13 February
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Pre-1600

*
962 Year 962 ( CMLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nike ...
– Emperor
Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...
and Pope John XII co-sign the ''
Diploma Ottonianum The ''Diploma Ottonianum'' (also called the ''Pactum Ottonianum'', ''Privilegium Ottonianum'' or simply ''Ottonianum'') was an 962 agreement between Pope John XII and Otto I, King of Germany and Italy. It confirmed the earlier Donation of Pepin ...
'', recognizing John as ruler of
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. *
1258 Year 1258 ( MCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Mongol Empire * February 10 – Siege of Baghdad: Mongol forces (some 150,000 men), led by Hulagu Khan, besiege and conquer Bag ...
Siege of Baghdad The siege of Baghdad took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within ...
:
Hulegu Khan Hulegu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulagu; ; ; ; ( 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Western Asia. As a son of Tolui and the Keraite princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Ar ...
, a prince of the
Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...
, orders his army to sack and plunder the city of
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, which they had just captured. *
1322 Year 1322 ( MCCCXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events January – March * January 3 – Charles IV the Fair, the last member of the House of Capet and younger brother of King Philip V, becomes ...
– The central tower of
Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...
falls on the night of 12th–13th. *
1352 Year 1352 ( MCCCLII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * February 13 – War of the Straits – The Battle of the Bosporus is fought in a stormy sea into the night between the ...
War of the Straits The War of the Straits () or Third Genoese–Venetian War was a conflict fought between the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa, and their allies, in 1350–1355. The third in a Venetian-Genoese wars, series of conflicts between the two m ...
: The Battle of the Bosporus is fought in a stormy sea into the night between the Genoese, Venetian, Aragonese, and Byzantine fleets. * 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between
Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
and the Scottish
Lord of the Isles Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( or ; ) is a title of nobility in the Baronage of Scotland with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title was ...
. *
1503 __NOTOC__ Year 1503 ( MDIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 20 – Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive rights to trade with the New World. * January 24 – Con ...
Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near
Barletta Barletta (; Salentino: ''Varrétte'' or ''Barlétte'') is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia, in southeastern Italy. Barletta is the '' capoluogo'', together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of a ...
. *
1542 __NOTOC__ Year 1542 ( MDXLII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 6 – In the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, the Spanish colonists create the new town of Mérida. * Jan ...
Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...
, the fifth wife of
Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, is executed for
adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...
.


1601–1900

*
1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, wher ...
Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
arrives in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
for his trial before the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
. *
1642 Events January–March * January 4 – King Charles I of England, accompanied by soldiers, arrives at a session of the Long Parliament and attempts to arrest his chief opponents, the Five Members, John Hampden, Arthur Haselri ...
– The Clergy Act becomes law, excluding
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
s of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
from serving in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. *
1660 Events January–March * January 1 ** At daybreak, English Army Colonel George Monck, with two brigades of troops from his Scottish occupational force, fords the River Tweed at Coldstream in Scotland to cross the Anglo-Scottish ...
– With the accession of young
Charles XI of Sweden Charles XI or Carl (; ) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of History of Sweden, Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden ...
, his
regents In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
begin negotiations to end the
Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...
. *
1689 Events Notable events during this year include: * Coup, war, and legislation in England and its territories. ** The overthrow of Catholic king James of England, Ireland, and Scotland in the Glorious Revolution. ** The latter realms ente ...
William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
and
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
are proclaimed co-rulers of
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. *
1692 Events January–March * January 24 – At least 75 residents of what is now York, Maine are killed in the Raid on York (1692), Candlemas Massacre, carried out by French soldiers led by missionary Louis-Pierre Thury, along with a ...
Massacre of Glencoe The Massacre of Glencoe took place in Glen Coe in the Argyll region of the Scottish Highlands on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for fa ...
: Almost 80 Macdonalds at
Glen Coe Glen Coe ( ) is a glen of glacial origins, that cuts though volcanic rocks in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the north of the shires of Scotland, county of Argyll, close to the border with the history of local governm ...
, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange. *
1726 Events January–March * January 23 – (January 12 Old Style) The Conventicle Act (''Konventikelplakatet'') is adopted in Sweden, outlawing all non-Lutheran religious meetings outside of church services. * January 26 – T ...
Parliament of Negrete between
Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...
and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26. * 1755
Treaty of Giyanti The Treaty of Giyanti (also known as the Treaty of Gianti Java, the Gianti Agreement, or the Giyanti Treaty) was signed and ratified on February 13, 1755, between Prince Mangkubumi, the Dutch East India Company, and Sunan Pakubuwono III along ...
signed by
VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus * ...
,
Pakubuwono III Pakubuwono III (also transliterated Pakubuwana III) (1732–1788) was the third Susuhunan (ruler of Surakarta). Also known as ''Sinuhun Paliyan Negari ''He was proclaimed by the Dutch as ruler of Mataram in 1749, but when the state was divided in ...
and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into two: Sunanate of Surakarta and
Sultanate of Yogyakarta The Sultanate of Yogyakarta, officially the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat ( ; ), is a Javanese monarchy in Yogyakarta Special Region, in the Republic of Indonesia. The current head of the sultanate is Hamengkubuwono X. Yogyakart ...
. *
1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series (France), Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisc ...
– The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop
Andrei Șaguna Andrei Șaguna (; 20 January 1808, Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary – 28 June 1873, Nagyszeben, Kingdom of Hungary (1867–1918), Hungary) was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of ...
hands out to the Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...
the ''General Petition of Romanian leaders in
Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
,
Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
and
Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...
'', which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized. *
1861 This year saw significant progress in the Unification of Italy, the outbreak of the American Civil War, and the emancipation reform abolishing serfdom in the Russian Empire. Events January * January 1 ** Benito Juárez captures Mexico Ci ...
Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...
. *
1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...
– Work begins on the
covering of the Senne The covering of the Senne (; ) was the covering and later diverting of the main river of Brussels, Belgium, and the construction of public buildings and Central Boulevards of Brussels, major boulevards in its place. Carried out between 1867 an ...
, burying
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards. *
1880 Events January *January 27 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires." gr ...
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
observes
Thermionic emission Thermionic emission is the liberation of charged particles from a hot electrode whose thermal energy gives some particles enough kinetic energy to escape the material's surface. The particles, sometimes called ''thermions'' in early literature, a ...
.


1901–present

*
1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...
– The
13th Dalai Lama The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (full given name: Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal; abbreviated to Thubten Gyatso) (; 12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, enthroned during a turbulen ...
proclaims
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
an independence following a period of domination by Manchu
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence. *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...
Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
: In New York City the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members. *
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
– The Negro National League is formed. *
1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...
– The
British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...
completes its transfer from
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
to
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. *
1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...
– A jury in
Flemington, New Jersey Flemington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Bruno Hauptmann Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-American carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Mo ...
guilty of the
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of
Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...
. *
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
: The
siege of Budapest The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapes ...
concludes with the unconditional surrender of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and Hungarian forces to the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. * 1945 – World War II:
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
bombers are dispatched to
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment. *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
:
Battle of Chipyong-ni The Battle of Chipyong-ni (), also known as the Battle of Dipingli (), was a decisive battle of the Korean War that took place from 13 to 14 February 1951 between US and French units of the US 23rd Infantry Regiment and various units of the Ch ...
, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences. *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
Frank Selvy Franklin Delano Selvy (November 9, 1932 – August 13, 2024) was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player who was best known for holding the record for the most points (100) in a Division I college basketball game. Born in Corb ...
becomes the only
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game. *
1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
obtains four of the seven
Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
. * 1955 – Twenty-nine people are killed when Sabena Flight 503 crashes into
Monte Terminillo Monte Terminillo is a massif in the Monti Reatini, part of the Abruzzi Apennine range in central Italy. It is located some 20 km from Rieti and 100 km from Rome and has a highest altitude of . It is a typical Apennine massif, both f ...
near
Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. T ...
, Italy. *
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
– With the success of a
nuclear test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Bec ...
codenamed " Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons. * 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the
Nashville sit-ins The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville S ...
at three
lunch counter A lunch counter or luncheonette is a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server serves food from the opposite side of the counter, where the kitchen or food preparation area ...
s in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. *
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
– An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a
spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...
. *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
– American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
in the
National Library of Spain National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
. *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
– Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. *
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the
Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...
in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman. *
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
– An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a long section of the
Hood Canal Bridge The Hood Canal Bridge (officially William A. Bugge Bridge) is a floating bridge in the northwest United States, located in western Washington. It carries State Route 104 across Hood Canal in Puget Sound and connects the Olympic and Kitsap ...
. *
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
– A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
. *
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
– A cinema fire in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Italy, kills 64 people. *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko ( – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1984 until his death a year later. Born to a poor family in Siberia, Chernenko jo ...
succeeds the late
Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
as general secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
. *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
: Two laser-guided "
smart bomb ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham ...
s" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed. *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
– The
Nepalese Civil War The Nepalese Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the then Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw countrywide fighting between the Kingdom rulers and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the latter making ...
is initiated in the
Kingdom of Nepal The Kingdom of Nepal was a Hindu monarchy in South Asia, founded in 1768 through the unification of Nepal, expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom. The kingdom was also known as the Gorkha Empire and was sometimes called History of Asal Hindustan, ...
by the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre) or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal and a member party of Samajbadi Morcha. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communi ...
. *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the
Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...
hits
El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
, killing at least 315. *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
– The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
,
white dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...
star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
''
BPM 37093 BPM 37093 (V886 Centauri) is a variable white dwarf star of the DAV, or ZZ Ceti, type, with a hydrogen atmosphere and an unusually high mass of approximately 1.1 times the Sun's. It is from Earth in the constellation Centaurus and vibr ...
''. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' song "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...
". *
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
opposition leader
Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...
resigns as the chairman of the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of
Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...
; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election. *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
– Australian Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...
makes a historic apology to the
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
and the
Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...
. *
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
A bomb explodes in the city of
Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
,
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more. *
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
– For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an
American Indian tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, Indigenous tribe, or Tribal nation may be any current or historical tribe, band, or nation of Native Americans in the United States. Modern forms of t ...
, are able to hunt and harvest a
bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...
just outside
Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...
, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855. *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
– The
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
(ESA) conducted the first launch of the European ''
Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...
'' rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. *2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. *2021 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, second impeachment trial. * 2021 – A February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm, major winter storm causes blackouts and kills at least 82 people in Texas and northern Mexico.


Births


Pre-1600

*1440 – Hartmann Schedel, German physician (died 1514) *1457 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1482) *1469 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (died 1549) *1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (died 1542) *1523 – Valentin Naboth, German astronomer and mathematician (died 1593) *1539 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (died 1582) *1569 – Johann Reinhard I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1625) *1599 – Pope Alexander VII (died 1667)


1601–1900

*1602 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (died 1637) *1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (died 1731) *1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (died 1754) *1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician (died 1792) *1721 – John Reid (British Army officer), John Reid, Scottish general (died 1807) *1728 – John Hunter (surgeon), John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist (died 1793) *1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (died 1834) *1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (died 1835) *1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (died 1844) *1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (died 1859) *1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French general (died 1888) *1815 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, editor, poet and critic (died 1857) *1819 – Francis Smith (Australian politician), Francis Smith, Haitian-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (died 1909) *1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American general and politician, 29th United States Secretary of War (died 1869) *1834 – Heinrich Caro, Sephardic Jewish Polish-German chemist and academic (died 1910) *1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader (died 1908) *
1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series (France), Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisc ...
– Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1895) *1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (died 1922) *1863 – Hugo Becker, German cellist and composer (died 1941) *
1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...
– Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (died 1905) *1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (died 1938) *1871 – Joseph Devlin, Northern Irish political leader (Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)) (died 1934) *1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (died 1938) *1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player and umpire (died 1933) *1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (died 1949) *
1880 Events January *January 27 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires." gr ...
– Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and philosopher (died 1955) *1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, English author, poet, and playwright (died 1965) *1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (died 1947) * 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian actor and director (died 1922) *1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (died 1961) *1885 – Bess Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (died 1982) *1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian playwright and critic (died 1919) *1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (died 1968) *1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and director (died 1974) *1891 – Kate Roberts (author), Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (died 1985) * 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (died 1942) *1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American politician, 57th United States Attorney General, Nuremberg trials, Nuremberg prosecutor, and Supreme court, Supreme Court justice (died 1954) *1898 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (died 1979) *1899 – Rolf Stenersen, Norwegian businessman (died 1978) *1900 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (died 1979)


1901–present

*1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist and academic (died 1976) *1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and theorist (died 1978) *1903 – Georgy Beriev, Georgian-Russian engineer, founded the Beriev, Beriev Design Bureau (died 1979) * 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (died 1989) *1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher and author (died 1994) *1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino-American singer and actress (died 2004) *1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989) *1911 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Indian-Pakistani poet and journalist (died 1984) * 1911 – Jean Muir (actress), Jean Muir, American actress and educator (died 1996) *1912 – Harald Riipalu, Russian-Estonian commander (died 1961) * 1912 – Margaretta Scott, English actress (died 2005) *
1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...
– Khalid of Saudi Arabia (died 1982) *1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (died 2003) * 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Myanmar, Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (died 1947) *1916 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist (died 1987) *1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (died 1991) * 1919 – Eddie Robinson (American football coach), Eddie Robinson, American football player and coach (died 2007) *
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
– Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (died 1987) * 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano and educator (died 2002) *1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French pianist and composer (died 1968) * 1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (died 1996) *1922 – Francis Pym, Baron Pym, Welsh soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (died 2008) * 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (died 2014) *1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American soldier, judge, and politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (died 2002) * 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier (died 2020) *1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (died 2006) *1926 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (died 2012) *1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia (died 2019) *1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, List of heads of state of Panama, Military Leader of Panama (died 1981) *1930 – Ernst Fuchs (artist), Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (died 2015) * 1930 – Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author, and academic *
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
– Susan Oliver, American actress (died 1990) *1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician, 2nd List of heads of state of Cameroon, President of Cameroon * 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress * 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer (died 2019) *1934 – George Segal, American actor (died 2021) *1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese author and academic (died 1992) * 1937 – Sigmund Jähn, German pilot and cosmonaut (died 2019) * 1937 – Angelo Mosca, American-Canadian football player and wrestler (died 2021) *1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (died 1999) *1940 – Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, List of mayors of Rotterdam, Mayor of Rotterdam (died 2022) *1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter and photographer (died 2010) * 1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor, director, and producer *1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (died 2019) * 1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (died 2019) * 1942 – Donald E. Williams, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 2016) *1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic *1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress * 1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati (died 2023) *
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...
– Marian Dawkins, English biologist and academic * 1945 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (died 2006) * 1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author * 1945 – William Sleator, American author and composer (died 2011) *1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American sergeant and politician, 23rd Connecticut Attorney General, Attorney General of Connecticut * 1946 – Janet Finch, English sociologist and academic * 1946 – Colin Matthews, English composer and educator *1947 – Stephen Hadley, American soldier and diplomat, 21st United States National Security Advisor * 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach * 1947 – Bogdan Tanjević, Montenegrin-Bosnian basketball coach * 1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist *1949 – Peter Kern (actor), Peter Kern, Austrian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2015) *1950 – Vera Baird, English lawyer and politician * 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
– David Naughton, American actor and singer *1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American musician (died 2014) *1953 – Akio Sato (wrestler), Akio Sato, Japanese wrestler and manager *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
– Donnie Moore, American baseball player (died 1989) *
1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
– Joe Birkett, American lawyer, judge, and politician *1956 – Peter Hook, English singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer *1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer and author *1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress * 1958 – Øivind Elgenes, Norwegian singer, guitarist, and composer * 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian publisher and activist * 1958 – Jean-François Lisée, Canadian journalist and politician * 1958 – Derek Riggs, English painter and illustrator *1959 – Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player *
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
– Pierluigi Collina, Italian footballer and referee * 1960 – John Healey (politician), John Healey, English journalist and politician * 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football player and coach * 1960 – Matt Salinger, American actor * 1960 – Artur Yusupov (chess player), Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player and author *
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
– Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach * 1961 – cEvin Key, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboard player, and producer * 1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor *1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician * 1962 – Baby Doll (wrestler), Baby Doll, American wrestler and manager * 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress *1964 – Stephen Bowen (astronaut), Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain, and astronaut * 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish educator and politician, Ministry of Employment (Sweden), Swedish Minister of Employment *1965 – Peter O'Neill, Papua New Guinean accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea *1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor and producer * 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer * 1966 – Freedom Williams, American rapper and singer *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
– Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach *1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress *1969 – Joyce DiDonato, American soprano and actress * 1969 – Bryan Thomas Schmidt, American science fiction author and editor *1970 – Elmer Bennett, American basketball player * 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist *1971 – Sonia Evans, English singer-songwriter * 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player * 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player *1972 – Virgilijus Alekna, Lithuanian discus thrower * 1972 – Juha Ylönen, Finnish ice hockey player *1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American rapper and actor * 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
– Ben Collins (racing driver), Ben Collins, English race car driver * 1975 – Katie Hopkins, English media personality and columnist *1976 – Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver * 1976 – Feist (singer), Feist, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician *1977 – Randy Moss, American football player and coach *
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
– Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey player * 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French singer * 1978 – Cory Murphy, Canadian ice hockey player and coach *
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
– Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian mass murderer * 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer * 1979 – Rachel Reeves, English economist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer * 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress and fashion designer *1980 – Carlos Cotto, Puerto Rican-American wrestler and boxer *
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
– Luisão, Brazilian footballer * 1981 – Luke Ridnour, American basketball player *1982 – Even Helte Hermansen, Norwegian guitarist and composer * 1982 – Michael Turner (American football), Michael Turner, American football player *
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
– Mike Nickeas, Canadian baseball player * 1983 – Anna Watkins, English rower *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
– Hinkelien Schreuder, Dutch swimmer *1985 – Somdev Devvarman, Indian tennis player * 1985 – J. R. Giddens, American basketball player * 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress * 1985 – Al Montoya, American ice hockey player *1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer * 1986 – Aqib Talib, American football player *1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer *1988 – Ryan Goins, American baseball player * 1988 – Dave Rudden, Irish author *1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer *1990 – Nathan Eovaldi, American baseball player * 1990 – Mamadou Sakho, French footballer *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
– Eliaquim Mangala, French footballer * 1991 – Vianney (singer), Vianney, French singer * 1991 – Luke Voit, American baseball player *1992 – Keith Appling, American basketball player *1994 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer *1995 – Kendall Fuller, American football player * 1995 – Georges-Kévin Nkoudou, French-Cameroonian footballer *2000 – Vitinha (footballer, born February 2000), Vitinha, Portuguese footballer *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
– Kaapo Kakko, Finnish ice hockey player *2002 – Jaden Ivey, American basketball player * 2002 – Sophia Lillis, American actress


Deaths


Pre-1600

*AD 106, 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi) of the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (born AD 79) * 721 – Chilperic II, Frankish king (born 672) * 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish king (probable; b. 810) * 921 – Vratislaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia * 936 – Empress Xiao Wen, Xiao Wen, empress of the Liao dynasty * 942 – Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, Abbasid emir and regent * 988 – Adalbert Atto of Canossa, Adalbert Atto, Lombard nobleman *1021 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (born 985) *1130 – Pope Honorius II, Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1060) *1141 – Béla II of Hungary, Béla II, king of Hungary and Croatia (born 1110) *1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian grand prince (born 1113) *1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shōgun (born 1192) *1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (born 1259) *1351 – Kō no Morofuyu, Japanese general *1539 – Isabella d'Este, Italian noblewoman (born 1474) *
1542 __NOTOC__ Year 1542 ( MDXLII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 6 – In the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, the Spanish colonists create the new town of Mérida. * Jan ...
Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...
, English wife of
Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
(executed; b. 1521) *1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian painter and sculptor (born 1500) *1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish priest and scholar (born 1515)


1601–1900

*1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman and theologian (born 1507) *
1660 Events January–March * January 1 ** At daybreak, English Army Colonel George Monck, with two brigades of troops from his Scottish occupational force, fords the River Tweed at Coldstream in Scotland to cross the Anglo-Scottish ...
– Charles X Gustav of Sweden, Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden (born 1622) *1662 – Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (born 1596) *1693 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (born 1627) *1727 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (born 1666) *1728 – Cotton Mather, American minister and author (born 1663) *1732 – Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian and author (born 1640) *1741 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer and theorist (born 1660) *1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (born 1711) * 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French lawyer and politician, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (France), Foreign Minister of France (born 1717) * 1795 – George (Konissky), Orthodox archbishop, preacher, philosopher and theologian (born 1717) *1813 – Samuel Ashe (North Carolina governor), Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (born 1725) *1818 – George Rogers Clark, American general (born 1752) *1826 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (born 1745) *1831 – Edward Berry, English admiral (born 1768) *1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (born 1809) *1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher and poet (born 1773) *1859 – Eliza Acton, English food writer and poet (born 1799) *1877 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (born 1815) *1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (born 1813) *1888 – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (born 1814) *1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (born 1791) *1893 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican intellectual and journalist (born 1834)


1901–present

*1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (born 1844) *1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (born 1866) *1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (born 1864) *1942 – Otakar Batlička, Czech journalist (born 1895) * 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian lawyer, judge, and politician, 11th President of Brazil (born 1865) *1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (born 1875) *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
– Lloyd C. Douglas, American minister and author (born 1877) *1952 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (born 1896) *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
– Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (born 1890) *1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician and philosopher (born 1878) *1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, English activist, co-founded the Women's Social and Political Union (born 1880) * 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (born 1871) *1964 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer and manager (born 1896) * 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (born 1902) *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
– Yoshisuke Aikawa, entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founded Nissan Motor Company (born 1880) * 1967 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (1932–1934) (born 1889) *1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (born 1895) * 1968 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (born 1911) *1973 – Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, Dutch architect and educator (born 1883) *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
– André Beaufre, French general (born 1902) *1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general and politician, 4th President of Nigeria (born 1938) * 1976 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (born 1904) *1980 – David Janssen, American actor (born 1931) *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
– Cheong Eak Chong, Singaporean entrepreneur (born 1888) *1986 – Yuri Ivask, Russian-American poet and critic (born 1907) *1989 – Wayne Hays, American lieutenant and politician (born 1911) *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
– Arno Breker, German sculptor and illustrator (born 1900) *1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and physicist (born 1909) *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
– Martin Balsam, American actor (born 1919) *1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (born 1906) * 1997 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician and academic (born 1920) *2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian educator and politician (born 1914) * 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (born 1921) * 2000 – John Leake (NAAFI manager), John Leake, English soldier (born 1949) *2002 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1937) *2003 – Kid Gavilán, Cuban-American boxer (born 1926) * 2003 – Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist; 7th United States National Security Advisor (born 1916) *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
– François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (born 1942) * 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician, 2nd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (born 1952) *2005 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1943) * 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (born 1907) *2006 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher and author (born 1919) *
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
– Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (born 1923) * 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American captain and politician (born 1941) * 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, English air marshal (born 1922) *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
– Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1915) *2009 – Edward Upward, English author and educator (born 1903) *
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
– Lucille Clifton, American poet and academic (born 1936) * 2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1936) *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
– Russell Arms, American actor and singer (born 1920) * 2012 – Louise Cochrane, American-English screenwriter and producer (born 1918) * 2012 – Daniel C. Gerould, American playwright and academic (born 1928) *2013 – Gerry Day, American journalist and screenwriter (born 1922) * 2013 – Miles J. Jones, American pathologist and physician (born 1952) * 2013 – Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch judge and politician, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands), Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands (born 1933) * 2013 – Andrée Malebranche, Haitian artist (born 1916) * 2013 – Yuko Tojo, Japanese activist and politician (born 1939) *2014 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (born 1939) * 2014 – Richard Møller Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (born 1937) * 2014 – Ralph Waite, American actor and activist (born 1928) * 2014 – Laura Motta, Brazilian catholic nun (born 1919) *2015 – Faith Bandler, Australian activist and author (born 1918) * 2015 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (born 1923) *2016 – O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet and academic (born 1931) * 2016 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (born 1936) *2017 – Ricardo Arias Calderón, Panamanian politician (born 1933) * 2017 – Aileen Hernandez, American union organizer and activist (born 1926) * 2017 – Seijun Suzuki, Japanese filmmaker (born 1923) * 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, North Korean politician (born 1971) * 2017 – E-Dubble, American rapper (born 1982) *2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, French-born Danish royal (born 1934) *2019 – Callistus Ndlovu, Zimbabwean academic and politician (born 1936) *2021 – Kadir Topbaş, Turkish politician (born 1945) *2025 – Jim Guy Tucker, American lawyer and politician, 43rd List of governors of Arkansas, Governor of Arkansas (born 1943)


Holidays and observances

*Black Love Day (United States) *Children's Day (Myanmar) *Christian feast day: **Absalom Jones (Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church), Episcopal Church (USA)) **Beatrice of Ornacieux **Castor of Karden **Catherine of Ricci **Saint Dyfnog, Dyfnog **Ermenilda of Ely **Fulcran **Jordan of Saxony **Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church) **February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) *World Radio Day


References


External links


BBC: On This Day
*
Historical Events on February 13
{{months Days of February