February 16
February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 318 days remaining (319 in leap years ).
Events
1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols .
1279 - Afonso III of Portugal dies. His son Denis succeeds the Portuguese throne .
1742 - Spencer Compton , Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister .
1804 - First Barbary War : Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia 1838 - Weenen Massacre : Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus .
1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University ) is established. in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf .
1862 - American Civil War : General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson , Tennessee .
1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War
1868 - In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.
1899 - President Félix Faure of France dies in office.
1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany .
1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun .
1936 - Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain .
1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon .
1940 - Altmark Incident : The German tanker Altmark , with 299 British prisoners, was boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II .
1943 - World War II : Russia reconquers Kharkov .
1945 - World War II : American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines .
1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.
1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1 .
1961 - Explorer 9 launched. (See Explorer program )
1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.
1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.
1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago ).
1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov Marlborough Sounds , New Zealand .
1987 - The trial of John Demjanjuk , who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp , starts in Jerusalem .
1989 - Pan Am flight 103 : Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
1991 - Gulf War : U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad , injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.
1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300 -622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground
1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov .
1999 - Across Europe , Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan .
1999 - In Jasper, Texas , the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime .
2005 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia .
2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labour dispute.
Births
1222 - Nichiren , monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism
1497 - Philipp Melanchthon , humanist and reformer (d. 1560 )
1519 - Gaspard de Coligny , French Huguenot leader (d. 1572 )
1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm , called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg -Ducal Prussia (d. 1688 )
1822 - Sir Francis Galton , explorer, biologist (d. 1911 )
1824 - Peter Kozler , cartographer, geographer (d. 1879 )
1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel , poet (d. 1886 )
1826 - Julia Grant , First Lady , wife of President Ulysses S. Grant (d. 1902 )
1834 - Ernst Haeckel , zoologist and philosopher (d. 1919 )
1838 - Henry Adams , historian and novelist (d. 1918 )
1876 - George Macaulay Trevelyan , historian (d. 1962 )
1884 - Robert J. Flaherty , filmmaker (d. 1951 )
1886 - Van Wyck Brooks , American historian, critic (d. 1963 )
1901 - Wayne King , band leader ("The Waltz King")
1903 - Edgar Bergen , ventriloquist (d. 1978 )
1904 - George F. Kennan , architect of Cold War policy of containment , centenarian
1909 - Jeffrey Lynn , American actor (d. 1995 )
1909 - Hugh Beaumont , American actor (d. 1982 )
1921 - Vera-Ellen , American actress (d. 1981 )
1926 - John Schlesinger , film director (d. 2003 )
1927 - June Brown , British actress
1927 - Tom Kennedy , game show host
1931 - Otis Blackwell , songwriter, singer (d. 2002 )
1932 - Antonio Ordóñez , Spanish matador (d. 1998 )
1932 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah , President of Sierra Leone
1935 - Sonny Bono , singer, music producer, television producer, Congressman (d. 1998 )
1936 - Jill Kinmont , American skier
1938 - John Corigliano , American Composer, wrote Academy award winning score for The Red Violin 1942 - Kim Jong Il , North Korean leader
1944 - Richard Ford , Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
1945 - Jeremy Bulloch , actor
1950 - Peter Hain , British politician
1951 - William Katt , American actor
1954 - Iain Banks , author
1955 - Margaux Hemingway , American actress, model (d. 1996 )
1957 - LeVar Burton , actor
1957 - James Ingram , singer
1958 - Ice-T , singer, songwriter, actor
1958 - Lisa Loring , American actress
1959 - John McEnroe , tennis player
1960 - Pete Willis , ex-Def Leppard guitarist
1961 - Andy Taylor , musician, Duran Duran
1964 - Christopher Eccleston , actor (Our Friends in the North Doctor Who 1972 - Jerome Bettis , American football player
1972 - Taylor Hawkins , American musician (Foo Fighters )
1973 - Cathy Freeman , Australian athlete
1975 - Aikawa Nanase , Japanese Musician
1977 - Ian Clarke , creator of Freenet
1978 - Sam Salter , American singer
1980 - Ashley Lelie , American football player
Deaths
1279 - King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210 )
1898 - Thomas Bracken , NZ poet, author of God's Own Country 1912 - St. Nikolai of Japan , monk priest of Eastern Orthodoxy (b. 1836 )
1928 - Eddie Foy , vaudevillian , singer, dancer
1974 - John Garand , Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer
1975 - Morgan Taylor , American athlete
1978 - E. Roland Harriman , financier (b. 1895 )
1990 - Keith Haring , American artist
1992 - Angela Carter , writer (b. 1940 )
1994 - Andrei Chikatilo , Soviet serial killer
1996 - Edmund G. Brown , Governor of California (b. 1905 )
1996 - Brownie McGhee , blues singer (b. 1915 )
1996 - Roger Bowen , American actor
2000 - Karsten Solheim , engineer, inventor
2001 - Bob Buhl , Major League Baseball player (b. 1928 )
2001 - William Masters , American gynecologist and sexologist
2002 - Walter Winterbottom , the first England football manager (b. 1913 )
2003 - Alexander Tišma , author
2004 - Shirley Strickland , Australian athlete, three-time Olympic champion
2004 - Doris Troy , R&B singer (b. 1937 )
2005 - Nicole DeHuff , American actress, of pneumonia (b. 1974 )
Holidays and observances
External links
February 15 - February 17 - January 16 - March 16 -- listing of all days
