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

• 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.
• 1279 – Afonso III of Portugal dies. His son Denis succeeds the Portuguese throne.
• 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
• 1838 – Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus.
• 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.
• 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War
• 1868 – In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
• 1883 – Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.
• 1899 – President Félix Faure of France dies in office.
• 1918 – Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany.
• 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
• 1936 – Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.
• 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
• 1940 – Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark, with 299 British prisoners, was boarded in neutral Norwegian waters by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack and the prisoners set free, a breach of Norwegian neutrality at the beginning of World War II.
• 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.
• 1961 – Explorer 9 launched. (See Explorer program)
• 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).
• 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
• 1986 – The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1998 – A China Airlines Airbus A300-622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground
• 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 Öcalan.
• 1999  – In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime.
• 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
• 2005  – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labour dispute.

Births

• 1222 – Nichiren, monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism
• 1497 – Philipp Melanchthon, humanist and reformer (d. 1560)
• 1519 – Gaspard de Coligny, French Huguenot leader (d. 1572)
• 1620 – Friedrich Wilhelm, called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Ducal Prussia (d. 1688)
• 1822 – Sir Francis Galton, explorer, biologist (d. 1911)
• 1824 – Peter Kozler, cartographer, geographer (d. 1879)
• 1826 – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, poet (d. 1886)
• 1826 – Julia Grant, First Lady, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant (d. 1902)
• 1834 – Ernst Haeckel, zoologist and philosopher (d. 1919)
• 1838 – Henry Adams, historian and novelist (d. 1918)
• 1876 – George Macaulay Trevelyan, historian (d. 1962)
• 1884 – Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker (d. 1951)
• 1886 – Van Wyck Brooks, American historian, critic (d. 1963)
• 1901 – Wayne King, band leader ("The Waltz King")
• 1903 – Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (d. 1978)
• 1904 – George F. Kennan, architect of Cold War policy of containment, centenarian
• 1909 – Jeffrey Lynn, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1909 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1921 – Vera-Ellen, American actress (d. 1981)
• 1926 – John Schlesinger, film director (d. 2003)
• 1927 – June Brown, British actress
• 1927  – Tom Kennedy, game show host
• 1931 – Otis Blackwell, songwriter, singer (d. 2002)
• 1932 – Antonio Ordóñez, Spanish matador (d. 1998)
• 1932 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone
• 1935 – Sonny Bono, singer, music producer, television producer, Congressman (d. 1998)
• 1936 – Jill Kinmont, American skier
• 1938 – John Corigliano, American Composer, wrote Academy award winning score for The Red Violin
• 1942 – Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader
• 1944 – Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
• 1945 – Jeremy Bulloch, actor
• 1950 – Peter Hain, British politician
• 1951 – William Katt, American actor
• 1954 – Iain Banks, author
• 1955 – Margaux Hemingway, American actress, model (d. 1996)
• 1957 – LeVar Burton, actor
• 1957  – James Ingram, singer
• 1958 – Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor
• 1958 – Lisa Loring, American actress
• 1959 – John McEnroe, tennis player
• 1960 – Pete Willis, ex-Def Leppard guitarist
• 1961 – Andy Taylor, musician, Duran Duran
• 1964 – Christopher Eccleston, actor (Our Friends in the North, Doctor Who)
• 1967 – John Valentin, baseball player
• 1972 – Jerome Bettis, American football player
• 1972 – Taylor Hawkins, American musician (Foo Fighters)
• 1973 – Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete
• 1975 – Aikawa Nanase, Japanese Musician
• 1977 – Ian Clarke, creator of Freenet
• 1978 – Sam Salter, American singer
• 1980 – Ashley Lelie, American football player

Deaths

• 1279 – King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)
• 1898 – Thomas Bracken, New Zealand poet
• 1907 – Giosue Carducci, Italian writer (b. 1835)
• 1912 – St. Nikolai of Japan, Eastern Orthodoxy priest (b. 1836)
• 1928 – Eddie Foy, singer and dancer
• 1974 – John Garand, Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer
• 1975 – Morgan Taylor, American athlete
• 1978 – E. Roland Harriman, financier (b. 1895)
• 1990 – Keith Haring, American artist
• 1992 – Angela Carter, writer (b. 1940)
• 1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet serial killer
• 1996 – Edmund G. Brown, Governor of California (b. 1905)
• 1996  – Brownie McGhee, blues singer (b. 1915)
• 1996 – Roger Bowen, American actor
• 2000 – Karsten Solheim, engineer, inventor
• 2001 – Bob Buhl, Major League Baseball player (b. 1928)
• 2001 – William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist
• 2002 – Walter Winterbottom, England football manager (b. 1913)
• 2003 – Alexander Tišma, author
• 2004 – Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete
• 2004  – Doris Troy, singer (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Nicole DeHuff, American actress (pneumonia) (b. 1974)

Holidays and observances

• Lithuania – Independence Day (1918)
• Kyoto Protocol Day (2005)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

February 15 – February 17 – January 16 – March 16 — listing of all days