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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Contents

1 Events

2 Births

3 Deaths

4 Holidays and observances

5 External links

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)
2004 - Bernard McEveety, Film director (b. 1924)
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.