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1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt.

1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, charged of heresy.

1621 - Miles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.

1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.

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 - Battle of Mormans

1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.

1854 - The British recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.

1864 - American Civil War: H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.

1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.

1867 - The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

1871 - The victorious Prussian Army parades though Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

1895 - Swan Lake, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is first performed at full length in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

1924 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds.

1925 - Harold Ross and Jane Grant found The New Yorker magazine; the debut issue is dated February 21, 1925.

1933 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.

1933 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.

1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.

1944 - World War II: Operation Hailstone begins. U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk (Chuuk), Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.

1947 - The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.

1957 - A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.

1958 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television

1959 - Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 - The first weather satellite launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1962 - A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.

1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.

1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T.

1974 - Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.

1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.

1992 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.

1995 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence.

1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.

1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

2000 - Microsoft released Windows 2000.

2006 - Over 1,000 people perished and buried alive in the town of St. Bernard in Southern Leyte, Philippines mudslide

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1490 - Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Constable of France (d. 1527)

1519 - Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (d. 1563)

1524 - Charles of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1574)

1581 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1653)

1646 - Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (d. 1714)

1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (d. 1713)

1718 - Matthew Tilghman, American Continental Congressman (d. 1790)

1723 - Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (d. 1762)

1752 - Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (d. 1831)

1754 - Nicolas Baudin, French explorer (d. 1803)

1766 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and political economist (d. 1834)

1781 - René Laënnec, French physician (d. 1826)

1792 - Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist (d. 1876)

1796 - Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1866)

1817 - King William III of the Netherlands (d, 1890)

1820 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (d. 1881)

1821 - Lola Montez, Mexican dancer, actress, friend of monarchs (d. 1861)

1836 - Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish poet (b. 1870)

1844 - Aaron Montgomery Ward, American department store founder (d. 1913)

1848 - Louisa Lawson, Australian feminist, suffragist, and writer (d. 1920)

1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)

1864 - Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)

1874 - Thomas J. Watson, American computer manufacturer (d. 1956)

1877 - Isabelle Eberhardt, explorer and writer who spent a lot of time in North Africa (d. 1904)

1877 - André Maginot, French politician (d. 1932)

1885 - Steve Evans, baseball player (d. 1943)

1887 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (d. 1947)

1888 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1969)

1908 - Red Barber, baseball announcer (d. 1992)

1910 - Marc Lawrence, American actor (d. 2005)

1911 - Oskar Seidlin, Silesian-born Jewish-American literary scholar (d. 1984)

1912 - Andre Norton, American author (d. 2005)

1914 - Arthur Kennedy, American actor (d. 1990)

1919 - Kathleen Freeman, American actress (d. 2001)

1920 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian animated film director

1922 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)

1924 - Margaret Truman, American novelist

1925 - Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)

1925 - Hal Holbrook, American actor

1929 - Chaim Potok, American author (d. 2002)

1929 - Patricia Routledge, English actress

1930 - Ruth Rendell, English writer

1930 - Roger Craig, baseball player

1932 - Buck Trent, American banjo player

1934 - Alan Bates, English actor (d. 2003)

1934 - Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian

1935 - Christina Pickles, British actress

1936 - Jim Brown, American football player

1939 - Mary Ann Mobley, American actress and beauty queen

1941 - Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)

1942 - Huey P. Newton, American political activist (d. 1989)

1944 - Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer

1945 - Zina Bethune, American actress

1945 - Brenda Fricker, Irish actress

1949 - Fred Frith, British musician

1952 - Karin Janz, East German gymnast

1953 - Janice Dickinson, American model

1953 - Norman Pace, British actor and comic

1954 - Rene Russo, American actress

1956 - Richard Karn, American actor

1957 - Loreena McKennitt, Canadian musician

1959 - Aryeh Deri, Israeli rabbi and politician

1959 - Neil Lomax, American football player

1962 - Alison Hargreaves, British mountaineer (d. 1995)

1962 - Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor

1963 - Michael Jordan, American basketball player

1963 - Larry the Cable Guy, American Comedian

1964 - Buster Olney, American sports columnist

1966 - Luc Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player

1966 - Quorthon, Swedish musician (Bathory) (d. 2004)

1967 - Chanté Moore, American singer

1969 - Tuesday Knight, American actress

1970 - Dominic Purcell, English Born Actor

1970 - Tim Mahoney, American musician (311)

1971 - Martyn Bennett, Canadian composer (d. 2005)

1971 - Denise Richards, American actress

1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong, American musician (Green Day)

1972 - Taylor Hawkins, American musician (Foo Fighters)

1972 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater

1974 - Kaoru, Japanese musician

1974 - Jerry O'Connell, American actor

1974 - Bryan White, American singer

1975 - Wish Bone, American rapper

1975 - Vaclav Prospal, Czech hockey player

1978 - Jacob Wetterling, American kidnapping victim

1979 - Josh Willingham, Outfielder/catcher for the Florida Marlins

1980 - Jason Ritter, American actor

1981 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor

1981 - Paris Hilton, American actress and heiress

1982 - Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer

1982 - Brian Bruney, Professional baseball player

1991 - Bonnie Wright, British child actress

1996 - Sasha Pieterse, South African child actress

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197 - Clodius Albinus, Roman usurper (killed in battle)

364 - Jovian, Roman Emperor

1339 - Duke Otto of Austria (b. 1301)

1371 - Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria.

1596 - Friedrich Sylburg, German classical scholar (b. 1536)

1600 - Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher (burned at the stake) (b. 1548)

1609 - Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)

1624 - Juan de Mariana, Spanish historian (b. 1536)

1659 - Abel Servien, French diplomat (b. 1593)

1673 - Molière, French playwright (b. 1622)

1680 - Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English statesman and writer (b. 1599)

1680 - Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (b. 1637)

1715 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (b. 1646)

1732 - Louis Marchand, French organist and harpsichordist (b. 1669)

1768 - Arthur Onslow, English politician (b. 1691)

1780 - Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (b. 1706)

1841 - Ferdinando Carulli, Italian guitarist

1854 - John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)

1856 - Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)

1874 - Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (b. 1796)

1883 - Napoleon Coste, French guitarist and composer (b. 1806)

1883 - Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, Indian revolutionary (b. 1845)

1909 - Geronimo, Apache leader (b. 1829)

1919 - Wilfrid Laurier, 7th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)

1934 - King Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)

1934 - Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (b. 1862)

1939 - Willy Hess, German violinist (b. 1859)

1943 - Armand J. Piron, American jazz violinist and composer (b. 1888)

1943 - Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (b. 1872)

1961 - Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)

1962 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)

1970 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1888)

1970 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (b. 1901)

1977 - Janani Luwum, Ugandan Archbishop (shot) (b. 1922)

1982 - Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (b. 1917)

1982 - Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor (b. 1901)

1990 - Erik Rhodes, American actor (b. 1906)

1994 - Randy Shilts, American author and activist (AIDS) (b. 1951)

1998 - Ernst Jünger, German author (b. 1895)

2001 - Khalid Abdul Muhammed, American Nation of Islam spokesman (brain aneurysm) (b. 1948)

2004 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (b. 1920)

2005 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (b. 1919)

2005 - Omar Sivori, Argentine football player (b. 1935)

2006 - Ray Barretto, Puerto Rican musician (congas) (b. 1929)

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Roman Empire - Quirinalia in honor of Quirinus.

Ancient Latvia - Tanis Diena observed.

Random Acts of Kindness Day.

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Liturgical feasts

Saint Seven Founders of the Servites
Saint Alexis Falconieri (d. 1310)
Saint Evermodus
Saint Silvinus