On This Day in History for February 16

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 136

• 374 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
• 600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze

• 1249 Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols
• 1486 Maximilian I is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt
• 1512 Battle at Valeggio: French troops beat Venetianen
• 1559 Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy

• 1646 Battle of Great Torrington, Devon - the last major battle of the first English Civil War
• 1659 1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)
• 1666 Netherlands & Brandenburg sign treaty
• 1677 Earl of Shaftesbury arrested and confined in the Tower of London

• 1751 1st publication of Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"
• 1760 Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George, South Carolina
• 1771 Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy


• 1777 Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)
• 1804 US Navy Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate "Philadelphia" after pirates seized it
• 1824 Athenaeum club founded in London
• 1838 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
• 1838 Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulu warriors

• 1846 Battle of Sobraon ends 1st Sikh War in India
• 1852 Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
• 1857 Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington, D.C.
• 1859 The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch
• 1860 Dutch Rochussen/Van Bosse government resigns

• 1864 Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army
• 1866 Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War
• 1868 Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks forms (NY)
• 1880 American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC)
• 1883 "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing
• 1887 1st newspaper convention (Rochester NY)
• 1887 Eduard Douwes Dekker writes his last text (Lf8-c5)
• 1894 British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast
• 1899 President of France Félix Faure dies in office.
• 1900 1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes (Chung Sai Yat Po, San Francisco)
• 1903 -59°F (-51°C), Pokegama Dam, Minnesota (state record)
• 1905 1st US Esperanto club organizes in Boston
• 1909 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC)


• 1909 Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary

• 1914 1st airplane flight from LA to SF
• 1915 Frank Home Run Baker, 28, announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He sits out 1915 season
• 1916 Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI
• 1916 The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
• 1916 The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
• 1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
• 1918 Lithuania declares independence from Russia & Germany (National Day)
• 1923 Allies accept Latvia's occupation of Memel territory

• 1923 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard
• 1923 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
• 1927 Noel Coward's "Marquise" premieres in London
• 1927 US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey
• 1929 KID-AM in Idaho Falls ID begins radio transmissions

• 1931 Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes President of Finland
• 1932 1st patent for a tree issued to James Markham for a peach tree
• 1933 Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis and communists
• 1933 England regains the Ashes, thanks to "bodyline" tactics
• 1934 Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund
• 1934 Commission of Government is sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland
• 1936 Spanish Frente Popular (People's Front) wins elections
• 1937 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace Carothers
• 1937 Jean Anouilh's "Le Voyageur Sans Baggage" premieres in Paris
• 1938 US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized
• 1940 British search plane finds German supply ship Altmark, used to accommodate aliied sailors from vessles sunk by the Graf Spee, off Norway
• 1942 German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery
• 1942 Bangka Island massacre: Japanese soldiers machine-gun 22 Australian Army nurses and 60 Australian and British soldiers and crew members from two sunken ships. Only one nurse and two soldiers survive.
• 1943 -32°F (-36°C), Falls Village, Connecticut (state record)

• 1943 Withdrawing Afrika Korps reaches Mareth-line in North Africa
• 1943 Sign on Munich facade: "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22
• 1943 World War II: The USSR reconquers Kharkov.
• 1945 US forces land on Corregidor, complete conquest on March 3
• 1945 Venezuela declares war on Nazi Germany
• 1946 1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport, Connecticut
• 1948 Miranda, famous moon of Uranus, photographed for 1st time
• 1951 NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
• 1951 San Francisco City Hall dome fire

• 1959 Leonard Spigelgass' "Majority of One" premieres in NYC
• 1960 US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip
• 1961 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Virginia
• 1961 China uses its 1st nuclear reactor
• 1961 US satellite Explorer 9 is launched
• 1963 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)
• 1963 C & A Building in Amsterdam burns down

• 1965 Pegasus 1 launched to detect micro-meteors
• 1966 Bob Cowper makes 307 v England at the MCG, 727 mins, 20 fours
• 1966 France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker, Algeria
• 1967 Red Ruffing selected to Hall of Fame
• 1968 US 1st 911 phone system goes into service in Haleyville, Alabama
• 1972 German mass murderers "Three of Breda" freed
• 1973 West Indies v Australia at Kingston, 1st time since 1955 without Gary Sobers
• 1977 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan
• 1978 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)

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Birthdays in History

• 1032 Zhao Shu, Chinese Emperor Yingzong of Song (1063-67), born in Kaifeng, China (d. 1067)
• 1075 Ordericus Vitalis, French monk/historian/poet
• 1222 Nichiren, Japan, Buddhist priest/saint
• 1497 Philipp Melanchthon, Germ, Protestant reformer (Augsburgse Confessie)
• 1519 Gaspard de Coligny, Huguenot leader/French admiral
• 1543 Kano Eitoku, Japanese painter (d. 1590)
• 1620 Frederick William, Great Elector, founder of Brandenburg-Prussia
• 1643 John Sharp, English Archbishop of York (1691-1714), born in Bradford, England (d. 1714)
• 1698 Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician (heliometer)
• 1727 Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (d. 1817)
• 1740 Giambattista Bodoni, Saluzzo Italy, printer/typeface designer (Bodoni)
• 1746 Johann Heinse, German Sturm und Drang novelist/art critic
• 1761 Charles Pichegru, French general (d. 1804)
• 1786 Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1859)
• 1787 Andreas Schelfhout, Dutch painter/etcher/lithographer
• 1788 Juan van Halen, Dutch/Spanish officer/adventurer
• 1802 Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, American philosopher (d. 1866)
• 1804 Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (d. 1885)
• 1807 Lysander Cutler, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Royalston, Massachusetts (d. 1866)
• 1812 Henry Wilson, (R) 18th VP (1873-75)
• 1813 Joseph Reid Anderson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army) (d. 1892)
• 1821 Heinrich Barth, geographer/explorer (Central Africa), born in Hamburg, Germany
• 1822 Francis Galton, British anthropologist and geneticist (eugenics), born in Birmingham, England (d. 1911)
• 1822 James Patton Anderson, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1872)
• 1823 John Daniel Imboden, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1895)
• 1824 Peter Kozler, Slovenian cartographer and geographer (d. 1879)
• 1826 Joseph V von Scheffel, German writer (Gaudeamus)
• 1831 Nikolai Leskow, writer
• 1832 Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac, Mjr General (Confederate Army)
• 1834 Ernst Haeckel, German biologist (Causes of Evolution) and philosopher (Social Darwinism), born in Potsdam, Prussia (d. 1919)
• 1838 Arnoldus Pannevis, South African ship's doctor/linguist
• 1838 Henry Adams, historian, writer (Education of Henry Adams), born in Boston, Massachusetts
• 1848 Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist (How species emerge)
• 1850 Octave Mirbeau, French writer (Journal of a Lady's Maid)
• 1852 Charles Taze Russell, religion founder (Jehovah's Witnesses)
• 1852 William Scarborough, Macon Ga, linguist/author (Birds of Aristophanes)
• 1856 Rudolph Karstadt, German entrepreneur (d. 1944)
• 1858 Laurence "Lon" Myers, American track star (top US miler)
• 1868 Wilhelm Schmidt, German anthropologist/linguist (Anthropos)
• 1876 G. M. Trevelyan [George Macaulay Trevelyan], British historian and academic, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (d. 1962)
• 1881 Maurits H E Uyldert, Dutch poet/writer (Youth of a Poet)
• 1883 Elizabeth Craig, British writer (d. 1980)
• 1886 Van Wyck Brooks, NJ, literary historian/writer (Ordeal of Mark Twain)
• 1891 Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist (d. 1967)
• 1903 George-Henri Lévesque, Quebec priest and sociologist (d. 2000)
• 1904 George F Kennan, US ambassador (to Moscow), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• 1905 Lord Franks, British ambassador (to US)
• 1909 Richard McDonald, American fast food pioneer (d. 1998)
• 1910 Michael Milne-Watson, CEO (BUPA)
• 1911 Hal Porter, Australia, writer (Tilted Cross, Paper Chase)
• 1912 Arthur Crook, British editor (Times Literary Supplement)
• 1912 Bob Tadema Sporry, Dutch (female) author
• 1912 Maitland Mackie, Lord Lt (Aberdeenshire)
• 1914 J Tobin, British anaesthetist
• 1920 Hubert van Herreweghen, Flemish writer/journalist
• 1920 Anna Mae Hays [McCabe], American military officer and US military's 1st female General, born in Buffalo, New York (d. 2018)
• 1921 Araucaria, British crossword compiler
• 1921 Esther Bubley, Phillips, Wisconsin, American photographer

• 1922 Paul van 't Veer, Dutch journalist/writer (Het Vrije Volk)
• 1924 James Swaffield, director-general (Swaffield & Clerk to the GLC)
• 1924 Peter Webster, British High Court Judge
• 1925 David Emms, director (London Goodenough Trust for Overseas Graduates)
• 1925 PER Bailey, director (Gatwick & Stansted Airports)
• 1926 John Schlesinger, director (Midnight Cowboy, Darling), born in London, England
• 1926 Jack Levy, mechanical engineer
• 1926 David Austin, English rose breeder (Austin roses), born in Albrighton, England (d. 2018)
• 1929 Peter NF Porter, Australian/British author/poet (Chair of Babel)
• 1930 Frederick "Fred" Cuming, British painter, born in London
• 1931 Alfred Kolleritsch, Austrian writer, born in Eichfeld
• 1931 George E Sangmeister, (Rep-D-Illinois)
• 1932 Aharon Appelfeld, Israeli writer, born in Jadova Commune, Kingdom of Romania
• 1932 Nand Baert, Belgian radio/TV-host
• 1932 Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone
• 1935 Robin Clark, chemist (FRS)
• 1935 Kenneth Price, ceramic artist and print maker (Hot Bottoms, Tamed), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)
• 1936 Jill Kinmont, American skier

• 1937 Paul Bailey, English novelist and biographer, born in London
• 1937 Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko, cosmonaut
• 1939 David Griffiths, portrait painter
• 1940 Karoli Ruth Needles, painter

• 1943 James Beaton, British GC
• 1944 António Mascarenhas Monteiro, 2nd President of Cape Verde
• 1946 J R Farndon, British consultant surgeon
• 1947 Franz West, artist (Flause), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2012)
• 1948 Eckhart Tolle, Author and spiritual teacher
• 1949 Dorus Vrede, Surinam poet (Otobanda; the Other Bank)
• 1950 Peter Hain, British MP
• 1953 Roberta Williams, video game designer (Mystery House, Sierra Entertainment), born in La Verne, California
• 1954 Iain [Menzies] Banks, UK, sci-fi author (Wasp Factory), (d. 2013)
• 1955 Guy Gallo, writer (Under the Volcano), born in New Orleans, Louisiana
• 1958 Michael W. Burns, American politician, born in Baltimore, Maryland
• 1965 Adama Barrow, Gambian politician, President of Gambia (2017-), born in Mankamang Kunda, Gambia
• 1968 Warren Ellis, British comic book writer (Red), born in Essex, England
• 1970 D.J. Wallis, American fitness competitor
• 1977 Ian Clarke, Irish computer programmer
• 1998 Mr Jefferson, Virginia, 1st cloned calf

Weddings in History

• 1655 Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker

• 2013 "Devious Maids" actress Dania Ramirez (33) weds director Bev Land on the beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Deaths in History

• 309 Pamphilus van Caesarea, Palestinian scholar/martyr, beheaded
• 923 Abu Dja'far Mohammed Djarir al-Tabari, islamic historian, dies at 83
• 1247 Heinrich Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (b. 1204)
• 1279 Afonso III, King of Portugal (1248-79), dies at 68
• 1391 Johannes V Palaeologus, Emperor of Byzantium (1341-91), dies
• 1531 Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer, dies at 78
• 1538 Everhard/Erardus van de Mark, prince-bishop of Liege, dies at 65
• 1560 Jean du Bellay, French Catholic cardinal and diplomat
• 1687 Charles Cotton, English poet and writer, dies at 56
• 1710 Esprit Fléchier, French writer and Bishop of Nîmes, dies at 77
• 1721 James Craggs the Younger, English politician, dies at 34
• 1754 Richard Mead, physician, dies
• 1791 Richard earl d'Alton, Austria general of S Neth, commits suicide at 58
• 1799 Charles Theoby, ruler (Palts & Bayern), dies at 74
• 1820 Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish Lieutenant General and war hero, dies at 61
• 1823 Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, French Romantic painter and draughtsman - allegorical paintings and portraits, dies at 64
• 1834 Lionel Lukin, British life boat pioneer, dies at 91
• 1844 Joseph Crosfield, English soap and alkali manufacturer, dies at 51
• 1851 Anne Willem Carel van Nagell, Dutch politician, dies at 95
• 1857 Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Desnoyers, French engraver, dies at 77
• 1857 Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic explorer (Kane Basin), dies at 37
• 1858 Georg F Creuzer, German philological/historian, dies at 86
• 1892 Henry Walter Bates, naturalist/explorer (South America), dies
• 1898 Thomas Bracken, New Zealand poet (b. 1843)
• 1899 Félix Faure, 6th President of the French Third Republic (1895-99), dies at 57
• 1900 George Labram, US mine engineer in South Africa, dies in battle
• 1907 Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer and Nobel Prize Laureate 1906 regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy, dies at 71
• 1912 Edgar Evans, British explorer (Antarctica), dies
• 1912 St. Nikolai of Japan, Eastern Orthodox priest (b. 1836)
• 1916 Jeltje de Bosch Kemper, Dutch feminist, dies at 79
• 1916 [Gerard] Jan Ligthart, Dutch educator (Ot & Sien), dies at 57
• 1917 Octave Mirbeau, French writer (b. 1848)
• 1932 Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1841)
• 1934 Eduard Bagritsky, [Dzjubin], Russ poet/journalist, dies at 38
• 1936 James Harvey Robinson, American historian (Ordeal of Civilization), dies at 72
• 1938 Otto zur Linde, German author (Lieder of the Leids), dies at 64
• 1939 Jura Soyfer, Jewish political and cabaret writer, dies at Buchenwald concentration camp at 26
• 1945 Rudolf Vornlund, Swedish playwright (Upproret), dies at 45
• 1951 Henri Velge, 1st chairman (Belgian Council of State), dies at 65
• 1957 Leslie Hore-Belisha, British politician (Minister of Transport), dies at 63
• 1963 Friedrich Dessauer, German physicist (radiologist), dies at 81
• 1966 Hendrik Tilanus, Dutch artillery officer and political leader (CHU 1939-63), dies at 81
• 1967 Smiley Burnette, cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction), dies at 55
• 1974 John Garand, Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer (b. 1888)
• 1978 E. Roland Harriman, American financier (b. 1895)
• 1979 Nematullah Nassiri, Iran general/head of Savak, executed
• 1980 Erich Hückel, German physicist and physical chemist, dies at 83
• 1988 Jean Carignan, French Canadian fiddler, dies at 71

• 1991 Enrique B Varela, commandant Nicaragua contra's, dies
• 1992 Abbas al-Musawi, influential Lebanese Shia cleric, and founder and leader of Hezbollah, assassinated by Israel Defense Forces at 39
• 1992 Angela Carter, English novelist (Magic Toyshop) and journalist, dies of cancer at 51
• 1992 George Mann MacBeth, Scottish journalist/poet (A War Quartet), dies
• 1992 Janio Quadros, president of Brazil (1961), dies
• 1992 Winand J Borgerhoff Mulder, court judge Amster (squaters), dies at 78
• 1995 John Everett Allen, American businessman, dies at 91
• 1995 Martin Soames, traveller, dies at 91
• 1996 Charles McCorquodale, art historian, dies at 47
• 1996 Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, American politician and Governor of California (D: 1959-67), dies at 90
• 1996 Kenneth Robinson, politician/businessman, dies at 84
• 1996 Susan Bosence, British textile designer and blockprinter, dies at 82
• 1997 Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (conduced the Wu experiment) dies at 84
• 1999 Michael Larson, American "Press Your Luck" scandal big-winning contestant, dies of cancer at 49
• 2000 Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born engineer and inventor (b. 1911)
• 2001 William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1915)
• 2003 Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, dies of a stroke at 95
• 2005 Queen Narriman, second and last wife of King Farouk and mother of their only child King Fuad II
• 2009 Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan, Korean Cardinal, Protopriest of the Holy Roman Church (b. 1921)
• 2011 Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
• 2012 Baddeley Devesi, first Governor-General of the Solomon Islands, dies at 70
• 2012 Anthony Shadid, New York Times foreign correspondent and two time Pulitzer winner, dies from asthma at 43
• 2012 Harry McPherson, presidential counsel (Lyndon Johnson) and lobbyist, dies from cancer at 82
• 2014 Michael Shea, American sci-fi author (World Fantasy Award: Nifft the Lean, Growlimb), dies at 67
• 2015 Robert Wade-Gery, British diplomat (High Commissioner to India 1982–87), dies at 85
• 2016 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992- 96), dies at 93
• 2017 Dick Bruna, Dutch illustrator (Miffy books), dies at 89
• 2019 Theodore Isaac Rubin, American psychiatrist and author credited with popularising psychotherapy, dies at 95

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