On this day in History - Feb. 5

• 0976 - Sanjo was born (d. 1017). Emperor of Japan.
• 0995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine dies.
• 1505 - Aegidius Tschudi was born (d. 1572). Swiss historian.
• 1519 - René of Châlon was born (d. 1544).
• 1520 - Sten Sture the Younger dies (b. 1493). Regent of Sweden.
• 1534 - Giovanni de' Bardi was born (d. 1612). Italian writer.
• 1576 - Henry of Navarre converts to Roman Catholicism in order to ensure his right to the throne of France.
• 1578 - Giambattista Moroni dies. Italian painter.
• 1589 - Esteban Manuel de Villegas was born (d. 1669). Spanish poet.
• 1597 - A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
• 1600 - Dr. Johan Picardt was born. Doctor and author.
• 1608 - Gaspar Schott was born (d. 1666). German mathematician.
• 1626 - Marie Marquise de Sévigné was born (d. 1696). French author.
• 1631 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston.
• 1644 - Partida de Lisboa da embaixada de Gonçalo de Siqueira ao Japão.
• 1650 - Anne-Jules was born (d. 1708). French general.
• 1703 - Gilbert Tennent was born (d. 1764). Irish-born religious leader.
• 1705 - Philipp Jakob Spener dies (b. 1635). German theologian.
• 1725 - James Otis was born (d. 1783). American lawyer and patriot.
• 1768 - Criação em Lisboa da Real Mesa Censória, por iniciativa do futuro Marquês de Pombal. Retira-se à Inquisição os poderes de exame prévio, separando assim as matérias laica e religiosa.
• 1748 - Christian Gottlieb Neefe was born. Organist/composer.
• 1766 - Leopold Josef Graf Daun dies (b. 1705). Austrian field marshal.
• 1775 - Eusebius Amort dies (b. 1692). German Catholic theologian.
• 1778 - South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
• 1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.
• 1783 - Earthquakes ravaged Calabria, Italy, killing 30,000.
• 1783 - Sweden recognised US independence.
• 1788 - Karoly Kisfaludy was born. Hungarian literary, romantic poet (A Tat rok Magyarorsz gon, Tartars in Hungary-1819).
• 1788 - Robert Peel was born (d. 1850). Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1790 - William Cullen dies (b. 1710). Scottish physician and chemist.
• 1795 - Zealand surrendered to French general Michaud.
• 1795 - Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger was born (d. 1871). Austrian mineralogist.
• 1804 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg was born (d. 6 May 1877). Finnish poet.
• 1807 - Pasquale Paoli dies (b. 1725). Corsican patriot and military leader.
• 1808 - Carl Spitzweg was born (d. 1885). Germain painter.
• 1810 - Ole Bull was born (d. 1880). Norwegian violinist.
• 1811 - After George III was declared insane, the Prince of Wales became Prince Regent of England, and later George IV.
• 1818 - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
• 1818 - King Charles XIII / Carl II of Sweden-Norway dies (b. 1748) .
• 1837 - Dwight L. Moody was born (d. 1899). American evangelist .
• 1840 - John Boyd Dunlop was born (d. 23 Oct. 1921). Scottish inventor who was a pioneer of the pneumatic tyre.
• 1840 - Hiram Stevens Maxim was born (d. 24 Nov 1916). American-born prolific inventor best known for the Maxim machine gun .
• 1844 - José Simões Dias was born in Benfeita, Arganil (d. in Lisbon 3 Mar 1899). Portugese poet and writer.
• 1846 - The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States.
• 1848 - Joris-Karl Huysmans was born (d. 1907). French author.
• 1848 - Belle Starr [Myra Belle Shirley] was born (d. 1889). American outlaw.
• 1852 - Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is inaugurated.
• 1859 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1, 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).
• 1862 - Felipe Villanueva y Gutiérrez was born. Mexican composer.
• 1865 - Eusebio A. Morales was born. Panamanian politician.
• 1867 - Sale de México el cuerpo expedicionario francés, abandonando a su suerte al emperador Maximiliano.
• 1874 - El general Laureano Sanz, gobernador de Puerto Rico, ordena la disolución de la Diputación Provincial.
• 1878 - André-Gustave Citroën was born (d. 3 Jul 1935). French engineer and industrialist who introduced Henry Ford's methods of mass production to the European automobile industry.
• 1880 - Gabriel Voisin was born (d. 1973). French aviation pioneer.
• 1881 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.
• 1881 - Thomas Carlyle dies (b. 1795). Essayist and historian.
• 1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
• 1889 - Ernest Tyldesley was born (d. 1962). British cricketer.
• 1892 - Emilie Flygare-Carlén dies (b. 1807). Swedish novelist.
• 1900 - The United States and the United Kingdom sign treaty for Panama Canal.
• 1900 - Adlai Stevenson was born (d. 1965) American politician.
• 1903 - Joan Whitney Payson was born (d. 1975). American heiress.
• 1904 - Walter Gross was born (d. 1989). Cabaretist.
• 1906 - John Carradine was born (d. 1988). American actor.
• 1907 - Norton Simon was born. Food industry executive, art collector .
• 1908 - Daisy and Violet Hilton was born (d. 1969). Bristish conjoined twins, actresses.
• 1908 - António Alves Martins dies (b. 1808). Portuguese religious and politician.
• 1910 - Francisco Varallo was born. Argentine footballer.
• 1910 - Charles Leblond was born (d. 2007). Canadian Cell Biologist.
• 1911 - Jussi Björling was born (d. 1960). Swedish tenor.
• 1914 - William S. Burroughs was born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1997). American novelist (Naked Lunch).
• 1914 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was born (d. 20 Dec 1998). English physiologist and biophysicist who shared (with his countryman Sir Andrew Huxley and Australian scientist Sir John Eccles) the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1963, for the discovery of the chemical processes involved in nerve conduction.
• 1915 - Pancho Villa asume el poder militar y civil en México.
• 1915 - Robert Hofstadter was born (d. 17 Nov 1990). American scientist who was a joint recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1961 for his investigations in which he measured the size of the neutron and proton in the nuclei of atoms.
• 1915 - Ross Barnes dies (b. 1850). Baseball player.
• 1917 - The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. "Constitución de Querétaro".
• 1917 - The Congress of the United States passes a law, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, banning most Asian immigration to the United States.
• 1917 - Jaber II Al-Sabah dies (b. 1860). Emir of Kuwait.
• 1919 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists.
• 1919 - Red Buttons was born. American actor.
• 1919 - Andreas Papandreou was born (d. 1996). Greek politician.
• 1919 - Tim Holt was born (d. 1973). American actor.
• 1920 - Frank Muir was born (d. 1998). British comedian.
• 1921 - John Pritchard was born (d. 1989). English conductor.
• 1922 - DeWitt and Lila Wallace publish the first issue of Reader's Digest (Some sources say February 7).
• 1922 - Alain de Changy was born (d. 1994). Belgian racing driver.
• 1922 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala dies (b. 1871). Croatian inventor.
• 1922 - Christiaan De Wet dies (b. 1854). South African general.
• 1923 - O Governo de Mussolini ordena a detenção de centenas de militantes socialistas.
• 1923 - Claude King was born. American musician.
• 1924 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory began to broadcast hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".
• 1927 - Ruth Fertel was born (d. 2002). American entrepreneur.
• 1927 - Osório Duque Estrada dies (b. 1870). Brazilian poet, essayst and critic, who was the author of lyrics of Brazilian National Hymn.
• 1927 - Inayat Khan dies. Indian sufi.
• 1928 - Andrew Greeley was born. American priest and novelist.
• 1929 - Fred Sinowatz was born. Austrian politician.
• 1929 - Luc Ferrari was born (d. 2005). French composer.
• 1929 - Al Worthington was born. American baseball player
• 1930 - John A. Gambling was born (d. 2004). American radio show host.
• 1930 - El presidente mexicano, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, es herido en un atentado.
• 1933 - Miguel D'Escoto was born in Los Angeles, California. Foreign minister of Nicaragua when the country was governed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) from 1979-1990.
• 1933 - Jörn Donner was born. Finnish writer/director.
• 1934 - Don Cherry was born. Hockey commentator.
• 1934 - Hank Aaron was born. Baseball Hall of Famer.
• 1935 - Sandra Paretti was born (d. 1994). Author.
• 1935 - Torcuato Tasso e Nadal dies. Spanish sculptor.
• 1936 - Charlie Chaplin releases the last movie of the silent film era, Modern Times.
• 1937 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 1937 - Stuart Damon was born. American actor.
• 1937 - Wang Xuan was born. Chinese scientist.
• 1937 - Lou Andreas-Salome dies (b. 1861). Russian-born writer.
• 1938 - Hans Litten dies (b. 1903). German jurist.
• 1940 - H.R. Giger was born. Swiss artist.
• 1941 - Kaspar Villiger was born. Former member of the Swiss Federal Council.
• 1941 - Jane Bryant Quinn was born. American journalist.
• 1941 - David Selby was born. American actor.
• 1941 - Kaspar Villiger was born. Swiss Federal Councilor.
• 1941 - Banjo Paterson dies (b. 1864). Australian poet, author of "Walzing Matilda".
• 1942 - Roger Staubach was born. Football Hall of Famer .
• 1942 - Cory Wells was born. American singer (Three Dog Night).
• 1943 - Nolan Bushnell was born. American video game pioneer .
• 1943 - Craig Morton was born. American football palyer.
• 1943 - Michael Mann was born. American film director
• 1944 - Al Kooper was born. American musician.
• 1945 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
• 1946 - The Chondoist Chongu Party is founded in North Korea.
• 1946 - Charlotte Rampling was born in Sturmer, England. Actress (Zardoz, Night Porter, Verdict).
• 1946 - George Arliss dies (b. 1868). English actor.
• 1947 - Darrell Waltrip was born. American race car driver.
• 1947 - Regina Duarte was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1948 - Sven-Göran Eriksson was born. Swedish football manager.
• 1948 - Errol Morris was born. American film director.
• 1948 - Christopher Guest was born. American actor, writer, director, composer .
• 1948 - Barbara Hershey was born. American actress.
• 1948 - Johannes Blaskowitz dies (b. 1883). German general.
• 1952 - Daniel Balavoine was born (d. 1986). French singer and songwriter.
• 1953 - The movie Peter Pan premieres (Roxy Theatre, New York City).
• 1953 - John Beilein was born. American basketball coach.
• 1954 - Cliff Martinez was born. American musician.
• 1955 - Pierre Mendes-France ended his term as premier of France.
• 1955 - Jorge Ferreira was born. Portuguese-American superstar singer
• 1955 - Mike Heath was born. American baseball player.
• 1956 - Hector Rebaque was born. Mexican racing driver
• 1956 - Richard S. Stamos was born in New York. American writer, artist, nascent scientist, Cartesan Agnostic.
• 1956 - The 7th Winter Olympic games closed at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
• 1957 - Sami Ibrahim Haddad dies (b. 1890). Lebanese surgeon.
• 1958 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• 1958 - A hydrogen bomb known as Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
• 1958 - Se crea en Argentina el Fondo Nacional de las Artes, por gestión de Victoria Ocampo.
• 1959 - Jennifer Granholm was born. American politician.
• 1960 - Se inaugura en Meyrin, cerca de Ginebra, el mayor acelerador de partículas mundial, un sincrotón de 25 GeV de potencia, construido por el CERN.
• 1960 - Cuba and URSS reestablish political relationships and sign in Havana a commercial treaty.
• 1960 - Aris Christofellis was born. Greek countertenor.
• 1961 - Anthomy Gustav de Rothschild dies (b. 26 Jun 1887). British philantropist.
• 1961 - The Sunday Telegraph publishes its first issue.
• 1961 - Savvas Kofidis was born. Greek footballer and manager.
• 1962 - French President Charles De Gaulle calls for allowing Algeria to be an independent nation.
• 1962 - Jennifer Jason Leigh was born. American actress.
• 1962 - Jacques Ibert dies (b. 1890). French composer.
• 1963 - Steven Shainberg was born. American film director.
• 1964 - Alexia was born. Cypriot singer.
• 1964 - Laura Linney was born. American actress.
• 1964 - Duff McKagen was born. American musician (Guns N'Roses).
• 1965 - Es liberado Martin Luther King, arrestado cuatro días antes en Selma (Alabama) con 500 manifestantes anti segregacionistas.
• 1965 - Gheorghe Hagi was born. Romanian football player.
• 1966 - Rok Petrovič was born (d. 1993). Slovenian skier.
• 1966 - Ludwig Binswanger dies (b. 1881). Existential psychiatrist.
• 1966 - José María Olazábal was born. Spanish golfe player.
• 1966 - Apostolos Nanos was born. Greek archer.
• 1967 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua.
• 1967 - Violeta Parra dies, suicide (b. 1917). Chilean singer.
• 1967 - Leon Leonwood Bean dies (b. 1872). American department store founder.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh begins.
• 1968 - Eyþór Guðjónsson was born. Icelandic actor.
• 1968 - Roberto Alomar was born. Puerto Rican baseball player .
• 1969 - Bobby Brown was born. American singer.
• 1969 - Michael Sheen was born. Welsh actor.
• 1969 - Thelma Ritter dies (b. 1905). American actress.
• 1970 - Rudy York dies (b. 1913). American baseball player.
• 1971 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon and the cosmonauts Alan Shepard e Edgar Mitchell walk on the moon .
• 1971 - Sara Evans was born. American singer.
• 1972 - Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• 1972 - Mary E. Donaldson was born. Crown Princess of Denmark.
• 1972 - Koriki Chōshū was born. Japanese comedian.
• 1972 - Marianne Moore dies (b. 1887). American poet (Pulitzer 1951).
• 1973 - Richard Matvichuk was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1973 - Trijntje Oosterhuis was born. Dutch singer.
• 1974 - John Murtha becomes the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the United States Congress.
• 1975 - El Ejército peruano aborta una sublevación de la Guardia Civil.
• 1975 - Giovanni van Bronckhorst was born. Dutch footballer.
• 1975 - Adam Carson was born. American musician.
• 1976 - Tony Jaa was born. Thai actor.
• 1976 - Abhishek Bachchan was born. Indian actor.
• 1976 - John Aloisi was born. Australian footballer.
• 1976 - Brian Moorman was born. American football player.
• 1976 - Rudy Pompilli dies (b. 1926). American musician (Bill Haley and His Comets).
• 1977 - Ben Ainslie was born. British sailor.
• 1977 - Adam Everett was born. American baseball player.
• 1977 - Ahmad Merritt was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Oskar Klein dies (b. 1894). Swedish physicist.
• 1978 - Rodrigo Carazo is elected President of Costa Rica.
• 1978 - The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters ever to hit New England, formed.
• 1978 - Brian Russell was born. American football player.
• 1978 - Shawn Reaves was born. American actor.
• 1980 - Brad Fitzpatrick was born. American programmer.
• 1980 - Prince Peter was born. American-born Yugoslav royalty.
• 1980 - Jo Swinson was born. British politician.
• 1980 - Robin Vik was born. Czech tennis player.
• 1981 - Nora Zehetner was born. American actress.
• 1981 - Loukas Vyntra was born. Greek football player.
• 1981 - Ella Grasso dies (b. 1919). Governor of Connecticut.
• 1982 - Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami was born (d. 2007). Iranian basketball player.
• 1982 - Kevin Everett was born. American football player.
• 1982 - Tomas Kopecky was born. Ice hockey player
• 1982 - Kalindi Dhal was born. CEO, Bhardwaj, Inc.
• 1982 - Rodrigo Palacio was born. Argentine footballer
• 1984 - Carlos Tevez was born. Argentine football striker.
• 1984 - Nate Salley was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta "Santo" dies (b. 1917). Mexican wrestler and film actor.
• 1985 - Cristiano Ronaldo was born. Portuguese football player.
• 1985 - Laurence Maroney was born. American football player.
• 1985 - Lindsey Cardinale was born. American singer.
• 1985 - Crystal Hunt was born. American actress.
• 1985 - Georges-Émile Lapalme dies (b. 1907). Quebec politician.
• 1986 - Reed Sorenson was born. American racecar driver.
• 1986 - Billy Sharp was born. English footballer.
• 1986 - Manuel Fernandes was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1987 - La URSS lanza la astronave "Soyuz TM-2", con dos cosmonautas a bordo, para poner en marcha una estación espacial permanente.
• 1987 - William Collier dies (b. 1902). American film and stage actor.
• 1988 - Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
• 1988 - Comic Relief held the first "Red Nose Day", which raised a £15 million in the United Kingdom for charity.
• 1989 - Se lanza el satélite de Sky Television.
• 1989 - Radio Moscow announced the last Soviet soldier had left Kabul, Afghanistan.
• 1989 - Cristine Reyes was born. Filipino actress.
• 1989 - Jeremy Sumpter was born. American actor.
• 1990 - Rafael Calderón is elected President of Costa Rica.
• 1991 - A Michigan court bars Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
• 1991 - Dean Jagger dies (b. 1903). American actor.
• 1992 - Miguel Rolando Covian dies (b. 1913). Brazilian physiologist.
• 1993 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz dies (b. 1909). American writer, producer, director Oscar-winning.
• 1993 - Marcel Léger dies (b. 1930). Quebec politician.
• 1993 - Tip Tipping dies in a parachuting accident (b. 1958). British actor and stuntman.
• 1994 - During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell slams into a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
• 1994 - Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
• 1995 - Doug McClure dies (b.1935). American actor.
• 1996 - El Papa Juan Pablo II visita Guatemala.
• 1996 - Antonio Ruiz Soler dies (04 Nov. 1911). Spanish coreographer and flamenco dancer.
• 1997 - The so-called "Big Three banks" in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
• 1997 - Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
• 1997 - Pamela Harriman dies (b. 1920). English-born American diplomat.
• 1998 - Tim Kelly dies (b. 1963). American musician; Lead guitar player for Slaughter from 1988-1998.
• 1998 - Helene Parmelin dies. French writer.
• 1999 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people.
• 1999 - Wassily Leontief dies (b. 1906). Russian economist, Nobel Prize Laureate
• 2000 - Claude Autant-Lara dies (b. 1901). French film director.
• 2001 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced that they had separated.
• 2003 - U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
• 2003 - Helge Boes dies. American Central Intelligence Agency officer
• 2004 - 23 Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. 21 bodies are recovered.
• 2004 - Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captured the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
• 2004 - John Hench dies (b. 1908). American animator.
• 2005 - Gnassingbe Eyadema dies (b. 1937). President of Togo.
• 2006 - The Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl XL, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.
• 2006 - Norma Candal dies (b. 1930). Puerto Rican actress and comedian.
• 2006 - Franklin Cover dies (b. 1928). American actor.
• 2006 - Henrique Abranches dies (b. 29 Sep. 1932). Angolan writer and anthropologist.
  
• 2007 - Alfred Worm dies (b. 1945). Austrian investigative journalist.
• 2007 - Fred Ball dies (b. 1915). American movie studio executive, actor, and the brother of comedienne Lucille Ball.
• 2007 - Leo T. McCarthy dies (b. 1930). American politician and 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California (1983–1995).
• 2008 – A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States leaves 57 dead, the most since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 88.
• 2008 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies (b. c. 1917). Indian guru, founder of Transcendental Meditation.
• 2009 – The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii, damaging the ship as well as a coral reef.
• Liberation from the Alberoni Occupation in San Marino
• Runeberg's Birthday in Finland where Runeberg's tart are made specially for the annual holiday
• Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Agatha of Sicily, patron saint of firework makers and glass blowers.
• Unity Day in Burundi.
• Liberation from the Alberoni Occupation in San Marino.
• Kashmir Day in Pakistan.