On this day in History - Feb. 27

• 272 - Constantine I was born (d. 0337). Roman emperor who was the first Roman emperor to profess Christianity, sparked the empire's evolution into a Christian state and catalyzed a distinctively Christian culture.
• 0425 - Theodosius effectively founded a university in Constantinople.
• 0837 - 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
• 1500 - D. João de Castro was born in Lisbon (d. in Goa, 6 Jun 1548). Portuguese scientist, general and Vice-King of Índia.
• 1557 - 1st Russian Embassy opens in London, Russia and U.S. sign trade agreement
• 1560 - The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
• 1594 - Henry IV is crowned King of France.
• 1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
  
• 1622 - Rembrandt Carel Fabritius was born. Dutch painter.
• 1626 - Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
• 1659 - Henry Dunster dies (b. 1609). First President of Harvard College.
• 1666 - D. Luisa de Gusmão dies in Lisbon (b. 13 Oct 1613). Queen of Portugal (wife of King John IV)
• 1670 - Jews were expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I.
• 1691 - Edward Cave was born (d. 1754). English editor and publisher.
• 1699 - Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton dies (b. c. 1625). English politician.
• 1700 - The island of New Britain is discovered.
• 1703 - The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in Mobile, Alabama.
• 1706 - John Evelyn dies (b. 1620). English diarist.
• 1711 - Constantine Mavrocordatos was born (d. 1769). Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia.
• 1720 - Samuel Parris dies (b. 1653). English-born Puritan minister.
• 1735 - John Arbuthnot dies (b. 1667). English physician and writer.
• 1767 - Jesuítas são expulsos da Espanha.
• 1776 - At the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolinian revolutionaries defeated loyalists during the American Revolution.
• 1779 - Thomas Hazlehurst was born (d. 1842). English soap and alkali manufacturer.
• 1793 - The Giles resolutions are introduced to the United States House of Representatives asking the House to condemn Alexander Hamilton's handling of loans.
• 1794 - Jean-Rodolphe Perronet dies (b. 8 Oct 1708). French civil engineer renowned for his stone-arch bridges, especially the Pont de la Concorde, Paris.
• 1797 - The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.
• 1801 - Washington, DC is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
• 1807 - El marino Alejandro Malaspina le informa al virrey de Buenos Aires sobre su reconocimiento de Tierra del Fuego y la costa de la Patagonia.
• 1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Massachusetts (now in Maine) (d. 1882). American poet.
• 1812 - Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
• 1812 - El rosarino Cosme Maciel iza por primera vez la bandera celeste y blanca, por orden de Belgrano, en las márgenes de Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
• 1822 - Eugene Gautier was born. Composer.
• 1827 - The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1831 - Hiram Bond Everest was born (d. 1913). American cofounder of The Vacuum Oil Company.
• 1843 - Ocupación efectiva, por una expedición española, de la isla de Fernando Poo, hoy Malabo, en Guinea Ecuatorial.
• 1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
• 1844 - Nicholas Biddle dies (b. 1786). President of the Second Bank of the United States.
• 1847 - Ellen Terry was born (d. 1928) English actress.
• 1854 - Composer Robert Schumann was saved from a suicide attempt in the Rhine.
• 1855 - Bryan Donkin dies (b. 22 Mar 1768). English mechanical engineer and inventor.
• 1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
• 1861 - A crowd in protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops, killing five protesters.
• 1861 - Rudolf Steiner was born (d. 1925). Austrian philosopher.
• 1862 - Anastasios Metaxas was born (d. 1937). Greek architect and shooter.
• 1863 - Joaquín Sorolla was born. Spanish painter.
• 1864 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
• 1867 - Irving Fisher was born. American economist (compensating dollar).
• 1869 - Henry Chandler Cowles was born (d. 12 Sep 1939). American botanist who was a pioneer in the field of plant ecology, especially the concept of ecological succession which he devised through a study of sand dune vegation he made in the 1890's .
• 1869 - Alice Hamilton was born (d. 22 Sep 1970). American pathologist, known for her research on industrial diseases. By actively publicizing the danger to workers' health of industrial toxic substances, she contributed to the passage of workmen's compensation laws and to the development of safer working conditions.
• 1873 - Enrico Caruso was born (d. 1921). Italian tenor.
• 1877 - Walter Briggs, Sr. was born (d. 1952). American entrepreneur and sports team owner.
  
• 1878 - Alvan T. Fuller was born (d. 1958). 50th Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1879 - Announcement of the discovery of artificial sweetener saccharin by Constantine Fahlberg at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1879 - René Lefebvre was born (d. 1944). Martyr of the French Resistance.
• 1881 - Luitzen E. Jan Brouwer was born (d. Dec 1966). Dutch mathematician who founded mathematical Intuitionism (a doctrine that views the nature of mathematics as mental constructions governed by self-evident laws).
• 1884 - Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, signed a treaty in London that disavowed British authority over the Transvaal.
• 1886 - Hugo Black was born (d. 1971). Associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• 1887 - Alexander Porfirievich Borodin dies (b. 1833). Russian composer.
• 1888 - Earl Caddock was born (d. 1950). American professional wrestler.
• 1888 - Lotte Lehmann was born (d. 1976). German singer.
• 1888 - Roberto Assagioli was born (d. 1976). Italian psychiatrist.
• 1890 - Freddie Keppard was born (d. 1933). American jazz musician.
• 1891 - David Sarnoff was born (d. 12 Dec 1971). American pioneer in the development of both radio and television broadcasting. He was the first general manager of RCA and founded the television network NBC (1926).
• 1891 - Anne Samson was born (d. 2004). Oldest-known Canadian 2002-2004 and oldest nun on record 2003-2004.
• 1892 - William Demarest was born (d. 1983). American actor.
• 1892 - Louis Vuitton dies (b. 1821). French luggage maker.
• 1893 - Ralph Linton was born (d. 24 Dec 1953). American anthropologist who had a marked influence on the development of cultural anthropology.
• 1897 - Marian Anderson was born (d. 1993). American contralto.
• 1897 - Bernard (-Ferdinand) Lyot was born (d. 2 Apr 1952). French astronomer who invented the coronagraph (1930), an instrument which allows the observation of the solar corona when the Sun is not in eclipse and other instruments used to study the Sun's corona.
• 1899 - Charles Best was born (d. 31 Mar 1978). American physiologist who, with Sir Frederick Banting, was the first to obtain (1921) a pancreatic extract of insulin in a form that controlled diabetes in dogs. The successful use of insulin in treating human patients followed. But because Best did not receive his medical degree until 1925, he did not share the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine awarded to Banting and J.J.R. Macleod in 1923 for their role in the work.
• 1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
• 1900 - Felix Hoffman was issued a U.S. patent for Aspirin.
• 1900 - The British Labour Party is founded.
• 1900 - The FC Bayern München (Munich) is founded.
• 1902 - Lúcio Costa was born (d. 1998). Brazilian architect.
• 1902 - John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California (d.1968). He is probably best remembered for his strong sociological novel The Grapes of Wrath, considered writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1962.
• 1902 - Gene Sarazen was born in Harrison, New York (d. 1999). PGA golfer (Masters 1935, US Open 1922, 32).
• 1902 - Breaker Morant dies (b. 1864). Anglo-Australian soldier executed in Boer War under controversial circumstances.
• 1903 - Grethe Weiser was born (d. 1970). German actress.
• 1904 - André Leducq was born (d. 1980). French cyclist.
• 1904 - Chick Fullis was born (d. 1946). American baseball player.
• 1904 - James T. Farrell was born (d. 1979). American author (Studs Lonigan trilogy).
• 1904 - Yulii Borisovich Khariton was born (d. 19 Dec 1996). Russian physicist who played a key role in the development of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons and nuclear physics research. Khariton began his career as a researcher in chemical physics, studying combustion and explosion effects.
• 1905 - Máximo Gorki es liberado bajo fianza y exiliado en Riga.
• 1905 - Franchot Tone was born in Niagara Falls, New York (d. 1968). American actor (Dr. Freeland-Ben Casey).
• 1906 - Samuel Pierpont Langley dies (b. 22 Aug 1834). American astronomer, physicist, and aeronautics pioneer who built the first heavier-than-air flying machine to achieve sustained flight.
• 1907 - Mildred Bailey was born (d. 1951). American jazz performer.
• 1908 - Star #46 was added to U.S. flag for Oklahoma.
• 1910 - Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was born (d. 1990). American aircraft engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works.
• 1910 - Joan Bennett was born (d. 1990). American actress.
• 1910 - Peter De Vries was born (d. 1993). American writer.
• 1910 - Kelly Johnson was born (d. 21 Dec 1990). American aeronautical engineer who introduced innovative designs. While managing Lockheed's secret project division, known as the "Skunk Works," he contributed to more than 40 airplanes.
• 1910 - Ted Horn was born (d. 1948). American race car driver.
• 1912 - Kusumagraj was born (d. 1999). Indian writer.
• 1912 - Lawrence Durrell was born (d.1990). Writer, author of The Alexandria Quartet.
• 1913 - Irwin Shaw was born (d. 1984). American novelist (Rich Man Poor Man).
• 1913 - Kazimierz Sabbat was born (d. 1989). Polish president.
• 1913 - Adam Sedgwick dies (b. 28 Sep 1854). English zoologist, a grandnephew of the geologist Adam Sedgwick, who is best known for his researches on the wormlike organism Peripatus.
• 1917 - John Connally was born (d. 1993). Governor of Texas.
• 1918 - William Jefferson Blythe III, father of U.S. President Bill Clinton, is born in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas (d. 1946).
• 1919 - The Bolsheviks took Lithuania and joined it with Belarus as a single Soviet republic. Litbel lasted until June 25.
• 1919 - Un incendio destruye el Palacio Municipal de la capital de El Salvador.
• 1921 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
• 1921 - Schofield Haigh dies (b. 1871). English cricketer.
• 1922 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1922 - Hans Rookmaaker was born (d. 1977). Dutch professor and art historian.
• 1923 - Dexter Gordon was born (d. 1990). American jazz saxophone player.
• 1925 - Samuel Dash was born (d. 2004). American Congressional counsel.
• 1926 - Marta Mercader was born. Argentine writer.
• 1926 - David Hunter Hubel was born. Canadian-born American neurobiologist, who was a corecipient (with Torsten Nils Wiesel and Roger Wolcott Sperry) of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for mapping the path of nerve impulses from the eye to various centres of the brain.
• 1927 - Guy Mitchell was born (d. 1999). American singer.
• 1927 - Lynn Cartwright was born (d. 2004). American actress.
• 1928 - Alfred Hrdlicka was born. Sculptor and graphic artist.
• 1928 - Ariel Sharon was born. Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1929 - Djalma Santos was born. Brazilian football player.
• 1929 - Jack Gibson was born (d. 2008). Australian rugby league footballer and coach.
• 1930 - Joanne Woodward was born. American actress.
• 1930 - Paul von Ragué Schleyer was born. American chemist.
• 1930 - Peter Stone was born. American writer.
• 1932 - The neutron was discovered by Dr. James Chadwick.
• 1932 - Elizabeth Taylor was born in London. Actress, screen legend (Butterfield 8, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf).
• 1932 - William Southam dies (b. 1843). Canadian newspaper publisher.
• 1933 - Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
• 1933 - Ruy Belo was born in S. João da Ribeira, Rio Maior (d. 1978). Portuguese essayst and poet.
• 1933 - Raymond Berry was born. American football player.
• 1934 - N. Scott Momaday was born. American writer.
• 1934 - Ralph Nader was born. American consumer activist.
• 1934 - Van Williams was born. American actor.
• 1934 - Baptista Bastos was born. Portuguese journalist and writer.
• 1934 - Vincent Fourcade was born (d. 1992). French interior designer.
• 1935 - Mirella Freni was born. Italian soprano.
• 1936 - Roger Mahony was born. Fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles.
• 1936 - Ron Barassi was born. Australian rules footballer.
• 1936 - Joshua W. Alexander dies (b. 1852). U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Woodrow Wilson.
• 1936 - Ivan Pavlov dies (b. 14 Sep 1849). Russian physiologist known chiefly for his development of the concept of the conditioned reflex. In a now-classic experiment, he trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, which was previously associated with the sight of food. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904.
• 1937 - Barbara Babcock was born. American actress.
• 1937 - David Ackles was born (d. 1999). American singer songwriter.
• 1939 - France recognizes Franco's regime in Spain.
• 1939 - United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court opinions that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal.
• 1939 - Peter Revson was born (d. 1974). American racecar driver.
• 1940 - Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered carbon-14.
• 1940 - Bill Hunter was born. Australian actor.
• 1940 - Howard Hesseman was born. American actor.
• 1941 - Paddy Ashdown was born. British politician.
• 1941 - William D. Byron dies (b.1895). U.S. Congressman.
• 1942 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes. (The Battle of Java Sea began 13 US warships sunk 2 Japanese).
• 1942 - The first French Jews were transported to nazi-Germany..
• 1942 - Charlayne Hunter-Gault was born. American journalist.
• 1942 - Michel Forget was born. French Canadian actor.
• 1942 - Robert H. Grubbs was born. American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1943 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States explodes, killing 74 men.
• 1943 - The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin.
• 1943 - Carlos Alberto Parreira was born. Brazilian football coach.
• 1943 - Mary Frann was born (d. 1998). American actress.
• 1943 - Morten Lauridsen was born. American composer.
• 1943 - Mary Frann was born (d. 1998). American actress.
• 1943 - Kostis Palamas dies (b. 1859). Greek poet, twice nominated for the Nobel prize.
• 1944 - Graeme Pollock was born. South African cricketer.
• 1944 - Ken Grimwood was born (d. 2003). American writer.
• 1944 - Roger Scruton was born. British philosopher.
• 1945 - Lebanon declares Independence.
• 1945 - Carl Anderson was born (d. 2004). American singer and actor.
• 1947 - Gidon Kremer was born. Latvian violinist.
• 1948 - The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia.
• 1949 - Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli president.
• 1950 - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was elected president of Nationalist China.
• 1950 - Franco Moschino was born. Fashion Designer.
• 1950 - Cláudia Mello was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
• 1951 - University College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was opened.
• 1951 - São inaugurados em Buenos Aires Os I Jogos Panamericanos.
• 1951 - Steve Harley was born. British rock musician (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)
• 1952 - Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) se reúne pela primeira vez em sua sede atual em Nova York.
• 1952 - Stathis Psaltis was born. Greek actor.
• 1953 - Gabriela Svobodová was born. Czech cross country skier.
• 1954 - Neal Schon was born. American musician (Journey).
• 1955 - Peter Christopherson was born. English musician, video director and designer.
• 1956 - Marjorie Russo was born. American poet.
• 1956 - Female suffrage was granted in Egypt.
• 1956 - Beto Barbosa was born. Brazilian singer.
• 1957 - Mao made his speech "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People".
• 1957 - Adrian Smith was born. English musician (Iron Maiden).
• 1957 - Danny Antonucci was born. Canadian animator.
• 1957 - Timothy Spall was born. English actor.
• 1957 - Viktor Markin was born. Russian athlete.
• 1958 - Naas Botha was born. South African rugby union footballer.
• 1958 - Nancy Spungen was born (d. 1978). Girlfriend of Sid Vicious.
• 1959 - Johnny Van Zant was born. American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd).
• 1960 - Andres Gomez was born. Ecuadorian tennis player.
• 1960 - Adriano Olivetti dies. Italian engineer and industrialist.
• 1961 - The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
• 1961 - James Worthy was born. American basketball player.
• 1962 - South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem was unharmed as two planes bombed the presidential palace in Saigon. The 1st US national was killed. Although Diem had shortcomings as a leader, he had led South Vietnam for eight years and at the time of his death was attempting to deal with Buddhist factionalism.
• 1962 - Adam Baldwin was born. American actor.
• 1962 - Grant Show was born. American actor.
• 1963 - The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
• 1963 - The USSR said that 10,000 troops would remain in Cuba.
• 1963 - Pär Nuder was born. Swedish politician.
• 1963 - Rajendra Prasad dies. First President of India.
• 1963 - David Keilin dies (b. 21 Mar 1887). Russian-British biochemist who discovered cytochromes, as enzymes critical to the cell's use of oxygen (1923).
• 1964 - The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
• 1964 - Three hundred missionaries are deported from the Sudan for alleged support for anti-government forces.
• 1964 - Todd Bodine was born. American race car driver.
• 1964 - Orry-Kelly dies (b. 1897). Australian costume designer.
• 1965 - Frank Peter Zimmermann was born. German violinist.
• 1965 - Joakim Sundström was born. Swedish sound editor and sound designer.
• 1965 - Noah Emmerich was born. American actor.
• 1965 - Pedro Chaves was born. Portuguese car rice driver.
• 1966 - Donal Logue was born. Canadian actor.
• 1967 - Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1967 - Saint Kitts and Nevis (with Anguilla) became an independent state associated with the United Kingdom.
• 1967 - Stuart Turner was born. General Good Guy.
• 1968 - Matt Stairs was born. Canadian baseball player.
• 1968 - Frankie Lymon dies (b. 1942). American singer.
• 1969 - Brad Vander Ark was born. American musician.
• 1969 - Marius Barbeau dies (b. 1883). French Canadian folklorist.
• 1970 - Kent Desormeaux was born. American jockey.
• 1970 - Matthias Lechner was born. German art director.
• 1970 - Michael A. Burstein was born. American writer.
• 1970 - Patricia Petibon was born. French opera singer.
• 1970 - Marie Dionne dies (b. 1934). One of the French Canadian Dionne quintuplets.
• 1971 - A causa de graves disturbios en Cali, se declara el estado de sitio en todo el territorio de Colombia.
• 1971 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus.
• 1971 - Derren Brown was born. Psychological illusionist.
• 1971 - Rozonda Thomas was born. American singer (TLC).
• 1972 - President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.
• 1972 - Pat Brady dies (b. 1914). American actor and singer.
• 1973 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
• 1973 - Ali Tabatabaee was born. American Iranian rapper (Zebrahead).
• 1973 - Mark Taylor was born. Welsh rugby union footballer.
• 1973 - Peter André was born. English singer - Husband to Katie Price, Glamour model.
• 1974 - People magazine is published for the first time.
• 1974 - A Suécia aprova sua nova constituição e o rei passa a exercer um cargo figurativo.
• 1975 - Prodromos Korkizoglou was born. Greek decathlete.
• 1975 - Shelby Walker was born (d. 2006). American mixed martial artist.
• 1975 - Prodromos Korkizoglou was born. Greek decathlete.
• 1976 - The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
• 1976 - The final meeting between Mao tse Tung and Richard Nixon took place.
• 1976 - Tony Gonzalez was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Diego Maradona joga pela primeira vez pela Seleção Argentina.
• 1977 - James Wan was born. Australian film director.
• 1977 - Ji Sung was born. South Korean actor.
• 1977 - Lance Hoyt was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1977 - John Dickson Carr dies (b. 1905). American author.
• 1978 - James Beattie was born. English footballer.
• 1978 - Vadim Salmanov dies (b. 1912). Russian composer.
• 1978 - Kakhaber Kaladze was born. Georgian footballer.
• 1979 - Guerrilleros del M-19 toman por asalto la Embajada de la República Dominicana en Bogotá.
• 1980 - Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF wins elections in Zimbabwe.
• 1980 - Winners at the Grammy Awards: song of the year, What A Fool Believes, Streisand - Diamond duet, The Doobie Brothers, album of the year, Billy Joel's 52nd St, best new artist, Rickie Lee Jones, best disco record, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
• 1980 - Chelsea Clinton was born. Daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• 1980 - Bobby Valentino was born. American singer.
• 1980 - George Tobias dies (b. 1901). American actor.
• 1981 - Greatest passenger load on a commercial airliner-610 on Boeing 747.
• 1981 - Elodie Ouédraogo was born. Belgian athlete.
• 1981 - Josh Groban was born. American singer.
• 1981 - Jacob H. Gilbert dies (b. 1920). American politician.
• 1982 - Wayne B. Williams é condenado pelo assassinato de 28 jovens negros, cujos corpos foram encontrados nos arredores de Atlanta (EUA) num período de 22 meses.
• 1983 - Portugal: Carlos Mota Pinto, Eurico de Melo e Nascimento Rodrigues assumem a direcção colegial do PSD, no X Congresso. Francisco Pinto Balsemão é afastado da liderança.
• 1983 - Hayley Angel Wardle was born. English actress.
• 1983 - Kate Mara was born. American actress.
• 1984 - Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8.675 m).
• 1984 - Antti Tuisku was born. Finnish singer.
• 1984 - David Noel was born. American basketball player.
• 1984 - Lotta Schelin was born. Swedish female footballer.
• 1985 - Mauritania's new constitutional charter published.
• 1985 - Fefe Dobson was born. Canadian singer.
• 1985 - Abe Asami was born. Japanese singer and actress.
• 1985 - Braydon Coburn was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1985 - Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was born. Russian footballer.
• 1985 - Juliana Imai was born. Brazilian model.
• 1985 - Henry Cabot Lodge dies (b. 1902). Politician, candidate for Vice President of the United States.
• 1986 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
• 1986 - Nicole Linkletter was born. America's Next Top Model.
• 1986 - Jacques Plante dies (b. 1829). Canadian ice hockey star.
• 1986 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
• 1987 - Joan Greenwood dies (b. 1921). English actress and director.
• 1988 - Katarina Witt won the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, with Elizabeth Manley of Canada placing second and Debi Thomas of the United States, third.
• 1988 - JD Natasha was born. American musician.
• 1988 - Dustin Jeffrey was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1989 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo.
• 1989 - Kelly Breeding was born. American singer from B5.
• 1989 - Konrad Lorenz dies (b. 7 Nov 1903). Austrian zoologist, founder of modern ethology, the study of animal behaviour by means of comparative zoological methods. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, for developing a unified, evolutionary theory of animal and human behaviour.
• 1989 - Paul Oswald Ahnert dies (b. 1897). German astronomer.
• 1990 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts.
• 1990 - Flag of Latvia is adopted.
• 1990 - Nahum Norbert Glatzer dies (b. 1903). Jewish-American scholar.
• 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
• 1991 - In California Jim Mitchell shot and killed his brother Artie Mitchell at Artie’s home in Corte Madera. The brothers had produced pornographic films and operated a number of pornographic theaters that included the O’Farrell Theater in SF. He was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 6 years in prison. He was released on parole in 1997.
• 1991 - Azeem Rafiq was born. English cricketeer, Yorkshire CCC & English U15 captain.
• 1992 - Tiger Woods, 16, becomes youngest PGA golfer in 35 years.
• 1992 - William Aramony resigned as president of United Way of America amid charges of financial mismanagement and lavish spending.
• 1992 - Jonjo Shelvey was born. English footballer.
• 1992 - S. I. Hayakawa dies (b. 1906). Canadian-American linguist and politician.
• 1993 - Lillian Gish dies (b. 1893). American actress.
• 1993 - Jose Duval dies at 72. Actor and singer who played coffee pitchman Juan Valdez.
• 1994 - 17th Winter Olympic games closes in Lillehammer, Norway.
• 1994 - A Maronite church near Beirut was bombed and 10 people were killed.
• 1994 - Hou Yifan was born. Chinese chess player.
• 1995 - Começa o julgamento de Salvatore Toto Rina sob acusações de cumplicidade em 48 assassinatos na Sicília.
• 1995 - Bernard Cornfield dies (b.1927). British financier. In 1972 Charles Raw, Bruce Page and Godfrey Hodgson authored “Do You Sincerely Want to Be Rich: The full story of Bernard Cornfield and IOS.”
• 1996 - Satoshi Tajiri creates the hit media franchise Pokémon.
• 1996 - A Sudanese military plane crashed 25 miles south of Khartoum and killed 91 people on board. The plane was a US made C-130.
• 1997 - Kingsley Davis dies (b. 20 Aug 1908). American sociologist and demographer who was a world-renowned expert on population trends. He had coined the term "zero population growth" and he was the first sociologist to be named to the National Academy of Sciences.
• 1997 - William Ross Maples dies (b. 7 Aug 1937). American forensic anthropologist who examined and identified the skeletons of a number of historical figures, including Tsar Nicholas II and other members of the Romanov family killed in 1918 by the Bolsheviks, Vietnam MIAs, conquistador Francisco Pizarro, and in 1994 helped convict Byron De La Beckwith of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
• 1997 - The divorce is legalized in Ireland.
• 1998 - Os EUA encerram o embargo de 35 anos contra a África do Sul.
• 1998 - George H. Hitchings dies (b. 18 Apr 1905). American pharmacologist who was a medical research pioneer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for the development of drugs that became essential in the treatment of several major diseases. He shared the prize with colleague Gertrude B. Elion and with Sir James W. Black.
• 1998 - J. T. Walsh dies (b. 1943). American actor.
• 1998 - Jack Micheline (Harvey Martin Silver) dies at 68. Bohemian poet. His first book of poetry was "River of Red Wine," and his last was "Sixty Seven Poems for Downtrodden Saints."
• 1999 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
• 1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.
• 1999 - Korea International School is founded by Soon-Il Chung. It is currently directed by Ann Clapper.
• 1999 - Brazilian poet Haraldo de Campos (b.1929) won the Mexican Octavio Paz Prize for poetry and essay writing. His major works include "Chess Game of the Stars" and "The Education of the Five Senses."
• 1999 - Rev. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was convicted in Largo, Florida, of racketeering, grand theft and swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. He announced his resignation Mar 15. Lyons was sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison and ordered to repay almost $2.5 million.
• 1999 - From Niger it was reported that a mass grave containing 149 old men, women and children had been found in eastern Niger. The victims were Toubou refugees displaced by fighting several years ago.
• 1999 - In Nigeria Presidential elections were held. Nigerians voted to elect Olusegun Obasanjo their new president as the country marked the final phase of its return to democracy. Also it was reported that some 1,200 soldiers had died in fighting the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone.
• 2000 - In Iceland the Mount Hekla volcano erupted.
• 2000 - In Tijuana municipal police chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez (49) was shot to death by assassins who sprayed his car with over 100 bullets.
• 2002 - Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
• 2002 - 2002 Gujarat violence: a train catches fire a few minutes after it leaves the Godhra railway station, killing an estimated 58 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya and triggering riots that lead to the death of 1000 people, mostly Muslims.
• 2002 - Alicia Keys won in 5 categories at the 44th annual Grammy Awards. Train won for best rock song: "Drops of Jupiter," U2 won for best record of the year: "Walk On," and Various Artists won the album of the year: "O Brother, Where Art Thou."
• 2002 - Spike Milligan dies (b. 1918). British comedian.
• 2002 - Mary Stuart dies (b. 1926). Soap opera actress.
• 2003 - Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.
• 2003 - John Lanchbery dies (b. 1923). English ballet composer.
• 2003 - Fred Rogers dies (b. 1928). Children's television celebrity "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".
• 2004 - Shoko Asahara, líder da seita acusada do atentado com gás sarin no metro de Tóquio em 20 de março de 1995, é condenado à morte.
• 2004 - A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines kills 116, its worst terrorist attack.
• 2004 - Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda.
• 2004 - Paul Sweezy dies (b. 1910). American economist and editor.
• 2004 - Yoshihiko Amino dies (b. 1928). Japanese historians.
• 2005 - Pre-pay price capping on the Transport for London Oyster card is introduced.
• 2006 - In Yemen a firing squad executed Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, an Islamic militant who killed three American missionaries in a south Yemen hospital in 2002.
• 2006 - The Harlem Globetrotters extended their overall record to 22,000 wins.
• 2006 - Otis Chandler dies (b. 1927). American newspaper publisher of the L.A. Times
• 2006 - Robert Lee Scott, Jr. dies (b. 1908). U.S. General, Flying Tiger, and author
• 2006 - Linda Smith dies (b. 1958). British comedian.
• 2007 - The general strike against Lansana Conté in Guinea ends.
• 2007 - The Chinese Correction, the Shanghai Stock Exchange tumbled 9% the largest drop in 10 years.
• 2007 - Bobby Rosengarden dies (b. 1924). American jazz drummer.
• 2007 - Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven dies (b. 1914). German soldier.
• 2008 - Boyd Coddington dies (b. 1944). American automobile designer.
• 2008 - Myron Cope dies (b. 1929). American sports broadcaster.
• 2008 - William F. Buckley, Jr. dies (b. 1925). American conservative author and commentator.
• 2010 – Central Chile is shocked by a 8.8 earthquake.
• Day 2 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days); days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving. (Bahá'í Faith).
• National Day (Dominican Republic).
• Brasil: Dia do Idoso.