February 14

Events

842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German sign a treaty.

1014 - Pope Boniface I recognizes Henry the Fowler|Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.

1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heresy|heretic.

1575 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont

1743 - Henry Pelham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister.

1779 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands.

1797 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent & Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson led the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)|Battle of Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar.

1803 - Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress which conflicts with the United States Constitution|Constitution is void.

1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.

1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.

1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

1854 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States| United States, when a connection between New Orleans, Louisiana| New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed.

1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone,as does Elisha Gray.

1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

1895 - First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' at the St James's Theatre in London).

1899 - Voting machines are approved by the Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.

1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 United Kingdom|British troops invade the Orange Free State.

1903 - The United States Department of Commerce|United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Dept. of Commerce and United States Department of Labor|Dept. of Labor).

1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.

1918 - The movie ''Tarzan of the Apes'' is released.

1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar).

1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.

1924 - International Business Machines|IBM corporation founded.

1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangster rivals of Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.

1943 - World War II:Rostov, Russia is liberated.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - Germany|German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.

1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java (island)|Java.

1945 - Bombing of Dresden in World War II: The United Kingdom|British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the Germany|German state of Saxony.

1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.

1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy|USS ''Quincy'', officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.

1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.

1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.

1949 - The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.

1952 - 1952 Winter Olympic Games open in Oslo, Norway.

1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California, Berkeley|University of California.

1962 - First Lady of the United States|First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.

1966 - Australia|Australian currency is decimalisation|decimalised.

1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1980 - 1980 Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York.

1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.

1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.

1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.

1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of ''The Satanic Verses (novel)|The Satanic Verses'', Salman Rushdie.

1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.

1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

2002 - ''The Tullaghmurray Lass'' sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.

2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal Park|Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.

2005 - Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the Cedar Revolution (Intifada of Independence).

Births

1404 - Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)

1483 - Babur|Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul dynasty (d. 1530)

1602 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)

1680 - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)

1692 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)

1701 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)

1763 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)

1766 - Thomas Malthus, English economist (d. 1834)

1812 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)

1819 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico (d. 1880)

1847 - Anna Howard Shaw, American women's suffrage leader (d. 1919)

1848 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)

1856 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)

1869 - Charles Wilson (physicist)|Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)

1884 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)

1890 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)

1894 - Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)

1895 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)

1898 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)

1903 - Stuart Erwin|Stu Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)

1905 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)

1912 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)

1913 - Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)

1913 - Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)

1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (disappeared 1975)

1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director

1916 - Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)

1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1921 - Hugh Downs, American game show host

1927 - Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress

1929 - Vic Morrow, actor (d. 1982)

1931 - Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)

1932 - Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director

1934 - Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor

1934 - Florence Henderson, American actress

1936 - Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer

1936 - Andrew Prine, American actor

1941 - Donna Shalala, American politician, educator

1941 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator (d. 1997)

1942 - Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City

1943 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)

1944 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist

1944 - Alan Parker, British film director and writer

1945 - Frank Welker, American actor

1946 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)

1946 - Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)

1948 - Pat O'Brien (television)|Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host

1948 - Teller (magician)|Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)

1959 - Renee Fleming, Canadian soprano

1960 - Jim Kelly, American football player

1960 - Meg Tilly, Canadian actress

1962 - Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist

1963 - Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor

1963 - Zach Galligan, American actor

1967 - Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player

1968 - Jules Asner, American model and television personality

1970 - Simon Pegg, English comedian, writer, and actor

1971 - Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer

1972 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player

1972 - Rob Thomas (musician)|Rob Thomas, American musician (matchbox twenty)

1973 - Steve McNair, American football player

1978 - Richard Hamilton (basketball)|Richard Hamilton, American basketball player

1979 - Antonio Chatman, American football player

1980 - Fatima Leyva, Mexican footballer

1985 - Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer

1992 - Freddie Highmore, British actor

1994 - Paul Butcher, actor from Zoey 101

Deaths

1317 - Marguerite of France (born 1282)|Marguerite of France, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1282)

1400 - King Richard II of England (murdered) (b. 1367)

1405 - Timur, Mongol conqueror (b. 1336)

1523 - Pope Adrian VI

1676 - Abraham Bosse, French engraver and artist

1737 - Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor|Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)

1744 - John Hadley, inventor (b. 1682)

1779 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)

1780 - William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)

1808 - John Dickinson (1732-1808)|John Dickinson, American lawyer and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (b. 1732)

1831 - Vincente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)

1831 - Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)

1929 - Tom Burke, American runner (b. 1875)

1943 - Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer, and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)

1943 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)

1959 - Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)

1969 - Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)

1970 - Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b. 1880).

1974 - Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1903)

1975 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)

1975 - P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)

1979 - Adolph Dubs, American diplomat (b. 1920)

1983 - Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)

1987 - Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)

1988 - Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901)

1989 - James Bond (ornithologist)|James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)

1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)

1994 - Michael Gazzo, American actor (b. 1923)

1999 - John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)

2002 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)

2003 - Dolly the sheep, first cloned mammal (b. 1996)

2003 - Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)

2004 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)

2005 - Najai Turpin, American boxer

2005 - Rafik Hariri, Lebanese politician and billionaire businessman (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances

Denmark - Gaekkebrev - gift exchange by school kids

Mexico - Day of National Mourning (1831)

Arizona - Admission Day (1912)

Oregon - Admission Day (1859)

Western World - Valentine's Day

Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Valentine

Catholicism - Feast day of Saints Saint Cyril|Cyril and Saint Methodius|Methodius

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050214.html ---- February 13 - February 15 - January 14 - March 14 -- historical anniversaries