February 16......

February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 318 (319 in leap years) days remaining in the year on this date.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 374 - 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

● 600 - Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze

● 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.

● 1279 - Afonso III of Portugal dies. His son Denis succeeds the Portuguese throne.

● 1349 - Jews are expelled from Burgsdorf Switzerland

● 1486 - Diet of Frankfort

● 1512 - Battle at Valeggio French troops beat Venetianen

● 1559 - Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy

● 1568 - The entire population of the Netherlands - three million people - was sentenced to death by the Roman Catholic Church for heresy; see Eighty Years' War.

● 1641 - English king Charles I accept Triennial Act

● 1659 - 1st known check (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)

● 1666 - Netherlands & Brandenburg sign treaty

● 1675 - Birth of Tituba, exact year unknown, West Indies. Enslaved in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris in Salem, Mass., Tituba entertained neighborhood girls with stories from her homeland, including tales of voodoo and spirits. The girls, in turn, accuse a series of helpless people, including Tituba, of witchcraft. In 1692, she was sentenced to death. In 1693, however, a jury failed to agree on her fate. To pay for her prison expenses, Tituba was sold to another slave owner. {Falsely imprisoned then charged for her prison expenses: sounds like Walter Reed where soldiers are not getting treated and have to pay for meals.}

● 1677 - Earl of Shaftesbury arrested/confined in London Tower

● 1741 - Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (2nd US Magazine) begins publishing

● 1741 - English revivalist George Whitefield advised in a letter: 'Use the world, but let it be as though you used it not.'

● 1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.

● 1760 - Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George SC

● 1771 - Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy

● 1777 - Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)

● 1801 - In Baltimore, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church officially separated from its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination later became part of the AME Church, reconstituted in 1816 under Richard Allen. It held its first national conference in 1821.

● 1804 - First Barbary War: Lieutenant Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate "Philadelphia" after pirates seized it.

● 1824 - Athenaeum founded

● 1828 - Red Bird (Wanig-Suckka), Winnebago chief, dies in U.S. prison.

● 1832 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reaches St-Pauls (1ºN, 29ºW)

● 1833 - Anastasio Aquino, indigenous rebellion leader, passes revolutionary laws in El Salvador.

● 1838 - Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions

● 1838 - Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus.

● 1840 - American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica

● 1846 - Battle of Sobraon ends 1st Sikh War in India

● 1848 - Seneca Falls (New York) Women's Rights Convention.

● 1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.

● 1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, DC, becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.

● 1859 - The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch.

● 1860 - Dutch Rochussen/Van Bosse government resigns

● 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

● 1864 - Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army

● 1865 - English clergyman Sabine Baring-Gould, 31, first published the hymn, "Now the Day is Over." It was based on the text of Prov 3:24: 'When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid...and thy sleep shall be sweet.'

● 1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War

● 1868 - In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE). {My grandfather used to call this bunch of boozers the "Biggest Pricks On Earth."}

● 1870 - Birth of Leonora O'Reilly, union leader and co-founder of NAACP.

● 1878 - Silver dollar became US legal tender

● 1880 - American Society of Mechanical Engineers founded, New York NY

● 1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.

● 1885 - Knights of Labor strike Wabash Railroad.

● 1887 - 1st newspaper convention (Rochester NY)

● 1893 - Katherine Cornell, the American stage actress who was called "the first lady of the American theater", was born.

● 1894 - British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast

● 1899 - President Félix Faure of France dies in office.

● 1903 - -59º F (-51º C), Pokegama Dam MN (state record)

● 1909 - 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (New York NY)

● 1909 - Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary

● 1911 - William P. Merrill, 44, first published his hymn, "Rise Up, O Men of God," in the Presbyterian periodical, "The Continent."

● 1913 - President Taft agrees not to intervene in Mexico

● 1914 - 1st airplane flight from to Los Angeles from San Francisco

● 1916 - Russian troops conquer Erzurum Armenia

● 1916 - Emma Goldman arrested in New York for lecturing on birth control.

● 1916 - Under the leadership of Henrietta Szold, 52, the Hadassah Study Circle at New York's Temple Emanuel reconstituted itself. Szold afterward made this sisterhood of U.S. Jewish women a nationwide Zionist organization. Szold herself headed the group until 1926.

● 1917 - 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid

● 1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany.

● 1923 - Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. The next day he entered the chamber with several invited guests. He had originally found the tomb on November 4, 1922.

● 1923 - Allies accept Latvia's occupation of Memel territory

● 1927 - US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey

● 1931 - Extreme right wing Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland

● 1932 - The first fruit tree patent was issued to James E. Markham for a peach tree which ripens later than other varieties.

● 1933 - Repeal of 18th amendment, ending prohibition in US.

● 1933 - Germany - "Arbeiter-Echo" (Worker Echo), the unofficial organ of the German AnarchosyndikalistInnen published by the FAUD in Dresden, is banned by the Nazis.

● 1933 - Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis/communists

● 1934 - Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund

● 1934 - Commission of Government sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.

● 1936 - Spain - Election and formation of the Popular Front government against the fascist Franco. Anarchists, socialists, communists, republicans, and labor groups form a republic and take power

● 1937 - DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers.

● 1938 - US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized

● 1940 - World War II: Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, is boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.

● 1942 - Conscientious objectors arrested after walking out of work camp, Merom, Indiana.

● 1942 - German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery

● 1943 - -32º F (-36º C), Falls Village CT (state record)

● 1943 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gets pneumonia

● 1943 - Sign on Munich facade "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22

● 1943 - Withdrawing Africa Corps reaches Mareth-line in North-Africa

● 1943 - World War II: USSR reconquers Kharkov.

● 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.

● 1945 - World War II: First American Aircraft carrier strikes on Tokyo.

● 1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.

● 1945 - Venezuela declares war on Nazi-Germany

● 1946 - 1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport CT

● 1948 - Miranda, famous moon of Uranus, photographed for 1st time

● 1951 - NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing

● 1951 - San Francisco City Hall dome fire

● 1956 - Britain abolishes the death penalty

● 1957 - The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM was abolished in the United Kingdom

● 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

● 1960 - The U.S.S. Triton began the first circumnavigation of the globe under water. The trip ended on May 10.

● 1961 - 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island VA

● 1961 - China uses it's 1st nuclear reactor

● 1961 - Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) launched.

● 1962 - First of two days on which Boston SANE and a fledgling Students for a Democratic Society hold first anti-nuclear march on Washington; 4,000-8,000 show up.

● 1965 - Beeching plans for 'bloated' railways; A second report from British Railways Board chairman Dr Richard Beeching outlines transport needs for the next 25 years.

● 1965 - A plot by the Black Liberation Front to blow up the Statue of Liberty is foiled.

● 1965 - Pegasus 1 launched to detect micro-meteors

● 1966 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria

● 1968 - Draft deferments for most graduate students and all occupational deferments eliminated so more young Americans can get first-hand experience in South Vietnam.

● 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.

● 1972 - Miners' strike turns off the lights; Many homes and businesses will be without electricity for up to nine hours a day from today, the Central Electricity Generating Board has announced.

● 1972 - German mass murderers "Three of Breda" freed

● 1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.

● 1973 - A week-long student uprisings begins in Greece.

● 1977 - The Anglican archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum, was killed in automobile accident. Two other men were also killed.

● 1977 - In the "Italian Spring," thousands reject authority, universities occupied throughout Italy. Students eject Communist union bosses from Rome campus. Started as a protest against university reform, evolved into generalized criticism of all forms of alienation -- especially bureaucrats, unionists, and political parties.

● 1977 - USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR

● 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).

● 1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1980 - Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France

● 1982 - Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vandenberg AFB to launch pad

● 1982 - Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female President of Malta

● 1982 - "She really just got tried of people misinterpreting what she was doing." -- An aide telling the public that Nancy Reagan will no longer accept free clothing "on loan" from top designers.

● 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.

● 1985 - West Germany - Twenty thousand demonstrate against nuclear reprocessing plant, Schwandorf.

● 1985 - The founding of Hezbollah.

● 1985 - Falklands' row civil servant resigns; Ministry of Defence assistant secretary Clive Ponting resigns from his post over the Belgrano affair.

● 1986 - Duvaliers flee Haiti after 28-year rule by the family.

● 1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

● 1986 - Mário Soares (Socialist) elected Portugal's 1st civilian president

● 1986 - French air force bombs Ouadi Doum airport in Chad

● 1987 - John Demjanjuk went on trial in Jerusalem. He was accused of being "Ivan the Terrible", a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp. He was convicted, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling.

● 1988 - 1st documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador

● 1989 - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan & North Yemen form common market

● 1989 - William Hayden becomes governor-General of Australia

● 1989 - Russo-Afghani war officially ends with withdrawal of last Russian troops from Afghanistan.

● 1989 - Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, announced that a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player was the reason that Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down the previous December. All 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground were killed.

● 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. and UK war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.

● 1991 - Dutch PPR, Political Party Radicals, disbands

● 1992 - Army kills 38 protesters participating in March of Hope, Kinshasa, Zaire.

● 1994 - 6.5 earthquake strikes SE Sumatra, kills 200

● 1994 - Premier Alfonso Bustamente ends government in Peru

● 1996 - Seven activists are arrested for blocking the road to the ceremony commissioning the nuclear warship U.S.S. Greeneville at the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base.

● 1996 - Thousands attend peace rallies throughout Northern Ireland.

● 1998 - China Airlines Flight 676 crashed into a residential area near by Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 202 people, included all 196 on board and six on the ground.

● 1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.

● 1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.

● 1999 - Testimony began in the Jasper, TX, trial of John William King. He was charged with murder in the gruesome dragging death of James Byrd Jr. King was later convicted and sentenced to death.

● 2001 - Serbs killed in Kosovo pilgrimage; At least seven Serbs are killed in a bomb attack on a bus making its way to a religious ceremony in Kosovo.

● 2002 - The operator of a crematory in Noble, GA, was arrested after dozens of corpses were found stacked in storage sheds and scattered around in the surrounding woods.

● 2005 - Kyoto Protocol comes into force; The Kyoto Protocol that aims to slow down global warming takes effect but the US remains outside it. {It was ratification by Russia that finally brought the Protocol into force, joining in ignorant opposition is Australia.}

● 2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labor dispute.

● 2006 - The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.

BIRTHS

● 1032 - Emperor Yingzong of China (d. 1067)

● 1222 - Nichiren, Japanese founder of Nichiren Buddhism (d. 1282)

● 1497 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (d. 1560)

● 1519 - Gaspard de Coligny, French Huguenot leader (d. 1572)

● 1543 - Kano Eitoku, Japanese painter (d. 1590)

● 1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia (d. 1688)

● 1643 - John Sharp, English Archbishop of York (d. 1714)

● 1698 - Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician (d. 1758)

● 1710 - King Louis XV of France (d. 1774)

● 1727 - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (d. 1817)

● 1740 - Giambattista Bodoni, Italian printer who designed several typefaces (d. 1813)

● 1761 - Charles Pichegru, French general (d. 1804)

● 1802 - Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, American philosopher (d. 1866)

● 1804 - Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (d. 1885)

● 1812 - Henry Wilson, 18th Vice President of US (1873-75) (d. 1875)

● 1821 - Heinrich Barth, German explorer (d. 1865)

● 1822 - Sir Francis Galton, English explorer and biologist (d. 1911)

● 1824 - Peter Kozler, Slovenian cartographer and geographer (d. 1879)

● 1826 - Julia Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)

● 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet (d. 1886)

● 1831 - Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov, Russian writer (d. 1895)

● 1834 - Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist and philosopher (d. 1919)

● 1838 - Henry Adams, American historian and novelist (d. 1918)

● 1843 - Henry Martyn Leland, American engineer and manufacturer (d. 1932)

● 1847 - Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (d. 1917)

● 1856 - Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur (d. 1944)

● 1856 - Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (d. 1934)

● 1866 - Vyacheslav Ivanov, a Russian poet (d. 1949)

● 1868 - Wilhelm Schmidt, German anthropologist and Roman Catholic priest (d. 1954)

● 1876 - George Macaulay Trevelyan, English historian (d. 1962)

● 1884 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (d. 1951)

● 1886 - Van Wyck Brooks, American historian and critic (d. 1963)

● 1887 - Kathleen Clifford, American actress (d. 1962)

● 1898(93? NYT) - Katharine Cornell, American actress (d. 1974)

● 1901 - Vincent Coleman, American actor (d. 1971)

● 1901 - Chester Morris, American film actor (d. 1970)

● 1903 - Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist (d. 1978)

● 1904 - George F. Kennan, American historian, diplomat and political policy-maker (d. 2005)

● 1909 - Hugh Beaumont, American actor (d. 1982)

● 1909 - Jeffrey Lynn, American actor (d. 1995)

● 1915 - Jim O'Hora, American college football coach (d. 2005)

● 1915 - Michael Relph, British film producer and director (d. 2004)

● 1916 - Bill Doggett, American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist (d. 1996)

● 1920(18? NYT) - Patty Andrews, American singer

● 1921 - Jean Behra, French Formula One driver (d. 1959)

● 1921 - Araucaria, British crossword compiler

● 1921 - Vera-Ellen, American actress (d. 1981)

● 1925 - Carlos Paredes, Portuguese Guitar master (d. 2004)

● 1926 - John Schlesinger, English film director (d. 2003)

● 1927 - June Brown, British actress

● 1927 - Tom Kennedy, American game show host

● 1929 - Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer (d. 1980)

● 1931 - Otis Blackwell, American songwriter and singer (d. 2002)

● 1931 - Ken Takakura, Japanese actor

● 1932 - Gretchen Wyler, American actress and dancer

● 1932 - Harry Goz, American actor (d. 2003)

● 1932 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone

● 1934 - Herbie & Harold Kalin, American singers (d. 2005-Harold / 2006-Herbie)

● 1934 - Marlene Hagge, American professional golfer

● 1935 - Sonny Bono, American entertainer (d. 1998)

● 1936 - Jill Kinmont, American skier

● 1937 - Yuri Manin, Russian mathematician

● 1938 - John Corigliano, American composer

● 1938 - Barry Primus, American actor

● 1941 - Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader

● 1943 - Brig Owens, American football player

● 1944 - Richard Ford, American novelist

● 1945 - Jeremy Bulloch, English actor

● 1945 - Frank Welker, American voice actor

● 1946 - Pete Postlethwaite, Actor

● 1950 - Peter Hain, British politician

● 1950 - Kazuki Tomokawa, Japanese acid-folk singer

● 1951 - William Katt, American actor

● 1953 - George Martin, American footballer

● 1953 - Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1953 - Roberta Williams, computer game designer

● 1954 - Michael Holding, West Indian fast bowler cricket

● 1954 - Iain Banks, Scottish author

● 1955 - Margaux Hemingway, American actress and model (d. 1996)

● 1955 - Hunt Block, American actor

● 1957 - LeVar Burton, American actor

● 1957(56? NYT) - James Ingram, American singer

● 1958 - Lisa Loring, American actress

● 1958 - Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player

● 1959(58? NYT) - Ice-T, American rapper, songwriter, and actor (''Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'')

● 1959 - John McEnroe, American tennis player and Hall of Fame member

● 1959 - Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player

● 1960 - Pete Willis, English guitarist (Def Leppard)

● 1961 - Andy Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)

● 1963 - Dave Lombardo, Cuban drummer (Slayer)

● 1964 - Bebeto, Brazilian footballer

● 1964 - Christopher Eccleston, English actor

● 1967 - John Valentin, baseball player

● 1967 - Keith Gretzky, former hockey player; brother of Wayne Gretzky

● 1968 - Warren Ellis, British comic book writer

● 1969 - David Heath, American professional wrestler

● 1970 - D.J. Wallis, American fitness competitor

● 1972 - Jerome Bettis, American football player

● 1972 - Taylor Hawkins, Rock musician (Foo Fighters)

● 1973 - Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete

● 1975 - Nanase Aikawa, Japanese singer

● 1976 - Eric Byrnes, American baseball player

● 1976 - Kyo, Japanese singer (Dir en grey)

● 1977 - Ian Clarke, Irish computer programmer

● 1977 - Ahman Green, American football player

● 1978 - Sam Salter, R&B singer

● 1978 - John Tartaglia, Broadway actor and Muppeteer

● 1979 - Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer

● 1980 - Ashley Lelie, American football player

● 1981 - Qyntel Woods, American basketball player

● 1982 - Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, American rapper

● 1983 - Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish hockey player

● 1985 - Haley Giraldo, American reality series star

● 1990 - Brendan Burke, Husband of Christine Smith

● 1991 - Adam Daly, Mid-Warwickshire junior league referee and player/manager of DH Dons

DEATHS

● 1247 - Heinrich Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (b. 1204)

● 1279 - King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)

● 1391 - John V Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1332)

● 1531 - Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1452)

● 1560 - Jean du Bellay, French Catholic cardinal and diplomat

● 1710 - Esprit Fléchier, French writer and Bishop of Nîmes (b. 1632)

● 1721 - James Craggs the Younger, English politician (b. 1686)

● 1754 - Richard Mead, English physician (b. 1673)

● 1844 - Joseph Crosfield, English soap and alkali manufacturer (b. 1792)

● 1866 - Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, 19th Century Philosopher (b. 1802)

● 1898 - Thomas Bracken, New Zealand poet (b. 1843)

● 1899 - Félix Faure, President of France (b. 1841)

● 1907 - Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1835)

● 1912 - St. Nikolai of Japan, Eastern Orthodox priest (b. 1836)

● 1917 - Octave Mirbeau, French writer (b. 1848)

● 1919 - Vera Kholodnaya, Russian film star (b. 1893)

● 1928 - Eddie Foy, American singer and dancer (b. 1856)

● 1932 - Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1841)

● 1967 - Antonio Moreno, Spanish-born actor (b. 1887)

● 1974 - John Garand, Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer (b. 1888)

● 1975 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete (b. 1903)

● 1977 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (b. 1897)

● 1978 - E. Roland Harriman, American financier (b. 1895)

● 1980 - Erich Hückel, German physicist (b. 1895)

● 1990 - Keith Haring, American artist (b. 1958)

● 1992 - Angela Carter, English writer (b. 1940)

● 1992 - Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (b. 1917)

● 1992 - Herman Wold, Swedish statistician (b. 1908

● 1996 - Roger Bowen, American actor (b. 1932)

● 1996 - Edmund G. Brown, Governor of California (b. 1905)

● 1996 - Brownie McGhee, American singer (b. 1915)

● 1997 - Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American Physicist (b. 1912)

● 1999 - Michael Larson, Press Your Luck Big-winning contestant

● 2000 - Marceline Day, American actress (b. 1908)

● 2000 - Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born engineer and inventor (b. 1911)

● 2001 - Bob Buhl, baseball player (b. 1928)

● 2001 - William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1915)

● 2002 - Walter Winterbottom, England football manager (b. 1913)

● 2003 - Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (b. 1907)

● 2004 - Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete (b. 1925)

● 2004 - Doris Troy, American singer (b. 1937)

● 2005 - Nicole DeHuff, American actress (pneumonia) (b. 1975)

● 2006 - Johnny Grunge, American professional wrestler (b. 1966)

● 2006 - Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (b. 1925)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Aganus
● St. Daniel
● St. Elias and companions
● St. Gilbert of Sempringham
● St. Gregory X, Pope (1271-76)
● St. Honestus
● St. Jeremy
● St. Julian of Egypt
● St. Juliana of Cumae
● St. Lambertus
● St. Lucilla
● St. Onesimus

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 3 (Civil Date: February 16)
● Holy and Righteous Symeon the God-receiver and Anna the Prophetess
● Prophet Azarias Martyrs Adrian and Eubulus at Caesaria in Cappadocia.
● St. Symeon, first Bishop of Tver.
● St. Ansgar, Bishop of Hamburg, enlightener of Denmark and Sweden.
● St. Romanus, prince of Uglich.
● New-Martyrs Stamatius and John, brothers, and Nicholas, their companion.
● St. James, Archbishop of Serbia.
● Nicholas, Archbishop of Japan; Repose of Schemamonk Paul of Simonov Monastery, disciple of St. Paisius Velichkovsky (1825), and Hieromonk Isidore of Gethsemane Skete, Moscow (1908).

● Christian:
● St. Elias
● St. Juliana of Nicomedia

● Lithuania - Independence Day (1918)

● Kyoto Protocol Day (2005)

● This Holiday is only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● US : Presidents' Day (formerly Washington's Birthday)-legal holiday - ( Monday )


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Permanent Backlink to Post