February 2
February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years ).
Events
962 - Translatio imperii Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor , the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy .
1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope .
1509 - Battle of Diu took place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires , Argentina .
1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City ) is incorporated.
1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe .
1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California .
1848 - Mexican-American War : The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.
1848 - California Gold Rush : The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California 's gold country arrive in San Francisco .
1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human .
1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey .
1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana .
1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut .
1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra ) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia .
1920 - France occupies Memel .
1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.
1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin .
1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
1943 - World War II : The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets following the Battle of Stalingrad .
1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference .
1952 - A tropical storm forms north of Cuba and moves northeast making landfall in Florida. It is the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
1972 - British embassy in Dublin destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday
1976 - Groundhog Day gale of 1976 hit the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada .
1979 - Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.
1980 - Abscam : Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
1982 - Hama Massacre : The government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people.
1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan : The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.
1990 - Apartheid : In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
1998 - A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9 -32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines killing 104
Births
1208 - James I of Aragon (d. 1276 )
1494 - Bona Sforza , queen of Poland and a second wife of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557 )
1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730 )
1650 - Nell Gwynne , English actress, royal mistress (d. 1687 )
1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz , Austrian diplomat (d. 1794 )
1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand , French politician (d. 1838 )
1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston , Confederate general (d. 1862 )
1829 - Alfred Brehm , German zoologist (d. 1884 )
1841 - François-Alphonse Forel , Swiss hydrologist (d. 1912 )
1875 - Fritz Kreisler , Austrian violinist (d. 1962 )
1878 - Alfréd Hajós , Hungarian swimmer (d. 1955 )
1882 - James Joyce , Irish author (d. 1941 )
1887 - Ernst Hanfstängl , pianist, politician (d. 1975 )
1888 - Frederick Lane , Australian swimmer (d. 1969 )
1890 - Charles Correll , American actor (d. 1972 )
1895 - George Halas , American football player, coach, co-founder of the National Football League (d. 1983 )
1897 - Howard Johnson , American hotelier (d. 1972 )
1901 - Jascha Heifetz , Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987 )
1905 - Ayn Rand , author (d. 1982 )
1906 - Gale Gordon , actor (d. 1995 )
1915 - Abba Eban , Israeli diplomat (d. 2002 )
1923 - James Dickey , poet, author (d. 1997 )
1923 - Liz Smith , gossip columnist
1923 - Red Schoendienst , American baseball player, manager
1923 - Bonita Granville , American actress (d. 1988 )
1924 - Elfi von Dassanowsky , Austrian-American producer and musician
1925 - Elaine Stritch , actress
1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , French politician
1927 - Stan Getz , musician (d. 1991 )
1931 - Dries van Agt , Dutch politician
1931 - Judith Viorst , American author
1932 - Robert Mandan , American actor
1937 - Tom Smothers , American musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers
1942 - Graham Nash , musician
1942 - Bo Hopkins , American actor
1942 - Christine Keeler , British model and showgirl
1944 - Geoffrey Hughes , British actor
1947 - Farrah Fawcett , American actress
1947 - Melanie , singer
1949 - Brent Spiner , American actor
1949 - Ross Valory , American musician (Journey )
1950 - Barbara Sukowa , actress
1954 - Christie Brinkley , model
1963 - Eva Cassidy , American singer (d. 1996 )
1966 - Robert DeLeo , American musician (Stone Temple Pilots )
1967 - Arturs Irbe , Latvian ice-hockey player, goalkeeper
1972 - Dana International , Israeli singer, transsexual Eurovision Song Contest winner
1972 - T-Mo , rapper
1977 - Shakira , singer
1983 - Jordin Tootoo , NHL hockey player
1987 - Martin Spanjers , American actor
Deaths
1250 - King Eric XI of Sweden
1648 - George Abbot , English writer (b. ca. 1603 )
1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693 )
1895 - Archduke Albert , Austrian general (b. 1817 )
1922 - William Desmond Taylor , film director
1925 - Jaap Eden , Dutch skater and cyclist
1948 - Bevil Rudd , South African athlete
1956 - Charles Grapewin , American actor
1969 - Boris Karloff , actor (b. 1887 )
1970 - Bertrand Russell , British mathematician and philosopher (b. 1872 )
1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols 1957 )
1987 - Castilho , Brazilian legendary football goalkeeper
1987 - Alistair MacLean , Scottish novelist
1992 - Bert Parks , game show host, Miss America host
1995 - Donald Pleasence , actor (b. 1919 )
1996 - Gene Kelly , dancer, actor, director (b. 1912 )
1997 - Sanford Meisner , American actor
2001 - Fast Eddie Parker , American billiards player
2002 - Claude Brown , American writer
2003 - Lou Harrison , composer (b. 1917 )
2005 - Max Schmeling , German boxer (b. 1905 )
Holidays and observances
External links
February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 -- listing of all days
