On This Day in History for February 4

Events 1 - 100 of 158

• 960 Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China

• 1454 In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master
• 1508 Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being crowned
• 1586 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor-general of the States General of the United Provinces (Netherlands)

• 1620 Prince Bethlen Gabor of Hungary signs peace with Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II

• 1697 Three Dutch East India Company ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
• 1699 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
• 1783 Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 in Calabria, Italy
• 1784 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
• 1787 1st Anglican bishops of NY & Pennsylvania consecrated in London
• 1787 Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails

• 1797 Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000
• 1803 William Dunlap adapts French melodrama "Voice of Nature"
• 1810 Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
• 1822 Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
• 1824 J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
• 1844 World's oldest known Bible, "The Codex Sinaiticus" (Sinai Bible), is discovered or stolen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf
• 1846 Mormons leave Nauvoo, Illinois, for settlement in the west
• 1847 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
• 1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
• 1854 Alvan Bovay proposes name "Republican Party" in Ripon, Wisconsin
• 1855 Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela

• 1864 Skirmish at Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
• 1865 Hawaiian Board of Education formed

• 1887 Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
• 1895 1st rolling lift bridge opens in Chicago
• 1899 The Philippine-American War begins with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces
• 1901 Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Josef I, gives a speech condemning the demands of national groups and calls for economic and social reform
• 1904 John Millington Synge's play "Well of Saints" premieres in Dublin
• 1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma with the addition to the Union of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907
• 1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim


• 1913 National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
• 1914 US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
• 1915 Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Mississippi State Penitentiary
• 1917 Belgian Council of Flanders established
• 1919 City of Bremen's Soviet Republic overthrown
• 1920 1st flight from London to South Africa departs (takes 1½ months)
• 1922 WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
• 1922 After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China

• 1926 Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
• 1927 KGA-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
• 1930 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans
• 1932 Japanese troops occupy Harbin, Manchuria

• 1936 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
• 1937 Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games

• 1939 Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-min mile beyond human effort
• 1941 British tanks occupy Maus, Libya
• 1941 Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
• 1941 United Service Organization (USO) founded
• 1942 Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US general wounded in action in WW II
• 1943 Bertolt Brecht's play "The Good Person of Szechwan" premieres in Zurich
• 1944 Jean Anouilh's play "Antigone" premieres in Paris
• 1944 US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein, in the Pacific

• 1946 Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday" premieres in NYC
• 1948 Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) declares independence from UK

• 1950 4th British Empire Games open in Auckland, New Zealand
• 1951 US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya Klopfer
• 1951 US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
• 1952 Tetsuwan Atom by Osamu Tezuka first published in Weekly Shonen Magazine in Japan
• 1956 AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training
• 1957 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)
• 1959 Israel begins exporting copper ore
• 1960 BBWAA voters fail to elect a new Hall of Fame member
• 1960 Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park
• 1961 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
• 1961 "Angolan War of Independence" begins
• 1962 US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara Roles
• 1962 US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt
• 1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
• 1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport (Japan); kills 133
• 1967 US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
• 1968 Around 100 Indians and Pakistanis from Kenya arrive in Britain, escaping discrimination

• 1969 41,163, then largest NBA crowd, watches doubleheader Cin-Det, SD-Bost
• 1969 Lonne Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" premieres in NYC
• 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1971 British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt
• 1971 Government exhibit under construction in Brazil collapses, kills 65
• 1971 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
• 1971 Lieutenant-General Vernon Erskine-Crum becomes General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland
• 1971 The NASDAQ stock exchange, the second-largest in the world - behind the New York Stock Exchange - is founded in New York City
• 1972 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in Vienna Austria
• 1973 Manfred Kokot runs world record 50m indoor (5.61 sec)
• 1973 Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 103

• 1465 French van Brederode, leader of Hoeksen
• 1494 Francois Rabelais, French satirist (Gargantua and Pantagruel), born in La Devinière, Touraine, Kingdom of France (d. 1553)
• 1524 Luis de Camões, Portugal's greatest poet (d. 1580)
• 1575 Pierre de Barulle, French cardinal
• 1620 Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)
• 1646 Hans A Freiherr von Abschatz, Silesian poet
• 1688 Pierre De Marivaux, writer (Marianne), born in Paris, France
• 1693 George Lillo, bourgeois English dramatist (London Merchant)
• 1725 Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
• 1746 Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish, Lithuanian and American National hero and general (d. 1817)
• 1764 Carel H Verhuell, Dutch/French vice-admiral/minister of Navy
• 1768 Maurits C van Hall, Dutch ruler of Heicop & Boeicop, lawyer/politician
• 1769 Samuel I Wiselius, Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer
• 1778 A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
• 1799 Joao Batista da Silva Leitao de Almeida Garret, Portuguese playwright
• 1802 Mark Hopkins, American educator/philosopher (Williams College)
• 1805 William H Ainsworth, English writer (Old St Paul's, Rookwood)

• 1826 Halbert Eleazer Paine, American lawyer and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Chardon, Ohio (d. 1905)
• 1831 Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
• 1841 Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
• 1842 Georg Brandes, [Morris Cohen], Danish literary historian and critic
• 1842 Vasili O Klyutshevski, Russian historian
• 1846 Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician known for discovering the Umov-Poynting vector and Umov effect, born in Simbirsk, Russian Empire (d. 1915)
• 1848 [Francois-Victor-]Jean Aicard, Fren playwright/poet (Jeune Croyances)
• 1849 Jean Richepin, French poet/writer (Les Chansons de Gueux)
• 1859 Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (d. 1881)
• 1865 Charles Bally, Swiss linguist (Le langage et la vie)
• 1868 Constance Gore-booth Markiewicy, Irish patriot/playwright/MP
• 1871 Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
• 1872 Gotse Delchev, a great Macedonian revolutionary, (d. 1903)
• 1875 Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (father of aerodynamics)
• 1881 Kliment J Woroshilov, marshal/president USSR (1953-60)
• 1881 Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
• 1884 Julius Callewaert, Flemish dominican/bringing up children
• 1885 Cairine Ray Wilson, 1st female Canadian senator (appointed), born in Montreal, Quebec
• 1888 Paul Althaus, German theologist (The Christian Truth)
• 1889 Walter Catlett, American actor (Climax, Front Page, Tale of 2 Cities), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1960)
• 1891 Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker of Lok Sabha (d: 1978).
• 1892 Ugo Betti, Italian playwright
• 1892 Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)
• 1892 E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d. 1964)

• 1895 Annie [Anna HM] Romein-Verschoor, Dutch historian (Erflaters)
• 1895 [Johann Baptist] Hanns Albin Rauter, German SS and Police leader in the occupied Netherlands, born in Klagenfurt, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1949)
• 1896 Friedrich Glauser, writer
• 1896 Friedrich Hund, German physicist (d. 1997)
• 1897 Ludwig Erhard, chancellor of Germany (CDU)

• 1902 Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
• 1903 Alexander Oppenheim, mathematician
• 1903 Frank Howley, Brigadier General (Answers for Americans), born in Hampton, New York
• 1904 Herman B. Wiardi Beckman, Dutch politician (SDAP)/resistance fighter
• 1904 MacKinlay Kantor, Webster City Iowa, novelist (Andersonville)
• 1906 Clyde William Tombaugh, American astronomer (discovered Pluto)
• 1906 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologist (Confessing Church)
• 1909 Kenneth W Howell, English Anglican bishop (Chile/Bolivia/Peru)
• 1910 Uys Krige, South African playwright/novelist (Orphan of the Desert)
• 1912 Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian politician (d. 1999)
• 1912 Louis-Albert Cardinal Vachon, archbishop of Quebec (d. 2006)

• 1914 Alfred Andersch, German writer (Red Head)
• 1916 Basil Hembry, farmer/campaigner
• 1916 Gavin Buchanan Ewart, English poet (Pleasures of the Flesh)
• 1916 Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha, 41st master of the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi Order (d. 1980)
• 1917 Aga Yahya Khan, Pakistan military/politician
• 1918 Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)
• 1919 Frank van Klingeren, Dutch architect (De Meerpaal, Dronten)
• 1920 Derek Worlock, English Roman Catholic Archbishop Liverpool, born in London (d. 1996)

• 1922 Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Indian classical singer (khayal form of singing, bhajans, abhangs), born in Ron, Karnataka, India (d. 1987)
• 1923 Belisario Betancur, Colombian politician, President of Colombia (1982-86), born in Amagá, Colombia (d. 2018)
• 1925 Russell Hoban, US children's book author (Riddley Walker/Pilgermann)
• 1926 John Edward Caulwell Hearne, writer
• 1929 Mary Joan Nielubowicz, rear admiral/nurse
• 1931 Isabel Martínez de Perón, [Maria Martinez], wife of Juan Perón and President of Argentina (1974-76), born in La Rioja, Argentina
• 1935 Martti Talvela, Hiitola Karelia Finland, operatic basso
• 1936 Daan van Golden, Dutch sculptor
• 1938 Donald W Riegle Jr, (Sen-D-MI, 1976- )
• 1939 Jacques Charlier, Belgian sculptor
• 1939 Stan Lundine, (Rep-D-NY, 1976-86)
• 1940 Theodore "Ted" Stanley, American anesthesiologist and medical entrepreneur (created the fentanyl lollipop), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2017)
• 1943 Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira
• 1943 Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
• 1944 Daniel Mica, American politician (Rep-D-Florida, 1979-89), born in Binghamton, New York
• 1947 James Danforth "Dan" Quayle, USA (Sen-R-Ind, 44th Vice President 1989-93), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
• 1947 Sanford Bishop, (Rep-D-Georgia)
• 1948 Robert Coover, novelist (Pricksongs & Descants)
• 1948 Rod Grams, (Rep-R-Minnesota), (d. 2013)
• 1952 Li Yinhe, Chinese sexologist
• 1953 Svetlana Ulmasova, USSR, 3K (world title 1978)
• 1953 Jerome Powell, American Chair of the US Federal Reserve (2018-), born in Washington, D.C.
• 1955 Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak Prime minister
• 1957 Evan Wolfson, American attorney and activist
• 1958 Werner Schwab, Austrian playwright and artist, born in Graz (d. 1994)
• 1958 Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
• 1959 Zenani Mandela, daughter of Nelson & Winnie Mandela
• 1960 Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
• 1961 Stewart O'Nan, American author (Snow Angels, The Names of the Dead), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 1962 Alfred Twardecki, Polish historian

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• 1875 Princess Louise of Belgium marries Prince Philip von Saksen-Coburg-Gotha in Belgium

• 708 Sisinnius, Greek-Syrian pope (708, 20 days), dies
• 856 Hrabanus Maurus, East France, archbishop of Mainz, dies
• 869 Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)
• 1189 Gilbert of Sempringham, English monastery founder/saint, dies
• 1222 Willem I, earl of Holland (1203-22), dies
• 1503 Queen Elizabeth, consort of Henry VII of England, dies
• 1505 Joan of France, Queen of France (1498) and Catholic saint who founded several religious orders, dies at 40
• 1508 Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar, dies at 49
• 1615 Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
• 1615 Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath and child prodogy (b. 1535)
• 1617 Louis Elsevier, Dutch publisher, dies at about 76
• 1640 Hendrick C Vroom, Dutch seascape painter, dies
• 1694 Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)
• 1714 Duke of Berry, French King Louis XIV's grandson, dies
• 1746 Robert Blair, Scottish poet (The Grave), dies at 46
• 1774 Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
• 1781 Willem Crul, British admiral (West-Indies), dies in battle during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War at 59
• 1799 Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)
• 1815 Geert Reinders, Dutch cattle breeder and inoculation proponent, dies at 77
• 1815 Jacob van Strij, Dutch cartoonist and graphic artist, dies at 58
• 1844 Willem de Clerq, Dutch merchant/literary, dies at 49
• 1869 Johan Michiel Dautzenberg, Flemish author (Future), dies at 60

• 1905 Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor, dies at 63
• 1911 Peter A "Piet" Cronje, South Africa Boer general, dies at about 75
• 1918 Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, dies at 49
• 1921 Xavier Mellery, Belgian painter/illustrator, dies at 75
• 1928 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Dutch physicist (electromagnetic radiation, Nobel 1902), dies at 74
• 1933 Archibald Sayce, English educator (b. 1846)
• 1936 Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
• 1939 Edward Sapir, US linguist/cultural antropologist (indian), dies at 55
• 1939 Henri Deterding, Dutch oil magnate (Royal Oil, Shell), dies at 72
• 1940 Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet NKVD (b. 1895)
• 1941 Johann Peter Kirsch, Luxembourg church historian, dies at 79
• 1944 Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer, dies at 72
• 1946 Margarete Boie, writer, dies
• 1953 Alexander Loudon, Dutch diplomat (League of Nations), dies at 60
• 1956 Leendert Antonie Donker, Dutch Minister of Justice (PvdA), dies at 56
• 1957 Miguel Covarrubias, Mexican illustrator, dies
• 1958 Frederik de Merode, Belgian prince, dies at 46
• 1961 Piet[er] L Kramer, influential Dutch architect (Amsterdam School), dies at 79
• 1964 Siegfried T Bok, neurobiologist/anatomist (Cybernetica), dies at 71
• 1965 U C Greyhound, champion trotter (horse), dies at 33
• 1966 Gilbert H Grosvenor, president National Geographic Society, dies at 90
• 1967 Albert Orsborn, 6th General of The Salvation Army, dies at 80
• 1968 Gerard den Brabander, [Jan G Jofriet], poet (Nothing New), dies at 67
• 1968 Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
• 1974 Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist ( Bose–Einstein statistics), dies at 80
• 1977 Brett Halliday, American writer (Dividend on Death), dies at 72
• 1978 Bergen Evans, American professor of English ($64,000 Question), dies at 73
• 1982 Georg Konrad Morgen, German judge (b. 1909)
• 1987 Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b. 1902)
• 1992 Fred Slyter, dialogue coach, dies after long illness at 56
• 1994 Han Jansen, Dutch painter, dies at 62
• 1994 Harold Schneider, US producer (5 Easy Pieces, War Games), dies at 55
• 1994 Justinus Darmojuwono, Indonesian archbishop/cardinal, dies at 79
• 1995 Patricia Highsmith, [Mary Patricia Plangman], US/Swiss, dies at 74
• 1997 James Friell, Scottish political cartoonist (Daily Worker), dies at 84
• 2000 Carl Albert, American politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
• 2003 Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)

• 2007 Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian poet and translator (b. 1959)
• 2007 Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-born American abstract painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
• 2008 Stefan Meller, Polish diplomat and 9th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-06), dies at 65
• 2010 Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher, dies at 85
• 2012 Florence Green, last surviving veteran of World War One, dies at 110
• 2012 Robert Glaser, American educational psychologist, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 91
• 2012 Istvan Csurka, Hungarian writer and politician, dies at 77
• 2012 Robert Daniel, five term American congressman for Virginia, dies at 75
• 2016 Edgar Whitcomb, American politician and Governor of Indiana (1969-73), dies at 98
• 2016 Edgar Mitchell, american NASA astronaut (Apollo 14), dies at 85

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