On this day in History - Feb. 9

• 0474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1199 - Minamoto no Yoritomo was born (d. 1147). Japanese shogun.
• 1404 - Constantine XI was born (d. 1453). Last Byzantine Emperor.
• 1450 - Agnès Sorel dies (b. 1421). Mistress of King Charles VII of France.
  
• 1533 - Shimazu Yoshihisa was born (d. 1611). Japanese daimyo and samurai.
• 1540 - Se disputa la carrera de caballos más antigua, en el hipódromo Roodee, en Chester, Inglaterra.
• 1555 - Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake
• 1555 - Rev. Dr. Rowland Taylor dies (b. 1510). Pastor, martyred under Bloody Mary.
• 1556 - El pirata inglés Francis Drake saquea la ciudad de Cartagena de Indias (en la actual Colombia).
• 1592 - Pope Clement VIII is elected.
• 1619 - Lucilio Vanini dies (b. 1585). Italian philosopher.
• 1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
• 1640 - Murad IV dies (b. 1612). Ottoman Sultan.
• 1645 - Johann Aegidius Bach was born (d. 1716). German violistian.
• 1666 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney was born (d. 1737). British soldier.
• 1675 - Gerhard Douw dies (b. 1613). Dutch painter.
• 1709 - François Louis, Prince of Conti was born (d. 1664). French general.
• 1731 - Gasparo Angiolini was born (d. 6 Feb 1803). Italian choreographer and composer.
• 1748 – Luther Martin was born (d. 1826). American patriot.
  
• 1748 - Luther Martin was born (d. 1826). American patriot, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
• 1751 - Henri François d'Aguesseau dies (b. 1668). Chancellor of France.
• 1752 - Fredric Hasselquist dies (b. 1722). Swedish naturalist.
• 1756 - Karel Blažej Kopřiva was born (d. 1785). Czech composer.
• 1763 - Ludwig I was born (d. 1830. Grand Duke of Baden.
• 1769 - Susette Gontard was born (d. 1802). The beloved of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin.
  
• 1773 - William Henry Harrison was born (d. 1841). 9th. President of the United States (March 4-April 4, 1841).
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: English Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
• 1775 - Farkas Bolyai was born (d. 1856). Hungarian mathematician.
• 1777 - Seth Pomeroy dies (b. 1706). American gunsmith and soldier.
• 1781 - Johann Baptist von Spix was born (d. 1826). German scientist.
  
• 1782 - Joseph Aloysius Assemani dies (b. 1710). Syrian orientalist.
• 1783 - Vasily Zhukovsky was born (d. 1852). Russian poet.
• 1788 - The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.
• 1789 - Franz Xaver Gabelsberger was born (d. 1849). German inventor of the stenography.
  
• 1800 - Hyrum Smith was born (d. 1844). American religious leader.
• 1803 - Jean François de Saint-Lambert dies (b. 1716). French poet.
• 1814 - Samuel Jones Tilden was born (d. 4 Aug 1886). American lawyer and 28th Governor of New York.
• 1815 - Federico Madrazo was born. Spanish painter.
• 1822 - Haiti invades the Dominican Republic / El presidente de Haití, general Jean Pierre Boyer, ocupa la ciudad de Santo Domingo.
• 1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams 6th President of the United States.
• 1830 – Abd-ul-Aziz was born (d. 1876). Ottoman Sultan.
• 1834 – Felix Dahn was born (d. 1912). German author.
• 1839 – Silas Adams was born (d. 1896). American lawyer and politician.
• 1846 – Whitaker Wright was born (d. 1904). English mining tycoon.
  
• 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach was born (d. 1929). German automotive designer.
  
• 1849 - New Roman Republic established. / Se proclama la República Romana (abolición del poder temporal de los Papas sobre los estados pontificios). Ocorre a Proclamação da República de Roma, formando um Governo Provisório composto por Giuseppe Mazzini, Carlo Armellini e Aurélio Saffi. Seus primeiros actos foram abolir o poder do Papa e escrever uma constituição para ser utilizada por uma Itália unida.
• 1854 - Aletta Henriette Jacobs was born, (d. 10 Aug 1929). Dutch physician who pioneered family planning with the world's first birth control clinic.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1861 - Tennessee voted against secession.
• 1865 - Erich von Drygalski was born (d. 1949). German geographer, geophysicist, and polar scientist.
  
• 1865 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, nee Beatrice Stella Tanner, was born (d. 9 Apr 1940). British actress, original Eliza Doolittle/Pygmalion.
• 1867 - Nebraska becomes 37th U.S. state.
• 1867 – Natsume Sōseki was born (d. 1916). Japanese novelist.
• 1870 - The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.
• 1874 - Amy Lowell was born (d. 1925). American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet/critic (Patterns, Sword Blades & Poppy Seed).
• 1880 - Lipót Fejér was born (d. 1959). Hungarian mathematician.
• 1881 - Fyodor Doistoevski dies (b. 1821). Russian novelist (Crime & Punishment).
• 1883 - William E. Dodge dies (b. 4 Sep 1805). American industrialist, cofounder of Phelps, Dodge & Company, which was one of the largest mining companies in the US for more than a century.
• 1885 - The first Japanese government-approved immigrants arrive in Hawaii.
• 1885 - Alban Berg was born (d. 1935). Austrian composer.
• 1889 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is established as a Cabinet-level agency.
• 1891 - Ronald Colman was born (d. 1958). English actor, 1947 Academy Award actor (Tale of 2 Cities).
• 1891 - Johan Jongkind dies (b. 1819). Dutch painter.
• 1892 - Peggy Wood was born (d. 1978). American actress.
• 1892 - Tommy Treichel was born (d. 1936). American professional wrestler.
  
• 1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas was born (d. 1987). Greek lawyer, politician and Prime Minister.
  
• 1895 - William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
• 1895 - Hermann Brill was born (d. 1959). German politician.
• 1897 - Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith was born (d. 1935). Australian pioneering aviator.
• 1900 - The Davis Cup competition is established.
• 1901 - Brian Donlevy was born (d. 1972). Irish actor.
• 1901 - James Murray was born (d. 1936). American actor.
• 1902 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink was born (d. 1999). German women's leader during Germany's Third Reich.
• 1904 - Russo–Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur.
• 1906 - André Kostolany was born (d. 1999). Stock market expert and speculator.
  
• 1906 - Paul Laurence Dunbar dies (b. 1872). American poet.
• 1909 - Carmen Miranda [Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha] was born in Marco de Canavezes, Portugal. Singer, dancer, actress. Her films include Down Argentine Way (1940) and That Night in Rio (1941) and her Broadway credits include Streets of Paris (1939). Died in 5 August 1955.
• 1909 - Dean Rusk was born (d. 1994). 54th United States Secretary of State.
• 1909 - Harald Genzmer was born (d. 2007). German composer.
  
• 1909 - Heather Angel was born (d. 1986). British actress.
  
• 1910 - Jacques Monod was born (d. 31 May 1976). French biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 shared with François Jacob and André Lwoff.
• 1911 - William Darby was born (d. 1945). American World War II Army officer.
• 1913 - Comienza en México la llamada "decena trágica", sangriento episodio de la pugna entre los generales Madero y Huerta.
• 1914 - Bill Veeck was born (d. 1986). American baseball executive.
• 1914 - Ernest Tubb was born (d. 1984). American country music singer.
• 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick) was born (d. 1970). American dancer and actress.
• 1915 - Se cierra, durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, el Canal de Suez a los barcos neutrales.
• 1915 - Lennard Pearce was born (d. 1984). English actor.
• 1916 - Alec Zino was born (d. 3 Mar 2004). Portuguese ornithologist and conservationist who gave his name to Zino's petrel, Europe's rarest breeding bird. Only perhaps 45 mating pairs of the Zino's petrel (Pterodroma madeira) remain on the island of Madeira, south-west of Portugal, where this small black and white seabird breeds.
• 1916 - Tex Hughson was born (d. 1993). American baseball player.
• 1917 - Alemania desencadena la guerra submarina.
• 1919 - Francisco Adolfo Coelho dies in Carcavelos (b. in Coimbra, 15 Jan 1847). Portuguese philologist.
• 1920 - Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.
• 1922 - Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1922 - Jim Laker was born (d. 1986). English cricketer.
  
• 1922 - Kathryn Grayson was born. American actress.
• 1923 - Soviet Aeroflot airlines forms.
• 1923 - Brendan Behan was born (d. 1964). Irish author.
  
• 1925 - Apertura del Technion (Instituto israelí de tecnología) en Haifa.
• 1925 - Burkhard Heim was born (d. 2001). German physicist.
  
• 1926 - O submarino Plus Ultra, com os tripulantes Franco, Ruiz de Alda, Durán e Rada, chega a Buenos Aires, onde recebe uma homenagem.
• 1926 - Garret FitzGerald was born. 7th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland.
  
• 1928 - El general nicaragüense Augusto César Sandino emprende una ofensiva militar contra las tropas estadounidenses.
• 1928 - Frank Frazetta was born. American illustrator.
• 1928 - Rinus Michels was born (d. 2005). Dutch football coach.
  
• 1928 - Roger Mudd was born. American journalist.
• 1929 - Es ejecutado en México José León Toral, asesino del presidente electo, Álvaro Obregón.
• 1929 - Clement Meadmore was born (d. 2005). Australian-born sculptor.
• 1930 - Garner Ted Armstrong was born (d. 2003). American evangelist.
• 1931 - Josef Masopust was born in Most. Thekoslovakian soccer player- 87 games for National Team
• 1931 - Thomas Bernhard was born (d. 1989). Austrian playwright and novelist.
• 1932 - Gerhard Richter was born. German painter and graphic artist.
• 1932 - Tatsuro Hirooka was born. Japanese baseball player.
• 1933 - Loris Azzaro was born (d. 2003). French fashion designer.
• 1934 - The Balkan Entente is formed (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey & Romania).
• 1934 - John Ziegler was born. Former president of the NHL.
  
• 1936 - León Cortés is elected President of Costa Rica.
• 1936 - Clive Swift was born. British actor.
• 1936 - Stompin' Tom Connors was born. Canadian country/folk singer.
• 1937 - Clete Boyer was born (d. 2007). American baseball player.
  
• 1939 - Barry Mann was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1939 - Janet Suzman was born. South African actress.
• 1940 - Brian Bennett was born. British musician (The Shadows).
• 1940 - J. M. Coetzee was born. South African author, Nobel Prize laureate author.
• 1940 - Eugene Bleuler dies (b. 1857). Swiss psychiatrist.
• 1941 - Sheila Kuehl was born. American actress and politician.
• 1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
• 1942 - Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States.
• 1942 - Alvaro Alves de Faria was born in São Paulo. Brazilian journalist and poet.
  
• 1942 - Carole King was born. American singer and composer.
• 1943 - World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
• 1943 - Barbara Lewis was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1943 - Joe Pesci was born. American actor.
• 1943 - Jonny Nilsson was born. Swedish speedskater.
• 1943 - Joseph E. Stiglitz was born. American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner.
• 1944 - Alice Walker was born. American writer, Pulitzer Prize winning author (The Colour Purple).
• 1944 - Derryn Hinch was born. Australian media personality.
• 1945 - The Battle of the Atlantic the HMS Venturer sinking U-Boat 864 off the coast of Norway.
• 1945 - Gérard Lenorman was born. French singer.
• 1945 - Mia Farrow [Maria de Lourdes Villers] was born in Los Angeles. American actress (Rosemary's Baby, Purple Rose of Cairo).
• 1946 - Jim Webb was born. United States Senator from Virginia
• 1946 - Séan Neeson was born. Northern Irish politician.
• 1946 - Vince Papale was born. American football player.
• 1946 - Júlio Prestes dies (b. 15 Mar 1882). Brazilian politician, elected president in 1926 he didn't take the place because there was a Revolutionary movement lead by Getúlio Vargas that took the power.
• 1947 - Carla Del Ponte was born. Swiss UN prosecutor.
• 1947 - Joe Ely was born. American musician.
• 1947 - Major Harris was born. American singer.
• 1947 - Michel Lamarche was born. Canadian professional wrestler.
• 1949 - Hollywood actor Robert Mitchum was jailed in Los Angeles for two months for smoking marijuana.
• 1949 - Jim Sheridan was born. Irish film director.
• 1949 - Judith Light was born. American actress (Who's the Boss?).
• 1950 - Second Red Scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States State Department of being filled with Communists.
• 1950 - Javier Mariscal was born. Spanish painter and designer.
• 1950 - Richard F. Colburn was born. American politician.
• 1951 - Eddy Duchin dies (b. 1910). American musician.
• 1952 - Danny White was born. American football player.
• 1952 - Mookie Wilson was born. American baseball player, helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series.
• 1953 - Ciarán Hinds was born. Northern Irish actor.
• 1953 - Gabriel Rotello was born. American television documentary producer.
• 1954 - Christopher Gardner was born. American entrepreneur.
• 1954 - Kevin Warwick was born. Cyborg Scientist.
• 1954 - Mary Jo Duffy was born. American comic book writer and editor.
• 1954 - Monique Lafond was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress.
• 1955 - Charles Shaughnessy was born. British actor.
• 1955 - Jim J. Bullock was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Aires Miguel Carlos Victorica dies in Buenos Aires. Argentine painter.
• 1956 - Mónica Waldwogel was born. Brazilian journalist and commenter of economics.
• 1957 - Gordon Strachan was born. Scottish soccer player and manager.
• 1957 - Miklós Horthy dies (b. 1868). Hungarian admiral and regent.
• 1958 - Portugal - First alive sportive transmission by Portuguese television: Sporting 4-0 Austria F. C., in football
• 1958 - Chris Nilan was born. National Hockey League player.
• 1958 - Cyrille Regis was born. English former footballer.
• 1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1960 - Holly Johnson was born. British singer (Frankie Goes To Hollywood).
• 1960 - Peggy Whitson was born. NASA astronaut.
• 1960 - Alexandre Benois dies (b. 1870). Russian artist.
• 1961 - John Kruk was born. American baseball player.
• 1961 - Jussi Lampi was born. Finnish musician and actor.
• 1961 - Carlos Coimbra da Luz dies. President of Brazil (1955).
• 1962 - Jamaica becomes independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1962 - España formaliza su primera solicitud de ingreso en el Mercado Común europeo.
• 1962 - Anik Bissonnette was born. Quebec ballet dancer (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens).
• 1963 - 1st flight of Boeing 727 jet.
• 1963 - Brian Greene was born. American physicist.
• 1963 - Travis Tritt was born. American singer.
• 1964 - 9th Winter Olympic games close at Innsbruck, Austria .
• 1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• 1964 - Lärs Schmidt Grael was born in São Paulo. Brazilian sailor, Snipe World Champion.
• 1964 - Ary Barroso dies (b. 7 Nov 1903). Brazilian pianist and composer.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.
• 1965 - Igor Malkov was born. Russian speedskater.
• 1965 - Julie Warner was born. American actress.
• 1966 - Ellen van Langen was born. Dutch athlete.
• 1966 - Harald Eia was born. Norwegian TV - comedian.
• 1966 - Sophie Tucker dies (b. 1884). Russian-born actress and singer.
• 1967 - La Comunidad Europea inicia el desarrollo normativo sobre el IVA.
• 1967 - Edson Cordeiro was born in Santo André, São Paulo. Brazilian actor.
• 1967 - Todd Pratt was born. American baseball player.
• 1968 - Alejandra Guzmán was born. Mexican rock singer.
• 1968 - Rahul Roy was born. Indian actor.
• 1969 - First test flight of the Boeing 747.
• 1969 - Jimmy Smith was born. American football player.
• 1969 - Gabby Hayes dies (b. 1885). American actor.
• 1969 - Manuel Plaza Reyes dies at 68. Chilean marathoner (Olympics gold medal 1928).
• 1970 - Glenn McGrath was born. Australian cricketer.
• 1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
• 1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
• 1971 - Johan Mjällby was born. Swedish footballer.
• 1971 - Sharon Case was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Crispin Freeman was born. American voice actor.
• 1972 - Darren Ferguson was born. Scottish footballer.
• 1972 - Jason Winston George was born. American actor.
• 1972 – Norbert Rozsa was born. Hungarian swimmer.
• 1973 - Biju Patnaik of the Pragati Legislature Party elected leader of opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India.
• 1973 - Colin Egglesfield was born. American actor.
• 1973 - Svetlana Boginskaya was born. Soviet gymnast
• 1974 - Amber Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. American model.
• 1974 – Brad Maynard was born. National Football League punter.
• 1974 – Erra Fazira was born. Malaysian actress & Beauty Queen.
• 1974 – John Wallace was born. American basketball player.
• 1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
• 1975 - Clinton Grybas was born (d. 2008). Australian Football commentator.
• 1975 - Viktor Chistiakov was born. Russian-born Australian athlete.
• 1976 - Volta Redonda Futebol Clube is found in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• 1976 - Charlie Day was born. American actor.
• 1976 - Georgios Korakakis was born. Greek footballer.
• 1976 - Vladimir Guerrero was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1976 - Percy Faith dies (b. 1908). Canadian musician and composer.
• 1977 - Sergey Ilyushin dies (b. 1894). Russian aircraft designer.
• 1978 - Costante Girardengo dies (b. 1893). Italian cyclist.
• 1978 - Carmen Conde (b. 1907 – d. 1996) is the first woman to enter into the "Real Academia de la Lengua Española".
• 1978 - Airton Daré was born. Brazilian racing driver.
• 1978 - Daniel Mann was born. British television commentator.
• 1979 - Uma epidemia desconhecida causa em Nápoles a morte de 60 pessoas.
• 1979 - Akinori Iwamura was born. Japanese baseball pitcher.
• 1979 - David Gray was born. English snooker player.
• 1979 - Irina Slutskaya was born. Russian figure skater
• 1979 - Zhang Ziyi was born. Chinese actress.
• 1979 - Dennis Gabor dies (b. 1900). Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1980 - Angelos Charisteas was born. Greek footballer.
• 1980 - Shelly Martinez was born. American wrestler.
• 1981 - Joël Camathias was born. Swiss racing driver.
• 1981 - John Walker Lindh was born. American Taliban fighter.
• 1981 – The Rev was born (d. 31 Dec. 2009). Avenged Sevenfold drummer.
• 1981 - Bill Haley dies (b. 1925). American musician ("Bill Haley and the Comets").
• 1981 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski becomes Prime-Minister of Poland.
• 1982 - Ami Suzuki was born. Japanese singer.
• 1982 – Jameer Nelson was born. American basketball player.
• 1983 - Blecaute (Octávio Henrique de Oliveira) dies (b. 19 Nov 1919). Brazilian singer and sambist.
• 1983 - Mikel Arruabarrena was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1983 - Tânia Mara was born. Brazilian singer.
• 1984 - Dioner Navarro was born. Venezuelan baseball player.
• 1984 – Han Geng was born. Chinese pop artist.
• 1984 - Han Kyung was born. Member of Korean boyband Super Junior.
• 1984 - Yuri Andropov dies (b. 1914). General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union(1982-84).
• 1985 - David Gallagher was born. American actor (7th Heaven).
• 1985 – Rachel Melvin was born. American actress.
• 1986 - Comet Halley reaches perihelion, its closest approach to the sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.
• 1986 - Princess Raiyah bint Al Hussein of Jordan was born.
  
• 1987 - Joe O'Cearuill was born. Irish footballer.
• 1987 - Magdalena Neuner was born, German biathlete.
• 1988 - Maria Leonor dies (b. 1920). Portuguese radio personality and presenter.
• 1989 - António Ramos Rosa, poeta português, recebe o Prémio Fernando Pessoa.
  
• 1989 - Gia Farrell was born. American singer.
• 1989 - Wu Chia-ching was born. Taiwanese pool player.
• 1989 - Osamu Tezuka dies (b. 1928). Japanese manga artist.
• 1990 - Namibia's constitution ratified.
• 1990 - Camille Winbush was born. American actress.
• 1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
• 1991 - James Cleveland dies (b. 1931). American gospel singer.
• 1992 - Avan Jogia was born. Canadian actor.
• 1992 - Sérgio Murillo dies (b. 2 Aug 1941). Brazilian singer.
• 1994 - Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called Vance-Owen peace plan).
• 1994 - Howard Martin Temin dies (b. 10 Dec 1934). American virologist who in 1975 shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with his former professor Renato Dulbecco and another of Dulbecco's students, David Baltimore, for his codiscovery of the enzyme reverse transcriptase.
• 1994 - Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa.
• 1995 - Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks.
• 1995 - Jordania confirma la retirada israelí del territorio jordano ocupado desde 1967 en el sur del valle de Araba.
• 1995 - J. William Fulbright dies (b. 1905). American politician.
• 1995 - David Wayne dies (b. 1914). American actor.
• 1996 - The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire shortly followed by a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf.
• 1996 - Jimmy Bennett was born. American actor.
• 1997 - 11th American Comedy Award: Debbie Reynolds.
• 1997 - The Simpsons surpasses The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series. ( 167th episode is aired).
• 1997 - Brian Connolly dies (b. 1945). English singer (Sweet).
• 1998 - Failed assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze .
• 1998 - Morrem os 196 ocupantes do Airbus 300-600 da China Airlines num acidente junto ao aeroporto de Taipei.
• 1999 - Bryan Mosley dies (b. 1931). British actor.
• 2001 - The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks Ehime-Maru the Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.
• 2001 - Herbert Simon dies (b. 1916). American economist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 2002 - XIX Winter Olympics opens in Salt Lake City Utah/Quebec City.
• 2002 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom dies (b. 1930).
• 2002 - Vicente Sardinero dies (b. 1937). Spanish baritone.
• 2004 - Mozilla Firefox: Browser renamed from Firebird to Firefox.
• 2004 - Robert Colesberry died this day. Oscar nominated producer, died of complications following heart surgery at age 57. Mr. Colesberry was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar for "Mississippi Burning".
• 2004 - Claude Ryan dies (b. 1925). Newspaper director (Le Devoir) and politician (Parti libéral du Québec).
• 2006 - Freddie Laker dies (b. 1922). British airline entrepreneur.
• 2006 - Nadira dies (b. 1932). Indian actress.
• 2007 - Hank Bauer dies (b. 1922). American baseball player.
• 2007 - Ian Richardson dies (b. 1934). Scottish actor.
• 2008 - Christopher Hyatt dies. Occultist, Philosopher and Author.
• 2008 - Jazeh Tabatabai dies (b. 1931). Iranian avant-garde painter, poet and sculptor.
  
• 2008 - Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal dies (b. 1930). The eleventh Mindrolling Trichen, Tibetan Buddhist lama of the Nyingma school.
• 2008 - Scott Halpin dies (b. 1954). A one time drummer of The Who.
• 2009 – Eluana Englaro dies (b. 1970). Italian woman who lived in a persistent vegetative state for 17 years.
  
• Saint Ansbert of Rouen.
• Saint Maron's Day - Lebanon.
• Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentists and dental technicians.
• Saint Teilo's Day - Wales.