontanelli, dies aged 64, composer.
• 1650 - René Descartes, dies, (b. 1596) philosopher : 'I think therefore I am'.
• 1657 - Bernard Le Bovier Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (Plurality of Worlds).
• 1685 - David Teniers III, dies aged 46, Flemish painter .
• 1732 - Born this day, George Washington, future 1st president of the USA, in Pope's Creek, Wakefield, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Died on 22 May 1802 in Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia.
• 1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens.
• 1755 - Albert Christoph Dies, composer .
• 1762 - Johann Tobias Krebs, dies, composer .
• 1763 - William Shenstone, dies, poet (b. 1714).
• 1764 - Marie-Joseph de Chenier, was born, French poet .
• 1774 - El Gabinete inglés comunica al Gobierno español su intención de retirar todas las fuerzas de las islas Malvinas.
• 1774 - Hans Jarta, was born, Swedish political activist, administrator, publicist .
• 1776 - Joannis Capodistrias, was born, Greek governor of Troezen (1827-1831) (d. 1836) .
• 1780 - Karoline von Günderode, poet (d. 1806).
• 1790 - Ignaz Assmayer, was born, composer .
• 1790 - Society of Friends petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.
• 1794 - First session of United States Senate open to the public.
• 1797 - Antoine Dauvergne, dies, aged 83. Composer.
• 1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer (d. 1877) .
• 1802 - Lydia Child, was born, novelist and abolitionist (Juvenile Miscellany). Died in 1880.
• 1805 - Lewis and Clark's Shoshone guide Sacajawea gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste.
• 1806 - Vicente Martin y Soler, dies, composer.
• 1808 - Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally. (Judge Jesse Fell).
• 1809 - Robert Fulton patents the steamboat .
• 1810 - Napoléon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.
• 1810 - Loisa Puget, was born, composer.
• 1812 - Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy) .
• 1812 - Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, (d. 1883) .
• 1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.
• 1813 - Otto Ludwig, was born, German novelist, playwright, critic.
• 1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union .
• 1819 - Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, was born, composer .
• 1821 - Hermann Allmers, was born, writer .
• 1821 - Auguste Edouard Mariette, was born (d. 1881), French Egyptologist.
• 1826 - University College London is founded under the name University of London.
• 1830 - Peter Arnold Heise, was born, composer.
• 1830 - Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, was born, musician (d. 1913) .
• 1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1839 - Josiah Willard Gibbs, was born, theoretical physicist, chemist (d. 1903).
• 1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.
• 1841 - J H Ferdinand Olivier, dies, German painter.
• 1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.
• 1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Ohio, inventor (d. 1931).
• 1858 - Saint Bernadette of Lourdes first saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France, leading to the foundation of the shrine of Lourdes.
• 1860 - Rachilde (Marguérite Vallette-Eymery), was born, French author (d. 1953).
• 1861 - American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
• 1862 - Elizabeth Siddal dies, poet and artist (b. 1829).
• 1865 - Foundation, in Lisbon, of The Portuguese Red Cross.
• 1867 - August W Messer, was born, German philosopher, educator, psychologist.
• 1868 - Léon Foucault, dies, astronomer (b. 1819) .
• 1869 - España: apertura de las Cortes Constituyentes después del derrocamiento de Isabel II.
• 1869 - Helene Kroller-Muller, was born, Dutch museum founder and patron of the arts
• 1869 - Else Lasker-Schüler, was born, lyricist, dramatist and narrator (d. 1945).
• 1870 - Leopold Eugen Mechura, dies, composer .
• 1871 - Gaspard Théodore Ignace de la Fontaine, dies, Luxemburg politician.
• 1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.
• 1873 - España: Se proclama la Primera República Española.
• 1873 - Feodor Chaliapin, was born, Russian singer (d. 1938) .
• 1874 - Elsa Beskow (Maartman), was born, Swedish children's book and fairy tales author, (d. 1953) .
• 1874 - Fritz Bennicke Hart, was born, composer .
• 1875 - Sara Wennerberg-Reuter, was born, composer .
• 1879 - Jean Gilbert, was born, composer .
• 1879 - Honore Daumier, dies, caricaturist/painter (b. 1808) .
• 1879 - Willem J van Zeggelen, dies, Dutch author .
• 1882 - Gustav Schmidt, dies, composer (b. 1874) .
• 1882 - Gheorghe Cucu, was born, composer .
• 1883 - Paul August von Klenau, was born, Danish composer, conductor .
• 1887 - John van Melle, was born, South African writer (d. 1953) .
• 1889 - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov, was born, composer .
• 1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890 .
• 1890 - John de Vries, fairy tale, was born, writer .
• 1891 - J W Hearne, was born, English cricket player .
• 1892 - Erik Anthon Valdemar Siboni, dies, composer .
• 1893 - Johan Alberts, was born, Dutch literary figure .
• 1894 - Isaac Kolthoff, was born, chemist .
• 1894 - Alfonso Leng, was born, composer (d. 1974) .
• 1894 - Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera, dies, composer .
• 1895 - Viktor Nikolayevich Trambitsky, was born, composer .
• 1896 - Else Lasker-Schüler, was born, writer .
• 1897 - Yves de La Casiniere, was born, composer .
• 1898 - Leó Szilárd, was born, physicist, peace activist (d. 1964) .
• 1900 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, was born, German philosopher (d. 2002) .
• 1900 - Thomas Hitchcock Jr, was born, polo player .
• 1902 - Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.
• 1902 - Arne Jacobsen, was born, Danish architect/designer (d. 1971) .
• 1903 - Hans Redlich, was born, composer (d. 1968) .
• 1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.
• 1903 - Henryk Szulc, dies, composer .
• 1904 - Sir Keith Holyoake, was born, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983) .
• 1904 - Henry LaBouisse, was born, head of UNICEF .
• 1905 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• 1905 - Elizabeth Vuyk, was born, Dutch/Indonesian writer .
• 1906 - Denis Barnett, was born, British air chief marshal .
• 1907 - E W Swanton, was born, author, sports commentator .
• 1907 - Peter J Savelberg, dies, Dutch monastery founder .
• 1908 - Sutan Takdir Alishahbana, was born, Indonesian linguist, author, novelist .
• 1908 - Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs, was born, geologist, explorer (d. 1999) .
• 1908 - Josh White was born .
• 1908 - Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
• 1909 - Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper, was born, boxer, actor .
• 1909 - Joseph Mankiewicz, was born, director, screenwriter, producer .
• 1911 - Alec Cairncross, was born, chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
• 1911 - Albert von Rothschild, dies, baron, Austrian banker.
• 1912 - Roy Fuller, was born, English poet/novelist .
• 1912 - Rudolf Firkusny Napajedla, was born, pianist .
• 1913 - Lucio Diestro, was born, composer .
• 1914 - Matt Dennis, was born, singer .
• 1914 - French Duynstee, was born, Dutch constitutional lawyer .
• 1914 - Winand Borgerhoff Mulder, was born, court judge of Amsterdam .
• 1914 - Menelaos Pallantios, was born, composer .
• 1915 - Patrick Leigh Fermor, was born, author .
• 1915 - Mervyn Levy, was born, artist, critic .
• 1915 - Haakon Stotijn, was born, Dutch oboist .
• 1916 - Joseph Alioto, was born, Mayor of San Francisco, California .
• 1916 - Bernice Levin Neugarten, was born, social scientist, gerontologist .
• 1916 - Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control.
• 1917 - Richard Jock Kinneir, was born, graphic designer .
• 1917 - Sidney Sheldon, was born, author .
• 1917 - Oswaldo Cruz, morte de, cientista e médico e sanitarista brasileiro que foi uma das figuras mais importantes no desenvolvimento da saúde pública no Brasil.
• 1919 - Gretchen Fraser, was born, slalom skier .
• 1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany.
• 1919 - Eddie Robinson, was born, college football coach.
• 1920 - King Farouk I of Egypt was born, (d. 1965)
• 1920 - Daniel Galouye, was born, American science fiction author .
• 1920 - Billy Halop, was born, actor .
• 1920 - Paul Peter Piech, was born, artist (d. 1996) .
• 1921 - Lloyd Bentsen, was born, American politician.
• 1921 - Born this day, Eva Gabor, in Budapest, Hungary, actress (Lisa-Green Acres, Gigi). died in 1995.
• 1922 - Tudor Jarda, was born, composer .
• 1922 - Honduras é declarada uma república independente.
• 1922 - Gerardus J P Bolland dies. Dutch philosopher .
• 1923 - Ronald Arculus was born. British diplomat .
• 1924 - Mary Tregear was born. Oriental art historian .
• 1925 - Peter Berger was born. British Vice-Admiral .
• 1925 - Virginia Johnson was born, doctor, sexologist .
• 1925 - Kim Stanley was born (d. 2001). Actress.
• 1925 - Manuel dos Santos was born. Portuguese bullfighter.
• 1926 - Paul Bocuse was born. French chef.
• 1926 - Born this day, Leslie Neilson, in Regina, Saskatchewan, US actor (Forbidden Planet, Airplane, Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2-1/2). (Frank Drebbin). (Or 1922).
• 1926 - Alexander Gibson, was born, British conductor/founder of the Scottish Opera .
• 1928 - Gerry Alexander, was born, West Indies cricket player .
• 1928 - Raoul Cita, was born, rocker .
• 1928 - Gotthilf Fischer, was born, choirmaster .
• 1928 - Archibald Forster, was born, CEO (Esso UK) .
• 1928 - Conrad Janis, was born, actor .
• 1928 - 1928 Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland .
• 1928 - El general nicaragüense Augusto César Sandino huye a Honduras.
• 1929 - Tratado de Letrán entre la Santa Sede y la Italia de Mussolini. Se acuerda la creación de la Ciudad del Vaticano como Estado.
• 1929 - Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
• 1929 - Leonard Gregory Kastle, was born, composer .
• 1930 - C H Dearnley, was born, organist .
• 1930 - Alevtina Koltschina, was born, Soviet skier
• 1931 - Larry Merchant, was born, author, boxing commentator .
• 1931 - Charles Algernon Parsons, dies, British inventor .
• 1932 - Jerome Lowenthal, was born, pianist, professor .
• 1934 - Tina Louise, was born, actress .
• 1934 - Francesco Pennisi, was born, composer.
• 1934 - Mary Quant, was born, fashion designer .
• 1934 - John Surtees, was born, British race car driver .
• 1935 - Bent Lorentzen, was born, composer .
• 1935 - Gene Vincent, was born, rock music guitarist, vocalist (d. 1971)
• 1936 - Burt Reynolds, was born, in Waycross, Georgia, Emmy Award-winning actor.
• 1937 - Lodewijk Boer, was born, Dutch violinist, playwright .
• 1937 - Marilyn Butler, was born, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford .
• 1937 - Peter Lashley, was born, West Indies cricket player .
• 1937 - Bill Lawry, was born, Australian cricket player .
• 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.') .
• 1938 - Bevan Congdon, was born, New Zealand cricket player .
• 1938 - Willy Correa de Oliveira, was born, composer .
• 1938 - Manuel Noriega, was born, Panamanian general and dictator .
• 1939 - Gerry Goffin, was born, lyricist .
• 1939 - Jane Yolen, was born, science fiction author .
• 1939 - Franz Schmidt, dies, Austrian composer .
• 1940 - John Buchan, dies, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1875) .
• 1940 - Bobby Picket, was born, musician .
• 1941- Sergio Mendes, was born, Brazilian singer, jazz-pop musician, songwriter .
• 1941 - First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
• 1942 - Otis Clay, was born, gospel qand R&B singer
• 1943 - Iain Cameron, was born, British brigadier
• 1943 - General Dwight Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
• 1944 - Buddhadev Dasgupta, was born, film director
• 1944 - Bert Greene was born. Golfer.
• 1944 - Hentrique Paiva Couceiro dies (b. 30 Dez 1861). Portuguese militar and Governor of Angola.
• 1945 - Yalta Agreement signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin during World War II.
• 1945 - Al Dubin dies. Swiss songwriter .
• 1945 - J S H Lokerman dies. Dutch resistance fighter .
• 1948 - Sergei Eisenstein dies in Mosco (b. 1898). Russian film director .
• 1948 - John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland.
• 1953 - President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg .
• 1953 - The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 1953 - Philip Anglim, was born, actor .
• 1956 - Se aprueba en Bolivia la ley que da el derecho al voto a los indígenas, mujeres y militares.
• 1959 - Marshall Teague, dies, race car driver (b. 1922)
• 1960 - Ernst von Dohnanyi, dies, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
• 1960 - Victor Klemperer, morte de, professor de Filologia, testemunha do Holocausto.
• 1961- Eduard R Verkade, dies, Dutch actor, director .
• 1961 - Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
• 1961 - Mary Docter, was born, speed skater .
• 1961 - Carey Lowell, was born, actress .
• 1962 - Sheryl Crow, was born, musician, songwriter, (1993 album Saturday Night Music Club).
• 1963 - Sylvia Plath, dies, killed herself, in London aged 30. Poet, novelist (b. 1932)
• 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.
• 1965 - Humberto Delgado regressa clandestinamente a Portugal para participar numa alegada reunião preparatória de um novo golpe militar contra o regime salazarista. Raptado pela polícia política é morto na região de Badajoz. O seu corpo será encontrado no dia 24 de Abril seguinte.
• 1968 - Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.
• 1968 - Madison Square Garden III closes and Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York City .
• 1968 - Howard Lindsay, dies, playwright .
• 1969 - Jennifer Aniston, was born, actress .
• 1970 - Alistair Brown, was born, English cricket player .
• 1970 - Japan became the fourth country to put a satellite into orbit.
• 1970 - Emil Abranyi, dies, composer .
• 1971- Whitney Young Jr, dies, National Urban League director.
• 1971- US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.
• 1972 - Jan Wils, dies, architect .
• 1973 - Hans D Jensen, dies, German physicist .
• 1973 - Emerson Fittipaldi, correndo pela Lótus, vence o Grande Prêmio de Fórmula 1 em São Paulo.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
• 1974 - D'Angelo, was born, singer .
• 1974 - Chuck Watanabe,was born, kayaker .
• 1975 - Zsuzsa Hickel, dies, Hungarian spiritualist .
• 1975 - Reino Unido: Margaret Thatcher es elegida Presidente del Partido Conservador.
• 1976 - Lee J Cobb, dies, actor .
• 1976 - Alexander Lippisch, dies, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894) .
• 1977 - Louis Beel, dies, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1946-1948, 1958-1959) (b. 1902) .
• 1978 - James B Conant, dies, headmaster of Harvard University .
• 1978 - Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.
• 1979 - O primeiro ministro iraniano, Dr. Shahpur Bakhtiar, renuncia após dois dias de manifestações nas ruas de Teerã.
• 1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
• 1979 - Brandy Norwood,was born, singer .
• 1980 - Natasha Bobo, was born, actress .
• 1980 - Matthew Lawrence, was born, actor .
• 1981- Kelly Rowland, was born, singer (Destiny's Child) .
• 1981 - 100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaiminating 8 workers .
• 1982 - Eleanor Powell, dies, actress, dancer .
• 1982 - Takashi Shimura, dies, Japanese actor .
• 1985 - Henry Hathaway dies, actor, director .
• 1985 - Ulysses Simpson Kay, dies, composer .
• 1985 - Heinz Eric Roemheld, dies, composer .
• 1986 - Frank Herbert, dies, science fiction author (b. 1920) .
• 1986 - Rights activist Anatoly Scharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country.
• 1987 - Philippines constitution goes into effect.
• 1989 - George O'Hanlon, dies, actor, director .
• 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.
• 1991 - Oscar Nitzchke, dies, German architect .
• 1993 - O ex-primeiro ministro italiano Bettino Craxi renuncia ao cargo de líder do Partido Socialista, após sofrer acusações de corrupção.
• 1993 - George A Stephen, dies, inventor .
• 1994 - Neil Bonnett, dies, NASCAR driver (b. 1946) .
• 1994 - Sorrell Brooke, dies, actor .
• 1994 - William Conrad, dies, actor .
• 1996 - Kebby Musokotwane, dies, prime minister of Zambia .
• 1996 - Cyril Poole, dies, English cricket player .
• 1996 - Amelia Rosselli, dies, poet .
• 1999 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979.
• 2000 - Roger Vadim, dies, French director (b. 1928) .
• 2003 - Arndt Brause, dies, Schlager singer .
• 2003 - Daniel Toscan du Plantier, dies, movie producer .