February 16


February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
318 days remaining (319 in leap years).

Events

   * 1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes Prime Minister of
     Great Britain
   * 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the
     pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
   * 1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile
     manufacturer, is established
   * 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.
   * 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort
     Donelson, Tennessee
   * 1868 - In New York City the Jolly Gorks organization is renamed the
     Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
   * 1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.
   * 1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany
   * 1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
   * 1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
   * 1943 - World War II: Russia reconquers Kharkov
   * 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the
     Philippines.
   * 1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula
   * 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio
     Batista was overthrown on January 1.
   * 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone
     system goes into service.
   * 1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning
     streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.
   * 1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.
   * 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in
     Chicago, Illinois).
   * 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia
     claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
   * 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. He was eventually convicted, but this ruling was
     overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.
   * 1989 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the
     crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
   * 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad,
     injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.
   * 1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the
     government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against
     President Islam Karimov
   * 1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold
     hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah
     …calan.
   * 1999 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William
     King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to
     death in an apparent hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced
     to the death penalty.

Births

   * 1497 - Philipp Melanchthon, humanist and reformer (+ 1560)
   * 1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm, called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Prussia
     (+ 1688)
   * 1822 - Sir Francis Galton, explorer, biologist (+ 1911)
   * 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, poet (+ 1886)
   * 1826 - Julia Grant, First Lady, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant (+
     1902)
   * 1834 - Ernst Haeckel, zoologist and philosopher (+ 1919)
   * 1838 - Henry Adams, historian and novelist (+ 1918)
   * 1901 - Wayne King, band leader ("The Waltz King")
   * 1903 - Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (+ 1978)
   * 1926 - John Schlesinger, film director
   * 1935 - Sonny Bono, singer, music producer, television procuder,
     Congressman (+ 1998)
   * 1944 - Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
   * 1948 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor
   * 1957 - LeVar Burton, actor
   * 1957 - James Ingram, singer
   * 1958 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor
   * 1959 - John McEnroe, tennis player
   * 1977 - Ian Clarke, creator of Freenet

Deaths

   * 1928 - Eddie Foy, vaudevillian, singer, dancer
   * 1982 - Thelonius Monk, jazz musician
   * 1996 - Edmund G. Brown, Governor of California
   * 1996 - Brownie McGhee, blues singer
   * 2002 - Walter Winterbottom, the first England football manager.

Holidays and observances

   * Lithuania - National Day