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Today February 4th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
1454 – In the Thirteen Years War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master s death.
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 is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
1810 – Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form The Confederate States of America.
1899 – The Philippine-American War begins.
1932 – World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
1936 – Radium E becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
1941 – World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
1943 – World War II: Battle of Stalingrad ends.
1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference begins.
1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1957 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571)Template:WP Ships USS instances, logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
1966 – All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
1975 – Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
1992 – A Coup d état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
1997 – En route 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 Miloševic 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 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
1999 – The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
2000 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
2006 – A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
Births
1524 – Luis de Camões, Portugal s greatest poet. (d. 1580)
1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1629)
1620 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)
1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d. 1699)
1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)
1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d. 1763)
1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
1746 – Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian national hero (d. 1817)
1778 – A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer (d. 1854)
1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, author of the Czech national anthem(d. 1856)
1831 – Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1841 – Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)
1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet (d. 1921)
1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet (d. 1926)
1859 – Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (d. 1881)
1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
1872 – Gotse Delchev, a great Macedonian revolutionary, (d. 1903)
1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
1877 – Eddie Cochems, Father of the Forward Pass in American football (d. 1953)
1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
1891 – Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker of Lok Sabha (d. 1978).
1892 – Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)
1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d. 1964)
1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
1896 – Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (d. 1938)
1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist (d. 1997)
1897 – Ludwig Erhard, 2nd Bundeskanzler of Germany (d. 1977)
1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and lyricist (d. 1977)
1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian violinist (d. 1987)
1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (d. 1974)
1902 – Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d. 1977)
1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (d. 1986)
1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)
1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
1908 – Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)
1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian politician (d. 1999)
1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer (d. 2006)
1912 – Louis-Albert Cardinal Vachon, archbishop of Quebec (d. 2006)
1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
1914 – Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)
1915 – Ray Evans, American songwriter with Jay Livingston (d. 2007)
1915 – William Talman, American actor (d. 1968)
1915 – Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian
1917 – Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
1918 – Ida Lupino, English film actress and director (d. 1995)
1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)
1918 – Janet Waldo, American actress
1921 – Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)
1922 – Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Indian Classical Singer
1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor
1925 – Russell Hoban, American writer
1929 – Jerry Adler, American actor
1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine president Juan Perón
1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
1936 – David Brenner, American comedian
1936 – Gary Conway, American actor
1937 – David Newman, American filmmaker (d. 2003)
1940 – George Romero, American director, screenwriter and producer
1940 – John Schuck, American actor
1941 – John Steel, British musician (The Animals)
1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira
1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer (The Fifth Dimension)
1947 – Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States
1948 – Alice Cooper, American musician
1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
1950 – Pamela Franklin, British actress
1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
1951 – Phil Ehart, American musician (Kansas)
1951 – Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer and musician
1951 – Stan Papi, American baseball player
1952 – Lisa Eichhorn, American actress
1952 – Jerry Shirley, drummer of rock band Humble Pie.
1952 – Li Yinhe, Chinese sexologist
1953 – Kitaro, Japanese composer
1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak Prime minister
1957 – Don Davis, American composer
1957 – Evan Wolfson, American attorney and activist
1958 – Tomasz Pacynski, Polish writer
1959 – Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player.
1960 – Tim Booth, British singer (James)
1960 – Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
1960 – Jenette Goldstein, American actress
1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)
1961 – Stewart O Nan, American author
1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player
1962 – Clint Black, American musician
1962 – Michael Riley, Canadian actor
1962 – Alfred Twardecki, Polish historian
1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
1964 – Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
1966 – Kyoko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer
1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
1968 – Marko Matvere, Estonian actor
1969 – Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (Our Lady Peace)
1969 – Dallas Drake, ice hockey player
1969 – Brandy Ledford, American actress and model
1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian
1971 – Michael A. Goorjian, American actor
1972 – Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1973 – Oscar de la Hoya, Mexican-born boxer
1973 – Manny Legacé, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
1974 – Eric Townsend, American musician and record producer
1974 – Mijntje Donners, Dutch hockey international
1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress
1975 – Konstantinos Nebegleras, Greek footballer
1976 – Cam ron, American rapper
1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American musician
1977 – Mitra Hajjar, Iranian actress
1978 – Danna Garcia, Colombian actress
1979 – Andrei Arlovski, Russian mixed martial artist
1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver
1981 – Ben Hendrickson, American baseball player
1981 – Jason Kapono, America professional basketball player
1981 – Tom Mastny, Indonesian baseball player
1981 – Johan Van Summeren, Belgian cyclist
1982 – Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler
1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
1982 – Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)
1983 – Jarrad Waite, Australian rules footballer
1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
1985 – Bug Hall, American actor
1986 – Mohammad Mahmudullah, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Lucie Šafárová, Czech tennis player
1988 – Eoin McDowell, Irish rugby player
1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast
1990 – Haruka Tomatsu, Japanese Seiyu
1993 – Tim McGrath, RCA Records Rookie Musician
Deaths
Ancient Latvia – Biezputras Diena observed.
Independence Day in Sri Lanka (1948).
Angolan Anniversary of the Outbreak of Armed Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism.
World Cancer Day
Across the Universe Day
Holidays and observances
Andrew Corsini
Saint Gilbert (d. 1189)
Saint John de Britto
Saint Rembert of Torhout
Saint Veronica
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