On This Day in History for February 2

Events 1 - 100 of 144

• 506 Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Lex Romania Visigothorum (or Breviary of Alaric), a collection of Roman law
• 962 Pope John XII crowns German King Otto I the Great Emperor
• 1032 Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy, succeeding Rudolf III
• 1119 Guido di Borgogna elected Pope Callistus II
• 1141 Battle of Lincoln: King Stephen captured by forces loyal to Empress Matilda and commanded by Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
• 1349 By this date at least 200 people a day were being buried in London as a result of the Black Death
• 1536 Pedro de Mendoza founds Argentine city of Buenos Aires
• 1542 Portuguese under Christovão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.
• 1550 Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, freed
• 1637 Zorilla's "El más Impropio Verdugo Para Las" premieres in Madrid
• 1653 New Amsterdam becomes a city (later renamed New York)
• 1709 British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe"
• 1714 Nicholas Rowe's play "The Tragedy of Jane Shore" premieres in London
• 1732 King Frederik Willem I moves Lutherans towards East-Prussia

• 1787 Arthur St. Clair is elected the 9th President of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation


• 1798 Federal St Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in US destroyed by fire
• 1802 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
• 1811 Russian settlers establish Ft Ross trading post, north of San Francisco
• 1829 Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral on fire, does £60,000 damage
• 1843 US & British settlers in Oregon Country choose government committee
• 1848 1st ship load of Chinese immigrants arrive in San Francisco
• 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War: US acquires Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona for $15 million
• 1852 1st British public men's toilet opens in Fleet St, London
• 1852 Alexandre Dumas Jr's "La Dame aux Camélias" premieres in Paris
• 1854 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On persecution of Armenians"
• 1861 The "Organized Incorporated Territory of Nevada" is created, lasting until October 31st, 1864
• 1864 -Oct 7th) Cruise of CSS Florida
• 1869 James Oliver invents removable tempered steel plow blade
• 1870 Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human) proved to be gypsum
• 1878 Greece declares war on Turkey
• 1880 SS Strathleven arrives in London with first shipment of frozen Australian mutton
• 1887 In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• 1888 Frank Sprague opens the first successful U.S. electric street railway system, the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, in Richmond, Virginia
• 1892 Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore)
• 1892 Johnny Briggs takes a hat-trick, England v Australia SCG
• 1894 US warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, near Solomon Island
• 1899 The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital (Canberra) between Sydney and Melbourne.
• 1901 Female Army Nurse Corps established as a permanent organization

• 1901 Mexican government troops are ambushed by Yaqui Indians, 100 killed


• 1901 The US Congress passes the Army Reorganization Act, placing the minimum number of men under arms at 58,000
• 1906 Pope encyclical against separation of church & state
• 1909 Italian writer Marinetti publishes Futurist Manifest in Paris
• 1912 Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe)

• 1913 NYC's Grand Central Terminal opens
• 1919 Monarchist riot in Portugal
• 1920 Estonia declares its Independence from Russia (Dorpat Peace)
• 1920 France occupies (German) Memel territory
• 1920 Tarto/Dorpat peace treaty: USSR recognizes Estonian independence
• 1922 It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22

• 1923 Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton, Ohio
• 1923 US signs friendship treaty with Central American countries
• 1924 International Ski Federation (FIS) forms
• 1925 Belgian episcopacy rejects liberalism, communism & socialism
• 1925 Dogsleds reach Nome with emergency diphtheria serum after 1000-km
• 1925 NL holds Golden Jubilee Year meeting at same hotel where NL began
• 1927 Harry Tierney/Joseph McCarthy's "Rio Rita" premieres in NYC
• 1927 Ziegfeld Theater (Loew's Ziegfeld) opens at 6th Ave & 54th St NYC
• 1931 1st siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students
• 1931 1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
• 1932 Geneva disarmament conference begins with 60 countries
• 1932 Grimmett takes 14 wickets v South Africa (7-116 & 7-83)
• 1932 Reconstruction Finance Corp organized

• 1933 Ucicky's "Rotten Morning" premieres in Berlin
• 1934 Dutch RC Bishops warn against fascism and nazism
• 1935 Leonarde Keeler first uses his polygraph machine on criminals later convicted of assault on its findings in Portage, Wisconsin
• 1941 US female Figure Skating championship won by Jane Vaughn
• 1941 US male Figure Skating championship won by Eugene Turner
• 1942 LA Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans
• 1942 US auto factories switch from commercial to war production
• 1943 German 6th Army surrenders after Battle of Stalingrad in a major turning point in Europe during World War II
• 1944 4th US marine division conquers Roi, Marshall Islands
• 1944 Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory
• 1944 Edward Chodorov's "Decision" premieres in NYC
• 1945 Escape attempt at Mauthausen concentration camp
• 1946 The Proclamation of Hungarian Republic made
• 1948 President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
• 1951 -35°F (-37°C), Greensburg, Indiana (state record until 1994)
• 1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1954 Snow falls on Gibraltar
• 1956 Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
• 1957 UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt
• 1958 Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic
• 1960 Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss
• 1961 Prince Bernhard opens new RAI building in Amsterdam
• 1962 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years
• 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1964 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy
• 1965 Joe Orton's "Loot" premieres in Brighton
• 1966 Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir dispute as number one item for the proposed Indo-Pak ministerial talks after 1965 war.
• 1967 Bolivia adopts its constitution
• 1968 Springer Publishers in West Berlin, bombed
• 1971 US Congressional Black Caucus organizes with Charles C. Diggs Jr. its first Chair

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• 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)
• 1583 Anna Roemers Visscher, Dutch poetess
• 1595 Jacob van Campen, painter/architect (New Church, Amsterdam)
• 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 Benedict XIII, [Pierfrancesco Orsini], Italian 245th pope (1724-30)
• 1695 William Borlase, English naturalist (d. 1772)
• 1695 François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
• 1711 Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
• 1717 Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
• 1780 Johannes van den Bosch, gov-gen (Neth East Indies)
• 1786 Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (d. 1856)
• 1802 Jean-Baptiste JD Boussingault, French chemist
• 1803 Albert Sidney Johnston, Gen (Confederate Army), (d. 1862)
• 1815 Nathaniel Collins McLean, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1905)
• 1817 John Glover, English chemist (sulfuric acid), born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England (d. 1902)
• 1820 Hans E Schack, Danish politician/writer (Phantasterne)
• 1827 Abner Monroe Perrin, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
• 1827 Oswald Aschenbach, German painter
• 1829 Alfred Brehm, German zoologist (d. 1884)
• 1835 Luigi Manzotti, Milano, ballet choreographer
• 1841 François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (d. 1912)
• 1842 Yulian Vasilievich Sokhotski, Russian mathematician (d. 1927)
• 1849 Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet (d. 1921)
• 1850 Carel V Gerritsen, Dutch free thinker
• 1851 José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican artist (d. 1913)
• 1857 Jan Six, Dutch art historian/art collector
• 1859 Havelock Ellis, US physician/sexologist (Psychology of Sex)
• 1860 Curtis Guild, Jr., 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
• 1861 Mehmed VI, last sultan of Ottoman Empire (1918-22)
• 1861 Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist (Guggenheim Museum NYC), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1949)
• 1873 Freiherr Konstantin von Neurath, German secretary of State (1932-38)
• 1873 Johan P earl van Limburg Stirum, Dutch diplomat
• 1875 Annette Kolb, German author (Small Fanfare) and pacifist, born in Munich (d. 1967)
• 1878 Christian Gauss, educator/writer (Phi Beta Kappa award namesake)

• 1882 James Stephens, Irish poet (Crock of Gold)
• 1884 Julius Deutsch, Austria politician and general in the Spanish republican army, born in Lackenbach, Austria-Hungary (d. 1968)
• 1885 Aldo Palazzeschi, [Giurlani], Italian writer (I cavalli bianchi)
• 1886 Kurt Baschwitz, German/Dutch sociologist/journalist (Du und)
• 1890 Jean J M de Lattre de Tassigny, French gen (Indo-China)
• 1891 Antonio Segni, Italian politician, Prime Minister of Italy (1955-57, 59-60, 62-64), born in Sassari, Sardinia (d. 1972)
• 1893 Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician, born in Székesfehérvár, Hungary (d. 1974)
• 1896 Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
• 1897 Howard Johnson, American hotelier (d. 1972)
• 1897 Aimé Avignon, France's former oldest living man (d. 2007)
• 1900 Carroll Righter, American columnist and astrologer to the stars, born in Salem, New Jersey (d. 1988)
• 1902 Newbold Morris, American politician (d. 1966)
• 1904 Buzurg Alavi, Persian author (Panjah va sih nafar, Namal'ha)
• 1905 Jean-Pierre Guerlain, French cosmetics pioneer
• 1907 Bernardas Brazdzionis, Lithuania, poet/editor/critic
• 1910 Charlotte Auerbach, German-born British geneticist and zoologist, born in Krefeld, Germany (d. 1994)
• 1912 Millvina Dean, last living survivour of the RMS Titanic.
• 1914 Eric Kierans, Canadian politician and economist (d. 2004)
• 1915 Evert Werkman, Dutch journalist (Het Parool)
• 1915 Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (d. 2002)
• 1916 Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet (d. 1985)
• 1918 Hella [S Lelyveld-]Haasse, Dutch author (Cider for Poor People)
• 1920 An Wang, founder (Wang Labs, Wang Computers)
• 1923 James Dickey, American poet, novelist and lecturer (Deliverance, Buckdancer's Choice), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1997)
• 1923 Peter Fowler, physicist
• 1925 David Abell Wood, priest
• 1926 Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo, 1st Cent American cardinal (Nicaragua)
• 1926 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, French politician
• 1927 Friedrich K Flick, German industrialist
• 1927 Richard Ray, (Rep-D-GA, 1983- ) [or Jan 2]
• 1928 Luigi Ciriaco De Mita, PM of Italy (1988-89)
• 1931 Dries van Agt, Dutch Prime Minister (CDA, 1977-82), born in Geldrop, Netherlands
• 1931 Judith Viorst, American author
• 1933 Than Shwe, ruler of Myanmar
• 1939 Rachel English, author (My 1st 500), born in London, England
• 1939 Akbar Adibi, Iranian scientist, father of electronics in Iran (d. 2000)
• 1939 Dale T. Mortensen, Enterprise, Oregon, economist (Nobel, 2010), (d. 2014)
• 1940 Thomas M[ichael] Disch, American sci-fi author (Genocides, 102 H-Bombs)
• 1946 Alpha Oumar Konaré, ex-president of Mali
• 1948 Alan McKay, rocker (Earth Wind & Fire-Boogie Wonderland)
• 1948 Tony DeMeur, rocker (Fabulous Poodles-Anna Rexia, Suicide Bridge)
• 1952 Park Geun-hye, 1st female President of South Korea (2013-), born in Jung-gu, Taegu
• 1953 James Mndaweni, South African worker's union leader/president (NACTU)
• 1953 Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
• 1957 Laurie Mann, current DPS curator/geek
• 1963 Philip Laats, Belgian judoka
• 1967 Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
• 1983 Will South, Thirteen Senses frontman
• 1992 Rebop Rundgren, son of Michelle Gray & Todd

• 1990 Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Engl princess Alexandra) weds Paul Mowatt

• 672 Chad of Mercia, Ango-Saxon saint credited with introducing Christianity to the Mercian kingdom, dies at about 38
• 1032 Rudolf III, last independent king of Bourgundy, dies
• 1124 Bořivoj II of Bohemia, Duke of Bohemia (1100-1107, 1117-1120)
• 1218 Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (b. 1186)
• 1250 Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
• 1435 Johanna II, Queen of Naples (1414-35), dies at 61
• 1461 Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty of England
• 1491 Martin Schongauer, German painter, dies at 40
• 1512 Hatüey, Taíno chief known as Cuba's First National Hero, is burned alive by Spanish colonialists
• 1529 Baldassare Castiglione, Italian writer (b. 1478)
• 1540 George Schenck van Toutenburg, gov/viceroy of Frisia/Groningen
• 1563 Hans Neusiedler, Hungarian/German luitist/author, dies at approx 54
• 1580 Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese retainer (b. 1558)
• 1597 Lucas van Valckenborch, Flemish painter, buried at about 61
• 1648 George Abbot, English writer
• 1660 Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (Isaac blesses Jacob), dies at 45
• 1660 Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of French King Louis XIII, dies at 51
• 1661 Lucas Holstenius, German humanist (b. 1596)
• 1688 Abraham Duquesne, French naval officer (b. 1610)
• 1704 Guillaume F A de l'Hospital, French mathematician, dies at about 62
• 1712 Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician
• 1714 John Sharp, English Archbishop of York (b. 1643)
• 1723 Antonio M Valsalva, Italian anatomist, dies at 66
• 1768 Robert Smith, English mathematician (b. 1689)
• 1769 Clement XIII [Carlo Rezzonico], Pope (1758-69), dies at 75
• 1793 William Aiton, English botanist (Kew Gardens), dies at 61
• 1802 Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (b. 1713)
• 1804 Caesar Rodney, US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 62
• 1804 George Walton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1749-50)
• 1828 Frederik Sigismund earl of Bylandt, vice-admiral, dies at 78
• 1852 Francis Libermann, French religious leader (Congregation of Heart), dies at 49
• 1867 Forceythe Willson, American poet (The Old Sergeant), dies at 29
• 1873 Edward Johnson, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 56
• 1881 Aleksej F Pisemski, Russian writer (Clodhopper), dies at 59
• 1895 Archduke Albert, Austrian general (b. 1817)
• 1904 William C. Whitney, American financier and 31st United States Secretary of the Navy, dies at 62

• 1909 Adolf Stoecker, German anti-semite/prime minister, dies at 73
• 1925 Antti Aarne, Finnish sociologist, dies at 57
• 1926 Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (b. 1848)
• 1931 Theodor Batthynyi, Hungarian contra-revolutionary, dies at 71
• 1932 Agha Petros, Assyrian nationalist leader
• 1941 Johannes Schlaf, German writer and translator, dies at 78
• 1942 Daniil Kharms [Yuvatchov], Russian surrealist and absurdist writer, poet, and playwright, dies of starvation during the siege of Leningrad at 36
• 1945 Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German Leipzig mayor and Nazi regime opponent (20th July plot), hanged at 60
• 1948 Thomas W. Lamont, American banker; father or Corliss Lamont; great-grandfather of Ned Lamont (b. 1870)
• 1950 Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician (b. 1873)
• 1950 George A. Birmingham, Irish clergyman and novelist, dies at 84
• 1956 Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (b. 1876)
• 1957 Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist (b. 1890)
• 1965 Richard P Blackmur, American critic/publisher (Good European), dies at 61

• 1972 Natalie Clifford Barney, American writer (b. 1876)
• 1973 Henry J Elias, Flemish historian/mayor of Gent, dies at 70
• 1973 Hendrik Elias, Flemish historian and Mayor of Ghent (1941-44), dies at 70
• 1980 William H. Stein, American biochemist (Nobel 1972), dies at 68
• 1981 Donald W Douglas, US aircraft pioneer/builder, dies at 88
• 1981 Jan Donner, Dutch chairman of High Council, dies at 89
• 1982 Stringfellow Barr, US educationalist (100 Great Books), dies at 85
• 1982 Paul Desruisseaux, French Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician (b 1905)
• 1983 Roy Horb, Suriname sergeant/putschist, commits suicide
• 1987 Alfred Lion, record founder (Blue Note), dies at 78
• 1987 Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist (b. 1922)
• 1988 Clive Epstein, brother of Brian Epstein, dies at 51
• 1988 G Mennen Williams, Supreme Court justice, dies at 76 in Detroit
• 1989 Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, dies at 65
• 1992 Jack [John T] Aitken, British anatomist, dies at 78
• 1992 Maurice J Hill, writer (Track of Thunder), dies of pneumonia at 89
• 1992 Maurice L Kusell, dies
• 1995 Alexis d'Anjou de Bourbon-Condé, French prince/Russian, dies at 47
• 1995 Andre Frossard, French publicist (Defense of Pope), dies at 80
• 1995 David Kindersley, British stone letter-carver and typeface designer, dies at 79
• 1995 Phillip Borsos, Tasmanian/Canadian director (Mean Season), dies
• 1995 Robert L Haller, coon Dog Trainer, dies at 32
• 1996 Ray McIntire, American chemical engineer, dies at 77
• 1997 Godfrey Baseley, British radio executive, dies at 92
• 2002 Claude Brown, American writer (b. 1937)
• 2007 Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (b. 1967)
• 2008 Earl Butz, 18th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1971-76), dies at 98
• 2012 Dorothy Gilman, American mystery writer, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 88
• 2013 Chris Kyle, American sniper, is shot at 38
• 2016 Intizar Hussain, Pakistani and Urdu writer and columnist, dies in his early 90s
• 2018 Joseph Polchinski, American leading theoretical physicist (multiverse), dies of brain cancer at 63
• 2018 Dave Barrett, 26th Premier of British Columbia (1972-75), dies at 87

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