1490 Charles III (born), Duke of Bourbon (d. 1527)
1600 The philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive, for heresy, at Campo de’ Fiori in Rome.
1621 Myles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.
1673 Molière (died), French playwright and actor (born 1622)
1718 Matthew Tilghman (born), American politician (d. 1790)
1723 Tobias Mayer (born), German astronomer (d. 1762)
1732 Louis Marchand (died), French organist and composer (born 1669)
1740 Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (born), Swiss physicist (d. 1799)
1752 Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (born), German author and playwright (d. 1831)
1753 In Sweden February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
1754 Nicolas Baudin (born), French cartographer and explorer (d. 1803)
1781 René Laennec (born), French physician, invented the stethoscope (d. 1826)
1796 Philipp Franz von Siebold (born), German physician (d. 1866)
1801 An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
1814 War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormans.
1819 The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
1844 Aaron Montgomery Ward (born), American businessman, founded Montgomery Ward (d. 1913)
1854 Friedrich Alfred Krupp (born), German businessman, founded Krupp (d. 1902)
1854 The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
1863 A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
1864 American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
1865 American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
1874 Adolphe Quetelet (died), Belgian astronomer, mathematician, and sociologist (born 1796)
1888 Otto Stern (born), German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
1890 Ronald Fisher (born), English statistician, biologist, and geneticist (d. 1962)
1892 Marjorie Fielding (born), British stage and film actress (d. 1956)
1904 Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
1905 William Bickerton (died), English-American religious leader, leader in the Latter Day Saint movement (born 1815)
1908 Red Barber (born), American sportscaster (d. 1992)
1909 Geronimo (died), American tribal leader (born 1829)
1921 Duane Gish (born), American biochemist (d. 2013)
1925 Hal Holbrook (born), American actor
1929 Chaim Potok (born), American author (d. 2002)
1933 The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
1940 Gene Pitney (born), American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1942 Huey P. Newton (born), American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party (d. 1989)
1944 World War II: Operation Hailstone begins. U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan’s main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
1944 World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.
1946 Dorothy Gibson (died), American actress and singer (born 1889)
1949 Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel.
1954 Rene Russo (born), American actress
1959 Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
1959 Rowdy Gaines (born), American swimmer
1962 Bruno Walter (died), German-American conductor (born 1876)
1962 Lou Diamond Phillips (born), American actor and director
1963 Alison Hargreaves (born), English mountaineer (d. 1995)
1963 Larry the Cable Guy (born), American comedian and actor
1963 Rene Syler (born), American journalist
1965 Michael Bay (born), American director and producer
1965 Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the “Sea of Tranquility” would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
1970 Dominic Purcell (born), English-Australian actor
1970 Tommy Moe (born), American skier
1972 Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T.
1972 Taylor Hawkins (born), American singer-songwriter and drummer (Foo Fighters and Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders)
1974 Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
1978 –The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30.
1980 Mount Everest, 1st Winter Ascent by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
1981 Paris Hilton (born), American model, actress, singer
1982 Thelonious Monk (died), American pianist and composer (born 1917)
1994 Randy Shilts (died), American author and journalist (born 1951)
1996 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
1996 NASA’s Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.
1998 Bob Merrill (died), American composer and songwriter (born 1921)
1998 Ernst Jünger (died), German author (born 1895)
1999 Sunshine Parker (died), American actor (born 1927)
2006 A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
2008 Kosovo declares independence.
2011 Libyan protests begin. In Bahrain, security forces launched a deadly Pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.
2012 Ulric Neisser (died), German-American psychologist (born 1928)
2013 David Whitehouse (died), English archaeologist (born 1941)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017