February 14


February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
320 days remaining, 321 in leap years.

Events

   * 1014 - Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of
     Germany
   * 1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
   * 1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic
   * 1743 - Henry Pelham becomes Prime Minister of England
   * 1779 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands
   * 1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of Congress
     which conflicts with the Constitution is void
   * 1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of
     the United States to have his photograph taken.
   * 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
   * 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone.
   * 1895 - First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being
     Earnest (St. James' Theatre in London).
   * 1899 - Voting machines are approved by the United States Congress for
     use in federal elections.
   * 1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by
     tightening imperial control over the country.
   * 1900 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the
     Orange Free State
   * 1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is
     established (later split into Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Labor).
   * 1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
   * 1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is
     commissioned.
   * 1918 - The movie Tarzan of the Apes is released.
   * 1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February
     according to the Julian calendar)
   * 1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
   * 1924 - IBM corporation founded.
   * 1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters rivalling Al
     Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
   * 1943 - World War II:Rostov, Russia is liberated.
   * 1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General
     Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied
     defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat
     of the war
   * 1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
   * 1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
   * 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.
   * 1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the
     first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the
     University of Pennsylvania
   * 1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
   * 1952 - 1952 Winter Olympic Games open in Oslo, Norway
   * 1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is
     first synthesized (Berkely, California).
   * 1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour
     of the White House.
   * 1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to
     Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between
     his kidnappers and police.
   * 1980 - 1980 Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York
   * 1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.
   * 1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
   * 1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian
     government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Tragedy.
   * 1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini encourages Muslims to kill the
     author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
   * 1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is
     placed into orbit.
   * 1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Rudolph is a
     suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

Births

   * 1483 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul dynasty
     (+ 1530)
   * 1766 - Thomas Malthus, economist (+ 1834)
   * 1819 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of
     America and Protector of Mexico (+ 1880)
   * 1856 - Frank Harris, author and editor (+ 1931)
   * 1869 - Charles Wilson, physicist
   * 1890 - Nina Hamnett, artist (+ 1956)
   * 1894 - Jack Benny, actor, comedian (+ 1974)
   * 1895 - Max Horkheimer, philosopher and sociologist (+ 1973)
   * 1898 - Fritz Zwicky, physicist and astronomer (+ 1974)
   * 1905 - Thelma Ritter, actress (+ 1969)
   * 1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, labor union leader (+ 1975 (disappeared))
   * 1913 - Mel Allen, sports reporter (+ 1996)
   * 1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, director
   * 1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman, biophysicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in
     Chemistry 1985
   * 1921 - Hugh Downs, game show host, journalist
   * 1929 - Vic Morrow, actor (+ 1982)
   * 1932 - Alexander Kluge, actor and film director
   * 1934 - Florence Henderson, actress
   * 1943 - Maceo Parker, musician (P-Funk)
   * 1944 - Alan Parker, director, writer
   * 1944 - Carl Bernstein, journalist
   * 1946 - Gregory Hines, dancer, actor
   * 1948 - Teller, magician (Penn and Teller)
   * 1970 - Simon Pegg, comedian, writer and actor

Deaths

   * 1400 - King Richard II of England murdered
   * 1405 - Timur (aka Tamerlane), Mongol monarch and conqueror
   * 1779 - James Cook (b. 1728), British naval captain and explorer.
   * 1831 - Vincente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero
   * 1943 - David Hilbert, mathematician
   * 1975 - P. G. Wodehouse, writer
   * 1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed)
   * 1999 - John Ehrlichman, presidential advisor
   * 2003 - Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal

Holidays and observances

   * Denmark - Gaekkebrev - gift exchange by school kids
   * Mexico - Day of National Mourning (1831)
   * Arizona - Admission Day (1912)
   * Oregon - Admission Day (1859)
   * international - Valentine's Day
   * Lupercalia
   * Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Valentine
   * Catholicism - Feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius