February 4
February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 330 days remaining (331 in
leap years).
*
211 -
Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the
Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons,
Caracalla and
Geta.
*
362 - Roman Emperor
Julian promulgates an edict that recognizes equal rights to all the religions in the Roman Empire.
*
1454 - In the
Thirteen Years' War, the
Secret Council of the
Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the
Grand Master.
*
1703 - In
Edo (now
Tokyo), 46 of the
Forty-Seven Ronin commit
seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
*
1783 -
American Revolutionary War: The
United Kingdom formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the
United States of America.
*
1789 -
George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first
President of the United States by the
U.S. Electoral College.
*
1792 -
George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as
President of the United States by the
U.S. Electoral College.
*
1794 - The
French legislature abolishes
slavery throughout all territories of the
French Republic.
*
1801 -
John Marshall is sworn in as
Chief Justice of the United States.
*
1810 -
British Navy seizes
Guadeloupe.
*
1825 - The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the
Ohio and Erie Canal and the
Miami and Erie Canal.
*
1836 -
Dade County, Florida is formed.
*
1859 -
Codex Sinaiticus discovered in
Egypt.
*
1861 -
American Civil War: In
Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away
U.S. states meet and form The
Confederate States of America.
*
1862 -
Bacardi, one of the world's largest
spirits company, is founded as a small
distillery in
Santiago de Cuba in eastern
Cuba.
*
1899 - The
Philippine-American War begins.
*
1915 -
Germany establishes a
submarine blockade around the
UK and declares any vessel in it a legitimate target.
*
1927 -
The Jazz Singer starring
Al Jolson is released.
*
1932 -
World War II:
Japan occupies
Harbin, China.
* 1932 -
Olympic Games:
Winter Olympic Games -
III Olympic Winter Games open in
Lake Placid, New York.
*
1936 -
Radium E. becomes the first
radioactive element to be made synthetically.
*
1938 -
Thornton Wilder's play
Our Town opens (
New York City).
* 1938 -
Disney's
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, and it went on to become a major
box-office success, making more money than any other
motion picture in
1938.
*
1941 -
World War II: The
United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain
American troops.
*
1943 - World War II:
Battle of Stalingrad ends.
*
1945 - World War II: The
Yalta Conference begin .
*
1948 -
Ceylon (later renamed
Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the
British Commonwealth.
*
1957 -
USS Nautilus, the first
nuclear-powered submarine, logs her 60,000th
nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional
Nautilus described in
Jules Verne's novel
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
*
1960 -
Lorraine, Quebec is founded.
*
1962 -
Ian Fleming's
The Living Daylights first published.
*
1966 -
All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into
Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
*
1968 -
Bowie Kuhn becomes the fifth commissioner of
Major League Baseball, replacing
William Eckert.
*
1969 -
Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization.
*
1974 - The
Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps
Patty Hearst in
Berkeley, California.
*
1976 - In
Guatemala and
Honduras an
earthquake kills more than 22,000.
* 1976 -
Olympic Games:
Winter Olympic Games -
XII Olympic Winter Games open in
Innsbruck,
Austria.
*
1977 -
Fleetwood Mac releases one of the biggest-selling albums of all time,
Rumours.
*
1980 -
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names
Abolhassan Banisadr as president of
Iran.
*
1984 - The
Youth of the Left Socialists (VSU) founded in
Denmark.
*
1991 - The
Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban
Pete Rose.
*
1996 - Major
snowstorm paralyzes
Midwestern
United States,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F. (-32°C)
*
1997 -
O. J. Simpson is found to be civilly liable for the deaths of
Nicole Brown Simpson and
Ronald Goldman.
* 1997 - En route to
Lebanon, two
Israeli
Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters
collide in mid-air over
northern Galilee,
Israel killing 73.
* 1997 - After at first contesting the results,
Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the
November 1996 elections.
*
1998 - An
earthquake measuring 6.1 on the
Richter Scale in northeast
Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
*
1999 -
Hugo Chávez Frías,
Venezuelan military and politician, is elected
President of
Venezuela.
* 1999 - Unarmed
West African immigrant
Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes
New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
* 2000 -
German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is
jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with
sabotage of
German railway lines.
*
2003 - The
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to
Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
*
2006 -
Anders Fogh Rasmussen cartoons published in response to the affair of the
Muhammad drawings.
* 2006 - A stampede occurs in the
ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing at least 74.
*
1575 -
Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d.
1629)
*
1620 -
Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d.
1667)
*
1646 -
Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d.
1699)
*
1677 -
Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d.
1731)
*
1688 -
Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d.
1763)
*
1725 -
Dru Drury, English entomologist (d.
1804)
*
1746 -
Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish national hero (d.
1817)
*
1778 -
A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d.
1841)
*
1799 -
Almeida Garrett, Poruguese writer (d.
1854)
*
1840 -
Hiram Stevens Maxim, American weapons inventor (d.
1916)
*
1841 -
Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d.
1926)
*
1846 -
Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d.
1915)
*
1849 -
Jean Richepin, French poet (d.
1926)
*
1871 -
Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st
Reichspräsident of the
Weimar Republic (d.
1925)
*
1873 -
Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d.
1905)
*
1875 -
Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d.
1953)
*
1881 -
Fernand Léger, French painter (d.
1955)
*
1882 -
E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d.
1964)
*
1892 -
Prince George I, Duke of Westrogothia (d.
1971)
* 1892 -
Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d.
1937)
*
1896 -
Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (d.
1938)
*
1897 -
Ludwig Erhard, 2nd
Bundeskanzler of Germany (d.
1977)
*
1902 -
Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (d.
1974)
* 1902 -
Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d.
2003)
*
1904 -
MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d.
1977)
*
1906 -
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d.
1945)
* 1906 -
Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d.
1997)
*
1908 -
Julian Bell, British poet (d.
1937)
*
1912 -
Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d.
1993)
* 1912 -
Byron Nelson, American golfer
*
1913 -
Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d.
2005)
*
1914 -
Alfred Andersch, German writer (d.
1980)
*
1915 -
William Talman, American actor (
1968)
* 1915 -
Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian
*
1916 -
Sadegh Angha, 41st Master of the
Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi Order (d.
1980)
*
1917 -
Yahya Khan,
President of Pakistan (d.
1980)
*
1918 -
Janet Waldo, American actress
* 1918 -
Ida Lupino, English film actress and director (d. 1995)
*
1921 -
Betty Friedan, American feminist (d.
2006)
* 1921 -
K. R. Narayanan,
President of India (d.
2005)
*
1923 -
Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor
*
1925 -
Russell Hoban, American writer
*
1931 -
Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine dictator
Juan Perón*
1935 -
Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d.
1989)
*
1936 -
David Brenner, American comedian
* 1936 -
Gary Conway, American actor
*
1940 -
George Romero, American screenwriter, producer, and director
* 1940 -
John Schuck, American actor
*
1941 -
John Steel, British musician (
The Animals)
*
1943 -
Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
* 1943 -
Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira
*
1947 -
Dan Quayle, 44th
Vice President of the United States*
1948 -
Alice Cooper, American musician
*
1949 -
Michael Beck, American actor
*
1950 -
Pamela Franklin, British actress
*
1951 -
Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
* 1951 -
Phil Ehart, American musician (
Kansas (band))
*
1953 -
Kitaro, Japanese composer
*
1957 -
Don Davis, American composer
*
1958 -
Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
*
1959 -
Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
* 1959 -
Lawrence Taylor, American football player
*
1960 -
Jonathan Larson, American composer of "RENT" and others (d.
1996)
*
1961 -
Stewart O'Nan, American author
* 1961 -
Denis Savard, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1962 -
Clint Black, American musician
*
1963 -
Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
*
1964 -
Noodles, American guitarist (
The Offspring)
*
1965 -
Jerome Brown, American football player (d.
1992)
*
1966 -
Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
*
1967 -
Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d.
1995)
*
1968 -
Marko Matvere, Estonian actor
*
1969 -
Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (
Our Lady Peace)
* 1969 -
Dallas Drake,
Ice Hockey Player
*
1970 -
Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
*
1971 -
Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian
* 1971 -
Michael Goorjian, American actor
*
1972 -
Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
*
1973 -
Oscar De La Hoya, Mexican-born boxer
*
1975 -
Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress
*
1976 -
Cam'ron, American rapper
*
1977 -
Gavin DeGraw, American musician
*
1982 -
Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler
* 1982 -
Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
*
1987 -
Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
*
1988 -
Carly Patterson, American gymnast
*
211 -
Septimius Severus,
Emperor of Rome (b.
146)
*
708 -
Pope Sisinnius*
856 -
Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz
*
869 -
Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b.
827)
*
1508 -
Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar (b.
1459)
*
1590 -
Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (b.
1517)
*
1615 -
Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b.
1552)
* 1615 -
Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian physicist (b.
1535)
*
1694 -
Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b.
1651)
*
1713 -
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (b.
1671)
*
1774 -
Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b.
1701)
*
1799 -
Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b.
1728)
*
1781 -
Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b.
1737)
*
1894 -
Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker (b.
1814)
*
1905 -
Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b.
1841)
*
1928 -
Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1853)
*
1933 -
Archibald Sayce, English educator (b.
1846)
*
1936 -
Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b.
1895)
*
1940 -
Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet
NKVD (b.
1895)
*
1944 -
Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b.
1867)
* 1944 -
Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (b.
1872)
*
1958 -
Henry Kuttner, American author (b.
1915)
*
1959 -
Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b.
1880)
*
1967 -
Albert Orsborn, 6th General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1886)
*
1968 -
Neal Cassady, American writer (b.
1926)
* 1968 -
Gilbert H. Grosvenor, American president of the National Geographic Society (b.
1875)
*
1969 -
Thelma Ritter, American actress (b.
1905)
*
1974 -
Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b.
1894)
*
1975 -
Louis Jordan, American musician (b.
1908)
*
1977 -
Brett Halliday, American writer (b.
1904)
*
1982 -
Alex Harvey, Scottish musician (b.
1935)
*
1983 -
Karen Carpenter, American singer and musician (
Carpenters) (anorexia) (b.
1950)
*
1984 -
Anna Anderson, claimant to the throne of Russia
*
1987 -
Liberace, American musician (b.
1919)
* 1987 -
Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b.
1902)
*
1992 -
Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b.
1911)
*
1995 -
Godfrey Brown, British athlete and teacher (b.
1915)
* 1995 -
Patricia Highsmith, American author (b.
1921)
*
2000 -
Carl Albert, American politician, 54th
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b.
1908)
* 2000 -
Doris Coley, American singer (
Shirelles) (b.
1941)
*
2001 -
J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b.
1924)
* 2001 -
Iannis Xenakis, Greek-born composer (b.
1922)
*
2005 -
Ossie Davis, American actor (b.
1917)
*
2006 -
Betty Friedan, American feminist (b.
1921)
*Ancient
Latvia -
Biezputras Diena observed.
*
Independence Day in
Sri Lanka (
1948).
*
Angolan Anniversary of the Outbreak of Armed Struggle against
Portuguese Colonialism.
Liturgical feasts in the Roman Catholic church
*
Saint Gilbert (d.
1189)
*
Saint John Hector de Britto*
Saint Rembert of Torhout *
Saint Veronica, patron saint of
photographers
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayFebruary 3 -
February 5 -
January 4 -
March 4 --
listing of all days
