On This day in History - Feb. 16

• 0600 - Pope Gregory I decreed that "God bless you" was the correct response to a sneeze.
• 1032 - Emperor Yingzong of China was born (d. 1067).
• 1222 - Nichiren was born. Japanese Monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism.
• 1247 - Heinrich Raspe dies (b. 1204). Landgrave of Thuringia.
• 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.
• 1279 - Afonso III of Portugal dies (b. 1210). Portuguese King. His son Denis succeeds the Portuguese throne.
• 1391 - John V Palaeologus dies (b. 1332). Byzantine Emperor.
• 1497 - Philipp Melanchthon was born (d. 1560). German humanist and reformer.
• 1514 - Georg Joachim Rheticus was born (d. 1576). Austrian-born astonomer and mathematician who was among the first to adopt and spread the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus.
• 1519 - Gaspard de Coligny was born (d. 1572). French Huguenot leader.
• 1531 - Johannes Stöffler dies (b. 1452). German mathematician and astronomer.
• 1543 - Kano Eitoku was born (d. 1590). Japanese painter.
• 1560 - Jean du Bellay dies. French Catholic cardinal and diplomat.
• 1568 - The entire population of the Netherlands - three million people - was sentenced to death by the Roman Catholic Church for heresy; see Eighty Years' War.
• 1579 - Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada dies. Spanish conqueror, founder of the Nuevo Reino de Granada (Colombia).
• 1595 - Fernando de Zárate comienza a levantar la fortaleza de Buenos Aires, lo que se considera la tercera fundación de la ciudad.
• 1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm was born (d. 1688). Called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Ducal Prussia.
• 1643 - John Sharp was born (d. 1714). English Archbishop of York.
• 1646 - Battle of Great Torrington, Devon - the last major battle of the first English Civil War.
• 1698 - Pierre Bouguer was born (d. 1758). French physicist whose work founded photometry, the measurement of light intensity.
• 1710 - King Louis XV of France was born (d. 1774).
• 1710 - Esprit Fléchier dies (b. 1632). French writer and Bishop of Nîmes.
• 1721 - James Craggs the Younger dies (b. 1686). English politician.
• 1727 - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin was born (d. 1817). Austrian scientist.
• 1740 - Giambattista Bodoni was born (d. 1813). Italian publisher and engraver.
• 1742 - Spencer Compton Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1754 - Richard Mead dies (b. 1763). English physician.
• 1761 - Charles Pichegru was born (d. 1804). French general.
• 1773 - São abolidas as distinções entre Cristãos Velhos e Cristãos Novos, mandando-se queimar os registos cadastrais dos cristãos-novos.
• 1783 - Jean-Baptiste-Julian d'Omalius d'Halloy was born (d. 1875). Belgian geologist who was an early proponent of evolution.
• 1786 - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia was born (d. 1859).
• 1794 - César Hipólito Bacle was born. Swiss engraver and litographer.
• 1802 - Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was born (d. 1866). American philosopher.
• 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
• 1804 - Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold was born (d. 1885). German zoologist who in 1848, with Koelliker, created Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie (“Journal of Scientific Zoology”), which he edited until his death.
• 1812 - Henry Wilson was born (d. 1875). 18th Vice President of US.
• 1815 - Salen de Cádiz (España) las fuerzas realistas para luchar contra la rebelión en Colombia y Venezuela.
• 1820 - Georg Carl von Döbeln dies (b. 1758). Swedish Lieutenant General and war hero.
• 1821 - México independency is proclaimed.
• 1821 - Heinrich Barth was born († 25 Nov 1865). German explorer.
• 1822 - Sir Francis Galton was born in Birmingham (d. 1911). English scientist, explorer, anthropologist, statistician and eugenicist, known for his pioneering studies of human intelligence.
• 1822 - James Patton Anderson was born (d. 1872). Major General (Confederate Army).
• 1823 - El comandante Antonio López de Santa Anna proclama la República de México.
• 1823 - Pierre Paul Proud'hon dies. Painter.
• 1824 - Peter Kozler was born († 1879). Slovenian cartographer and geographer.
• 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel was born (d. 1886). German poet.
• 1826 - Julia Grant was born (d. 1902). First Lady, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant.
• 1826 - (Hans Peter Jörgen) Julius Thomsen was born (d. 13Feb. 1909). Danish chemist who tabulated the amount of heat released or absorbed in 3,500 chemical reactions. He also prepared the first table of the relative strengths of acids. He became wealthy from his process (patented in 1853) for the fabrication of soda from the mineral cryolite.
• 1831 - Nikolai Leskov was born (d. 1895). Russian writer.
• 1834 - Ernst Haeckel was born (d. 1919). German zoologist and philosopher who separated the animal kingdom into unicellar and multicellular organisms, and was an enthusiastic supporter of Darwin's theories.
• 1834 - Lionel Lukin dies (b. 18 May 1742). English coach-builder, inventor and pioneer who patented the "unimmergible" (unsinkable) construction of the modern lifeboat (2 Nov 1785, GB No. 1498/1785).
• 1838 - Henry Adams was born (d. 1918). American historian and novelist.
• 1838 - Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus.
• 1840 - Republic of Ecuador is recognized by Spain.
• 1843 - Henry Martyn Leland was born (d. 26 Mar. 1932). American inventor and industrialist who founded Cadillac Motors (22 Aug 1902) to build the Cadillac, the first automobile with high-precision, fully-interchangable parts.
• 1844 - Joseph Crosfield dies (b. 1792). English soap and alkali manufacturer.
• 1847 - Philipp Scharwenka was born (d. 1917). Polish-German composer.
• 1848 - Hugo de Vries was born (d. 1935). Dutch botanist.
• 1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
• 1856 - Rudolph Karstadt was born (d. 1944). German entrepreneur.
• 1856 - Willem Kes was born (d. 1934). Dutch conductor.
• 1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
• 1859 - The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch.
• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War
• 1866 - Billy Hamilton was born (d. 1940). Baseball player.
• 1866 - Vyacheslav Ivanov was born (d. 1949). Russian poet.
• 1866 - Phineas Parkhurst Quimby dies (b. 1802). 19th Century Philosopher.
• 1868 - In New York City the Jolly Gorks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
• 1868 - Wilhelm Schmidt was born (d. 10 Feb 1954). German anthropologist was a Roman Catholic priest whose research focussed on the origin of the idea of God and religion within various cultures, trying to link what emerged from ethnological studies with what is stated in the Bible.
• 1874 - Marie Gutheil-Schoder was born (d. 1935). German soprano.
• 1876 - George Macaulay Trevelyan was born (d. 1962). English historian.
• 1878 - Pamela Colman Smith was born (d. 1951). English artist, writer, designer of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of tarot cards.
• 1880 - First U.S. national mechanical engineering society: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers was founded when 40 engineers from eight states met in New York City in the office of American Machinist.
• 1880 - Frank Burke was born (d. 1946). American baseball player.
  
• 1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.
• 1883 - Elizabeth Craig was born (d. 1980). British writer.
• 1884 - Robert J. Flaherty was born (d. 1951). American filmmaker.
• 1886 - Van Wyck Brooks was born (d. 1963). American historian and critic.
• 1888 - Adelmar Tavares was born in Recife, Pernambuco (d. 20 Jun 1963). Brazilian poet and lawyer.
• 1887 - Kathleen Clifford was born (d. 1962). American actress.
• 1889 - António Soares dos Reis dies (b. 1847). Portuguese sculptor.
• 1890 - Robert John Kane dies (b. 1809). Irish chemist who is remembered for his book, The Industrial Resources of Ireland (1944), a study of the scientific and potential economic value of developing the country's natural resources.
• 1891 - Hans F. K. Günther was born (d. 1967). German eugenicist.
• 1892 - Henry Walter Bates dies (b. 1825). Entomologist who discovered thousands of new insect species during expeditions in the Amazon.
• 1898 - Katharine Cornell was born (d. 1974). American actress.
• 1898 - Thomas Bracken dies (b. 1843). New Zealand poet, author of God's Own Country.
• 1899 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur Iceland's first football club is founded.
• 1899 - Félix Faure dies in office (b. 1841). President of France.
• 1901 - Chester Morris was born (d. 1970). American film actor.
• 1901 - Vincent Coleman was born (d. 1971). American actor.
  
• 1901 - Wayne King was born (d. 1985). American musician and orchestra leader ("The Waltz King").
• 1903 - Edgar Bergen was born (d. 1978). Ventriloquist.
• 1903 - George-Henri Lévesque was born (d. 2000). Quebec priest and sociologist.
• 1904 - George F. Kennan was born (d. 2005). American historian, diplomat and political policy-maker.
• 1906 - Vera Menchik was born (d. 1944). British-Czech chess player, the first Women's World Champion in chess.
  
• 1907 - Giosuè Carducci dies (b. 1835). Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate in 1906
• 1909 - Hugh Beaumont was born (d. 1982). American actor.
• 1909 - Jeffrey Lynn was born (d. 1995). American actor.
• 1909 - Richard McDonald was born (d. 1998). American fast food pioneer.
• 1912 - St. Nikolai of Japan dies (b. 1836). Monk priest of Eastern Orthodoxy.
• 1915 - Elisabeth Eybers was born (d. 2007). South African poet.
• 1915 - Jim O'Hora was born (d. 2005). American college football coach.
  
• 1915 - Michael Relph was born (d. 2004). British film producer and director.
• 1916 - Bill Doggett was born (d. 1996). American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist.
• 1917 - Octave Mirbeau dies (b. 1848). French writer.
• 1918 - The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
• 1918 - Joan Miró obtiene un estrepitoso fracaso en su primera exposición en Barcelona.
• 1918 - Patty Andrews was born. American singer.
• 1919 - Vera Kholodnaya dies (b. 1893). Russian film star.
• 1920 - Anna Mae Hays was born. American army general.
• 1921 - Araucaria was born. British crossword compiler.
• 1921 - Jean Behra was born (d. 1959). French Formula One driver.
• 1921 - Vera-Ellen was born (d. 1981). American actress.
• 1922 - First session of Haia Justice Permanent Court.
• 1922 - Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer was born (d. 1950). German night fighter pilot.
• 1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
• 1925 - Carlos Paredes was born. Portuguese guitarist and composer.
• 1926 - Suzanne Lenglen defeated Helen Wills at Cannes, France to retain the women’s tennis championship title. It was the only meeting between the two tennis greats.
• 1926 - John Schlesinger was born (d. 2003). English film director.
  
• 1927 - June Brown was born. British actress.
• 1927 - Tom Kennedy was born. American game show host.
• 1928 - Eddie Foy dies (b. 1856). American singer and dancer.
• 1929 - Gerhard Hanappi was born (d. 1980). Austrian footballer.
• 1931 - Otis Blackwell was born (d. 2002). American songwriter and singer.
• 1931 - George E. Sangmeister was born (d. 2007). American politician.
• 1931 - Ken Takakura was born. Japanese actor.
• 1932 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was born. President of Sierra Leone.
• 1932 - Gretchen Wyler was born (d. 2007). American actress and dancer.
  
• 1932 - Harry Goz was born (d. 2003). American actor.
  
• 1932 - Otis Blackwell was born (d. 2002). American songwriter and singer.
• 1932 - Sir Edgar Speyer dies (b. 1862). American-born British financier and philanthropist.
  
• 1932 - Ferdinand Buisson dies (b. 1841). French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1932 - Gustave-Auguste Ferrié dies (b. 19 Nov 1868). French scientist and army general who contributed to the devolopment of radio communication in France. He participated with Guglielmo Marconi in experimental wireless telegraphy (1899) between Paris, France and England.
• 1933 - Domingo Martínez Luján dies. Peruvian poet.
• 1934 - Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund.
• 1934 - Commission of Government sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.
• 1934 - Herbie & Harold Kalin were born (d. 2005 - Harold; 2006-Herbie). American singers.
• 1934 - Marlene Hagge was born. American professional golfer.
• 1935 - Eduardo Gageiro was born. Portuguese photographer.
• 1935 - Sonny Bono was born (d. 1998). American singer, music and television producer, and Congressman.
• 1936 - Frente Popular wins elections in Spain.
• 1936 - 4th Winter Olympics games close at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• 1936 - Spanish Frente Popular (People's Front) wins elections.
• 1936 - Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.
• 1936 - Jill Kinmont was born. American skier.
• 1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon. The U.S. patent, No. 2,071,250, which was assigned to the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc.
• 1937 - Yuri Manin was born. Russian mathematician.
• 1938 - Barry Primus was born. American actor.
• 1938 - John Corigliano was born. American composer.
• 1939 - Adolfo Azcuna was born. Filipino Supreme Court jurist.
• 1939 - Czesław Niemen was born (d. 2004). Polish singer-songwriter and composer.
  
• 1940 - Altmark Incident: The German tanker German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, was boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.
• 1941 - España: el centro de Santander devorado por un devastador incendio.
• 1942 - Kim Jong Il was born. North Korean leader.
• 1943 - World War II: Russia reconquers Kharkov.
• 1943 - Brig Owens was born. American football player.
• 1943 - Marilina Ross was born. Argentine singer and actress.
• 1944 - António Mascarenhas Monteiro was born. 2^nd President of Cape Verde.
  
• 1944 - Richard Ford was born. American Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. His work included “The Sportswriter” and “Independence Day.”
• 1944 - António Mascarenhas Monteiro was born. Former President of Cape Vert.
• 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
• 1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.
• 1945 - Venezuela declares war on Nazi-Germany.
• 1945 - World War II: First American Aircraft carrier strikes on Tokyo.
• 1945 - Frank Welker was born. American voice actor.
• 1945 - Jeremy Bulloch was born. English actor.
• 1946 - The first commercial helicopter, the four-seat Sikorsky S51, single rotor helicopter first flew. It was the first Sikorsky helicopter to be licensed by the U.S. Civil Aviation Administration for commercial operations.
• 1946 - Ian Lavender was born. English actor.
• 1947 - Canadians granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
• 1948 - First U.S. daily newsreel telecast: the first U.S. newsreel telecast to be presented daily was the 20th Century-Fox Movietone News. It was broadcast by the National Broadcast Company (NBC) over its East Coast network broadcast. The program was sponsored by a tobacco company.
• 1948 - Miranda, a famous moon of Uranus, was photographed for first time.
• 1948 - Eckhart Tolle was born. German.Canadian author and spiritual teacher.
• 1948 - Pete Postlethwaite was born. English actor.
• 1950 - Kazuki Tomokawa was born. Japanese acid-folk singer.
• 1950 - Peter Hain was born. British politician.
• 1950 - Roman Tam was born (d. 2002). Hong Kong famous singer.
• 1951 - William Katt was born. American actor.
• 1952 - Guillermo Vilas was born. Argentine tennis player (1977 US Open).
• 1952 - Barry Foote was born. Major League Baseball player.
• 1953 - First man-made diamonds: diamond crystals, the size of grains of sand, were produced in Sweden in a high pressure press by subjecting graphite to 83,000 atmospheres pressure and about 2000°C for an hour. The research, headed by Erik Lundblad, was funded by the Swedish electrical company ASEA
• 1953 - George Martin was born. American footballer.
• 1953 - Lanny McDonald was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1953 - Roberta Williams was born. Computer game designer.
• 1954 - Iain Banks was born. Scotish author.
• 1954 - Margaux Hemingway was born (d. 1996). American actress and model.
• 1954 - Michael Holding was born. West Indian fast bowler cricket.
• 1955 - Hunt Block was born. American actor.
• 1956 - Britain abolishes the death penalty.
• 1956 - James Ingram was born. American singer.
• 1956 - Meghnad N. Saha dies (b. 6 Oct 1893). Indian astrophysicist noted for his development in 1920 of the thermal ionization equation, which, in the form perfected by the British astrophysicist Edward A. Milne, has remained fundamental in all work on stellar atmospheres.
• 1957 - Começo da visita oficial da Rainha Isabel II de Inglaterra a Portugal. A visita prolongar-se-à até ao dia 20.
• 1957 - The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00pm and 7.00pm was abolished in the United Kingdom
• 1957 - LeVar Burton was born. American actor.
• 1957 - James Ingram was born. American singer.
• 1957 - Baron Hore-Belisha dies (b. 7 Sep 1893). 1st Baron Hore-Belisha (of Devonport), statesman and inventor of belisha beacons, the omni-present flashing orange globe lights at British pedestrian road crossings.
• 1957 - Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend dies (b. 7 Jun 1868). British physicist who pioneered in the study of electrical conduction in gases. In 1898 he made the first direct measurement of the unit electrical charge (e).
• 1958 - Ice-T was born. American singer, songwriter and actor.
• 1958 - Lisa Loring was born. American actress.
• 1958 - Michael W. Burns was born. American politician.
• 1958 - Natalie Angier was born. American journalist and author.
• 1958 - Oscar Schmidt was born. Brazilian basketball player.
• 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1959 - John McEnroe was born. Tennis player; tennis’ bad boy for his frequent outbursts on the tennis court: Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion [1981, 1983, 1984]; U.S. Open Men’s Singles Champion: [1979, 1980, 1981, 1984]).
• 1959 - Kelly Tripucka was born. American basketball player.
• 1960 - Cherie Chung was born. Hong Kong actress.
• 1960 - Pete Willis was born. English guitarist (Def Leppard).
• 1961 - Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
• 1961 - Andy Taylor was born. Musician (Duran Duran).
• 1962 - Jimmy Bostwick defeated his brother, Pete, to win the U.S. Open Court Tennis championships for the third time.
• 1962 - John Balance was born (d. 2004). English musician (Coil, Psychic TV).
• 1963 - Dano Halsall was born. Swiss swimmer.
• 1963 - Dave Lombardo was born. Cuban drummer (Slayer).
• 1964 - Bebeto was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1964 - Christopher Eccleston was born. English actor (Our Friends in the North, Doctor Who.
• 1966 - Vítor Paneira was born. Portuguese soccer player.
• 1967 - John Valentin was born. Baseball player.
• 1967 - Keith Gretzky was born. Canadian hockey player; brother of Wayne Gretzky
• 1967 - Antonio Moreno dies (b. 1887). Spanish-born actor.
• 1967 - Smiley Burnette dies (b. 1911). American actor, singer and songwriter.
• 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
• 1968 - Warren Ellis was born. British comic book writer.
• 1969 - David Heath was born. American professional wrestler better known as Gangrel.
• 1969 - Dimas was born. Portuguese football player.
• 1970 - Angelo Peruzzi was born. Italian footballer.
• 1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.
• 1970 - DJ Wallis was born. American fitness competitor.
• 1970 - Serdar Ortac was born. Turkish popstar.
• 1970 - Francis Peyton Rous dies (b. 1879). American pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1971 - Amanda Holden was born. British actress.
• 1972 - El ejército ecuatoriano derroca al presidente José María Velasco Ibarra.
• 1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.
• 1972 - Jerome Bettis was born. American football player.
• 1972 - Sarah Clarke was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Taylor Hawkins was born. American musician (Foo Fighters).
• 1973 - Cathy Freeman was born. Australian athlete.
• 1973 - Christian Bassedas was born. Argentine former footballer.
• 1973 - Maureen Johnson was born. American author.
• 1973 - Nikos Kostakis was born. Greek footballer.
• 1974 - Fanis Katergiannakis was born. Greek footballer.
• 1974 - Johnny Tri Nguyen was born. Vietnamese American stuntman and martial arts actor.
• 1974 - John Garand dies (b. 1888). Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer.
• 1975 - Don Jeffcoat was born. American actor.
• 1975 - Nanase Aikawa was born. Japanese singer.
• 1975 - Vanina Ickx was born. Belgian racing driver.
• 1975 - Morgan Taylor dies (b. 1903). American athlete.
• 1975 - Norman Treigle dies (b. 1927). American bass-baritone.
• 1976 - Eric Byrnes was born. American baseball player.
• 1976 - Joe Odagiri was born. Japanese actor.
• 1976 - Kelly Carlson was born. American actress and model.
  
• 1976 - Kyo was born. Japanese singer (Dir en grey).
• 1977 - Ahman Green was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Ian Clarke was born. Irish computer programmer.
• 1977 - Carlos Pellicer dies (b. 1897). Mexican poet.
• 1978 - E. Roland Harriman dies (b. 1895). American financier.
• 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
• 1978 - John Tartaglia was born. Broadway actor and Muppeteer.
• 1978 - Tia Hellebaut was born. Belgian athlete.
• 1978 - Wasim Jaffer was born. Indian Cricketer.
• 1978 - E. Roland Harriman dies (b. 1895). American financier.
  
• 1979 - Eric Mun was born. Korean rapper (Shinhwa).
• 1979 - Valentino Rossi was born. Italian motorcycle racer.
• 1979 - Nematollah Nassiri dies executed (b. 1911). Iran general/head of SAVAK.
  
• 1980 - Nutty begins publication.
• 1980 - Agim Kaba was born. American actor and film producer.
• 1980 - Ashley Lelie was born. American football player.
• 1980 - Edward Thomas Copson dies (b. 21 Aug 1901). Scottish mathematician known for his contributions to analysis and partial differential equations, especially as they apply to mathematical physics.
• 1980 - Erich Hückel dies (b. 1895). German physicist.
• 1981 - Jay Howard was born. British racing driver.
• 1981 - Jerry Owens was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - Qyntel Woods was born. American basketball player.
• 1982 - Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female President of Malta.
• 1982 - Wasalu Muhammad Jaco was born. American rapper.
• 1983 - A ONU reafirma o direito à autodeterminação do povo de Timor-Leste.
• 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
• 1983 - Tuomo Ruutu was born. Finnish ice hockey player.
• 1985 - The founding of Hezbollah.
• 1985 - Zoi Dimoschaki was born. Greek swimmer.
• 1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 1986 - Mário Soares (Socialist Party) is elected Portugal's 1st civilian president after 25 April 1974 .
• 1987 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
• 1987 - Theresa Goh was born. Singaporean Paralympic swimmer.
• 1988 - Rosa Mota, Portuguese athlete, is considered by Track and Fields , the best marathonist of the world in 1988.
• 1988 - The Comedy Company debuts on Network 0-10 Ten.
• 1988 - Denílson Pereira Neves was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1988 - Jean Carignan dies (b. 1916). French Canadian fiddler.
• 1989 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
• 1989 - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan & North Yemen form common market.
• 1990 - Keith Haring dies (b. 1958). American artist.
• 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.
• 1991 - Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez (b. 1932) is assassinated in Managua.
• 1991 - Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg was born. Princess of Luxembourg.
• 1992 - Angela Carter dies (b. 1940). English writer.
• 1992 - Herman Wold dies (b. 1908). Swedish statistician.
  
• 1992 - Jânio Quadros dies in São Paulo (b. 1917). Brazilian politician.
• 1993 - Western Australia's and Australia's first woman Premier, Carmen Lawrence, is voted out of office.
• 1994 - The first successful operation on a fetus without surgically opening the woman's body was announced by Dr. Ruben Quintero, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.
• 1994 - Andrei Chikatilo dies (b. 1936). Russian serial killer.
• 1996 - Brownie McGhee dies (b. 1915). American singer.
• 1996 - Edmund G. Brown dies (b. 1905). Governor of California.
  
• 1996 - Ernst Weber dies (b. 6 Sep 1901). Austrian-born American electrical engineer who contributed to the development of microwave technology, applied in radar and communications systems.
• 1996 - Roger Bowen dies (b. 1932). American actor.
• 1997 - Chien-Shiung Wu dies (b. 1912). Chinese-American Physicist who provided the first experimental proof (1956) that parity is not conserved in weak subatomic interactions of nuclear beta decay.
• 1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300-622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground.
• 1998 - Christina Anyanawu, Nigerian journalist, wins The UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
  
• 1998 - Marie-Louise von Franz dies (b. 4 Jan 1915). German-born Swiss psychologist who was a Jungian analyst (1948-98) in collaboration with Carl Jung for over 30 years.
• 1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.
• 1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey
  arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
• 1999 - In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime.
• 1999 - Michael Larson dies (b. 1949). Press Your Luck Big-winning contestant
• 2000 - Karsten Solheim dies (b. 1911). Norwegian-born engineer and inventor.
• 2000 - Lila Kedrova dies (b. 1918). Russian-born actress.
• 2000 - Marceline Day dies (b. 1908). American actress.
• 2000 - Nádia Maria dies (b. 1931). Brazilian comedian.
• 2001 - Bob Buhl dies (b. 1928). American baseball player.
• 2001 - Howard W. Koch dies (b. 1916). American film director.
• 2001 - William Masters dies (b. 1915). American gynecologist and sexologist.
• 2002 - Walter Winterbottom dies (b. 1913). The first England football manager.
• 2003 - Eleanor "Sis" Daley dies (b. 1907). Wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley.
• 2003 - Alexander Tišma dies in Novi Sad (b. 1924). Serbian author.
• 2004 - Doris Troy dies (b. 1937). American singer.
• 2004 - Shirley Strickland dies. Australian athlete, three-time Olympic champion.
• 2005 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
• 2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labour dispute.
• 2005 - Nicole DeHuff dies (b. 1975). American actress.
• 2005 - Queen Narriman dies. Second and last wife of King Farouk and mother of their only child King Fuad II.
• 2006 - The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
• 2006 - Ernie Stautner dies (b. 1925). German-born American football player.
• 2006 - Johnny Grunge dies (b. 1966). American professional wrestler.
• 2006 - Ernie Stautner dies (b. 1925). German-born American football player.
• Lithuania - Independence Day (1918).
• Canada - Family Day.
• US - President's Day.