Events in History
Meeting of Interest
Feb 1 Northern Ireland PM Chichester-Clark meets British Home Secretary James Callaghan to discuss the economy of Northern Ireland
- Feb 1 Stalled commuter train rammed by express in Argentina, 139 die
- Feb 1 West-Germany & USSR sign gas contract
- Feb 4 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Feb 5 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Feb 7 LSU's "Pistol" Pete Marovich scores 69 pts in losing cause
- Feb 7 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
- Feb 10 26.4 cm precipitation falls on Mount Washington NH (state record)
- Feb 10 Dry powder avalanche moving at 120 mph smashes into youth hostel at Val d'Isere, France, killing 40 Belgian, French, & German youths
- Feb 11 26.37 cm (10.38") of rainfall, Mt Washington, NH (state 24-hr rec)
- Feb 11 Japan becomes 4th nation to put a satellite (Osumi) in orbit
- Feb 12 Anthony Shaffer's "Sleuth" premieres in NYC
- Feb 13 Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48, 80 km from New Delhi
- Feb 13 NL offices begins move from Cincinnati to San Francisco (completed Feb 23)
- Feb 15 Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102
- Feb 15 Nationalists disrupt UN session on Congo
- Feb 17 Robert Marasco's "Child's Play" premieres in NYC
- Feb 17 US army officer Jeffrey MacDonald murders his pregnant wife and two small daughters
- Feb 18 Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot
Event of Interest
Feb 18 US President Richard Nixon launches the "Nixon doctrine"
- Feb 19 USSR launches Sputnik 52 & Molniya 1-13 communications satellite
- Feb 21 Jackson 5 make TV debut on "American Bandstand"
- Feb 21 Pathet Lao conquers Xieng Khuang & Muong Suy
- Feb 23 Guyana becomes a republic (National Day)
- Feb 23 Holy Eucharist given by women for 1st time in Roman Catholic service
- Feb 24 29 Swiss Army officers die in avalanche (Reckingen, Switzerland)
- Feb 24 Heintje Simons (14) wins 7 gold records
- Feb 27 NY Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic surveillance
Birthdays in History
- Feb 10 Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist, born in Oslo, Norway
- Feb 10 Myrea Pettit, British illustrator
- Feb 12 Judd Winick, American writer and artist, born in Long Island, New York
- Feb 15 Shepard Fairey, American contemporary street artist, born in Charleston, North Carolina
- Feb 16 D.J. Wallis, American fitness competitor
- Feb 20 Cheyenne Brando, Papeete Tahiti, daughter of Marlon
- Feb 24 Kienast quintuplets, American quintuplets
- Feb 27 Matthias Lechner, German art director, born in Mannheim, Germany
- Feb 27 Michael A. Burstein, American writer, born in New York City
- Feb 28 Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket
Deaths in History
- Feb 1 Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician, dies at 48
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
Feb 2 English mathematician and philosopher (Nobel 1950), dies at 97
- Feb 4 Louise Bogan, American poet (Sleeping Fury) and critic, dies at 72
- Feb 15 Hugh Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, dies at 87
- Feb 17 Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Jewish writer (Nobel Prize for Literature 1966), dies at 81
- Feb 18 Desideer Stracke, Flemish jesuit and literature historian, dies at 94
- Feb 19 Ralph Flanders, American politician (Senator-Vermont), dies at 89
- Feb 20 Café Filho, 18th Brazilian President (1954-1955), dies aged 71
- Feb 20 Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist, dies at 84
- Feb 25 Mark Rothko [Marcus Rothkovich], Latvian-American abstract expressionist (Green on Blue), takes his own life at 66
- Feb 27 Marie Dionne, one of the French Canadian Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
- Feb 27 Robert Bruce Lockhart, diplomat/writer, dies
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists