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1130 - Innocent II is voted Pope.

1542 - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.

1575 - Henry III of France is crowned at Reims.

1633 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1635 - The first public school in the U.S., Boston Latin School, is founded.

1668 - Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.

1689 - William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1692 - Massacre of Glencoe

About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.

1815 - The Cambridge Union Society founded.

1866 - The first daylight robbery in United States history during peacetime takes place in Liberty, Missouri. This is considered to be the first robbery committed by Jesse James and his gang, although James's role is disputed.

1880 - Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.

1881 - The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by activist Hubertine Auclert.

1894 - Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector.

1899 - Tallahassee, Florida records its all time coldest temperature of -2 degrees Fahrenheit.

1901 - May be the day after a truncated January 19, 2038 on Unix and Unix-like computer systems still suffering from the year 2038 problem

1914 - Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1920 - The Negro National League is formed.

1934 - The Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean.

1935 - A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis.

1945 - World War II: The Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany to raid the city by massive aerial bombardment (see Bombing of Dresden in World War II).

1955 - Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

1960 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb.

1971 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.

1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

1975 - There was a fire in the World Trade Center in New York City, New York.

1978 - Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.

1979 - The intense February 13, 1979 Windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.

1984 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1987 - The birth of the great Julian Benedict Micheal Leo Duff.

1988 - Olympic Games: Winter Olympic Games - The XV Olympic Winter Games open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

1990 - German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

1991 - Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy a bunker in Baghdad. The bunker was being used as a military communications outpost and unknown to allied forces, as a shelter for Iraqi civilians.

1996 - The Nepalese People's War began.

1997 - Space Shuttle program: STS-82 Mission - Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

1997 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000 for the first time closing at 7,022.44.

2000 - The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.

2001 - An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.

2004 - The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovers the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093.

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1457 - Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)

1480 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1542)

1599 - Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)

1672 - Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (d. 1731)

1743 - Joseph Banks, English botanist and naturalist (d. 1820)

1768 - Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d. 1835)

1769 - Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (d. 1844)

1805 - Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)

1873 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (d. 1938)

1876 - Fritz Buelow, Baseball player (d. 1933)

1881 - Eleanor Farjeon, English author (d. 1965)

1884 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athelete, inventor, and businessman (d. 1961)

1885 - Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Harry S. Truman (d. 1982)

1892 - Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)

1903 - Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (d. 1989)

1906 - Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1994)

1910 - William Shockley, American physicist and eugenicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1989)

1911 - Faiz Ahmed Faiz, noted Urdu poet and first Asian Lenin Peace Prize winner, born in Sialkot Pakistan. (d. 1984)

1913 - George Barker, British poet (d. 1991)

1915 - Aung San, Burmese general and politician (d. 1945)

1918 - Patty Berg, American golfer

1919 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)

1919 - Eddie Robinson, American football coach

1920 - Eileen Farrell, American opera soprano (d. 2002)

1922 - Francis Pym, British Foreign Secretary 1982-83

1923 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)

1923 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (d. 2003)

1923 - Chuck Yeager, American pilot and NASA official

1929 - Omar Torrijos, Panamanian ruler (d. 1981)

1930 - Ernst Fuchs, Austrian artist

1933 - Paul Biya, President of Cameroon

1933 - Kim Novak, American actress

1934 - George Segal, American actor

1937 - Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)

1938 - Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)

1939 - Beate Klarsfeld, German Holocaust investigator/Nazi hunter

1941 - Sigmar Polke, German painter

1942 - Carol Lynley, American actress

1942 - Peter Tork, American musician and actor (The Monkees)

1943 - Geoff Edwards, American game show host

1944 - Stockard Channing, American actress

1944 - Jerry Springer, American television host

1944 - Bo Svenson, Swedish-born actor

1946 - Colin Matthews, British composer

1947 - Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach

1950 - Peter Gabriel, English musician (Genesis)

1951 - Greg Fulginiti, American mastering engineer

1951 - David Naughton, American actor and singer

1952 - Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist

1954 - Donnie Moore, baseball player (d. 1989)

1955 - Joe Birkett, DuPage County State's Attorney

1956 - Peter Hook, English bassist (Joy Division and New Order)

1958 - Pernilla August, Swedish actress

1959 - Gord Hampson, NHL player

1960 - Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee

1960 - Matt Salinger, American actor

1960 - Artur Yusupov, Russian/German chess player

1961 - cEvin Key, musician

1961 - Henry Rollins, American musician

1961 - Marc Crawford, Canadian hockey player and coach

1962 - Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, American politician

1964 - Mark Patton, American actor

1966 - Jeff Waters, Canadian musician (Annihilator)

1968 - Kelly Hu, American actress

1970 - Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer

1971 - Sonia, British singer

1971 - Mats Sundin, Swedish hockey player

1972 - Charlie Garner, American football player

1974 - Gus Hansen, Danish professional poker player

1974 - Robbie Williams, English singer

1974 - Jeff Duran, American radio personality, comedian

1975 - Iván González, Puerto Rican disc jockey and musician

1976 - Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist

1977 - Randy Moss, American football player

1978 - Mini Anden, Swedish model and actress

1979 - Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer

1980 - Sebastian Kehl, German footballer

1981 - Luisão, Brazilian footballer

1987 - Ryan Buchter, baseball player

1989 - Carly McKillip, Canadian actress

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858 - Kenneth I of Scotland

1130 - Pope Honorius II

1141 - Béla II of Hungary (b. 1110)

1219 - Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)

1322 - Andronicus II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1260)

1539 - Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)

1542 - Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed) (b. 1525)

1571 - Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (b. 1500)

1585 - Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (b. 1515)

1592 - Jacopo Bassano, Italian painter

1600 - Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)

1602 - Alexander Nowell, English clergyman

1608 - Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)

1624 - Stephen Gosson, English satirist (b. 1554)

1657 - Miles Sindercombe, attempted assassin of Oliver Cromwell

1660 - King Charles X of Sweden (b. 1622)

1662 - Elizabeth of Bohemia (b. 1596)

1727 - William Wotton, English scholar (b. 1666)

1728 - Cotton Mather, American Puritan minister (b. 1663)

1732 - Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1640)

1787 - Ruđer Bošković, Croatian scientist and diplomat (b. 1711)

1787 - Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1717)

1813 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)

1818 - George Rogers Clark, American military leader (b. 1752)

1826 - Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (b. 1845)

1845 - Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher (b. 1773)

1883 - Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)

1888 - Jean Baptiste Lamy, 1st Archbishop of Santa Fe

1905 - Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)

1950 - Rafael Sabatini, Italian author (b. 1875)

1951 - Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (b. 1877)

1952 - Josephine Tey, English author (b. 1896)

1964 - Gerald Gardner, British writer (b. 1884)

1968 - Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)

1975 - André Beaufre, (b. 1902)

1976 - Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian military leader (b. 1938)

1976 - Lily Pons, French-born soprano (b. 1904)

1989 - Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)

1980 - David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)

1992 - Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)

1996 - Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)

1997 - Mark Krasnosel'skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician (b. 1920)

2000 - James Cooke Brown, American author and inventor (b. 1921)

2002 - Waylon Jennings, American musician (b. 1937)

2003 - Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)

2003 - Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (b. 1932)

2003 - Walt Rostow, U.S. government official (b. 1916)

2004 - Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen leader (b. 1952)

2005 - Nelson Briles, baseball player (b. 1943)

2005 - Lúcia Santos, Carmelite nun (b. 1907)

2005 - Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (b. 1917)

2006 - Andreas Katsulas, American actor (b. 1946)

2006 - Wang Xuan, Chinese scientist, the "Father of Chinese Language Laser Typesetting"

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Saint Amelric

Saint Beatrice

Saint Ermenildis

Saints Harlindis and Relindis