February 2
February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining, (333 in
leap years).
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Events
\n*962 - Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.\n*1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.\n*1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope.\n*1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. \n*1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.\n*1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.\n*1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.\n*1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war. \n* 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco. \n*1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.\n*1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.\n*1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.\n*1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.\n*1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.\n*1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed. \n*1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire. \n*1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.\n*1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia.\n* 1920 - France occupies Memel.\n*1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.\n*1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.\n*1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.\n*1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.\n*1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Sovietss following the Battle of Stalingrad. \n*1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference. \n*1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align. \n*1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed. \n*1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader. \n*1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the United States Congress in a sting operation. \n*1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation. \n*1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.\n*1998 - A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines killing 104
Births
\n*1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)\n*1650 - Nell Gwynne, actress, royal mistress (d. 1687)\n*1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, diplomat (d. 1794)\n*1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, politician (d. 1838)\n*1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate general (d. 1862)\n*1829 - Alfred Brehm, zoologist (d. 1884)\n*1878 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1955)\n*1882 - James Joyce, author (d. 1941)\n*1888 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)\n*1895 - George Halas, American football player, coach, co-founder of the National Football League (d. 1983)\n*1901 - Jascha Heifetz, musician (d. 1987)\n*1905 - Ayn Rand, author (d. 1982)\n*1906 - Gale Gordon, actor (d. 1995)\n*1915 - Abba Eban, diplomat (d. 2002)\n*1923 - James Dickey, poet, author (d. 1997)\n* 1923 - Liz Smith, gossip columnist\n*1924 - Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American producer and musician\n*1925 - Elaine Stritch, actress\n*1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, politician\n*1927 - Stan Getz, musician (d. 1991)\n*1931 - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician\n*1937 - Tom Smothers, musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers\n*1942 - Graham Nash, musician\n*1947 - Farrah Fawcet, actress\n* 1947 - Melanie, singer\n*1949 - Brent Spiner, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Independence Day)\n*1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress\n*1954 - Christie Brinkley, model\n*1977 - Shakira, singer\n*1983 - Jordin Tootoo, NHL hockey player
Deaths
\n*1648 - George Abbot, english writer (b. ca. 1603)\n*1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)\n*1922 - William Desmond Taylor, film director\n*1948 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete\n*1969 - Boris Karloff, actor (b. 1887)\n*1970 - Bertrand Russell, mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 (b. 1872)\n*1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols (b. 1957)\n*1992 - Bert Parks, game show host, Miss America host\n*1995 - Donald Pleasence, actor (b. 1919)\n*1996 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor, director (b. 1912)\n*2003 - Lou Harrison, composer (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances
\n* Catholicism - The Presentation of the Lord\n* Catholicism - The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary\n* Catholicism - World Day for Consecrated Life (Feb. 2-3 in the U.S)\n*Ancient Latvia - Veja Diena observed\n*United States and Canada - Groundhog Day\n*Catholicism Candlemas - day on which Roman Catholics bring beeswax candles to local churches to be blessed for use in church or home.\n*Candlemas is one of the Scottish quarter days in the Christian calendar
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February 1 -
February 3 -
January 2 -
March 2 --
listing of all days
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