February 16
February 16 is the
47thth day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 318 days remaining (319 in
leap years).
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Events
\n* 1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.\n* 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.\n* 1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.\n* 1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established. in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.\n* 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.\n* 1868 - In New York City the Jolly Gorks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).\n* 1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.\n* 1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany.\n* 1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.\n* 1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.\n* 1943 - World War II: Russia reconquers Kharkov.\n* 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.\n* 1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.\n* 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.\n* 1961 - Explorer 9 launched. (See Explorer program)\n* 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service. \n* 1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.\n* 1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.\n* 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).\n* 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires. \n* 1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.\n* 1987 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem. \n* 1989 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.\n* 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others. \n* 1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300-622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground\n* 1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.\n* 1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan. \n* 1999 - In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr to death in an apparent hate crime.
Births
\n* 1222 - Nichiren, monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism\n* 1497 - Philipp Melanchthon, humanist and reformer (d. 1560)\n* 1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm, called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Ducal Prussia (d. 1688)\n* 1822 - Sir Francis Galton, explorer, biologist (d. 1911)\n* 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, poet (d. 1886)\n* 1826 - Julia Grant, First Lady, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant (d. 1902)\n* 1834 - Ernst Haeckel, zoologist and philosopher (d. 1919)\n* 1838 - Henry Adams, historian and novelist (d. 1918)\n* 1876 - George Macaulay Trevelyan, historian (d. 1962)\n* 1901 - Wayne King, band leader ("The Waltz King")\n* 1903 - Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (d. 1978)\n* 1926 - John Schlesinger, film director (d. 2003)\n* 1931 - Otis Blackwell, songwriter, singer\n* 1935 - Sonny Bono, singer, music producer, television producer, Congressman (d. 1998)\n* 1942 - Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader\n* 1944 - Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist\n* 1948 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor\n* 1950 - Peter Hain, British politician\n* 1954 - Iain Banks, author\n* 1957 - LeVar Burton, actor (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation)\n* 1957 - James Ingram, singer\n* 1958 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)\n* 1959 - John McEnroe, tennis player\n* 1964 - Christopher Eccleston, actor (Our Friends in the North, Doctor Who)\n* 1973 - Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete\n* 1977 - Ian Clarke, creator of Freenet
Deaths
\n* 1279 - King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)\n* 1898 - Thomas Bracken, NZ poet, author of God's Own Country\n* 1912 - St. Nikolai of Japan, monk priest of Eastern Orthodoxy (b. 1836)\n* 1928 - Eddie Foy, vaudevillian, singer, dancer\n* 1975 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete\n* 1978 - E. Roland Harriman, financier (b. 1895)\n* 1982 - Thelonious Monk, jazz musician (b. 1917)\n* 1992 - Angela Carter, writer (b. 1940)\n* 1996 - Edmund G. Brown, Governor of California (b. 1905)\n* 1996 - Brownie McGhee, blues singer (b. 1915)\n* 2002 - Walter Winterbottom, the first England football manager (b. 1913)\n* 2003 - Alexander Tišma, author
Holidays and observances
\n*Lithuania - National Day
February 15 -
February 17 -
January 16 -
March 16 --
listing of all days
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