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:

• 1076?: [Pope Gregory VII]? excommunicates Henry IV.
• 1689: [William and Mary]? named king and queen of England.
• 1849: James Polk is the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
• 1859: Oregon becomes a state.
• 1876: [Alexander Bell]? applies for a patent for the telephone.
• 1895: First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest.
• 1899: [Voting machine]?s approved in United States federal elections?.
• 1912: Arizona becomes a state.
• 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.
• 1924: IBM corporation founded.
• 1929: [St. Valentine's Day Massacre]?: Seven gangsters rivalling [Al Capone]? are murdered.
• 1943: Rostov? liberated.
• 1944: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
• 1945: Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
• 1946: Bank of England nationalized.
• 1949: The knesset? (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
• 1961: The element 103 Lawrencium is first produced.
• 1989: Ayatollah Khomeini calls for the killing of Salman Rushdie because of his novel The Satanic Verses.
• 1989: [Union Carbide]? agrees to pay $470,000,000 for damages in the Bhopal? disaster.

Births:

• 1483: [Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah]?, founder of the Moghul dynasty
• 1766: [Thomas Malthus]?, economist
• 1819: Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico
• 1869: [Charles Wilson]?, physicist
• 1882: [John Barrymore]?, actor
• 1916: Masaki Kobayashi, director
• 1944: [Alan Parker]?, actor
• 1948: Teller?, magician ([Pen and Teller]?)

Deaths:

• 1400?: [Richard II]?, king of England (1377-1399), age 33 (murder)
• 1405?: [Timur Lenk]? (aka Tamerlane?), Mongolian monarch and conqueror
• 1779: James Cook, explorer, age 50 (killed in a fight)
• 1831: [Vincente Guerrero]?, Mexican revolutionary hero
• 1943: David Hilbert, mathematician, age 81

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

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February 13 - February 15 - January 14 - March 14 - more historical anniversaries

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December