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1295 BC - The coronation of Ramses II, on whose face the sun's rays fall each year in Abu Simbel temple.

1281 - Martin IV becomes Pope.

1288 - Nicholas IV becomes Pope.

1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.

1632 - Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.

1744 - The Battle of Toulon begins.

1819 - By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.

1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista - 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexican.

1853 - The Washington University is founded in St. Louis as Eliot Seminary.

1855 - The Pennsylvania State University is founded.

1856 - The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1865 - Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery.

1876 - Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.

1879 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.

1882 - Serbian kingdom refounded.

1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.

1904 - UK recognises the South Orkney Islands as part of Argentina, in 1908 claims them again.

1915 - Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.

1920 - In Emeryville, California, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.

1923 - The United States begins the first transcontinental air mail route.

1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense collapses.

1943 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.

1944 - American aircraft bombard the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer by mistake, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.

1948 - Start of the Czechoslovak Revolution.

1949 - Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.

1956 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".

1958 - Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.

1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first woman to do so.

1969 - The last time all four Beatles were together for a recording session.

1973 - Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.

1974 - Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit conference starts in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries are attending. Twenty-two heads of state and government participate.

1974 - 44-year-old Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.

1979 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.

1980 - The United States ice hockey team defeats the Soviet Union team at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in an upset dubbed the "Miracle on Ice".

1994 - Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.

1997 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.

2002 - Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.

2002 - A MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashes into the ocean near the Philippines, killing all 10 aboard.

2006 - Al Askari Mosque bombed.

2006 - Dushanbe synagogue demolished.

2006 - At least six men stage Britain's biggest ever robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

2006 - The 1 Billionth song was downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.

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1040 - Rashi, French rabbi and commentator (d. 1105)

1403 - Charles VII of France (d. 1461)

1440 - Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1457)

1500 - Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)

1612 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (d. 1677)

1705 - Peter Artedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)

1714 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (d. 1795)

1732 - George Washington, 1st President of the United States. (d. 1799)

1778 - Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)

1788 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)

1796 - Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1838)

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

1806 - Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (d. 1875)

1817 - Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)

1819 - James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (d. 1891)

1825 - Jean Baptiste Salpointe, second Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1898)

1839 - Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)

1840 - August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)

1849 - Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d. 1915)

1857 - Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English founder of the Boy Scouts (d. 1941)

1857 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)

1878 - Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)

1880 - Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)

1882 - Eric Gill, British sculptor (d. 1940)

1883 - Marguerite Clark, American silent film actress (d. 1940)

1886 - Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)

1887 - Ksawery Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)

1888 - Owen Brewster, U.S. Senator from Maine (d. 1961)

1889 - Olave Baden-Powell, English Chief Girl Guide (d. 1977)

1892 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American writer (d. 1950)

1897 - Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)

1899 - Dwight Frye, American actor (d. 1943)

1899 - George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)

1899 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)

1900 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish-born film director (d. 1983)

1902 - Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (d. 1980)

1903 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)

1903 - Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)

1907 - Sheldon Leonard, American actor (d. 1997)

1907 - Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)

1908 - Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)

1911 - Bill Baker, Baseball player (d. 2006)

1914 - Renato Dulbecco, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate

1918 - Sid Abel, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)

1918 - Charlie Finley, American sports entrepreneur (d. 1996)

1918 - Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer

1918 - Robert Wadlow, tallest person in history (d. 1940)

1921 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)

1921 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)

1925 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (d. 2000)

1926 - Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)

1926 - Bud Yorkin, American film director

1928 - Paul Dooley, American actor

1928 - Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer

1929 - Rebecca Schull, American actress

1930 - Marni Nixon, American singer

1932 - Ted Kennedy, U.S. senator from Massachusetts

1933 - Katharine, Duchess of Kent

1934 - Sparky Anderson, American baseball manager

1936 - J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate

1938 - Ishmael Reed, American writer

1941 - Hipólito Mejía, President of the Dominican Republic

1944 - Jonathan Demme, American director

1942 - Christine Keeler, English model and showgirl

1944 - Robert Kardashian, American lawyer

1944 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player

1945 - Leslie Charleson, American actress

1949 - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver

1949 - Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player

1950 - Julius Erving, American basketball player

1950 - Ellen Greene, American actress

1950 - Miou-Miou, French actress

1950 - Julie Walters, English actress

1950 - Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer

1952 - Bill Frist, U.S. senator from Tennessee

1955 - Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player

1959 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor

1962 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist (d. 2006)

1962 - Lenda Murray, American bodybuilder

1963 - Vijay Singh, Fijian golfer

1965 - Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player

1966 - Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne

1966 - Brian Greig, Australian politician

1966 - Aiden Shaw, British pornographic actor

1967 - Alf Poier, Austrian comedian

1968 - Bradley Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)

1968 - Jeri Ryan, American actress

1969 - Byron Stroud, American bassist

1971 - Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer

1972 - Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater

1972 - Michael Chang, American tennis player

1974 - James Blunt, British musician

1974 - Chris Moyles, British DJ

1975 - Drew Barrymore, American actress

1976 - Faan Rautenbach, South African rugby player

1979 - Brett Emerton, Australian footballer

1982 - Robert Weiner, Jr., water polo player

1986 - Miko Hughes, American actor

1989 - Anna Sundstrand, Swedish singer and model

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965 - Odo, Duke of Burgundy (b. 944)

1071 - Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (killed in battle) (bc. 1055)

1111 - Roger Borsa, King of Sicily

1371 - King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)

1512 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1454)

1627 - Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)

1674 - Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)

1680 - Catherine Monvoisin, French sorceress (bc. 1640)

1690 - Charles Le Brun, French artist (b. 1619)

1727 - Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)

1731 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)

1732 - Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)

1742 - Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)

1797 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)

1799 - Heshen, infamous Qing Dynasty Chinese official at court (b. 1750)

1816 - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1723)

1875 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)

1875 - Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)

1890 - John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)

1890 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)

1892 - Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)

1903 - Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)

1913 - Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (b. 1857)

1919 - Julia, Princess of Serbia (b. 1831)

1921 - Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)

1923 - Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (b. 1852)

1934 - Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (b. 1856)

1939 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)

1943 - Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1918)

1943 - Sophie Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1921)

1945 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (b. 1888)

1961 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)

1965 - Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1882)

1968 - Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)

1974 - Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1939)

1976 - Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)

1976 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)

1980 - Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist (b. 1886)

1982 - Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan (b. 1898)

1983 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)

1983 - Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)

1984 - Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)

1985 - Salvador Espriu, Spanish poet (b. 1913)

1985 - Alexander Scourby, American actor (b. 1913)

1985 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (b. 1889)

1987 - Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)

1994 - Papa John Creach, American musician (b. 1917)

1995 - Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)

1997 - Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)

1998 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)

2000 - Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (b. 1946)

2002 - Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)

2002 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)

2004 - Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)

2004 - Andy Seminick, baseball player (b. 1920)

2005 - Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish artist (b. 1929)

2005 - Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)

2005 - Lee Eun Ju, Korean actress (b. 1980)

2006 - Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (b. 1961)

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United States - Washington's Birthday (traditionally).

Saint Lucia - independence (1979).

The Scouting movement celebrates this day as "B.-P. day" or "Founder's Day" as it is the shared birthday of the Scouts' founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his wife, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, the World Chief Guide.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts celebrates this day as "Thinking Day" as it is the shared birthday of the Scouts' founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell, and his wife, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, the World Chief Guide.

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Liturgical feasts

Roman Catholic Church - Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.
Blessed Saint Isabel of France (+1270)
Ash Wednesday in 2023.