On this day in History - Feb. 18

• 3102 BC - Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.
• 0806 - Tarasius dies (b. 0730). Patriarch of Constantinople.
• 0814 - Angilbert dies. Frankish monk and confidant of Charlemagne.
• 0901 - Thabit ibn Qurra dies (b. 826) Arab astronomer and mathematician who greatly contributed to preparing the way for such important mathematical discoveries as the extension of the concept of number to (positive) real numbers, integral calculus, theorems in spherical trigonometry, analytic geometry, and non-euclidean geometry. In astronomy he was one of the first reformers of the Ptolemaic system, writing Concerning the Motion of the Eighth Sphere .
• 0999 - Pope Gregory V dies (b. ca. 972).
• 1201 - Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi was born (d. 26 Jun 1274). Outstanding Persian philosopher, scientist, mathematician and astronomer. When The Mongol invasion, started by Genghis Khan, reached him in 1256, he escaped likely death by joining the victorious Mongols as a scientific advisor.
• 1139 - Prince Yaropolk II of Kiev dies (b. 1082).
• 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
• 1268 - The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.
• 1294 - Kublai Khan dies (b. 1215). Mongol Emperor.
• 1332 - Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
• 1374 - Saint Jadwiga of Poland was born (d. 1399). Queen of Poland.
• 1379 - Albert II of Mecklenburg (b. 1318).
• 1404 - Leone Battista Alberti was born (d. 1472). Italian painter and philosopher.
• 1405 - Tamerlane dies (b. 1336). Mongol Emperor.
• 1455 - Fra Angelico dies (b. 1395). Italian artist.
• 1478 - George, Duke of Clarence (b. 1449), convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.
• 1486 - Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born. Bengali saint, bhakti yoga developer.
• 1516 - Queen Mary I of England was born (d. 1558); also known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants.
• 1530 - Uesugi Kenshin was born (d. 1578). Japanese samurai and warlord.
• 1535 - Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa dies (b. 1486). Astrologer and alchemist.
• 1543 - Charles III, Duke of Lorraine was born (d. 1608).
• 1546 - Martin Luther dies (b. 1483). German religious reformer.
• 1559 - Isaac Casaubon was born (d. 1614). French classical scholar.
• 1564 - Michelangelo Buonarroti dies (b. 6 Mar 1475). Italian Renaissance artist and sculptor, known primarily for his works of art, but he also prepared extremely accurate anatomical drawings of the human body.
• 1583 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini dies (b. 1503). Italian writer.
• 1602 - Per Brahe (the younger) was born (d. 1680). Swedish soldier.
• 1609 - Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was born (d. 1674). English historian.
• 1626 - Francesco Redi was born (d. 1697). Italian physician, refuted abiogenesis.
• 1635 - Johan Göransson Gyllenstierna was born (d. 1680). Swedish statesman.
• 1642 - Marie Champmeslé was born (d. 1698). French actress.
• 1654 - Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac dies (b. 1594). French writer.
• 1658 - Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre was born (d. 1743). French writer.
• 1665 - Portugal cede Bombaim, na Índia, aos britânicos.
• 1683 - Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem dies (b. 1620). Dutch painter.
• 1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
• 1712 - Louis, duc de Bourgogne dies (b. 1682). Heir to the throne of France.
• 1718 - Pierre Antoine Motteux dies (b. 1663). French-born English dramatist.
• 1743 - Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici dies (b. 1667). Last of the Medicis.
• 1745 - Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Lombardy. Italian physicist, eponym for the unit of the electric potential (d. 1827) .
• 1755 - Em Lisboa, a rua do Príncipe é destruída por um vigoroso incêndio.
• 1772 - Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff dies (b. 1712). Danish statesman.
• 1778 - Joseph Marie Terray dies (b. 1715). French statesman.
• 1780 - Kristijonas Donelaitis dies (b. 1714). Lithuanian poet.
• 1788 - John Whitehurst dies (b. 1713). English clockmaker and scientist.
• 1790 - Marshall Hallb was born (d. 11 Aug 1857). English physiologist who was the first to advance a scientific explanation of reflex action.
• 1797 - Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.
• 1800 - Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield was born. Jurist author of the Argentinian Civil Code and co-author of the Comercial Code (Código de Comercio).
• 1800 - La escuadra inglesa de Nelson derrota a la francesa cerca de Malta.
• 1803 - Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim dies (b. 1719). German poet.
• 1806 - En medio del entusiasmo que despiertan los éxitos de Napoleón, se acuerda la construcción del Arco del Triunfo en París.
• 1814 - The Battle of Montereau occurs.
• 1814 - Samuel Fenton Cary was born (d. 1900). U. S. Congressman.
• 1818 - Pedro Figueredo was born (d. 1870). Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter.
• 1827 - Heinrich Karl Brugsch was born (d. 9 Sep 1894). German Egyptologist who pioneered in deciphering demotic, the simplified script of the later Egyptian periods.
• 1832 - Octave Chanute was born (d. 23 Nov 1910). U.S. aeronaut whose work and interests profoundly influenced Orville and Wilbur Wright and the invention of the airplane.
• 1834 - El Congreso de Venezuela decreta el establecimiento de la libertad de cultos.
• 1834 - Portugal: Trava-se a batalha de Almoster a 12 km a oeste de Santarém entre as forças liberais, comandadas pelo marechal Saldanha, e as forças miguelistas, lideradas pelo general Lemos, terminando com a derrota dos absolutistas.
• 1836 - Sri Ramakrishna was born (d. 1886). Indian Bengali saint, guru of Swami Vivekananda.
• 1838 - Ernst Mach was born (d. 19 Feb 1916). Austrian physicist and philosopher who established important principles of optics, mechanics and wave dynamics.
• 1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.
• 1842 - Thomas Hazlehurst dies (b. 1779). English soap and alkali manufacturer.
• 1846 - Beginning of the Galician peasant revolt.
• 1846 - Wilson Barrett was born (d. 1904). English playwright.
• 1848 - Battle of Montereau occurs.
• 1848 - Louis Comfort Tiffany was born (d. 1933). American glass artist.
• 1849 - Alexander Kielland was born. Norwegian author.
• 1851 - Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi dies (b. 1804). German mathematician.
• 1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President (Millard Fillmore).
• 1858 - Louise-Marie Amélie, was born, daughter of Leopold II of Belgium, wife of Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1924).
• 1859 - Sholom Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz] was born (d. 1916). Yiddish author, author (Fiddler on the Roof).
• 1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.
• 1861 - With the Italian unification almost complete, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title as King of Italy.
• 1865 - Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
• 1865 - In the U.S., Delaware voters reject the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on February 12, 1901).
• 1867 - Hedwig Courths-Mahler was born (d. 1950). German novelist.
• 1870 - William Laurel Harris was born (d. 1924). American mural painter, writer.
• 1871 - Harry Brearley was born (d. 1948). English metallurgist who invented stainless steel which is an alloy of steel with chromium and nickel.
• 1875 - Luís Nicolau Fagundes Varela was born in Santa Rita do Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro (d. 17 Aug 1841). Brazilian poet.
• 1878 - John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
• 1878 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
• 1880 - Pedro Chutro was born in Buenos Aires. Argentinian surgeon.
• 1883 - Nikos Kazantzakis was born (d. 1957). Greek writer.
• 1884 - Andrew Watson Myles was born (d. 1970). Canadian politician.
• 1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.
• 1888 - George Papandreou was born (d. 1968). Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece.
• 1890 - Adolphe Menjou was born (d. 1963). American actor.
• 1890 - Edward Arnold was born (d. 1956). American actor.
• 1892 - Wendell Wilkie was born (d. 1944). American politician, Presidential candidate.
• 1893 - Serranus Clinton Hastings dies (b. 1814). American politician.
• 1894 - Aleksandr Oparin -was born (d. 21 Apr 1980). Russian biochemist noted for his studies on the origin of life from chemical matter.
• 1895 - Karl Abs dies (b. 1851). German professional wrestler.
• 1896 - Andre Breton was born (d. 1966). French poet and principal theorist of surrealism.
• 1897 - Charles Kuentz was born (d. 2005). WW1 veteran, changed nationality 5 times.
• 1898 - Enzo Ferrari was born (d. 14 Aug 1988). Italian automobile manufacturer, designer, and racing-car driver whose Ferrari cars often dominated world racing competition in the second half of the 20th century.
• 1898 - Luis Muñoz Marín was born (d. 1980). Puerto Rican poet.
• 1899 - Nasce em Vila Real de Santo António o poeta português António Aleixo (m. 16 Nov 1949) / António Aleixo was born in Vila Real de Santo António (d. 16 Nov 1949 in Loulé). Portuguese poet.
• 1899 - Sir Gilbert Roberts was born (d. 1 Jan 1978). British civil engineer who pioneered new designs, construction methods and use of high-tensile steels for several major bridges including the 3,300-foot (1,006-metre) Firth of Forth Road bridge in Scotland, one of the longest in the world.
• 1900 - É formado, em Amsterdão , o clube de futebol Ájax, várias vezes campeão europeu e base das seleções holandesas de 1994 e 1998, a “laranja mecânica” que assombrou o mundo.
• 1900 - Boer War - The Battle of Paardeburg commenced.
• 1900 - Clinton L. Merriam dies (b. 1824). American politician.
• 1901 - Vacuum cleaner - a dust removing suction cleaner was patented by Hubert Cecil Booth, a bridge engineer (U.K. No. 17,433).
• 1901 - Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the British House of Commons.
• 1901 - Reginald Sheffield was born (d. 1957). British actor.
• 1901 - Wayne King was born (d. 1985). Saxophonist, bandleader.
• 1902 - Walter Herbert was born (d. 1975). German-born conductor and impresario.
• 1902 - Charles Lewis Tiffany dies (b. 1812). American founder of Tiffany & Co.
• 1903 - Nikolai Podgorny was born (d. 1983). President of the Soviet Union.
• 1906 - Hans Asperger was born (d. 1980). Austrian pediatrician.
• 1906 - John Batterson Stetson dies (b. 1830). American manufacturer.
• 1907 - Oscar Brodney was born. American screenwriter.
• 1909 - Tuppy Owen-Smith was born (d. 1990). South African cricketer and English rugby union player, Wisden COY 1929.
• 1909 - Wallace Stegner was born (d. 1993). Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Angle of Repose).
• 1911 - Foi instituido o Registo Civil obrigatório (Portugal) .
• 1911 - The first official flight with air mail took place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivered 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.
• 1911 - Billy Murdoch dies (b. 1854). Australian cricketer.
• 1912 - Heinz Kühn was born (d. 1992). German premier.
• 1913 - Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.
• 1914 - Pee Wee King was born (d. 2000). American country musician and songwriter.
• 1915 - Phyllis Calvert was born (d. 2002). British actress.
• 1916 - Jean Drapeau was born (d. 1999). Quebec politician, mayor of Montreal.
• 1918 - Jane Loevinger was born (d. 2008). American psychologist.
• 1919 - Jack Palance was born (d. 2006). American actor.
• 1920 - Vuillemin and Chalus are the first to successfully fly across the Sahara Desert.
• 1920 - Bill Cullen was born (d. 1990). American game show host.
• 1920 - Eric Gairy was born (d. 1997). Grenadan politician.
• 1922 - Allan Melvin was born (d. 2008). American actor
• 1922 - Helen Gurley Brown was born. American editor and publisher .
• 1922 - Juhan Smuul was born (d. 1971). Estonian author.
• 1924 - Humberto Fernández Morán was born (d. 1999). Venezuelan scientist.
• 1924 - Ledo Ivo was born in Maceió (Alagoas). Brazilian poet.
• 1924 - Louis Laberge was born (d. 2002). Quebec labour union leader.
• 1925 - George Kennedy was born. American actor.
• 1925 - Marcel Barbeau was born. Quebec artist.
• 1926 - Nalini Jaywant was born. Indian actress.
• 1927 - John Warner was born. American politician.
• 1927 - Luis Arroyo was born. Baseball player.
• 1928 - Tom Johnson was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1929 - Len Deighton was born. British author.
• 1929 - The first Academy Awards are announced.
• 1929 - André Mathieu was born (d. 1968). Quebec composer.
• 1929 - Len Deighton was born. British author.
• 1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
• 1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane.
• 1930 - Gahan Wilson was born. American cartoonist.
• 1931 - Bob St. Clair was born. American football player.
• 1931 - Johnny Hart was born (d. 2007). American cartoonist.
• 1931 - Toni Morrison was born. American writer who was the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1993.
• 1931 - Milan Sufflay dies (b. 1879). Croatian politician.
• 1932 - Milos Forman was born. Czech film director.
• 1932 - The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (Japanese name for Manchuria) independent from China.
• 1933 - Sir Bobby Robson was born. English football manager.
• 1933 - Mary Ure was born (d. 1975). Scottish actress.
• 1933 - Yoko Ono was born. Japanese-born singer.
• 1933 - Sir Bobby Robson, English football manager
• 1933 - James J. Corbett dies (b. 1866). American boxer.
• 1934 - Noruega promulga lei que permite às mulheres acesso a todos cargos oficiais do Estado e da Igreja.
• 1934 - Audre Lord was born (d. 1992). Caribbean poet, writer, and activist.
• 1934 - Paco Rabanne was born in San Sebastian, Spain. Fashion designer.
• 1935 - Michel Aoun was born. Lebanese prime minister.
• 1936 - Dick Duff was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1936 - Jean Auel was born. American writer.
• 1938 - István Szabó was born. Hungarian film director.
• 1938 - Manny Mota was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1938 - Leopoldo Lugones dies (suicide) in Tiger Island. Writer.
• 1939 - Claude Ake was born. Nigerian political scientist.
• 1939 - Dal Maxvill ws born. American baseball player.
• 1939 - Marek Janowski was born. Polish-born conductor.
• 1941 - Irma Thomas was born. American singer.
• 1942 - Albert Payson Terhune dies (b. 1872). American author.
• 1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
• 1943 - Joseph Goebbels delivered the Sportpalast speech.
• 1943 - World War II: North AfricaVon Arnim's troops capture Sbeitla and Fondouk, Tunisia.
• 1943 - Graeme Garden was born. Scottish writer.
• 1944 - Pat Bowlen was born. Owner of the Denver Broncos.
• 1944 - Charles Benedict Davenport dies (b. 1 Jun 1866). American zoologist who contributed substantially to the study of eugenics (the improvement of populations through breeding) and heredity and who pioneered the use of statistical techniques in biological research.
• 1945 - Judy Rankin was born. American golfer.
• 1945 - Ivan Chernyakhovsky dies (b. 1906). Russian general.
• 1946 - Jean-Claude Dreyfus was born. French actor.
• 1946 - Michael Buerk was born. British newsreader.
• 1947 - Carlos Lopes was born at Vildemoinhos, Viseu. Portuguese athlete who was the first Portuguese to be Olympic Champion, winning the Marathon in Los Angeles (12 Aug. 1984).
• 1947 - Dennis DeYoung was born. American musician (STYX)
• 1947 - Eliot Lance Engel was born. American politician.
• 1947 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands was born.
• 1948 - Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.
• 1948 - Sinéad Cusack was born. Irish actress
• 1948 - Keith Knudsen was born (d. 2005). American drummer and songwriter (The Doobie Brothers)
• 1949 - Gary Ridgway was born. American serial killer.
• 1950 - Cybill Shepherd was born. American actress.
• 1950 - John Hughes was born. American director, producer, writer.
• 1950 - Michel Gauthier was born. Quebec politician.
• 1951 - Isabel Preysler was born. Spanish socialite.
• 1952 - Juice Newton was born. American singer.
• 1952 - Maurice Lucas was born. American basketball player.
• 1952 - Enrique Jardiel Poncela dies. Spanish writer and dramatist.
• 1953 - The first 3D film, Bwana Devil opens.
• 1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign an $8,000,000 contract to continue the I Love Lucy television series through 1955.
• 1953 - Robbie Bachman was born. Canadian drummer (Bachman-Turner Overdrive).
• 1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
• 1954 - John Travolta was born. American singer and actor.
• 1955 - Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp would be the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
• 1955 - Miles Tredinnick was born. English playwright.
• 1955 - Raymond Rougeau was born. Canadian professional wrestler.
• 1956 - Ted Gärdestad was born (d. 1997). Swedish singer.
• 1956 - Gustave Charpentier dies (b. 1860). French composer.
• 1957 - President Habib ibn Ali Bourguiba of Tunisia demands the evacuation of French troops stationed in the country.
• 1957 - Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan rebel leader is executed by the British colonial government.
• 1957 - Cristiane Torloni was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1957 - Henry Norris Russell was born (d. 25 Oct 1877). American astronomer and astrophysicist who showed the relationship between a star's brightness and its spectral type, in what is usually called the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and who also devised a means of computing the distances of binary stars.
• 1957 - Marita Koch was born. German athlete.
• 1957 - Vanna White was born. American game show presenter.
• 1957 - Dedan Kimathi dies (b. 1920). Kenyan rebel leader.
• 1958 - Gar Samuelson was born (d. 1999). American drummer.
• 1958 - Giovanni Lavaggi was born. Italian racing driver.
• 1959 - Gago Coutinho dies in Lisbon (b. 17 Feb 1869). Portuguese aviation pioneer.
• 1960 - Firma del Tratado de Montevideo que crea la ALALC.
• 1960 - The 1960 Winter Olympics opened in Squaw Valley, Idaho, USA.
• 1960 - Andy Moog was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1960 - Carol McGiffin was born. British TV and radio presenter.
• 1960 - Greta Scacchi was born in Milan. Australian actress.
• 1962 - Julie Strain was born. American actress.
• 1963 - Martin Treanor was born. Irish writer.
• 1963 - Henry Winter was born. English football journalist.
• 1964 - The Papandreou government took power in Greece.
• 1964 - Matt Dillon was born. American actor.
• 1964 - Paul Hanley was born. British musician (The Fall, Tom Hingley and the Lovers)
• 1964 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier dies (b. 1907). Quebec inventor and industrialist.
• 1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1965 - Dr. Dre ws born. American rapper
• 1965 - Gregory Scott Johnson was born (d. 2005). American murderer.
• 1966 - Guy Ferland was born. American television director.
• 1966 - Robert Rossen dies (b. 1908). American screenwriter, producer and director
• 1967 - Harry Van Barneveld was born. Belgian judoka.
• 1967 - Roberto Baggio was born. Italian football player.
• 1967 - Tracey Edmonds was born. American film and television producer.
• 1967 - J. Robert Oppenheimer dies (b. 22 Apr 1904). American physicist and science administrator, noted as director of the Los Alamos laboratory during development of the atomic bomb (1943-45) and as director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1947-66).
• 1968 - David Gilmour joined rock group Pink Floyd.
• 1968 - The 10th Winter Olympics games closed at Grenoble, France.
• 1968 - Molly Ringwald was born. American actress.
• 1968 - Tommy Scott was born. British musician (Space).
• 1969 - The Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disaster occurs, killing all on board.
• 1969 - Alexander Mogilny was born. Russian ice hockey player.
• 1969 - Jason Sutter was born. American drummer (Smash Mouth, American Hi-Fi)
• 1970 - The Chicago Eight are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Party national convention.
• 1970 - Michael (Raine) Maida was born. Canadian musician rock band Our Lady Peace.
• 1970 - Susan Egan was born. American actress.
• 1971 - Constantin Popa was born. Romanian-Israeli basketball player.
• 1971 - Merritt Gant was born. American thrash metal guitarist.
• 1972 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.
• 1973 - Claude Makélélé was born. French footballer.
• 1973 - Frank Costello dies (b. 1891). Italian-born gangster.
• 1974 - Manuel A. Odría dies. President of Perú (1948-1956).
• 1974 - The game show Tattletales debuts in the slot vacated by the long-running soap opera The Secret Storm.
• 1974 - KISS releases their self-titled debut album.
• 1974 - Jamey Carroll was born. American baseball player
• 1974 - Julia Butterfly Hill was born. American environmental activist.
• 1974 - Ruby Dhalla was born. Canadian politician.
• 1974 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov was born. Russian tennis player.
• 1975 - Keith Gillespie was born. Irish footballer.
• 1975 - Gary Neville was born. English footballer.
• 1975 - Sarah Brown was born. American actress.
• 1976 - Chanda Rubin was born tennis star
• 1976 - Leilani Munter was born. American race car driver.
• 1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
• 1977 - Incêndio no cinema da cidade chinesa de Xinjinag deixa 694 mortos.
• 1977 - Chrissie Wellington was born. British triathlete
• 1977 - Ike Barinholtz was born. American actor
• 1977 - Kátia was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1977 - Sean Watkins was born. American guitarist and songwriter.
• 1977 - Chrissie Wellington was born. British triathlete.
• 1977 - Andy Devine dies (b. 1905). American actor.
• 1978 - Winners at this years Grammy Awards included Fleetwood Mac, Album of the year for Rumours, The Eagles, Record of the year for Hotel California and Best pop vocal performance, The Bee Gees for How Deep Is Your Love.
• 1978 - Josip Simunic was born. Croatian footballer.
• 1978 - Maggie McNamara dies (b. 1928). American actress.
• 1979 - Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first and only recorded time in history.
• 1979 - President Zia ur-Rahman's National Party won the elections in Bangladesh.
• 1980 - No Canadá, o líder do Partido Liberal, Pierre Trudeau volta a ser primeiro-ministro.
• 1980 - Regina Spektor was born. Russian-born singer and songwriter.
• 1980 - Nikolai Antropov was born. Kazakh hockey player.
• 1981 - Buddy Nielsen was born. American singer (Senses Fail).
• 1981 - Alex Rios was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - Andrei Kirilenko was born. Russian NBA star.
• 1981 - Ivan Sproule was born. Irish footballer.
• 1981 - Kim Jae Won was born. South Korean actor.
• 1981 - Larry Sweeney was born. American Professional Wrestler.
• 1981 - Kim Jae Won was born. South Korean actor.
• 1981 - John Knudsen Northrop dies (b. 1895). American aircraft manufacturer.
• 1982 - Mexico devalued the peso by 30 percent to fight an economic slide.
• 1982 - Juelz Santana was born. American rapper.
• 1982 - Ngaio Marsh dies (b. 1895). New Zealand author.
• 1983 - 13 people lose their lives and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington, said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in American history.
• 1983 - Two Libyan MIG-23s are chased away from the US carrier Nimitz.
• 1983 - Jason Maxiell was born. American basketball player
• 1983 - Jermaine Jenas was born. English footballer.
• 1984 - Buddy Nielsen was born. American singer (Senses Fail).
• 1985 - The legendary "mirror globe" ident, first used in 1969 is seen for the last time in regular rotation on BBC1.
• 1985 - At least eight people are killed by South African police during clashes with rioters in the shanty town of Crossroads, Cape Town.
• 1985 - Anton Ferdinand was born. English footballer.
• 1985 - Lee Boyd Malvo was born. American serial killer, convicted Beltway sniper.
• 1986 - Realiza-se no Hospital de Santa Cruz, em Carnaxide, a primeira transplantação cardíaca em Portugal.
• 1986 - Marc Torrejón was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1986 - Nélson Cavaquinho dies (b. 1911). Brazilian composer and singer.
• 1988 - El Politburó del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de la URSS destituye a Borís Yeltsin.
• 1988 - Maiara Walsh was born. American actress.
• 1988 - Shane Lyons was born. Actor and private chef.
• 1991 - The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
• 1992 - Un incendio accidental devasta el pabellón de los Descubrimientos, edificio emblemático de la "Expo-92" de Sevilla.
• 1993 - Josefina Silva dies (b. 10 Jan 1898). Portuguese actress.
• 1993 - Kerry Von Erich dies (b. 1960). American professional wrestler.
• 1993 - Jacqueline Hill dies (b. 1929). British actress.
• 1994 - Selfotel Stroke damage- In 1994, the medicine selfotel offering benefits for stroke victims was announced at a conference in San Diego, saying that it appeared to alleviate the brain damage that follows when a blood clot in the brain causes a stroke. However the drug's side effects included hallucinations and agitation that mimic PCP (which binds at a similar site in the brain.
• 1995 - "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert dies. Wrestler.
• 1995 - Bob Stinson dies (b. 1959). American guitarist.
• 1996 - Uma explosão causada pelo grupo terrorista IRA destroça um ônibus em Londres, matando uma pessoa e ferindo outras nove.
• 1997 - Emily Hahn dies (b. 1905). American writer.
• 1998 - Two white separatists were arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
• 1998 - Harry Caray dies (b. 1917). TV and radio broadcaster for three Major League Baseball teams.
• 1999 - Noam Pitlik dies (b. 1932). American actor and director.
• 2000 - Stjepan Mesić becomes the second president of Croatia.
• 2000 - Willy Maltaite dies (b. 1927). Belgian comics creator.
• 2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
• 2001 - Dale Earnhardt (b. 1951) is killed in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500, which was won by Michael Waltrip, driving in a car that Earnhardt owned. His son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished second.
• 2001 - Balthus dies. French painter.
• 2001 - Eddie Mathews dies (b. 1931). Baseball Hall of Famer.
  
• 2003 - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
• 2003 - Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
• 2003 - Isser Harel dies (b. 1912). Israeli Mossad leader.
• 2003 - Johnny Paycheck dies (b. 1938). American country singer/songwriter.
• 2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
• 2004 - Jean Rouch dies (b. 1917). French filmmaker and ethnologist.
• 2005 - The United Kingdom law banning fox hunting, hare coursing and other sports which kill wild mammals is enforced from this date.
• 2005 - It is discovered that the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake uncovered an ancient city near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram in India.
• 2005 - The 42nd known Mersenne prime is discovered by Martin Nowak of Germany, a participant of the GIMPS distributed computing project. The prime number is the largest known Mersenne prime at the time of its discovery, and is nearly eight million digits long.
• 2006 - Richard Bright dies (b. 1937). American actor.
• 2008 - Sir Richard Knowles dies (b. 1917). British politician.
• 2008 - Mihaela Mitrache dies (b. 1955). Romanian actress.
• 2008 - Mickey Renaud dies (b. 1988). Canadian professional ice hockey player.
• Gambian Independence Day.