Historical Events
- Feb 3 In Jammu and Kashmir the political party Democratic Janata Dal (Jammu and Kashmir) is revived.
- Feb 4 MV New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon
- Feb 4 Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- Feb 7 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 23-10; Keyshawn Johnson, NY Jets, QB; Ty Law, New England Patriots, CB
- Feb 7 Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
- Feb 10 49th Berlin International Film Festival: "The Thin Red Line" wins the Golden Bear
- Feb 11 Pluto moves further away from the sun than Neptune regaining its status as solar system's outermost planet, a title it will retain for 228 years
Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton
Feb 12 US President Bill Clinton acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial
- Feb 12 Scientists warn about harmful impacts on health of genetically modified (GM) food
Music Concert
Feb 12 Ringo Starr's fifth All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Todd Rundgren, Jack Bruce, Gary Brooker, Simon Kirke, and Timmy Cappello
Daytona 500
Feb 14 41st Daytona 500: Jeff Gordon wins; first Daytona 500 pole sitter to win the race since Bill Elliott in 1987
- Feb 14 30th NAACP Image Awards: "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
Sports History
Feb 15 Wayne Gretzky records 5 assists in NY Rangers' 7-4 win over the Predators; takes a 1,000 point lead over Gordie Howe in all time NHL scoring lead; Gretzky's only appearance in Nashville
- Feb 15 Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party, widely recognized as terrorist organization), was arrested in Kenya.
ESPY Awards
Feb 15 7th ESPY Awards: Mark McGwire, Chamique Holdsclaw win
Sports History
Feb 16 O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend
- Feb 16 Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
- Feb 20 Toronto Maple Leafs play their first NHL home game at Air Canada Centre; Steve Thomas scores overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens
Historic Event
Feb 21 Lahore Declaration signed between India's Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan's Navaz Sharif on use of nuclear weapons
- Feb 23 British TV drama "Queer as Folk" written by Russell T. Davies, starring Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly and Charlie Hunnam premieres on Channel 4
- Feb 24 The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him.
- Feb 24 A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People's Republic of China, killing 61.
Grammy Awards
Feb 24 41st Grammy Awards: "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic)" and Lauryn Hill win
- Feb 26 15th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
- Feb 27 Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983
- Feb 27 Korea International School is founded by Soon-Il Chung
- Feb 27 Aston Villa are the last Premier League team to play a match with an all-English starting XI in a 4-1 defeat by Coventry
Famous Birthdays
Famous Weddings
Ajay Devgan
Feb 24 Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan (29) weds actress Kajol Mukherjee (24) on a traditional Maharashtrian style ceremony in Juhu, Varsha
Famous Divorces
Angelina Jolie
Feb 3 Actress Angelina Jolie (23) divorces actor Jonny Lee Miller (26) after 3 years of marriage
Prince Rogers Nelson
Feb 14 American singer Prince Rogers Nelson (40) divorces belly dancer Mayte Garcia (25) after 2 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (Washington National Gallery of Art), dies at 91
- Feb 1 Barış Manço, Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity, dies at 56
- Feb 2 David McComb, Australian singer-songwriter, and guitarist (The Triffids, 1976-89; The Blackeyed Susans, 1989–93), dies after unsuccessful heart transplant at 38
- Feb 3 Gwen Guthrie, American singer ("Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent"), dies of cancer at 48
- Feb 5 Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1906)
- Feb 5 Neville Bonner, the first Indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia, dies at 76
- Feb 7 King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- Feb 7 Robert "Bobby" Troup, American jazz pianist and actor (Emergency, Acapulco), dies of a heart attack at 80
- Feb 7 José Silva, author of Silva Method and the Silva UltraMind ESP System (b. 1914)
- Feb 7 Hussein ibn Talal, King of Jordan (1952-99), dies at 63
- Feb 8 Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British writer (The Sea, The Sea), dies at 79
- Feb 9 Bryan Mosley, British actor (b. 1931)
- Feb 11 Jaki Byard, American jazz pianist (Charlie Mingus), saxophonist, drummer, composer, arranger, and educator, dies from an unsolved gunshot at 76
- Feb 14 John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)
- Feb 14 Buddy Knox, American singer and songwriter (Party Doll, Lovey Dovey), dies at 65
- Feb 15 Big L [Lamont Coleman], American rapper (Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous), murdered at 24 after being shot 9 times in the face and chest in a drive-by shooting
- Feb 15 Henry Way Kendall, American physicist (Nobel 1990-pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics), dies at 72
- Feb 15 Jan Masseus, Dutch composer, dies at 86
- Feb 16 Michael Larson, American "Press Your Luck" scandal big-winning contestant, dies of cancer at 49
- Feb 16 Necil Kazım Akses, Turkish classical composer, dies at 90
- Feb 16 Betty Roché [Mary Elizabeth Roach], American jazz singer (Duke Ellington - "Take The 'A' Train"), die at 81
- Feb 17 Shirley Stoler, American actress (The Honeymoon Killers, Seven Beauties), dies at 69
- Feb 18 Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (Sanford & Son, Bob Newhart), dies at 66
- Feb 19 Mohammad al-Sadr, Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader who called for government reform, assassinated in an ambush in Najaf, Iraq at 55 [1]
- Feb 20 Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- Feb 20 Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
- Feb 20 Howard Boatwright, American composer and violinist, dies at 80
- Feb 20 Lotti van der Gaag, Dutch sculptor and painter, dies at 75
- Feb 21 Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player and politician (Rep-R-North Carolina 1969-75), dies at 68
Gertrude B. Elion
Feb 21 Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and drug researcher who developed groundbreaking leukemia and herpes drug treatments (Nobel 1988), dies at 81
- Feb 22 Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
- Feb 23 Carlos Hathcock, USMC Sniper, 93 Confirmed Kills (b. 1942)
- Feb 23 Ruth Gipps, British prolific conductor and composer, dies of cancer at 78
- Feb 24 Andre Dubus, American writer (b. 1936)
- Feb 24 Frank Leslie Walcott, Barbadian labour leader, dies at 82
- Feb 25 Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist (AEC, Plutonium, Nobel 1951), dies at 86
- Feb 27 Horace Tapscott, American jazz pianist and composer (Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, 1961-98), dies at 64
- Feb 28 Christine Glanville, British Puppeteer (. 1924)
- Feb 28 William Talbert, American tennis doubles champ (US 1942, 45, 46, 48), dies at 80
