February 2

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 - Pope Callixtus II|Callixtus II becomes Pope.

1509 - Battle of Diu takes place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.

1536 - Spain|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 China|Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco, California|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|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 Australia|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 Germany|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 Soviet Union|Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.

1945 - World War II: President of the United States|President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet Union|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 (planet)|Neptune and Pluto (planet)|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 United Kingdom|British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday (1972)|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 Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI personnel were targeting members of the Congress of the United States|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 of 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 Air DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104.

Births

1208 - James I of Aragon (d. 1276)

1455 - King John 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)

1714 - Gottfried August Homilius, German composer (d. 1785)

1717 - Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)

1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician (d. 1838)

1802 - Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist (d. 1887)

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 Deering Johnson|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)

1913 - Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (d. 1985)

1915 - Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (d. 2002)

1918 - Hella S. Haasse, Dutch writer

1923 - James Dickey, American poet and author (d. 1997)

1923 - Bonita Granville, American actress (d. 1988)

1923 - Red Schoendienst, baseball player and manager

1923 - Liz Smith (journalist)|Liz Smith, American gossip columnist

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 - Christine Keeler, British model

1942 - Graham Nash, American musician

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 (band)|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

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)|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 (mathematician)|Robert Smith, English mathematician (b. 1689)

1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)

1802 - Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (b. 1713)

1895 - Archduke Albert (1817-1895)|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 in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)

1987 - Carlos José Castilho|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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050202.html ---- February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 -- Historical anniversaries|listing of all days