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904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.

1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed.

1676 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.

1814 - France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.

1834 - US President Andrew Jackson orders first use of federal soldiers to suppress a labor dispute.

1845 - ''The Raven'' by Edgar Allan Poe is published in the New York Evening Mirror.

1850 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.

1856 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.

1861 - Kansas admitted as the 34th U.S. state.

1863 - Bear River Massacre.

1886 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

1891 - Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch.

1900 - The American League is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.

1916 - World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.

1929 - The Seeing Eye Dog organization is formed.

1933 - President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

1936 - The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.

1943 - The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, U.S. cruiser Chicago is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.

1944 - The battleship USS ''Missouri'' is launched.

1944 - World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.

1944 - World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland.

1958 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.

1959 - Sleeping Beauty, an animated feature produced by Walt Disney based upon a fairy tale, is released.

1963 - First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.

1964 - Olympic Games: Winter Olympic Games - The IX Olympic Winter Games open in Innsbruck, Austria.

1964 - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released in the United States.

1966 - The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.

1978 - Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban.

1979 - Brenda Ann Spencer kills 9 people and wounds 2 in a shooting spree at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California.

1986 - Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda.

1989 - The Orlando Arena, now titled the TD Waterhouse Centre, opens in Downtown Orlando. The TD Waterhouse Centre is currently the home to the Orlando Magic of the NBA and the Orlando Predators of the AFL.

1995 - Super Bowl XXIX: The San Francisco 49ers defeat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 and become the first NFL team to win five Super Bowl titles.

1996 - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing.

1996 - La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire.

1998 - In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.

2001 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

2002 - In his State of the Union Address, United States President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of Evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing 56-foot long Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

2006 - Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is sworn in as the Emir of Kuwait.

2006 - ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt are severely injured in Iraq following a car blast.

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1584 - Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)

1632 - Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (d. 1703)

1688 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist and philosopher (d. 1772)

1711 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)

1715 - Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (d. 1777)

1717 - Jeffrey Amherst, British military leader (d. 1797)

1718 - Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (d. 1794)

1737 - Thomas Paine, American patriot (d. 1809)

1749 - King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)

1754 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of the city of Cleveland (d. 1806)

1782 - Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)

1810 - Ernst Kummer, German mathematician (d. 1893)

1843 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)

1846 - Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (d. 1915)

1860 - Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (d. 1904)

1862 - Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)

1866 - Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1944)

1874 - John D. Rockefeller Jr., American entrepreneur (d. 1960)

1876 - Havergal Brian, British composer (d. 1972)

1880 - W.C. Fields, American actor (d. 1946)

1891 - Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina (d. 1975)

1905 - Barnett Newman, American painter (d. 1970)

1910 - Colin Middleton, Irish artist (d. 1983)

1911 - Peter von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1986)

1913 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist and writer (d. 2001)

1915 - Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)

1915 - John Serry, Sr., American musician, composer, arranger. (d. 2003)

1918 - John Forsythe, American actor

1921 - Anthony George, American actor (d. 2005)

1923 - Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (d. 1981)

1923 - Ivo Robic, Croatian singer and songwriter (d. 2000)

1924 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)

1926 - Franco Cerri, Italian musician

1926 - Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1996)

1927 - Edward Abbey, American environmentalist (d. 1989)

1928 - Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong property developer

1929 - Gordon Solie, wrestling announcer (d. 2000)

1932 - Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)

1932 - George Allen, English footballer

1936 - James Jamerson, Electric Bass legend & Motown's master of groove. (d. 1983)

1939 - Germaine Greer, Australian writer

1940 - Katharine Ross, American actress

1942 - Claudine Longet, French singer and dancer

1945 - Jim Nicholson, Irish politician

1945 - Tom Selleck, American actor

1947 - Linda B. Buck, American scientist, Nobel Prize Laureate

1948 - Cristina Saralegui, American talk-show host

1948 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor

1950 - Ann Jillian, American actress

1950 - Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver

1952 - Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-born musician and record producer (The Ramones)

1953 - Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist

1953 - Teresa Teng, Chinese singer (d. 1995)

1954 - Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba, American singer (The Dictators and MC5)

1954 - Terry Kinney, American actor

1954 - Oprah Winfrey, American producer, actress, and publisher

1957 - Grazyna Miller, Italian poet, translator, and journalist

1960 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)

1960 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player

1960 - Greg Louganis, American diver

1960 - Steve Sax, American baseball player

1960 - J. G. Thirlwell, Australian-born musician

1962 - Nicholas Turturro, American actor

1963 - Bob Holly, American professional wrestler

1964 - Andre Reed, American football player

1964 - John Habyan, baseball player

1965 - Dominik Hasek, Czech hockey player

1966 - Romário, Brazilian footballer

1968 - Edward Burns, American actor

1969 - Thomas Jane, American actor

1969 - Hyde, Japanese singer

1970 - Heather Graham, American actress

1970 - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter

1973 - Jason Schmidt, baseball player

1975 - Sara Gilbert, American actress

1979 - Sui Feifei, Chinese basketball player

1979 - April Scott, American actress and model

1980 - Yael Bar Zohar, Israeli actress and model

1981 - Jonny Lang, American musician

1986 - Drew Tyler Bell, American actor

1987 - Spencer Clark, American race car driver (d. 2006)

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1119 - Pope Gelasius II

1342 - Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)

1597 - Elias Ammerbach, German organist (b. 1530)

1608 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)

1647 - Francis Meres, English writer (b. 1565)

1676 - Tsar Alexis I of Russia (b. 1629)

1678 - Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)

1696 - Ivan V, Russian tsar; reigned from (1682-1689)

1706 - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)

1730 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)

1737 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (b. 1666)

1743 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister under Louis XV of France (b. 1653)

1763 - Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)

1820 - King George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)

1829 - Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras, French politician (b. 1755)

1870 - Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)

1901 - Milan I, King of Serbia (b. 1855)

1906 - King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)

1918 - Aleksei Maksimovich Kaledin, Russian counter revolutionary (b. 1861)

1928 - Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)

1933 - Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)

1934 - Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1868)

1946 - Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890)

1950 - Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1885)

1951 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (b. 1880)

1956 - H. L. Mencken, American journalist (b. 1880)

1962 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (b. 1875)

1963 - Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)

1964 - Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)

1969 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1893)

1970 - Basil Liddell Hart, British historian (b. 1895)

1977 - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (b. 1902)

1977 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (b. 1954)

1980 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1893)

1986 - Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)

1989 - Halina Konopacka Polish athlete (b. 1900)

1991 - Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)

1992 - Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)

1998 - Joseph Alioto, mayor of San Francisco (b. 1916)

1999 - Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (b. 1918)

2002 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)

2002 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)

2003 - Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (b. 1911)

2004 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (b. 1908)

2004 - Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)

2004 - Janet Frame New Zealand writer (b. 1924)

2005 - Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist (The Quarrymen) (b. 1940)

2005 - Ephraim Kishon, Israeli satirst (b. 1924)