On this day in History - Fev. 8

• 0412 - Proclus was born (d. 0487). Greek philosopher.
• 0421 - Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire .
• 1191 - Yaroslav II of Russia was born (d. 1246).
• 1204 - Alexius IV Angelus dies (b. circa 1182). Deposed Eastern Roman Emperor.
• 1250 - Robert I of Artois dies killed in battle (b. 1216). French crusader.
• 1250 - William II Longespee dies.
• 1265 - Hulagu Khan dies (b. 1217). Mongol ruler.
• 1291 - King Afonso IV of Portugal was born (d. 1357).
• 1296 - King Przemysł II of Poland dies (b. 1257).
• 1405 - Constantine XI Palaiologos was born (d. 1453). The last reigning Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1487 - Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg was born (d. 1550).
• 1529 - Baldassare Castiglione dies (b. 1478). Italian writer and diplomat.
• 1552 - Agrippa d'Aubigné was born (d. 1630). French poet and soldier.
• 1555 - Laurence Saunders was led barefoot to his execution and burned at the stake.
• 1575 - Universiteit Leiden founded, and given the motto "Praesidium Libertatis".
• 1577 - Robert Burton was born (d. 1640). English cleric and writer.
• 1586 - Jacob Praetorius was born (d. 1651). German composer.
• 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.
• 1599 - Robert Rollock dies. Scottish educator.
• 1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Elizabeth I of England - revolt is quickly crushed.
• 1612 - Samuel Butler was born (d. 1680). English poet.
  
• 1622 - King James I of England disbands the English Parliament.
• 1623 - Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter dies (b. 1546). English politician.
• 1649 - Gabriel Daniel was born (d. 1728). French Jesuit historian.
• 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")
• 1685 - Charles-Jean-François Hénault was born (d. 1770). French historian.
• 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.
• 1696 - Tsar Ivan V of Russia dies (b. 1666).
• 1700 - Daniel Bernoulli was born in Groningen (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.
• 1709 - Giuseppe Torelli dies (b. 1658). Italian composer.
• 1711 - Alvará em que se determina que só integrando uma frota comercial, poderão os navios estrangeiros comerciar com o Brasil.
• 1720 - Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan was born (d. 1750).
• 1725 - Tsar Peter I of Russia dies (b. 1672).
• 1726 - The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.
• 1749 - Jan van Huysum dies (b. 1682). Dutch painter.
• 1750 - Aaron Hill dies (b. 1685). English writer.
• 1768 - George Dance the Elder dies (b. 1695). English architect.
• 1772 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha dies (b. 1719). Princess of Wales.
• 1786 - Nicholas Biddle was born. American financier.
• 1792 - Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was born (d. 1873). Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
• 1804 - Richard Lemon Lander was born (d. 1834). British explorer.
• 1807 - Battle of Eylau: Napoleon defeats Russians under General Benigssen.
• 1807 - Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was born (d. 1889). English sculptor and naturalist.
• 1810 - Eliphas Lévi was born. French writer and magician.
• 1813 - Carlos Morel was born. Argentinian painter.
• 1814 - Simón Bolívar ordena que sean pasados por las armas 836 prisioneros españoles, la mayoría de ellos neutrales.
• 1817 - Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
• 1818 - João VI é aclamado rei de Portugal e do Brasil.
• 1819 - John Ruskin was born (d. 1900). English author.
• 1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman was born (d. 1891). American Union general.
• 1822 - Maxime Du Camp was born (d. 1894). French photographer and journalist.
• 1827 - Batalla naval de Juncal entre argentinos y brasileños, que ganaron los primeros.
• 1828 - Jules Verne was born (d. 1905). French author.
• 1834 - Dmitri 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.
• 1847 - Hugh Price Hughes was born (d. 1902). English social reformer.
• 1849 - New Roman Republic established.
• 1849 - France Prešeren dies (b. 1800). Slovenian poet.
• 1849 - François Antoine Habeneck dies (b. 1781). French violinist.
• 1850 - Kate Chopin was born (d. 1904). American author.
• 1855 - The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
• 1856 - Agostino Bassi dies (b. 1773). Italian entomologist.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed. Jefferson Davis is selected as first president.
• 1865 - In the U.S., Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901).
• 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.
• 1867 - The Ausgleich results in the establishment of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary,
• 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 - Luis G. Urbina was born. Mexican writer and poet.
• 1878 - Martin Buber was born (d. 1965). German philosopher.
• 1879 - Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
• 1880 - Franz Marc was born (d. 1916). German painter and graphic artist, co-founder of Blauer Reiter.
• 1882 - Thomas Selfridge was born (d. 1908). First person to die in an airplane crash.
• 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 (d. 1950). Austrian economist/minister of finance.
• 1884 - Reginald Baker was born (d. 1953). Australian athlete and actor.
• 1886 - Charles Ruggles was born (d. 1970). American actor.
  
• 1887 - The Dawes Act authorized the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
• 1888 - Dame Edith Evans was borb (d. 1976). British actress.
• 1890 - Claro M. Recto was born (d. 1960). Filipino / Tagalog Nationalist.
• 1893 - Ba Maw was born (d. 1977). Burmese politician.
• 1894 - Ludwig Marcuse was born (d. 1971). German author and philosopher.
• 1894 - King Vidor was born (d. 1982). American film director.
• 1895 - Hermann Florstedt was born (d. 1945). Nazi leader.
• 1898 - Rafael Barrios dies assassinated. President of Guatemala.
• 1900 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
• 1900 - Ivan Ivanov-Vano was born (d. 1987). Soviet animator and Russian animation director.
• 1902 - Demchugdongrub was born (d. 1966). Mongolian politician.
• 1902 - Lyle Talbot was born (d. 1996). Actor.
• 1903 - Greta Keller was born (d. 1977). Austrian-born cabaret singer and actress.
• 1904 - Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
• 1906 - Tahiti and the Cook Islands were hit by a cyclone. 10,000 were killed by 192 km/h (120mph) winds.
• 1906 - Chester 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.
• 1907 - Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom dies (b. 1854). Dutch chemist.
• 1908 - Emil Staiger was born (d. 1987). Swiss scholar in the field of literary studies.
• 1910 - Thee Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
• 1910 - Hans Jæger dies (b. 1854). Norwegian writer and political activist.
• 1911 - Joaquín Costa dies. Spanish politician.
• 1911 - Elizabeth Bishop was born (d. 1979). American poet, Pulitzer Prize winner.
• 1911 - Big Joe Turner was born (d. 1985). American singer.
• 1913 - Betty Field was born (d. 1973). American actress.
• 1915 - The controversial film The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith premieres in Los Angeles.
• 1915 - Mário Pederneiras dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 2 Nov. 1868). Brazilian poet.
• 1918 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper publishes for the first time.
• 1918 - Fred Blassie was born (d. 2003). American professional wrestler.
• 1918 - Louis Renault dies. French jurist, Peace Nobel Prize in 1907.
• 1919 - Júlio de Castilho dies (b. 1840). Portuguese journalist, poet, writer and politician.
• 1920 - Un referéndum celebrado en Suiza rechaza el derecho al voto de la mujer.
• 1921 - Lana Turner was born (d. 1995). American actress. 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 .
• 1921 - Francisco de Andrade dies (b. 1856). Portuguese barítone.
• 1921 - George Formby dies (b. 1876). English entertainer.
• 1922 - President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
• 1924 - Capital punishment: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.
• 1925 - Jack Lemmon was born (d. 2001). American actor and film director (Days of Wine and Roses, Missing).
• 1926 - Audrey Meadows was born (d. 1996). American actress.
• 1926 - Guillermo Morón was born. Venezuelan writer.
• 1926 - Neal Cassady was born (d. 1968). American writer.
  
• 1927 - Stanley Baker was born (d. 1976). Welsh actor and film producer.
• 1929 - Maria Christina dies (b. 1858). Queen Regent of Spain.
• 1929 - Eusebio A. Morales dies. Panaminian politician.
• 1930 - Alejandro Rey was born (d. 1987). Argentine actor.
• 1930 - James Deetz was born (d. 2000). American anthropologist.
• 1931 - James Dean was born in Marion, Indiana (d. 1955). American actor, he made just three films before he died in a car crash in England.
• 1932 - Cliff Allison was born (d. 2005). British racing driver.
• 1932 - John Williams was born. American composer and conductor.
• 1932 - Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll dies. New York City gangster from County Donegal in Ireland.
• 1933 - Elly Ameling was born. Dutch soprano
• 1933 - Jack Larson was born. American actor.
• 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.
• 1936 - Larry Verne was born. American singer.
• 1937 - Manfred Krug was born. German actor.
• 1939 - José Maria Sison was born. Filipino communist.
• 1940 - Ted Koppel was born. American journalist, anchor of ABC's Nightline.
• 1941 - Nick Nolte was born. American actor.
• 1941 - Tom Rush was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1942 - Bob Munden was born. American shooting competitor.
• 1942 - Robert Klein was born. American stand-up comedian.
• 1942 - Terry Melcher was born (d. 2004). American musician and record producer.
• 1942 - Óscar Carmona is reelected President of Portuguese Republic.
• 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 ends after the Japanese Imperial Army evacuated their remaining forces with a United States victory.
• 1943 - Creed Bratton was born. American actor and musician.
• 1943 - Pirzada Qasim was born. Pakistani poet and VC of Karachi University.
• 1944 - Roger Lloyd-Pack was born. English actor.
  
• 1944 - Sebastião Salgado was born. Brazilian documentary photographer.
• 1945 - World War II: United States bombs Dresden, Germany with fire-bombs; 135,000 die.
• 1948 - Dan Seals was born. American singer.
• 1948 - John Ford Coley was born. American pop singer.
• 1948 - Lynda Lyon Block was born (d. 2002). American convicted murderer.
• 1948 - Ron Tyson was born. American singer (The Temptations).
• 1949 - Brooke Adams was born. American actress.
• 1949 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced for treason.
• 1950 - Cristina Ferrare was born. American former supermodel and actress.
• 1951 - Z'EV was born. American text/sound artist (born Stefan Weisser).
• 1952 - Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the UK.
• 1953 - Mary Steenburgen was born. American actress .
• 1953 - Roger Clavet was born. Quebecois politician.
• 1955 - The Government of Sindh abolished Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
• 1955 - Georgi Malenkov é forçado a renunciar ao cargo de primeiro ministro soviético e é substituído por Nikolai Bulganin.
• 1955 - John Grisham was born. American writer.
• 1955 - Nancy Oliver was born. American playwright and television writer.
• 1956 - Dave Meros was born. American bassist (Spock's Beard).
• 1956 - Connie Mack dies (b. 1862). Baseball executive, manager.
• 1957 - Cindy Wilson was born. Singer of The B-52's.
• 1957 - John von Neumann dies (b. 1903). Mathematician and quantum physicist
• 1957 - Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe dies (b. 8 Jan 1891). German physicist who shared(with Max Born) the Nobel Prize for 1954.
• 1958 - Sherri Martel was born (d. 2007). American professional wrestler.
  
• 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".
• 1960 - Dino Ciccarelli was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1960 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott dies (b. 1880). English architect.
• 1961 - Bruce Timm was born. TV Producer (DC Animated Universe).
• 1961 - Vince Neil was born. American musician.
• 1962 - Charonne massacre: 9 trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.
• 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.
• 1963 - Joshua Kadison was born American pianist and songwriter.
• 1963 - Mohammad Azharuddin was born. Indian cricketer.
• 1963 - George Dolenz dies (b. 1908). American actor; father of Micky Dolenz.
• 1964 - Trinny Woodall was born. British fashion guru.
• 1964 - Ernst Kretschmer dies (b. 1888). German psychiatrist.
• 1965 - Augusto Frederico Schmidt dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 18 Apr 1906). Brazilian poet.
• 1966 - Hristo Stoichkov was born. Bulgarian footballer.
• 1966 - Kirk Muller was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1968 - American civil rights movement: Orangeburg massacre: 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.
• 1968 - Claudette Pace was born. Maltese singer.
• 1968 - Gary Coleman was born. American actor.
• 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.
• 1969 - Mary McCormack was born. American actress.
• 1969 - Shiva Rose was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Alonzo Mourning was born. NBA basketball player.
• 1970 - John Filan was born. Australian footballer.
• 1971 - The Nasdaq stock market index debuts.
• 1971 - Alex Chiu was born. Chinese-American alternative health product provider.
• 1971 - Andrus Veerpalu was born. Estonian cross-country skier.
• 1971 - Mika "Gas" Karppinen was born. Finnish drummer for the band HIM.
• 1972 - Markos Vamvakaris dies (b. 1905). Greek musician and songwriter.
• 1972 - Paul Wight was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1973 - Keith McDonald was born. American baseball player.
• 1973 - Max Yasgur dies. American Woodstock Festival host.
• 1974 - After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station Skylab return to Earth.
• 1974 - Military coup in Upper Volta.
• 1974 - Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was born. French disc jockey (Daft Punk).
• 1974 - Jamey Carroll was born. Baseball player.
• 1974 - Kimbo Slice was born. American mixed martial artist.
• 1974 - Seth Green was born. American actor.
• 1974 - Ulises de la Cruz was born. Ecuadorian footballer.
• 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).
• 1976 - Adam Piatt was born. American baseball player.
• 1977 - Mathieu Turcotte, Canadian short-track speed skater
• 1976 - Khaled Mashud was born. Bangladeshi cricketer.
• 1976 - Adam Piatt was born. American baseball player.
• 1977 - Barry Hall was born. Australian rules footballer.
• 1977 - Bridgette Kerkove was born. American actress.
• 1977 - Dave Farrell was born. American musician (Linkin Park).
• 1977 - Mathieu Turcotte was born. Canadian short-track speed skater.
• 1977 - Yucef Merhi was born. Venezuelan artist.
• 1977 - Eivind Groven dies (b. 1901). Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist.
• 1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcasted on radio for the first time.
• 1979 - Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the Republic of the Congo for the first time.
• 1979 - Portugal established diplomatic relationship with Republic Popular of China.
• 1979 - Aaron Cook was born. American baseball player.
• 1979 - Josh Keaton was born. American actor and singer.
• 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.
• 1980 - Cameron Muncey was born. Austrailian guitarist (Jet).
• 1980 - Ralf Little was born. English actor and comedian.
• 1980 - Stephen Wright was born. English footballer.
• 1980 - Nikos Xilouris dies (b. 1936). Greek singer.
• 1981 - Myriam Montemayor Cruz was born. Mexican singer.
• 1982 - Danny Tamberelli was born. American actor.
• 1982 - Eric Alexander was born. American football player.
• 1982 - Satomi Kōrogi was born. Japanese voice actress.
• 1982 - Sousuke Takaoka was born. Japanese actor.
• 1982 - John Hay Whitney dies (b. 1904). American financier.
• 1983 -The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, the 320m deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
• 1983 - Racehorse Shergar is kidnapped in County Kildare, Ireland. The fate of the horse is still unknown.
• 1983 - Jim Verraros was born. American singer.
• 1984 - 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo.
• 1984 - Panagiotis Vasilopoulos was born. Greek basketball player.
• 1984 - Karel Miljon dies (b. 1903). Dutch boxer.
• 1985 - After 6-1/2 years, the television series The Dukes of Hazzard goes off the air.
• 1985 - Sir William Lyons dies. British automobile manufacturer, founder of Jaguar Motors
• 1985 - José Gomes Ferreira dies in Lisbon (b. in Porto, 9 Jul 1900). Portuguese poet and ficcionist/Morre, em Lisboa, o escritor José Gomes Ferreira (b. 9 Jul 1900), antigo cônsul de Portugal na Noruega, entre 1925 e 1930, dedicou-se ao jornalismo, à tradução de filmes e à literatura.
• 1985 - William Lyons dies (b. 1901). British automobile manufacturer.
• 1986 - 1984 Summer Olympics head of the LAPD bomb squad, Arleigh Mccree, and his partner Officer Ronald Ball of the Firearms and explosives unit were killed while trying to dismantle two pipe bombs when they responded to a call. McCree was recognized as one of the top explosive experts in the world.
• 1987 - Carolina Kostner was born. Italian European champion figure skater
• 1987 - Harriet E. MacGibbon dies (b. 1905). American actress.
• 1988 - Keegan Meth was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.
• 1989 - An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain in Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal killing 144.
• 1989 - Danielle Harmer was born. English actress.
• 1990 - The first recorded use of the chatspeak term "troll", found in the Google Usenet archive.
• 1990 - Del Shannon dies (suicide) (b. 1934). American entertainer.
• 1991 - Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red Sox contract.
• 1991 - Assinatura do acordo de exploração do petróleo no Mar de Timor, conhecido por Timor Gap, pelos governos Australiano e Indonésio.
• 1992 - Denny Wright dies (b. 1924). British jazz guitarist.
• 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.
• 1993 - N. Shanmugathasan dies. Sri Lankan communist leader.
• 1994 - Raymond Scott dies (b. 1908). American composer.
• 1995 - Jordan Todosey was born. Canadian actress.
• 1996 - The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
• 1996 - The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place.
• 1996 - Del Ennis dies (b. 1925). American baseball player.
• 1998 - First female ice hockey game in Olympic history: Finland beats Sweden 6-0.
• 1998 - Halldór Laxness dies (b. 1902). Icelandic author, Nobel laureate.
• 1998 - Julian Simon dies (b. 1932). American economist, author.
• 1999 - Iris Murdoch dies (b. 1919). Irish author.
• 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.
• 2000 - Sid Abel dies. Canadian hockey player and coach.
• 2000 - Derrick Thomas dies. American football player.
• 2001 - Disney's California Adventure Park, the Disneyland Resort's second park in its 46-year history, opens.
• 2001 - Ivo Caprino dies. Norwegian animated film director.
• 2002 - Joachim Hoffmann dies. German historian
• 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).
• 2002 - Joachim Hoffmann dies (b. 1930). German historian.
• 2002 - Ong Teng Cheong dies (b. 1936). President of Singapore.
• 2004 - Julius Schwartz dies (b. 1915). American comic book and science fiction editor
• 2005 - Israel and Palestinians agree to cease-fire.
• 2005 - Jimmy Smith dies (b. 1925). American jazz musician.
• 2005 - Keith Knudsen dies (b. 1948). American drummer, vocalist and songwriter (The Doobie Brothers).
• 2006 - Palestinians attack Temporary International Presence in Hebron offices in Hebron; International observers end decade-long presence.
• 2006 - Akira Ifukube dies (b. 1914). Japanese composer.
• 2006 - Elton Dean dies (b. 1945). English musician (Soft Machine).
• 2007 - Anna Nicole Smith dies (b. 1967). American model, actress, and entertainer.
• 2007 - Ian Stevenson dies (b. 1918). Canadian-American professor and reincarnation expert.
• 2008 - Chua Ek Kay dies (b. 1947). Singaporean painter.
  
• Slovenia - Prešeren Day, the Slovenian cultural holiday.
• Nirvana Day - an annual Buddhist festival.
• Boy Scouts of America - Scout Sunday; The Sunday preceding February 8 is designated as Scout Sunday and the following Saturday is designated as Scout Sabbath.