February 2

February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years).

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Events

• 962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
• 1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
• 1119 – Callixtus II becomes Pope.
• 1509 – Battle of Diu took place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
• 1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.
• 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
• 1812 – Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.
• 1848 – Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.
• 1848  – California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
• 1870 – It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
• 1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
• 1878 – Greece declares war on Turkey.
• 1880 – The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.
• 1882 – The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• 1897 – The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
• 1899 – The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
• 1920 – Estonia declares its independence from Russia.
• 1920 – France occupies Memel.
• 1925 – Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
• 1933 – Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.
• 1935 – The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
• 1940 – Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
• 1943 – World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets following the Battle of Stalingrad.
• 1945 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
• 1952 – A tropical storm forms north of Cuba and moves northeast making landfall in Florida. It is the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
• 1962 – For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
• 1967 – The American Basketball Association is formed.
• 1971 – In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
• 1972 – British embassy in Dublin destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday
• 1976 – Groundhog Day gale of 1976 hit the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
• 1979 – Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.
• 1980 – Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
• 1982 – Hama Massacre: The government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people.
• 1989 – Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.
• 1990 – Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
• 1998 – A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines killing 104

Births

• 1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
• 1455 – King Christian II of Denmark (d. 1513)
• 1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
• 1649 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
• 1650 – Nell Gwynne, English actress and royal mistress (d. 1687)
• 1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (d. 1766)
• 1711 – Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
• 1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician (d. 1838)
• 1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (d. 1862)
• 1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist (d. 1884)
• 1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (d. 1912)
• 1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (d. 1962)
• 1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1955)
• 1882 – James Joyce, Irish author (d. 1941)
• 1887 – Ernst Hanfstängl, pianist and politician (d. 1975)
• 1888 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
• 1890 – Charles Correll, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1895 – George Halas, American football player, coach, co-founder of the National Football League (d. 1983)
• 1897 – Howard Johnson, American hotelier (d. 1972)
• 1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987)
• 1905 – Ayn Rand, author (d. 1982)
• 1906 – Gale Gordon, actor (d. 1995)
• 1915 – Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (d. 2002)
• 1923 – James Dickey, poet, author (d. 1997)
• 1923 – Liz Smith, gossip columnist
• 1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, manager
• 1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress (d. 1988)
• 1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American producer and musician
• 1925 – Elaine Stritch, actress
• 1926 – Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, French politician
• 1927 – Stan Getz, musician (d. 1991)
• 1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
• 1931 – Judith Viorst, American author
• 1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor
• 1937 – Tom Smothers, American musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers
• 1942 – Graham Nash, musician
• 1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
• 1942 – Christine Keeler, British model and showgirl
• 1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, British actor
• 1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress
• 1947 – Melanie, singer
• 1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor
• 1949 – Ross Valory, American musician (Journey)
• 1950 – Barbara Sukowa, actress
• 1954 – Christie Brinkley, model
• 1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer (d. 1996)
• 1966 – Robert DeLeo, American musician (Stone Temple Pilots)
• 1967 – Arturs Irbe, Latvian ice-hockey player, goalkeeper
• 1972 – Dana International, Israeli singer, transsexual, Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1972 – T-Mo, rapper
• 1977 – Shakira, singer
• 1983 – Jordin Tootoo, NHL hockey player
• 1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor

Deaths

• 1250 – King Eric XI of Sweden
• 1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian writer (b. 1478)
• 1648 – George Abbot, English writer (b. ca. 1603)
• 1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
• 1895 – Archduke Albert, Austrian general (b. 1817)
• 1922 – William Desmond Taylor, film director
• 1925 – Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist
• 1948 – Bevil Rudd, South African athlete
• 1950 – Constantin Carathéodory, mathematician (b. 1873)
• 1956 – Charles Grapewin, American actor
• 1969 – Boris Karloff, actor (b. 1887)
• 1970 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician and philosopher (b. 1872)
• 1979 – Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols (b. 1957)
• 1987 – Castilho, Brazilian legendary football goalkeeper
• 1987 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist
• 1992 – Bert Parks, game show host, Miss America host
• 1995 – Donald Pleasence, actor (b. 1919)
• 1996 – Gene Kelly, dancer, actor, director (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Sanford Meisner, American actor
• 2001 – Fast Eddie Parker, American billiards player
• 2002 – Claude Brown, American writer
• 2003 – Lou Harrison, composer (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism – The Presentation of the Lord
• Catholicism – The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Catholicism – World Day for Consecrated Life (Feb. 2–3 in the U.S)
• Ancient Latvia – Veja Diena observed
• United States and Canada – Groundhog Day
• Catholicism Candlemas – day on which Roman Catholics bring beeswax candles to local churches to be blessed for use in church or home.
• Candlemas is one of the Scottish quarter days in the Christian calendar
• Imbolc – (predates all above festivals) – early Pagan (among other cultures) celebration involving the remembering that Spring will be coming soon.
• Crêpe Day – France.

External links

• BBC: On This Day

February 1 – February 3 – January 2 – March 2 — listing of all days