February 2
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February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years).
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Events
- 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
- 1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
- 1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope.
- 1509 - Battle of Diu takes place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
- 1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.
- 1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
- 1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, along the California coast.
- 1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.
- 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
- 1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
- 1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
- 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
- 1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.
- 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.
- 1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
- 1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
- 1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital (Canberra) between Sydney and Melbourne.
- 1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia.
- 1920 - France occupies Memel.
- 1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
- 1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.
- 1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducts the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
- 1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
- 1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.
- 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
- 1952 - A tropical storm forms north of Cuba and moves northeast making landfall in Florida. It is the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
- 1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
- 1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
- 1971 - After a coup in Uganda, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
- 1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday
- 1976 - Groundhog Day gale of 1976 hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.
- 1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
- 1980 - Founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey.
- 1982 - Hama Massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama and kills thousands of people.
- 1986 - Nurse Anita Cobby is found dead in a paddock in Prospect, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. She had been robbed, raped, and murdered. Five men (Micheal Murphy, Gary Murphy, Les Murphy, Micheal Murdoch, and John Travers) are later sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in June of 1987 for Anita Cobby's murder.
- 1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation.
- 1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
- 1998 - A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104
Births
- 1208 - James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
- 1455 - King Christian II of Denmark (d. 1513)
- 1494 - Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
- 1502 - Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1574)
- 1506 - René de Birague, French cardinal and chancellor (d. 1583)
- 1522 - Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician (d. 1565)
- 1600 - Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
- 1613 - Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
- 1621 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (d. 1679)
- 1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
- 1650 - Nell Gwynne, English actress and royal mistress (d. 1687)
- 1669 - Louis Marchand, French organist and harpsichordist (d. 1732)
- 1695 - William Borlase, English naturalist (d. 1772)
- 1700 - Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (d. 1766)
- 1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
- 1717 - Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
- 1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician (d. 1838)
- 1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (d. 1862)
- 1829 - Alfred Brehm, German zoologist (d. 1884)
- 1846 - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (d. 1931)
- 1841 - François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (d. 1912)
- 1875 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (d. 1962)
- 1878 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1955)
- 1882 - James Joyce, Irish author (d. 1941)
- 1887 - Ernst Hanfstängl, German pianist and politician (d. 1975)
- 1888 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
- 1890 - Charles Correll, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1895 - George Halas, American football player, coach, and league founder (d. 1983)
- 1897 - Howard Johnson, American hotelier (d. 1972)
- 1901 - Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987)
- 1905 - Ayn Rand, Russian-born author (d. 1982)
- 1906 - Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Hella S. Haasse, Dutch writer
- 1923 - James Dickey, American poet and author (d. 1997)
- 1923 - Liz Smith, American gossip columnist
- 1923 - Red Schoendienst, baseball player and manager
- 1923 - Bonita Granville, American actress (d. 1988)
- 1924 - Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American producer and musician
- 1925 - Elaine Stritch, American actress
- 1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, French politician
- 1927 - Stan Getz, American musician (d. 1991)
- 1931 - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
- 1931 - Judith Viorst, American author
- 1932 - Robert Mandan, American actor
- 1937 - Tom Smothers, American musician and comedian
- 1942 - Graham Nash, American musician
- 1942 - Christine Keeler, British model
- 1944 - Geoffrey Hughes, British actor
- 1947 - Farrah Fawcett, American actress
- 1947 - Melanie Safka, American singer
- 1949 - Brent Spiner, American actor
- 1949 - Ross Valory, American musician (Journey)
- 1954 - Christie Brinkley, American model
- 1963 - Eva Cassidy, American singer (d. 1996)
- 1966 - Robert DeLeo, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots)
- 1967 - Arturs Irbe, Latvian hockey player
- 1969 - Valeri Karpin, Russian footballer
- 1972 - Dana International, Israeli singer
- 1972 - T-Mo, rapper
- 1975 - Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek football player
- 1976 - James Hickman, British swimmer
- 1977 - Shakira, Colombian singer
- 1983 - Jordin Tootoo, Canadian hockey player
- 1987 - Martin Spanjers, American actor
Deaths
- 1124 - Duke Bořivoj II of Bohemia
- 1218 - Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (b. 1186)
- 1250 - King Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
- 1461 - Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty of England
- 1529 - Baldassare Castiglione, Italian writer (b. 1478)
- 1580 - Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese retainer (b. 1558)
- 1594 - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer (b. 1525)
- 1648 - George Abbot, English writer
- 1660 - Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
- 1660 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, French politician (b. 1608)
- 1661 - Lucas Holstenius, German humanist (b. 1596)
- 1688 - Abraham Duquesne, French naval officer (b. 1610)
- 1704 - Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital, French mathematician (b. 1661)
- 1712 - Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician
- 1714 - John Sharp, English Archbishop of Yorkshire (b. 1643)
- 1768 - Robert Smith, English mathematician (b. 1689)
- 1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
- 1895 - Archduke Albert, Austrian general (b. 1817)
- 1907 - Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
- 1922 - William Desmond Taylor, Irish film director (b. 1872)
- 1925 - Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (b. 1873)
- 1942 - Daniil Kharms, Russian playwright (b. 1906)
- 1948 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)
- 1950 - Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician (b. 1873)
- 1956 - Charles Grapewin, American actor (b. 1869)
- 1969 - Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Bertrand Russell, British mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1872)
- 1979 - Sid Vicious, English musician (Sex Pistols) (b. 1957)
- 1980 - William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1987 - Castilho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1927)
- 1987 - Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist (b. 1922)
- 1992 - Bert Parks, American television host (b. 1914)
- 1995 - Donald Pleasence, English actor (b. 1919)
- 1996 - Gene Kelly, American dancer, actor, and director (b. 1912)
- 1997 - Sanford Meisner, American actor (b. 1904)
- 2003 - Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Bernard McEveety, American film director (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
Holidays and observances
- Ancient Latvia - Veja Diena observed
- Catholicism - Candlemas, The Presentation of the Lord, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, World Day for Consecrated Life (also February 3 in the United States)
- France - Crêpe Day
- Paganism - Imbolc
- Scotland - A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas)
- United States and Canada - Groundhog Day
External links
February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 -- listing of all days
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