text:
February 23

Pre-1600

 * 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
 * 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.
 * 628 – Khosrow II, last Sasanian shah of Iran, is overthrown.
 * 705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
 * 1455 – Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.

1601–1900

 * 1763 – Berbice slave uprising in Guyana: The first major slave revolt in South America.
 * 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.
 * 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed and the conspirators arrested.
 * 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.
 * 1847 – Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
 * 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State, South Africa is declared.
 * 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
 * 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
 * 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.
 * 1885 – Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.
 * 1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.
 * 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
 * 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
 * 1900 – Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.

1901–present

 * 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
 * 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
 * 1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
 * 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).
 * 1927 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
 * 1927  – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
 * 1934 – Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
 * 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
 * 1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.
 * 1943 – The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook.
 * 1943  – Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.
 * 1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
 * 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
 * 1945  – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies."
 * 1945  – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
 * 1945  – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
 * 1945  – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.
 * 1945  – American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17.
 * 1947 – International Organization for Standardization is founded.
 * 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
 * 1958 – Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.
 * 1966 – In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.
 * 1971 – Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.
 * 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
 * 1980 – Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
 * 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
 * 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
 * 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
 * 1988 – Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.
 * 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
 * 1998 – In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.
 * 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
 * 1999  – An avalanche buries the town of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.
 * 2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
 * 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
 * 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than $2 1/2$ million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.
 * 2012 – A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.
 * 2017 – The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.
 * 2019 – Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.
 * 2020 – Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.
 * 2021 – Four simultaneous prison riots leave at least 62 people dead in Ecuador.

Pre-1600

 * 1133 – Al-Zafir, Fatimid caliph (d. 1154)
 * 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
 * 1417  – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1479)
 * 1443 – Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (d. 1490)
 * 1529 – Onofrio Panvinio, Italian historian (d. 1568)
 * 1539 – Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica (d. 1588)
 * 1539  – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (d. 1612)
 * 1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer (d. 1656)
 * 1592 – Balthazar Gerbier, Dutch painter (d. 1663)

1601–1900

 * 1606 – George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (d. 1674)
 * 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician (d. 1703)
 * 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun (d. 1709)
 * 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
 * 1685 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (d. 1759)
 * 1723 – Richard Price, Welsh-English minister and philosopher (d. 1791)
 * 1744 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker and businessman (d. 1812)
 * 1792 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general (d. 1854)
 * 1805 – Johan Jakob Nervander, Finnish poet, physicist and meteorologist (d. 1848)
 * 1831 – Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (d. 1915)
 * 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher and author (d. 1906)
 * 1850 – César Ritz, Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz Hotel, London and Hôtel Ritz Paris (d. 1918)
 * 1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (d. 1963)
 * 1868  – Anna Hofman-Uddgren, Swedish actress, singer, and director (d. 1947)
 * 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (d. 1929)
 * 1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Estonia (d. 1956)
 * 1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and theorist (d. 1935)
 * 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1969)
 * 1883  – Guy C. Wiggins, American painter (d. 1962)
 * 1884 – Casimir Funk, Polish biochemist (d. 1967)
 * 1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
 * 1889  – Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (d. 1975)
 * 1889  – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 1949)
 * 1889  – John Gilbert Winant, American captain, pilot, and politician, 60th Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1947)
 * 1892 – Kathleen Harrison, English actress (d. 1995)
 * 1892  – Agnes Smedley, American journalist and writer (d. 1950)
 * 1894 – Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1978)
 * 1899 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (d. 1974)
 * 1899  – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (d. 1981)

1901–present

 * 1904 – Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (d. 1980)
 * 1904  – William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian (d. 1993)
 * 1908 – William McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
 * 1915 – Jon Hall, American actor and director (d. 1979)
 * 1915  – Paul Tibbets, American general and pilot (d. 2007)
 * 1919 – Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (d. 1995)
 * 1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2018)
 * 1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 2014)
 * 1923  – Harry Clarke, English footballer (d. 2000)
 * 1923  – Ioannis Grivas, Greek judge and politician, 176th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2016)
 * 1923  – Dante Lavelli, American football player (d. 2009)
 * 1923  – Clarence D. Lester, American fighter pilot (d. 1986)
 * 1923  – Mary Francis Shura, American author (d. 1991)
 * 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
 * 1925 – Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
 * 1927 – Régine Crespin, French soprano and actress (d. 2007)
 * 1927  – Jessica Huntley, Guyanese activist and publisher (d. 2013)
 * 1928 – Hans Herrmann, German racing driver
 * 1928  – Vasily Lazarev, Russian colonel, physician, and astronaut (d. 1990)
 * 1929 – Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (d. 2008)
 * 1929  – Elston Howard, American baseball player and coach (d. 1980)
 * 1930 – Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
 * 1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (d. 2004)
 * 1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (d. 2008)
 * 1937 – Tom Osborne, American football player, coach, and politician
 * 1938 – Sylvia Chase, American broadcast journalist (d. 2019)
 * 1938  – Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1938  – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
 * 1939 – Lee Shaffer, American basketball player
 * 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
 * 1940  – Jackie Smith, American football player
 * 1941 – Ron Hunt, American baseball player
 * 1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
 * 1943  – Bobby Mitchell, American golfer (d. 2018)
 * 1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English author and educator
 * 1944  – Florian Fricke, German keyboard player and composer (d. 2001)
 * 1944  – Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
 * 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician
 * 1946 – Rusty Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2021)
 * 1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician, Speaker of the Danish Parliament
 * 1947  – Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and author
 * 1948 – Bill Alexander, English director and producer
 * 1948  – Trevor Cherry, English footballer (d. 2020)
 * 1948  – Steve Priest, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2020)
 * 1949 – César Aira, Argentine author and translator
 * 1949  – Marc Garneau, Canadian engineer, astronaut, and politician
 * 1950 – Rebecca Goldstein, American philosopher and author
 * 1950  – John Greaves, Welsh bass guitarist and composer
 * 1951 – Eddie Dibbs, American tennis player
 * 1951  – Debbie Friedman, American singer-songwriter of Jewish melodies (d. 2011)
 * 1951  – Ed "Too Tall" Jones, American football player and boxer
 * 1951  – Patricia Richardson, American actress
 * 1952 – Brad Whitford, American guitarist and songwriter
 * 1953 – Kenny Bee, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
 * 1953  – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
 * 1954 – Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 1989)
 * 1954  – Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian captain and politician, 3rd President of Ukraine
 * 1955 – Howard Jones, English singer-songwriter
 * 1955  – Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
 * 1955  – Francesca Simon, American-British author
 * 1956 – Sandra Osborne, Scottish politician
 * 1957 – Charlie Brandt, American serial killer (d. 2004)
 * 1958 – David Sylvian, English singer-songwriter
 * 1959 – Clayton Anderson, American engineer and astronaut
 * 1959  – Nick de Bois, English politician
 * 1959  – Ian Liddell-Grainger, Scottish soldier and politician
 * 1959  – Linda Nolan, Irish singer and actress
 * 1960 – Naruhito, Emperor of Japan
 * 1962 – Michael Wilton, American guitarist
 * 1963 – Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player
 * 1963  – Radosław Sikorski, Polish journalist and politician, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland
 * 1964 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter
 * 1965 – Kristin Davis, American actress and producer
 * 1965  – Michael Dell, American businessman
 * 1965  – Helena Suková, Czech-Monacan tennis player
 * 1967 – Steve Stricker, American golfer
 * 1967  – Chris Vrenna, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
 * 1969 – Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer
 * 1969  – Martine Croxall, English journalist and television news presenter
 * 1969  – Daymond John, American fashion designer and businessman, founded FUBU
 * 1969  – Bhagyashree, Indian actress
 * 1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress and producer
 * 1971 – Carin Koch, Swedish golfer
 * 1971  – Melinda Messenger, English model and television host
 * 1971  – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
 * 1972 – Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer
 * 1972  – Rondell White, American baseball player
 * 1973 – Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player
 * 1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
 * 1974  – Robbi Kempson, South African rugby player
 * 1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1975  – Robert Lopez, American songwriter and playwright
 * 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
 * 1977 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier
 * 1978 – Residente, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter
 * 1978  – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
 * 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
 * 1981  – Josh Gad, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1981  – Charles Tillman, American football player
 * 1982 – Jia Perkins, American basketball player and coach
 * 1982  – Karan Singh Grover, Indian actor
 * 1983 – Aziz Ansari, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1983  – Emily Blunt, English actress
 * 1983  – Mido, Egyptian footballer, manager and sportscaster
 * 1983  – Dijon Thompson, American basketball player
 * 1986 – Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer
 * 1986  – Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter
 * 1986  – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1986  – Jerod Mayo, American football player and coach
 * 1986  – Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter
 * 1987 – Ab-Soul, American rapper
 * 1987  – Malik Hairston, American basketball player
 * 1987  – Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1988 – Nicolás Gaitán, Argentine footballer
 * 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
 * 1989  – Jérémy Pied, French footballer
 * 1989  – Wilin Rosario, Dominican baseball player
 * 1990 – Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1990  – Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Casemiro, Brazilian footballer
 * 1992  – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
 * 1992  – Samara Weaving, Australian actress and model
 * 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress
 * 1994  – Triptii Dimri, Indian actress
 * 1995 – Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player
 * 1996 – D'Angelo Russell, American basketball player
 * 1997 – Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player
 * 2000 – Femke Bol, Dutch hurdler and sprinter
 * 2002 – Emilia Jones, English actress

Pre-1600

 * 715 – Al-Walid I, Umayyad caliph (b. 668)
 * 908 – Li Keyong, Shatuo military governor during the Tang dynasty in China (b. 856)
 * 943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
 * 943  – David I, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)
 * 1011 – Willigis, German archbishop (b. 940)
 * 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of Song (b. 1076)
 * 1270 – Isabel of France (b. 1225)
 * 1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
 * 1447  – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
 * 1464 – Emperor Yingzong of Ming (b. 1427)
 * 1473 – Arnold, Duke of Gelderland (b. 1410)
 * 1526 – Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies (b. c. 1479)
 * 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire (b. 1515)

1601–1900

 * 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
 * 1603  – Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (b. 1540)
 * 1620 – Nicholas Fuller, English politician (b. 1543)
 * 1704 – Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (b. 1653)
 * 1766 – Stanisław Leszczyński, Polish king (b. 1677)
 * 1781 – George Taylor, Founding Father of the United States (b. 1716)
 * 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (b. 1723)
 * 1821 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
 * 1844 – Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada, Brazilian politician, twice Minister of Finance, brother of José Bonifácio and Antônio Carlos (b. 1775)
 * 1848 – John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
 * 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
 * 1859 – Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1812)
 * 1871 – Amanda Cajander, Finnish medical reformer (b. 1827)
 * 1879 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (b. 1803)
 * 1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer and educator (b. 1828)
 * 1900 – Ernest Dowson, English poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1867)

1901–present

 * 1908 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (b. 1823)
 * 1918 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1882)
 * 1930 – Horst Wessel, German SA officer (b. 1907)
 * 1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (b. 1861)
 * 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (b. 1857)
 * 1944 – Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (b. 1863)
 * 1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (b. 1885)
 * 1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-American publisher and educator (b. 1866)
 * 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
 * 1965 – Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (b. 1890)
 * 1969 – Madhubala, Indian actress and producer (b. 1933)
 * 1969  – Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2nd King of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
 * 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
 * 1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (b. 1895)
 * 1976 – L. S. Lowry, English painter (b. 1887)
 * 1979 – W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian businessman and politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (b. 1900)
 * 1983 – Herbert Howells, English organist and composer (b. 1892)
 * 1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
 * 1995 – James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (b. 1916)
 * 1997 – Tony Williams, American drummer, composer, and producer (b. 1945)
 * 1998 – Philip Abbott, American actor and director (b. 1924)
 * 1999 – The Renegade, American wrestler (b. 1965)
 * 2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1957)
 * 2000  – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (b. 1915)
 * 2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1955)
 * 2003  – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
 * 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1934)
 * 2004  – Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1918)
 * 2006 – Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1912)
 * 2006  – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
 * 2007 – Hanna Barysiewicz, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1888)
 * 2007 – John Ritchie, English footballer (b. 1941)
 * 2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (b. 1950)
 * 2008  – Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (b. 1917)
 * 2010 – Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (b. 1967)
 * 2011 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (b. 1923)
 * 2012 – William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
 * 2012  – David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1924)
 * 2012  – Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (b. 1919)
 * 2013 – Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (b. 1918)
 * 2013  – Joseph Friedenson, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer and editor (b. 1922)
 * 2013  – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (b. 1920)
 * 2013  – Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (b. 1945)
 * 2014 – Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English Holocaust survivor, pianist and educator (b. 1903)
 * 2014  – Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1919)
 * 2015 – James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (b. 1918)
 * 2015  – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1942)
 * 2015  – W. E. "Bill" Dykes, American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
 * 2016 – Peter Lustig, German television host and author (b. 1937)
 * 2016  – Jacqueline Mattson, American baseball player (b. 1928)
 * 2019 – Katherine Helmond, American actress (b. 1929)
 * 2021 – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (b. 1930)
 * 2023 – Tony Earl, American politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1936)
 * 2023  – John Motson, English football commentator (b. 1945)

 * 2024 – Flaco, Eurasian eagle-owl (b. 2010)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Polycarp of Smyrna
 * Serenus the Gardener
 * February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * The Emperor's Birthday, birthday of Naruhito, the current Emperor of Japan (Japan)
 * Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)
 * National Day (Brunei)
 * Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics:
 * Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)
 * Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces day (Belarus)
 * Armed Forces Day (Tajikistan) (Tajikistan)

title: February 23


text:
February 22

Pre-1600

 * 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
 * 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.
 * 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
 * 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.

1601–1900

 * 1632 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.
 * 1651 – St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
 * 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
 * 1770 – British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider; the first American fatality of the American Revolution.
 * 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
 * 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
 * 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.
 * 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
 * 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
 * 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
 * 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
 * 1881 – Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York.
 * 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
 * 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.

1901–present

 * 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
 * 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut (BB-18), return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
 * 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
 * 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
 * 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
 * 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
 * 1944  – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
 * 1946 – The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
 * 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
 * 1958 – Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
 * 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
 * 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
 * 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
 * 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
 * 1974  – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but commits suicide after being wounded by police.
 * 1979 – Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.
 * 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
 * 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
 * 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
 * 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
 * 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
 * 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
 * 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
 * 2005 – The 6.4 Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
 * 2006 – At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.
 * 2006 – The Securitas depot robbery was the UK's largest heist. Almost £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
 * 2011 – New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
 * 2011  – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
 * 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
 * 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
 * 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
 * 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.
 * 2022 – Twosday, the name given to Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 2:22:22, occurs.

Pre-1600

 * 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
 * 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
 * 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
 * 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
 * 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
 * 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
 * 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
 * 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)

1601–1900

 * 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
 * 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
 * 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
 * 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
 * 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
 * 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
 * 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
 * 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
 * 1796  – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
 * 1805 – Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, English poet and hymnwriter (d. 1848)
 * 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
 * 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
 * 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
 * 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
 * 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
 * 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
 * 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
 * 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
 * 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
 * 1857  – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
 * 1860 – Mary W. Bacheler, American physician and Baptist medical missionary (d. 1939)
 * 1861 – Lewis Akeley, American academic (d. 1961)
 * 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
 * 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
 * 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
 * 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
 * 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
 * 1880 – Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
 * 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
 * 1881  – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
 * 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
 * 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
 * 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
 * 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
 * 1887  – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)
 * 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
 * 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, first World Chief Guide (d. 1977)
 * 1889  – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
 * 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
 * 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
 * 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
 * 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
 * 1899 – George O'Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
 * 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
 * 1903  – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
 * 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
 * 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
 * 1907  – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
 * 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
 * 1908  – John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
 * 1910 – George Hunt, English footballer (d. 1996)
 * 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
 * 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
 * 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
 * 1918  – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
 * 1918  – Robert Wadlow, American man, the tallest person in recorded history (d. 1940)
 * 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
 * 1921  – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
 * 1921  – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
 * 1922 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban pianist (d. 2012)
 * 1922  – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
 * 1923 – François Cavanna, French author and editor (d. 2014)
 * 1923  – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
 * 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
 * 1925  – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic (d. 2022)
 * 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
 * 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
 * 1927  – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
 * 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
 * 1928  – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
 * 1928  – Paul Dooley, American actor
 * 1928  – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
 * 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
 * 1929  – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
 * 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
 * 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
 * 1932  – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (d. 2012)
 * 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
 * 1933  – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
 * 1933  – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
 * 1933  – Bobby Smith, English footballer (d. 2010)
 * 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
 * 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
 * 1937  – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
 * 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
 * 1938  – Tony Macedo, Gibraltarian born English footballer
 * 1938  – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
 * 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
 * 1940  – Chet Walker, American basketball player (d. 2024)
 * 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
 * 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer (d. 2017)
 * 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
 * 1943  – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
 * 1943  – Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player
 * 1943  – Tom Van Arsdale, American basketball player
 * 1943  – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
 * 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
 * 1944  – Mick Green, English guitarist (d. 2010)
 * 1944  – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
 * 1944  – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (d. 2022)
 * 1944  – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
 * 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
 * 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
 * 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
 * 1947  – Harvey Mason, American drummer
 * 1947  – John Radford, English footballer and manager
 * 1947  – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
 * 1948 – John Ashton, American actor
 * 1948  – Dennis Awtrey, American basketball player
 * 1949 – John Duncan, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2022)
 * 1949  – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (d. 2019)
 * 1949  – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
 * 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1950  – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
 * 1950  – Miou-Miou, French actress
 * 1950  – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1950  – Julie Walters, English actress and author
 * 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
 * 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
 * 1952  – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (d. 2020)
 * 1952  – Saufatu Sopoanga, Tuvaluan politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (d. 2020)
 * 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
 * 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
 * 1955  – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
 * 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
 * 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
 * 1959  – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
 * 1959  – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
 * 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
 * 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
 * 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
 * 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
 * 1963  – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
 * 1963  – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
 * 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
 * 1964  – Andy Gray, English footballer and manager
 * 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player
 * 1965  – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
 * 1965  – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
 * 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
 * 1967 – Paul Lieberstein, American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
 * 1967  – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
 * 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
 * 1968  – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
 * 1968  – Kazuhiro Sasaki, Japanese baseball player
 * 1968  – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor
 * 1969  – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
 * 1969  – Marc Wilmots,  Belgian footballer and manager
 * 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
 * 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
 * 1972  – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
 * 1972  – Haim Revivo, Israeli footballer
 * 1972  – Ben Sasse, American politician and college administrator
 * 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
 * 1973  – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
 * 1973  – Scott Phillips, American musician and songwriter
 * 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1974  – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
 * 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
 * 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
 * 1979  – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
 * 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1983 – Brian Duensing, American baseball player
 * 1983  – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
 * 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
 * 1984  – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
 * 1985 – Hamer Bouazza, Algerian footballer
 * 1985  – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
 * 1985  – Zach Roerig, American actor
 * 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
 * 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
 * 1987  – Sergio Romero, Argentine footballer
 * 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
 * 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentine footballer
 * 1991 – Khalil Mack, American football player
 * 1992 – Dixon Machado, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1994 – Nam Joo-hyuk, South Korean model and actor
 * 1994  – Elfrid Payton, American basketball player
 * 1995 – Devonte' Graham, American basketball player
 * 1996 – Kia Nurse, Canadian basketball player
 * 1997 – Jerome Robinson, American basketball player
 * 1997  – Ilya Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player

Pre-1600

 * 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
 * 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
 * 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
 * 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
 * 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
 * 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
 * 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
 * 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
 * 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
 * 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
 * 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
 * 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
 * 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
 * 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
 * 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
 * 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
 * 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
 * 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)

1601–1900

 * 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
 * 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
 * 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
 * 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
 * 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
 * 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
 * 1770 – Christopher Seider, first American killed in the American Revolution (b. 1758)
 * 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
 * 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
 * 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
 * 1875  – Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
 * 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
 * 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
 * 1890  – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
 * 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
 * 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
 * 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
 * 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
 * 1913  – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
 * 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)
 * 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
 * 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
 * 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
 * 1943  – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
 * 1943  – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
 * 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
 * 1944   – Fritz Schmenkel, anti-Nazi German who joined Soviet partisans (b. 1916)
 * 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
 * 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
 * 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
 * 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
 * 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
 * 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
 * 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
 * 1973  – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
 * 1973  – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
 * 1973  – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
 * 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
 * 1976  – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
 * 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
 * 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
 * 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
 * 1983  – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
 * 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
 * 1985  – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
 * 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
 * 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
 * 1987  – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
 * 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
 * 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
 * 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
 * 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
 * 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
 * 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
 * 1999  – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
 * 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
 * 2002  – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
 * 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
 * 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
 * 2005  – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
 * 2006 – S. Rajaratnam, Singaporean politician, 1st Senior Minister of Singapore (b. 1915)
 * 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
 * 2007  – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
 * 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
 * 2012  – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
 * 2012  – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
 * 2012  – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
 * 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
 * 2013  – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
 * 2013  – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
 * 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
 * 2014  – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
 * 2014  – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
 * 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
 * 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
 * 2016  – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
 * 2018 – Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
 * 2019 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
 * 2019  – Morgan Woodward, American actor (b. 1925)
 * 2021 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet, painter (b. 1919)
 * 2024 – John Lowe, English musician, pianist for The Quarrymen (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances

 * Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
 * Founder's Day or "B.-P. day" (World Organization of the Scout Movement)
 * World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Baradates
 * Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church)
 * Margaret of Cortona
 * February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Crime Victims Day (Europe)
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.
 * Founding Day (Saudi Arabia)
 * Washington's Birthday, federal holiday in the United States. A holiday on February 22 as well as the third Monday in February.
 * National Cat Day (Japan)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: February 22


text:
February 21

Pre-1600

 * 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.
 * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
 * 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.

1601–1900

 * 1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
 * 1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.
 * 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
 * 1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.
 * 1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
 * 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
 * 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
 * 1861 – Mariehamn, the capital city of Åland, is founded.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
 * 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
 * 1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
 * 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
 * 1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.

1901–present

 * 1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
 * 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
 * 1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
 * 1919 – German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
 * 1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.
 * 1921  – Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup.
 * 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
 * 1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.
 * 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
 * 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) and damage the USS Saratoga (CV-3).
 * 1945  – World War II:  the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.
 * 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
 * 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
 * 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
 * 1952  – The Bengali Language Movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
 * 1958 – The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
 * 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
 * 1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations.
 * 1972  – The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
 * 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.
 * 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
 * 1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
 * 1994 – Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia.
 * 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
 * 2013 – At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.
 * 2022 – In the Russo-Ukrainian crisis Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations.

Pre-1600

 * 921 – Abe no Seimei, Japanese astrologer (d. 1005)
 * 1397 – Isabella of Portugal (d. 1471)
 * 1462 – Joanna la Beltraneja, princess of Castile (d. 1530)
 * 1484 – Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
 * 1498 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English Earl (d. 1549)
 * 1541 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1599)
 * 1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German astronomer, composer, and theorist (d. 1615)

1601–1900

 * 1609 – Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian military commander (d. 1680)
 * 1621 – Rebecca Nurse, Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (d. 1692)
 * 1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, English admiral and politician (d. 1781)
 * 1728 – Peter III of Russia (d. 1762)
 * 1783 – Catharina of Württemberg (d. 1835)
 * 1788 – Francis Ronalds, British scientist, inventor and engineer who was knighted for developing the first working electric telegraph (d. 1873)
 * 1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1857)
 * 1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (d. 1876)
 * 1801 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (d. 1890)
 * 1817 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1893)
 * 1821 – Charles Scribner I, American publisher, founded Charles Scribner's Sons (d. 1871)
 * 1836 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (d. 1891)
 * 1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
 * 1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh-English sculptor and academic (d. 1952)
 * 1865 – John Haden Badley, English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (d. 1967)
 * 1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1934)
 * 1875 – Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian, oldest verified person ever (d. 1997)
 * 1878 – Mirra Alfassa, French-Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
 * 1881 – Kenneth J. Alford, English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (d. 1945)
 * 1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (d. 1957)
 * 1887 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of War (d. 1945)
 * 1888 – Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (d. 1965)
 * 1892 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1949)
 * 1893 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (d. 1979)
 * 1893  – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
 * 1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian chemist and academic (d. 1955)
 * 1895 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
 * 1896 – Nirala, Indian poet and author (d. 1961)
 * 1900 – Jeanne Aubert, French singer and actress (d. 1988)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Arthur Nock, English theologian and academic (d. 1963)
 * 1903 – Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (d. 1977)
 * 1903  – Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (d. 1976)
 * 1907 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
 * 1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
 * 1910 – Douglas Bader, English captain and pilot (d. 1982)
 * 1912 – Arline Judge, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
 * 1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (d. 1999)
 * 1914  – Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
 * 1914  – Jean Tatlock, American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1944)
 * 1915 – Claudia Jones, Trinidad-British journalist and activist (d. 1964)
 * 1915  – Ann Sheridan, American actress and singer (d. 1967)
 * 1915  – Anton Vratuša, Prime Minister of Slovenia (d. 2017)
 * 1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (d. 1996)
 * 1917  – Tadd Dameron, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
 * 1921 – Zdeněk Miler, Czech animator (d. 2011)
 * 1921  – John Rawls, American philosopher and academic (d. 2002)
 * 1921  – Richard T. Whitcomb, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2009)
 * 1924 – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst (d. 1980)
 * 1924  – Thelma Estrin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
 * 1924  – Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean educator and politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (d. 2019)
 * 1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director and screenwriter (d. 1984)
 * 1925  – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
 * 1927 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
 * 1929 – Chespirito, Mexican actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
 * 1933 – Bob Rafelson, American film director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2022)
 * 1933  – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2003)
 * 1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
 * 1935 – Richard A. Lupoff, American author (d. 2020)
 * 1935  – Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
 * 1936 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1996)
 * 1937 – Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (d. 2015)
 * 1937  – Harald V of Norway
 * 1937  – Gary Lockwood, American actor
 * 1938 – Bobby Charles, American singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1940 – Peter Gethin, English racing driver (d. 2011)
 * 1940  – John Lewis, American activist and politician (d. 2020)
 * 1942 – Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1942  – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1943 – David Geffen, American businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
 * 1945 – Maurice Bembridge, English golfer (d. 2024)
 * 1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress and singer
 * 1946  – Anthony Daniels, English actor and producer
 * 1946  – Alan Rickman, English actor and director (d. 2016)
 * 1946  – Bob Ryan, American journalist and author
 * 1947 – Johnny Echols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1947  – Olympia Snowe, American politician
 * 1949 – Frank Brunner, American illustrator
 * 1949  – Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1949  – Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer (d. 2022)
 * 1950 – Sahle-Work Zewde, Ethiopian politician and diplomat, 5th President of Ethiopia
 * 1951 – Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (d. 2006)
 * 1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
 * 1952  – Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat, former Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations (d. 2017)
 * 1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress and singer
 * 1953  – William Petersen, American actor and producer
 * 1954 – Christina Rees, British politician
 * 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, and producer
 * 1958 – Jake Burns, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1958  – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1958  – Kim Coates, Canadian-American actor
 * 1958  – Jack Coleman, American actor
 * 1958  – Alan Trammell, American baseball player, coach, and manager
 * 1959 – José María Cano, Spanish singer-songwriter and painter
 * 1960 – Plamen Oresharski, Bulgarian economist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria
 * 1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor and businessman
 * 1961  – Elliot Hirshman, American psychologist and academic
 * 1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist
 * 1962  – David Foster Wallace, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2008)
 * 1963 – William Baldwin, American actor
 * 1963  – Ranking Roger, English singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2019)
 * 1963  – Greg Turner, New Zealand golfer
 * 1964 – Mark Kelly, American astronaut and politician
 * 1964  – Scott Kelly, American astronaut
 * 1965 – Mark Ferguson, Australian journalist
 * 1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner and coach
 * 1967  – Sari Essayah, Finnish athlete and politician
 * 1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1969  – Aunjanue Ellis, American actress and producer
 * 1969  – Petra Kronberger, Austrian skier
 * 1969  – Tony Meola, American soccer player and manager
 * 1969  – Cathy Richardson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1971 – Pierre Fulke, Swedish golfer
 * 1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1973  – Brian Rolston, American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
 * 1975 – Scott Miller, Australian swimmer
 * 1976 – Michael McIntyre, English comedian, actor and television presenter
 * 1976  – Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
 * 1977  – Rhiannon Giddens, American musician
 * 1978 – Erick Barkley, American basketball player
 * 1979 – Tituss Burgess, American actor and singer
 * 1979  – Carlito, Puerto Rican wrestler
 * 1979  – Pascal Chimbonda, Guadeloupean-French footballer
 * 1979  – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and producer
 * 1979  – Jordan Peele, American actor, comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1980 – Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1980  – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1980  – Brendan Sexton III, American actor
 * 1980  – Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 5th King of Bhutan
 * 1981 – Tsuyoshi Wada, Japanese baseball player
 * 1982 – Andre Barrett, American basketball player
 * 1982  – Chantal Claret, American singer-songwriter
 * 1982  – Tebogo Jacko Magubane, South African DJ and producer
 * 1983 – Braylon Edwards, American football player
 * 1983  – Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1983  – Mélanie Laurent, French actress
 * 1984 – Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1984  – David Odonkor, German footballer
 * 1984  – Marco Paoloni, Italian footballer
 * 1984  – James Wisniewski, American ice hockey player
 * 1985 – Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
 * 1986 – Charlotte Church, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1987 – Eniola Aluko, English footballer
 * 1987  – Ashley Greene, American actress
 * 1987  – Elliot Page, Canadian actor
 * 1988 – Donté Greene, American basketball player
 * 1989 – Corbin Bleu, American actor, model, dancer, film producer and singer-songwriter
 * 1989  – Ian Cole, American ice hockey player
 * 1989  – Federico Fernández, Argentine footballer
 * 1989  – Jake Muzzin, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1990 – Mattias Tedenby, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1991 – Joe Alwyn, English actor
 * 1991  – Riyad Mahrez, Algerian footballer
 * 1991  – Ji So-yun, South Korean footballer
 * 1991  – Devon Travis, American baseball player
 * 1992 – Phil Jones, English footballer
 * 1993 – Steve Leo Beleck, Cameroonian footballer
 * 1993  – Davy Klaassen, Dutch footballer
 * 1994 – Tang Haochen, Chinese tennis player
 * 1994  – Hayley Orrantia, American actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1994  – Wendy, South Korean singer
 * 1996 – Noah Rubin, American tennis player
 * 1996  – Sophie Turner, English actress
 * 1999 – Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, Thai actor and singer

Pre-1600

 * 4 AD – Gaius Caesar, Roman consul and grandson of Augustus (b. 20 BC)
 * 675 – Randoald of Grandval, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Grandval
 * 1184 – Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Japanese shōgun (b. 1154)
 * 1211 – Aymon de Briançon, archbishop of Tarentaise and crusader
 * 1267 – Baldwin of Ibelin, Seneschal of Cyprus
 * 1437 – James I of Scotland (b. 1394; assassinated)
 * 1471 – Jan Rokycana, Czech bishop and theologian (b. 1396)
 * 1513 – Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
 * 1543 – Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Somalian general (b. 1507)
 * 1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist and physician (b. 1498)
 * 1572 – Cho Shik, Korean poet and scholar (b. 1501)
 * 1590 – Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (b. 1528)
 * 1595 – Robert Southwell, English priest and poet (b. 1561)

1601–1900

 * 1677 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher and scholar (b. 1632)
 * 1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (b. 1637)
 * 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
 * 1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German jurist and diplomat (b. 1756)
 * 1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais, French general (b. 1781)
 * 1829 – Kittur Chennamma, Indian queen and freedom fighter (b. 1778)
 * 1846 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (b. 1800)
 * 1862 – Justinus Kerner, German poet and physician (b. 1786)
 * 1888 – William Weston, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1804)
 * 1891 – James Timberlake, American lieutenant and police officer (b. 1846)

1901–present

 * 1918 – Incas, last known Carolina parakeet (h. )
 * 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (b. 1867)
 * 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
 * 1934 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (b. 1895)
 * 1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and academic (b. 1868)
 * 1941 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
 * 1944 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-French racing driver (b. 1873)
 * 1945 – Eric Liddell, Scottish rugby player and runner (b. 1902)
 * 1946 – José Streel, Belgian journalist (b. 1911)
 * 1947 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (b. 1881)
 * 1958 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
 * 1965 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (b. 1925)
 * 1967 – Charles Beaumont, American author and screenwriter (b. 1929)
 * 1968 – Howard Florey, Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
 * 1972 – Zhang Guohua, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
 * 1972  – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian-American dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
 * 1972  – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (b. 1884)
 * 1974 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, co-founded Tim Hortons (b. 1930)
 * 1980 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author (b. 1914)
 * 1982 – Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli historian and philosopher (b. 1897)
 * 1984 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 * 1985 – Louis Hayward, South African-American actor (b. 1909)
 * 1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American novelist (b. 1895)
 * 1991 – Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, Australian poet, critic, and academic (b. 1915)
 * 1991  – Nutan, Indian actress (b. 1936)
 * 1993 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (b. 1888)
 * 1994 – Johannes Steinhoff, German general and pilot (b. 1913)
 * 1995 – Robert Bolt, English dramatist (b. 1924)
 * 1996 – Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1913)
 * 1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * 1999  – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (b. 1914)
 * 1999  – Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player and politician (b. 1930)
 * 2002 – John Thaw, English actor and producer (b. 1942)
 * 2004 – John Charles, Welsh footballer and manager (b. 1931)
 * 2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban author, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1929)
 * 2005  – Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1929)
 * 2008 – Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
 * 2011 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media (b. 1962)
 * 2011  – Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
 * 2012 – H. M. Darmstandler, American general (b. 1922)
 * 2013 – Hasse Jeppson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
 * 2014 – Héctor Maestri, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1935)
 * 2014  – Matthew Robinson, Australian snowboarder (b. 1985)
 * 2014  – Cornelius Schnauber, German–American historian, playwright, and academic (b. 1939)
 * 2015 – Aleksei Gubarev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1931)
 * 2015  – Sadeq Tabatabaei, Iranian journalist and politician (b. 1943)
 * 2015  – Clark Terry, American trumpet player, composer, and educator (b. 1920)
 * 2016 – Eric Brown, Scottish-English captain and pilot (b. 1919)
 * 2017 – Jeanne Martin Cissé, Guinean teacher and politician (b. 1926)
 * 2018 – Billy Graham, American evangelist (b. 1918)
 * 2019 – Stanley Donen, American film director (b. 1924)
 * 2019  – Peter Tork, American musician and actor (b. 1942)
 * 2021 – Mireya Arboleda, Colombian classical pianist (b. 1928)
 * 2021  – Kevin Dann, Australian rugby league player (b. 1958)
 * 2024 – John Bahnsen, United States Army brigadier general and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances

 * Armed Forces Day (South Africa)
 * Birthday of King Harald V (Norway)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Felix of Hadrumetum
 * Pepin of Landen
 * Peter Damian
 * Randoald of Grandval
 * February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Father Lini Day (Vanuatu)
 * Language Movement Day (Bangladesh)
 * International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
 * The first day of the Birth Anniversary of Fifth Druk Gyalpo, celebrated until February 23. (Bhutan)
 * The first day of the Musikahan Festival, celebrated until February 27. (Tagum City, Philippines)

title: February 21


text:
FBI (disambiguation)

The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States.

FBI may also refer to:

Music

 * F.B.I. (album), a 1996 song and album by The Dayton Family
 * "F.B.I." (instrumental), a 1961 single by The Shadows
 * FBi Radio, a community radio station based in Sydney, Australia

Television

 * Fully Booked Interactive, a 2000 British children's TV show – a reformat of the series Fully Booked
 * The F.B.I. (TV series), a 1965–1974 television series based in part on actual FBI cases
 * FBI (franchise)
 * FBI (TV series), the television series produced by Dick Wolf, debuted in the 2018–2019 season
 * FBI: Most Wanted, a spin-off of the above
 * FBI: International, a spin-off of the above

Organisations

 * Federation of British Industries, merged into Confederation of British Industry in 1965
 * Flying Buffalo, Inc., a game publisher based in the Arizona, US
 * Furniture Brands International, a former Clayton, Missouri, US-based furniture company
 * Full Blooded Italians, a professional wrestling stable

Science

 * The Fauna of British India, a series of scientific books published by the British government in India (1890–1947)
 * FBI mnemonics, for describing directions in magnetic fields
 * FBI transform (Fourier-Bros-Iaglonitzer transform), a concept in mathematics

Other uses

 * F.B.I. Frog Butthead Investigators, a 2012 film

title: FBI (disambiguation)