February 8

Events

• 421 - Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
• 1238 - The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
• 1250 - Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
• 1347 - The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.
• 1575 - Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.
• 1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1590 - Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva is tortured by the Inquisition in Mexico, charged with concealing the practice Judaism of his sister and her children.
• 1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I and the revolt is quickly crushed.
• 1693 - The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
• 1807 - After two days of bitter fighting, the Russians under Bennigsen and the Prussians under L'Estocq concede the Battle of Eylau to Napoleon.
• 1817 - Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
• 1837 - Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
• 1865 - Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
• 1879 - Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
• 1879 - The England cricket team led by Lord Harris is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
• 1885 - The first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii.
• 1887 - The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
• 1904 - Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
• 1904 - Aceh War: Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch military campaign to capture Gayo Highland, Alas Highland, and Batak Highland in Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, which ends with genocide to Acehnese and Bataks people.
• 1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
• 1915 - D. W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
• 1922 - United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House.
• 1924 - Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
• 1942 - World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
• 1942 - World War II: Dutch Colonial Army General Destruction Unit burns Banjarmasin, South Borneo to avoid Japanese capture.
• 1945 - World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
• 1945 - World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet inmates from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom by hijacking the camp commandant's Heinkel He 111.
• 1946 - The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.
• 1946 - The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North, establishing the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.
• 1950 - Cold War: The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
• 1955 - The Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolishes the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
• 1960 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
• 1962 - Charonne massacre. Nine trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.
• 1963 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
• 1963 - The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
• 1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
• 1968 - American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
• 1971 - The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
• 1971 - South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.
• 1974 - After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
• 1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• 1981 - Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
• 1983 - The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
• 1986 - Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people.
• 1989 - Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport killing all 144 passengers on board.
• 1993 - General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.
• 1993 - An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide in mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.
• 1996 - The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
• 2005 - Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.
• 2010 - A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.
• 2013 - A blizzard disrupts transportation and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
• 2014 - A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

  Births

• 120 - Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer
• 412 - Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher
• 882 - Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt
• 1191 - Yaroslav II of Vladimir
• 1291 - Afonso IV of Portugal
• 1405 - Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor
• 1487 - Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg
• 1514 - Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar
• 1552 - Agrippa d'Aubigné, French poet and soldier
• 1577 - Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar
• 1591 - Guercino, Italian painter
• 1685 - Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author
• 1700 - Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist
• 1720 - Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan
• 1741 - André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer
• 1762 - Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor
• 1764 - Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor
• 1792 - Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
• 1798 - Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia
• 1807 - Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist
• 1817 - Richard S. Ewell, American general
• 1819 - John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic
• 1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman, American general
• 1822 - Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist
• 1825 - Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer
• 1828 - Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright
• 1829 - Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary
• 1830 - Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire
• 1834 - Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic
• 1850 - Kate Chopin, American author
• 1860 - Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist
• 1866 - Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic
• 1876 - Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter
• 1878 - Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic
• 1880 - Franz Marc, German soldier and painter
• 1880 - Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director
• 1882 - Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot
• 1883 - Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist
• 1884 - Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor
• 1886 - Charlie Ruggles, American actor
• 1888 - Edith Evans, English actress
• 1888 - Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet
• 1890 - Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician
• 1893 - Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma
• 1894 - King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1897 - Zakir Hussain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India
• 1899 - Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1903 - Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress
• 1903 - Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia
• 1906 - Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography
• 1909 - Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist
• 1911 - Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author
• 1913 - Betty Field, American actress
• 1913 - Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter
• 1914 - Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman
• 1915 - Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor
• 1918 - Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager
• 1921 - Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence
• 1921 - Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician
• 1921 - Lana Turner, American actress
• 1922 - Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker
• 1925 - Jack Lemmon, American actor
• 1926 - Neal Cassady, American author and poet
• 1926 - Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress
• 1930 - Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director
• 1931 - James Dean, American actor
• 1932 - Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman
• 1932 - John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1933 - Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
• 1937 - Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer
• 1937 - Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist
• 1939 - Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist
• 1940 - Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician
• 1940 - Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
• 1941 - Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
• 1941 - Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1941 - Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter
• 1942 - Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
• 1942 - Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1944 - Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor
• 1944 - Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist
• 1947 - J. Richard Gott, American astronomer and academic
• 1948 - Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1949 - Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
• 1949 - Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1952 - Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach
• 1953 - Mary Steenburgen, American actress
• 1954 - Joe Maddon, American baseball coach and manager
• 1955 - John Grisham, American lawyer and author
• 1955 - Jim Neidhart, American wrestler
• 1956 - Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1957 - Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
• 1958 - Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager
• 1958 - Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
• 1959 - Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
• 1959 - Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
• 1959 - Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
• 1960 - Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines
• 1960 - Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 - Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1963 - Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
• 1964 - Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
• 1964 - Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
• 1964 - Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
• 1966 - Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1966 - Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
• 1968 - Gary Coleman, American actor
• 1969 - Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1969 - Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
• 1969 - Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
• 1970 - Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
• 1970 - John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
• 1970 - Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
• 1971 - Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
• 1971 - Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
• 1972 - Big Show, American wrestler and actor
• 1974 - Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
• 1976 - Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1976 - Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
• 1977 - Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
• 1978 - Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
• 1979 - Aaron Cook, American baseball player
• 1980 - William Jackson Harper, American actor
• 1981 - Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer
• 1981 - Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
• 1983 - Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
• 1983 - Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
• 1983 - Jim Verraros, American singer and actor
• 1984 - Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canadian skier
• 1984 - Cecily Strong, American actress
• 1984 - Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
• 1985 - Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
• 1985 - Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
• 1987 - Javi García, Spanish footballer
• 1987 - Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
• 1988 - Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1989 - Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
• 1989 - Julio Jones, American football player
• 1989 - Courtney Vandersloot, American basketball player
• 1990 - Emily Scarratt, English rugby union player
• 1990 - Klay Thompson, American professional basketball player
• 1991 - Aristidis Soiledis, Greek footballer
• 1991 - Roberto Soriano, Italian footballer
• 1991 - Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer and actor with the boy band Infinite.
• 1992 - Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
• 1992 - Carl Jenkinson, English-Finnish footballer
• 1994 - Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
• 1994 - Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1995 - Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
• 1996 - Kenedy, Brazilian footballer

  Deaths

• 538 - Severus of Antioch, patriarch of Antioch
• 1135 - Elvira of Castile, Queen of Sicily
• 1204 - Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor
• 1229 - Ali ibn Hanzala, sixth Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma'ilism
• 1250 - Robert I, Count of Artois
• 1250 - William II Longespée, English martyr
• 1265 - Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler
• 1285 - Theodoric of Landsberg
• 1296 - Przemysł II of Poland
• 1314 - Helen of Anjou, queen of Serbia
• 1382 - Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans
• 1537 - Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, Italian humanitarian
• 1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots
• 1599 - Robert Rollock, Scottish theologian and academic
• 1623 - Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire
• 1676 - Alexis of Russia
• 1696 - Ivan V of Russia
• 1709 - Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer
• 1725 - Peter the Great, Russian emperor
• 1749 - Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter
• 1750 - Aaron Hill, English playwright and poet
• 1768 - George Dance the Elder, English architect, designed St Leonard's and St Botolph's Aldgate
• 1772 - Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
• 1849 - François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor
• 1849 - France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer
• 1856 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist and academic
• 1907 - Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist and academic
• 1910 - Hans Jæger, Norwegian philosopher and activist
• 1914 - Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer
• 1915 - François Langelier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
• 1921 - George Formby Sr, English actor and singer
• 1921 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist
• 1928 - Theodor Curtius, German chemist
• 1932 - Yordan Milanov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church
• 1935 - Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs
• 1936 - Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States
• 1945 - Italo Santelli, Italian fencer and coach
• 1956 - Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager
• 1957 - Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1957 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist
• 1959 - William J. Donovan, American head of the Office of Strategic Services
• 1960 - J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic
• 1960 - Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral
• 1963 - George Dolenz, Italian-American actor
• 1964 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author
• 1968 - Maurice Maillot, French actor
• 1972 - Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player
• 1975 - Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1977 - Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist
• 1979 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1980 - Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter
• 1982 - John Hay Whitney, American financier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
• 1985 - William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Swallow Sidecar Company
• 1987 - Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress
• 1990 - Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1992 - Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant
• 1992 - Denny Wright, British guitarist
• 1994 - Raymond Scott, American pianist and composer
• 1996 - Del Ennis, American baseball player
• 1997 - Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider
• 1998 - Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1998 - Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health
• 1998 - Julian Simon, American economist and author
• 1999 - Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher
• 2000 - Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
• 2000 - Derrick Thomas, American football player
• 2001 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter
• 2002 - Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore
• 2004 - Julius Schwartz, American journalist and author
• 2005 - A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan sailor and politician
• 2006 - Elton Dean, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
• 2006 - Thierry Fortineau, French actor
• 2006 - Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer
• 2007 - Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress
• 2007 - Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic
• 2008 - Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian
• 2010 - John Murtha, American colonel and politician
• 2011 - Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier
• 2012 - Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter
• 2012 - Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi and author
• 2012 - Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter
• 2013 - Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal
• 2013 - James DePreist, American conductor and educator
• 2013 - Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author
• 2013 - Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist
• 2014 - Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 2014 - Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
• 2014 - Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter
• 2015 - Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist
• 2016 - Amelia Bence, Argentine actress
• 2016 - Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter
• 2016 - Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic
• 2016 - Violette Verdy, French ballerina
• 2017 - Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate
• 2017 - Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer
• 2017 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite, television presenter, model, and charity patron
• 2017 - Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Cuthmann of Steyning
• *Elffled of Whitby
• *Gerolamo Emiliani
• *Josephine Bakhita
• *Juventius of Pavia
• *Meingold of Huy
• *Stephen of Muret
• *February 8
• Earliest day on which Feast of Orthodoxy can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated 42 days before Easter.
• Parinirvana Day
• Prešeren Day
• Propose Day