On this day in History - Feb. 15

• 399 BC - The philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death.
• 0438 - Publicación del Código Teodosiano .
• 1145 - Pope Lucius II [Gherardo Caccianemici] dies. Italian Pope (from 12.03.1144 until his death).
• 1145 - Bernardo elected Pope Eugene III.
• 1458 - Ivan the Young was born (d. 1490). Ruler of Tver.
• 1471 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici was born (d. 1503). Ruler of Florence.
• 1543 - Charles II, Duke of Lorraine was born (d. 1608).
• 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.
• 1571 - Michael Praetorius was born (d. 1621). German composer.
• 1620 - François Charpentier was born (d. 1702). French archaeologist.
• 1621 - Michael Praetorius dies (b. 1571). German composer.
• 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died on this day.
• 1663 - António Barbosa Bacelar dies in Lisbon (b. 1610). Portuguese historian and poet.
• 1705 - Charles-André van Loo was born (d. 1765). French painter.
• 1710 - King Louis XV of France was born (d. 1774).
• 1713 - John Witherspoon was born (d. 1794). American signer of the Declaration Independence.
• 1725 - Abraham Clark was born (d. 1794). American signer of the Declaration of Independence.
• 1738 - Matthias Braun dies (b. 1684). Czech sculptor.
• 1739 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart was born (d. 1813). French architect.
• 1758 - Mustard was first advertised for sale in America, by Benjamin Jackson.
• 1759 - Friedrich August Wolf was born (d. 1824). German philologist and archaeologist.
• 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.
• 1775 - Peter Dens dies (b. 1690). Belgian Catholic theologian.
• 1781 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing dies (b. 1729). German author and philosopher.
• 1783 - Reconhecimento oficial por Portugal da independência dos Estados Unidos da América. Portugal recognizes American independence.
• 1803 - John Sutter was born (d. 1880). California pioneer.
• 1805 - Harmony Society officially formed.
• 1809 - Cyrus McCormick was born (d. 1884). American inventor.
• 1809 - André Dumont was born (d. 1857). Belgian geologist.
• 1811 - Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was born. Argentine writer, politician and President of Argentine.
• 1812 - Charles Louis Tiffany was born (d. 1902). American jeweler.
• 1815 - Constantin von Tischendorf was born (d. 1874). German biblical scholar.
• 1818 - Friedrich Ludwig, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen dies (b. 1746). Prussian general.
• 1820 - Susan B. Anthony was born (d. 1906). American feminist and suffragist.
• 1820 - In the U.S. Senate, Sen. Rufus King condemns slavery as contrary to natural law.
• 1825 - Carter Harrison, Sr. was born (d. 1893). Mayor of Chicago, IL.
• 1835 - Demetrius Vikelas was born (d. 1908). Greek International Olimpic Comitee president.
• 1835 - Henry Hunt dies (b. 1773). British politician.
• 1835 - Alexander Stewart Webb was born in New York City, Major General (Union Army), died in 1911.
• 1841 - Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles was born (d. 1913). President of Brazil.
• 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 was born (d. 07 Feb 1937). American statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1847 - Robert Fuchs was born (d. 1927). Austrian composer.
• 1847 - Germinal Pierre Dandelin dies (b. 1794). Belgian mathematician.
• 1848 - Hermann von Boyen dies (b. 1771). Prussian field marshal.
• 1849 - Pierre François Verhulst dies (b. 1804). Belgian mathematician.
• 1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits first patient.
• 1856 - Emil Kraepelin was born (d. 1926). German psychiatrist.
• 1857 - Mikhail Glinka dies (b. 1804). Russian composer.
• 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 (d. 1922). British polar explorer.
• 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 (d. 1942). American actor.
• 1883 - Sax Rohmer was born (d. 1959). English author.
• 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 (d.1949). First United States Secretary of Defense
• 1895 - Earl Thomson was born. Canadian athlete.
• 1896 - Arthur Shields was born (d. 1970). Irish actor.
• 1898 - Totò was born (d. 1967). Italian actor, writer, and composer.
• 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 (d. 1983). French composer.
• 1899 - Gale Sondergaard was born (d. 1985). American actress.
• 1901 - João Branco Núncio was born (d. 26 Jan 1976). Portuguese bullfighter / Nascimento do Cavaleiro Tauromáquico português 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.
• 1905 - Raul de Carvalho was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1905 - Harold Arlen was born (d. 1986). American composer.
• 1906 - The British Labour Party is organized.
• 1907 - Cesar Romero was born (d. 1994). American actor.
• 1907 - Jean Langlais was born (d. 1991). French composer and organist.
• 1908 - HAP Grieshaber was born (d. 1981). Painter and graphic artist.
• 1909 - Miep Gies was born. Dutch biographer of Anne Frank
• 1909 - Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes was born (d. 1966). Spanish football player.
• 1911 - Portugal - Criação de uma comissão para o estudo do problema da ortografia. Pretendia-se aproximar a ortografia da fonética(Portugal).
• 1913 - Erich Eliskases was born (d. 1997). Austrian/Argentine chess player.
• 1914 - Hale Boggs was born (d. 1972). American politician.
• 1914 - Kevin McCarthy was born. American actor.
• 1915 - Abel Ferreira was born (d. 1980). Brazilian composer and musician.
• 1916 - Mary Jane Croft was born (d. 1999). American actress.
• 1918 - Allan Arbus was born. American actor.
• 1919 - Andreas Papandreou was born (d. 1996). Prime Minister of Greece
• 1921 - Petronila Angélica Gómez (b. 1883 -d. 1971), funda en San Pedro de Macoris, República Dominicana, la revista Fémina.
• 1922 - John Bayard Anderson was born. US Congressman and presidential candidate
• 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 .
• 1923 - Roser Bru was born in Barcelona. Chilean painter and engraver.
• 1925 - Elmo Elton was born in Vitória. Brazilian poet.
• 1926 - Dieter Lattmann was born. German writer and politician .
• 1927 - Harvey Korman was born. American actor and 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 (d. 1975). British Formula One racer.
• 1929 - James Schlesinger was born. American politician
• 1931 - Claire Bloom was born. English actress.
• 1932 - Minnie Maddern Fiske dies (b. 1865). Broadway actress.
• 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.
• 1935 - Susan Brownmiller was born. American feminist and writer.
• 1935 - Roger Chaffee was born (d. 1967). American astronaut.
• 1935 - Ronald de Carvalho dies (b. 1893). Brazilian poet.
• 1939 - Ole Ellefsæter was born. Norwegian cross-country skier
• 1940 - John Hadl was born. American football player
• 1941 - Florinda Bolkan was born in Ceara. Brazilian 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.
• 1943 - Geoff Edwards was born. American television game show host
• 1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
• 1946 - Marisa Berenson was born. American actress.
• 1947 - Rusty Hamer was born (d. 1990). American actor.
• 1948 - Ron Cey was born. Baseball player.
• 1948 - Art Spiegelman was born. American cartoonist
• 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. American singer .
• 1951 - Jane Seymour [Joyce Frankenberg], was born in Middlesex England. British actress.
• 1952 - King George VI is buried at St George's Chapel on his Windsor Castle estate.
• 1953 - 17-year-old Tenley Albright becomes the first American to win the world figure skating championship.
• 1954 - Matt Groening was born. American cartoonist.
• 1955 - Francisco Franco dies in Lisbon (b. 9 Oct 1885. Portuguese sculptor (Monumento do Cristo Rei -Almada) .
• 1955 - Christopher McDonald was born. American actor.
• 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.
• 1959 - Ali Campbell was born. British vocalist/guitarist (UB40)
• 1959 - Brian Propp was born. Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 - Mikey Craig was born. British musician (Culture Club)
• 1961 - A Boeing 707 crashes in Belgium killing 73, including the entire United States figure
  skating team and several coaches.
• 1964 - Chris Farley actor (d. 1997). Comedian (d. 1997).
• 1964 - Robert L. Thornton dies (b. 1880). American businessman, philanthropist and Mayor of Dallas.
• 1965 - Nat King Cole dies (b. 1919). American singer, musician.
• 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.
• 1966 - Gerard Ciołek dies (b. 1909). Polish architect and historian of gardens.
• 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. American actress and director
• 1972 - Phonorecords granted U.S. Federal copyright protection for the first time.
• 1972 - Jaromír Jágr was born. Czech hockey player.
• 1973 - Sarah Wynter was born. Australian actress.
• 1973 - Kateřina Neumannová was born. Czech cross country skier.
• 1973 - Wally Cox dies (b. 1924). American actor.
• 1973 - Tim Holt dies (b. 1919). American actor
• 1974 - Kurt Atterberg dies. Swedish composer.
• 1974 - Seattle Slew was born (d. 2002). Triple Crown-winning race horse.
• 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.
• 1976 - Brandon Boyd was born. American musician (Incubus)
• 1978 - O boxeur Leon Spinks derrota Muhammad Ali na disputa pelo título dos pesos-pesados, que Ali havia mantido por sete anos.
• 1978 - Tuan Le was born. American poker player.
• 1979 - Alenka Kejžar was born. Slovenian swimmer
• 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 (b. 1944). American musician.
• 1981 - Karl Richter dies (b. 1926). German conductor.
• 1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
• 1984 - Dorota Rabczewska was born. Polish singer (Virgin)
• 1984 - Ethel Merman dies (b. 1908). American singer and actress.
• 1985 - World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23 .
• 1986 - Ferdinand Marcos wins rigged Philippines presidential election .
• 1988 - Richard Feynman dies (b. 1918). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 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.
• 1992 - Maria Elena Moyano is assassinated by Sendero Luminoso (b.1958). Peruvian social and feminist activist.
• 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.
• 1996 - Tommy Rettig dies (b. 1941). American actor.
• 1999 - Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party, is arrested in Kenya by Turkish agents.
• 1999 - Big L (Lamont Coleman) dies (b. 1974). American rapper.
• 1999 - Henry Way Kendall dies (b. 1926). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 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 (b. 1914). American journalist.
• 2002 - Kevin Smith dies (b. 1963). New Zealand actor.
• 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 (b. 1917). Actress.
• 2004 - Jens Evensen dies (b. 1917). Norwegian minister, International Court of Justice judge.
• 2005 - Samuel Francis dies (b. 1947). American journalist.