February 6
is the 37th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 328 days remaining, 329 in
leap years.
*
46 BC –
Julius Caesar defeats the combined army of
Pompeian followers and
Numidians under
Metellus Scipio and
Juba at
Thapsus.
*
337 -
Julius I is elected
pope.
*
1685 -
James II of England and VII of Scotland becomes
King upon the death of his brother
Charles II.
*
1778 -
American Revolutionary War: In
Paris the
Treaty of Alliance and the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the
United States and
France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
*
1788 -
Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the
United States Constitution.
*
1806 -
Royal Navy victory off
Santo Domingo -
Action of 6 February 1806.
*
1815 -
New Jersey grants the first
American railroad charter to a
John Stevens.
*
1817 - The
Argentinian San Martín crosses the Andes with an army in order to liberate
Chile from Spanish rule.
*
1819 - Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles founds
Singapore.
*
1820 - The first 86
African American immigrants sponsored by the
American Colonization Society started a
settlement in present-day
Liberia.
*
1840 - Signing of the
Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of
New Zealand.
*
1843 - The first
minstrel show in the
United States The
Virginia Minstrels opens (
Bowery Amphitheatre in
New York City).
*
1862 -
American Civil War:
Ulysses S. Grant gives the
United States its first victory of the war, by capturing
Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the
Battle of Fort Henry.
*
1899 -
Spanish-American War: The
Treaty of Paris (1898), a
peace treaty between the
United States and
Spain is ratified by the
United States Senate.
*
1900 - The international arbitration court at
The Hague is created when the
Netherlands'
Senate ratifies an
1899 peace conference decree.
*
1922 -
Achille Ratti becomes
Pope Pius XI.
* 1922 - The
Washington Naval Treaty was signed in
Washington, DC, limiting the
naval armaments of
United States,
Britain,
Japan,
France, and
Italy.
*
1933 - The
20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
*
1934 -
February 6, 1934 political crisis in France. The
far right leagues rally in front of the
Palais Bourbon, an attempted
coup against the
Third Republic.
*
1936 -
Olympic Games:
Winter Olympic Games -
IV Olympic Winter Games open in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany.
*
1951 -
The Broker, a
Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near
Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
*
1952 -
Elizabeth II becomes
Queen upon the death of her father
George VI. At the exact moment of
succession, she was in a
treehouse at the
Treetops Hotel in
Kenya.
*
1958 -
Bobby Charlton survived the
Munich air disaster in
Germany, which killed eight of his teammates with
Manchester United F.C..
*
1959 -
Jack Kilby of
Texas Instruments filed the first
patent for an
integrated circuit.
* 1959 - At
Cape Canaveral,
Florida, the first successful test firing of a
Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
*
1968 -
Olympic Games:
Winter Olympic Games -
X Olympic Winter Games open in
Grenoble,
France.
*
1971 -
Project Apollo:
Apollo 14 Mission -
Alan Shepherd becomes the first person to hit a golf ball on the Moon.
*
1978 - The
Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst
Nor'easters in
New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
*
1985 -
Steve Wozniak leaves
Apple Computer.
*
1992 - The
Saami people of
Scandinavia had an offical day celebrating their existence on
Febuary 6.
*
1996 - A
Turkish Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into the
Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of
Dominican Republic killing 189.
*
1998 -
Washington National Airport is renamed
Ronald Reagan National Airport.
*
2001 -
Don Felder is fired from the
Eagles*
2004 - In
Russia, a suicide-attack in a
Moscow metro kills 40 commuters, and injures a hundred and twenty-nine. The blast is blamed on
Chechen separatist groups.
* 2005 -
Jerrick De Leon, born 13 weeks premature, becomes the world's smallest infant to survive an open-heart procedure called an
arterial switch.
*
2006 - The
Conservative Party of Canada becomes a minority
government in Canada's Parliament, replacing the
Liberals after 13 years in power.
*
1564 -
Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (d.
1593)
*
1577 -
Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman who conspired to kill her father (d.
1599)
*
1608 -
Antonio Vieira, Portuguese writer (d.
1697)
*
1611 -
Chongzhen, Emperor of China (d.
1644)
*
1639 -
Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (d.
1691)
*
1664 -
Mustafa II,
Ottoman Sultan (d,
1703)
*
1665 -
Queen Anne of England (d.
1714)
*
1695 -
Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d.
1726)
*
1732 -
Charles Lee, General in the American Revolution (d.
1782)
*
1744 -
Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d.
1795)
*
1748 -
Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati (d.
1811)
*
1756 -
Aaron Burr, 3rd
Vice President of the United States (d.
1836)
*
1833 -
James Ewell Brown Stuart, American Confederate general (d.
1864)
*
1834 -
Ema Puksec, Croatian singer (d.
1889)
*
1838 -
Sir Henry Irving, British actor, real-life inspiration for the character of Dracula (d.
1905)
*
1838 -
Yisrael Meir Kagan, Chofetz Chayim (d.
1933)
*
1853 -
Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist (d.
1901)
*
1887 -
Josef Frings, German Archbishop of Cologne (d.
1978)
*
1875 -
Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d.
1915)
*
1892 -
William Parry Murphy, American physician,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1987)
*
1894 -
Eric Partridge, New Zealand lexicographer (d.
1979)
*
1895 -
Babe Ruth, baseball player (d.
1948)
*
1897 -
Louis Buchalter, Jewish American mobster, head of Murder, Inc. (d.
1944)
*
1899 -
Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (d.
1968)
*
1901 -
Ben Lyon, American actor (d.
1979)
*
1902 -
George Brunies, American musician (d.
1974)
*
1903 -
Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d.
1991)
*
1905 -
Władysław Gomułka, Polish leader (d.
1982)
*
1910 -
Irmgard Keun, German author (d.
1982)
* 1910 -
Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster (d.
1993)
*
1911 -
Ronald Reagan, 40th
President of the United States (d.
2004)
*
1912 -
Eva Braun, German mistress of
Adolf Hitler (d.
1945)
*
1913 -
Mary Leakey, British anthropologist (d.
1996)
*
1914 -
Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor (d.
2005)
*
1917 -
Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian actress
*
1918 -
Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author
*
1922 -
Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer
* 1922 -
Patrick Macnee, British actor
* 1922 -
Denis Norden, British television abd radio personality and scriptwriter
*
1926 -
Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer
*
1929 -
Pierre Brice, French actor
*
1931 -
Rip Torn, American actor and director
* 1931 -
Mamie Van Doren, American actress
*
1932 -
Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (d.
1959)
* 1932 -
François Truffaut, French film director (d.
1984)
*
1933 -
Leslie Crowther, British comedian and quiz host (d.
1996)
*
1939 -
Mike Farrell, American actor
* 1939 -
Orlando Parga, Vice President of the
Puerto Rico Senate*
1940 -
Tom Brokaw, American news anchorman
* 1940 -
Jimmy Tarbuck, British comedian, emcee and compere
*
1942 -
Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist
*
1943 -
Fabian, American singer
* 1943 -
Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
*
1944 -
Michael Tucker, American actor
*
1945 -
Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (d.
1981)
*
1946 -
Jim Turner, American politician
*
1949 -
Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
*
1950 -
Natalie Cole, American singer
*
1951 -
Marco Antonio, Brazilian footballer
*
1954 -
Argusto Emfazie, American occultist and author
*
1957 -
Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
* 1957 -
Robert Townsend, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
*
1958 -
Barry Miller, American actor
*
1960 -
Megan Gallagher, American actress
*
1961 -
Bill Lester, African-American NASCAR Driver
*
1962 -
Axl Rose, American singer (
Guns N' Roses)
*
1966 -
Rick Astley, British singer
*
1968 -
Akira Yamaoka, Japanese video game music composer (
Silent Hill series)
*
1970 -
Per Frandsen, Danish footballer
*
1971 -
Brian Stepanek, American actor
*
1972 -
David Binn, American football player
*
1975 -
Svend-Allan Sørensen, Danish artist
* 1975 -
Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer/songwriter, better known as
Tommy February6*
1976 -
Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast
*
1980 -
Mamiko Noto, Japanese
seiyu (voice actress)
* 1980 -
Ryan O'Reilly, American professional wrestler
*
1981 -
Jens Lekman, Swedish Pop Musician
*
1983 -
Myron Wolf Child, Canadian politician
*
1984 -
Darren Bent, English footballer
*
1986 -
Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwean wicket-keeper
*
1987 -
Dan-Michael Johnsen, Norwegian football player, actor and singer
*
1991 -
Kara Borden, American orphan and crime victim
*
891 -
Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
*
1378 -
Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of
Charles V of France (b.
1338)
*
1497 -
Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer (b. c.
1410)
*
1515 -
Aldus Manutius, Italian printer
*
1585 -
Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar (b.
1518)
*
1593 -
Jacques Amyot, French writer (b.
1513)
*
1593 -
Emperor Ogimachi of Japan (b.
1517)
*
1617 -
Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b.
1553)
*
1685 - King
Charles II of England (b.
1630)
*
1740 -
Pope Clement XII (b.
1652)
*
1775 -
William Dowdeswell, English politician (b.
1721)
*
1783 -
Capability Brown, English landscape gardener (b.
1716)
*
1793 -
Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright (b.
1707)
*
1816 -
Maria Ludwika Rzewuska, Polish szlachcianka (b.
1744)
*
1833 -
Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (b.
1762)
*
1834 -
Richard Lemon Lander, British explorer (d.
1804)
*
1855 -
Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councilor (b.
1791)
*
1899 -
Leo von Caprivi,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1831)
*
1916 -
Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan writer (b.
1867)
*
1918 -
Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b.
1862)
*
1938 -
Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b.
1860)
*
1950 -
Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b.
1884)
*
1952 - King
George VI of the United Kingdom (b.
1895)
*
1963 -
Abd el-Krim, Moroccan politician
*
1964 -
Emilio Aguinaldo, First Philippine president (b.
1869)
*
1976 -
Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b.
1928)
*
1985 -
James Hadley Chase, English writer (b.
1906)
*
1986 -
Frederick Coutts, Salvation Army general (b.
1899)
* 1986 -
Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (b.
1912)
*
1989 -
Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the Berlin wall (b.
1968)
* 1989 -
Barbara Tuchman, American historian (b.
1912)
*
1991 -
Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1912)
* 1991 -
Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b.
1914)
*
1993 -
Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (b.
1943)
* 1993 -
Joseph Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and writer (b.
1909)
*
1994 -
Joseph Cotten, American actor (b.
1905)
* 1994 -
Jack Kirby, American comic book writer (b.
1917)
*
1995 -
James Merrill, American poet (b.
1926)
*
1996 -
Guy Madison, American actor (b.
1922)
*
1998 -
Falco, Austrian singer (b.
1957)
* 1998 -
Carl Wilson, American musician (
The Beach Boys) (b.
1946)
*
2001 -
Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (b.
1953)
*
2002 -
Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1914)
*
2005 -
Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (b.
1930)
* 2005 -
Karl Haas, American radio presenter (b.
1913)
*
Bob Marley Day in
Rastafarianism (
Jamaica and
Ethiopia)
*
Waitangi Day (National Holiday) in
New Zealand*
Sami National Day (known as Lapps; in Finland and Scandinavia)
liturgical feasts
*
Saint Amandus,
Apostle of the Franks*
Saint Vedastus (+540)
*
Saint Dorothea, patron saint of
florists
*
Saint Paul Miki*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayFebruary 5 -
February 7 -
January 6 -
March 6 --
listing of all days
