Events in History
- Feb 1 1st US satellite (Explorer I) launched
- Feb 1 Egypt & Syria announce plans to merge into United Arab Republic
- Feb 1 "Volare" ("Nel blu dipinto di blu") single released by Domenico Modugno (Grammy Award Record of the Year, Song of the Year 1958)
- Feb 2 Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic
- Feb 3 Royal Teens' "Short Shorts" enters Top 40 chart & peaks at #3
- Feb 5 Clifton R Wharton confirmed as 1st US African American foreign minister ( to Romania)
- Feb 5 Gamel Abdel Nasser nominated 1st President of United Arab Republic
- Feb 5 Vanguard TV-3 back-up launches into Earth orbit; reaches 6 km
- Feb 7 1st showing of Dutch auto-transmission car, the DAF 600
- Feb 8 Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
- Feb 8 French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
- Feb 11 Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chu En-lai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Feb 11 Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African-American woman hired as flight attendant, Ithaca NY
- Feb 12 Gen Miguel Ydegoras Fuentes elected President of Guatemala
- Feb 14 Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms
- Feb 15 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Barbara Wagner/Rob Paul of CAN
- Feb 15 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Carol Heiss of USA
- Feb 15 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by David Jenkins USA
- Feb 15 Sjafroeddin Prawiranegara forms anti-government of Middle Sumatra
- Feb 17 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears
- Feb 19 Carl Perkins leaves Sun Records for Columbia Records
- Feb 21 Egypt-Syria as United Arab Republic elect Nasser president (99.9% vote)
- Feb 22 Egypt & Syria form United Arab Republic (UAR)
- Feb 22 Indonesian air force bombs Padang, Sumatra/Menado, Celebes
- Feb 23 5-time F1 world drivers champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by Cuban rebels from Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement; released soon after Cuban GP
- Feb 23 Arturo Frondizi elected President of Argentina
- Feb 23 Last Municipal arc light at Mission & 25th removed in San Francisco (installed 1913)
- Feb 23 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- Feb 27 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
Birthdays in History
- Feb 3 Joe Frank Edwards Jr, Cmdr USN/astronaut (STS 89), born in Richmond, Virginia
- Feb 3 N. Gregory Mankiw, American economist
- Feb 4 Werner Schwab, Austrian playwright and artist, born in Graz (d. 1994)
- Feb 4 Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
- Feb 6 Cecily Adams, entertainment caster (American Heart), born in Queens, New York
- Feb 7 Matt Ridley, British science writer
- Feb 13 Marc Fox, British congas/percussionist (Haircut 100-Nobody's Fool)
- Feb 13 Marc Emery, Canadian cannabis activist
- Feb 13 Derek Riggs, British artist
- Feb 14 Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
- Feb 15 Chrystine Brouillet, Quebec novelist
- Feb 16 Michael W. Burns, American politician, born in Baltimore, Maryland
- Feb 19 Helen Fielding, English writer
- Feb 21 Jake Steinfeld, exercise expert (Body by Jake)
- Feb 26 Susan J Helms, Mjr USAF/Astronaut (STS 54, 64, 78), born in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Feb 26 Karen Berger, American comic book editor
- Feb 26 Michel Houellebecq, French novelist
- Feb 26 Tim Kaine, US Senator (D-Vir) and 2016 Democratic nominee for Vice President, born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Feb 27 Nancy Spungen, American murder victim of Sid Vicious (d. 1978)
Deaths in History
- Feb 1 Clinton Joseph Davisson, dies
- Feb 3 Henry Kuttner, sci-fi author (Dark World, As You Were), dies at 42
- Feb 3 Johannes F Buziau, Dutch cabaret performer, dies at 81
- Feb 4 Frederik de Merode, Belgian prince, dies at 46
- Feb 5 H. M. Tomlinson, British writer (Under red ensign), dies at 84
- Feb 6 Walter Crickmer, English football club secretary and manager
- Feb 11 Ernest Jones, British psychonanalyst (b. 1879)
- Feb 12 Marcel Cachin, French politician and co-founder (French Communistic Party), dies at 88
- Feb 12 Douglas R. Hartree, English mathematician and physicist, dies at 60
- Feb 13 Georges Rouault, French painter (Christ aux outrages), dies at 86
- Feb 13 Dame Christabel Pankhurst, a leading suffragette (English) "Queen of the mob" (b.1880)
- Feb 14 Abdul Rab Nishtar, veteran leader of Pakistan Movement, (b. 1899)
- Feb 17 Hugh McCrae, Australian writer (b. 1876)
- Feb 22 Theo Harych, German writer, commits suicide at 54
- Feb 24 Fernand Baldensperger [Fernand Baldenne], French poet, dies at 86
- Feb 27 Harry Cohn, CEO (Columbia Pictures), dies of a heart attack