February 4
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February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 330 days remaining, (331 in leap years).
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Events
- 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
- 1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederacy sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
- 1703 - The day that forty-six of the forty-seven ronin committed sepuku.
- 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America.
- 1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
- 1792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
- 1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
- 1801 - John Marshall sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1810 - British Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
- 1859 - Codex Sinaiticus discovered in Egypt.
- 1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.
- 1862 - Bacardi, one of the world's largest spirits company, was founded as a small distillery in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba.
- 1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.
- 1915 - Germany establishes a submarine blockade around the UK and declares any vessel in it a legitimate target.
- 1927 - The first talkie is released - The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson.
- 1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
- 1932 - 1932 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
- 1932 - Asteroid 1239 Queteleta discovered by Eugène Joseph Delporte.
- 1934 - Asteroid 2824 Franke discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth.
- 1936 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
- 1938 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
- 1938 - Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938.
- 1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
- 1943 - Battle of Stalingrad ends.
- 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference.
- 1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
- 1957 - USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, logged her 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
- 1960 - Lorraine, Quebec is founded.
- 1962 - Ian Fleming's The Living Daylights first published
- 1966 - All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay killing 133
- 1968 - Bowie Kuhn becomes the fifth commissioner of Major League Baseball, replacing William Eckert
- 1969 - Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
- 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
- 1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
- 1976 - 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria.
- 1977 - Fleetwood Mac releases one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Rumours.
- 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
- 1991 - The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.
- 1993 - First public alpha version, 0.2 of Doom released.
- 1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F. (-32°C)
- 1997 - O. J. Simpson is found to be civilly liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
- 1997 - Enroute to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
- 1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
- 1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
- 1999 - Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.
- 1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, enflaming race-relations in the city.
- 2000 - USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) launched.
- 2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
- 2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
- 2007 - Super Bowl XLI will take place from Dolphins Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Births
- 1840 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American inventor of the Maxim Gun (d. 1916)
- 1841 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
- 1842 - Arrigo Boito, Italian poet and composer (d. 1918)
- 1871 - Friedrich Ebert, president of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
- 1873 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
- 1881 - Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
- 1889 - Walter Catlett, American character actor (d. 1960)
- 1892 - Prince George I, Duke of Westrogothia (d. 1971)
- 1897 - Ludwig Erhard, German Bundeskanzler (Federal Chancellor) (d. 1977)
- 1902 - Charles Lindbergh, U.S. aviator (d. 1974)
- 1902 - Hartley William Shawcross, British prosecutor (d. 2003)
- 1904 - MacKinlay Kantor, U.S. writer (d. 1977)
- 1906 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)
- 1906 - Clyde Tombaugh, U.S. astronomer (d. 1997)
- 1909 - Robert Coote, British actor (d. 1982)
- 1912 - Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
- 1912 - Byron Nelson, American golfer
- 1913 - Rosa Parks, U.S. civil rights activist
- 1914 - Alfred Andersch, German narrator and author of radio drama (d. 1980)
- 1914 or 1918 - Ida Lupino, English actress, director, writer (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian
- 1915 - William Talman, American actor (1968)
- 1917 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
- 1918 - Janet Waldo, American actress
- 1921 - Betty Friedan, U.S. feminist
- 1922 - William Phipps, American actor
- 1923 - Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor
- 1925 - Russell Hoban, U.S. writer
- 1931 - Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón
- 1935 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
- 1936 - David Brenner, American comedian
- 1936 - Gary Conway, American actor
- 1940 - George Romero, U.S. horror movie writer, producer, director
- 1940 - John Schuck, American actor
- 1943 - Alberto_João_Jardim, Portuguese dictator
- 1943 - Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
- 1947 - Dan Quayle, Former Vice President of the United States
- 1948 - Alice Cooper, U.S. rock musician
- 1949 - Michael Beck, American actor
- 1950 - Pamela Franklin, British actress
- 1952 - Lisa Eichhorn, American actress
- 1953 - Kitaro, Japanese composer
- 1958 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish science fiction and fantasy writer
- 1959 - Lawrence Taylor, American football star
- 1959 - Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
- 1960 - Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)
- 1961 - Stewart O'Nan, American author
- 1962 - Clint Black, U.S. country musician
- 1964 - Noodles, U.S. guitarist of The Offspring
- 1967 - Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
- 1970 - Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
- 1973 - Oscar De La Hoya, Mexican-American boxing champion
- 1975 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
- 1975 - Matthew Cogswell, American Artist
- 1988 - Carly Patterson, United States artistic gymnast
Deaths
- 211 - Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (b. 146)
- 708 - Pope Sisinnius
- 784 - Hrabanus Maurus, German poet
- 856 - Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz
- 869 - Saint Cyril, after whom the Cyrillic alphabet is named (b. 827)
- 1713 - Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, (b. 1671)
- 1781 - Josef Myslivecek, composer (b. 1737)
- 1894 - Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone (b. 1814)
- 1905 - Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)
- 1928 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1853)
- 1933 - Archibald Sayce, educator (b. 1846)
- 1936 - Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
- 1944 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)
- 1958 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author (b. 1915)
- 1968 - Neal Cassady, writer (b. 1926)
- 1968 - Gilbert H. Grosvenor, President of the National Geographic Society
- 1969 - Thelma Ritter, actress (b. 1905)
- 1974 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)
- 1975 - Louis Jordan, musician (b. 1908)
- 1978 - Bergen Evans, television host
- 1983 - Karen Carpenter, U.S. singer, musician (Carpenters) (b. 1950)
- 1984 - Anna Anderson, claiminat to the throne of Russia
- 1987 - Liberace, U.S. musician (b. 1919)
- 1987 - Carl Rogers, psychologist (b. 1902)
- 1995 - Godfrey Brown, athlete and teacher (b. 1915)
- 1995 - Patricia Highsmith, author (b. 1921)
- 1999 - Amadou Bailo Diallo, shot by New York City police
- 2000 - Doris Coley, singer, member of the Shirelles (b. 1941)
- 2000 - Carl Albert, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 2001 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek/French composer (b. 1922)
- 2001 - J. J. Johnson, jazz trombonist and jazz composer (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Ossie Davis, American actor (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances
- Ancient Latvia - Biezputras Diena observed
- Saint Paul of Tarsus
- Independence Day in Sri Lanka (1948)
- Angolan Anniversary of the Outbreak of Armed Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism
External links
- BBC: On This Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/4)
- Today in History: February 4 (http://www.tnl.net/when/2/4)
February 3 - February 5 - January 4 - March 4 -- listing of all days
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