text:
February 4

Pre–1600

 * 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrelling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace.
 * 960 – Zhao Kuangyin declares himself Emperor Taizu of Song, ending the Later Zhou and beginning the Song dynasty.
 * 1169 – A strong earthquake strikes the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
 * 1454 – Thirteen Years' War: The Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, sparking the Thirteen Years' War.
 * 1555 – John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.

1601–1900

 * 1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
 * 1758 – The city of Macapá in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral.
 * 1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
 * 1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
 * 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
 * 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
 * 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.
 * 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships.
 * 1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
 * 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
 * 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
 * 1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states meet and initiate the process that would form the Confederate States of America on February 8.
 * 1899 – The Philippine–American War begins when four Filipino soldiers enter the "American Zone" in Manila, igniting the Battle of Manila.

1901–present

 * 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
 * 1938 – Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.
 * 1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
 * 1945 – World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
 * 1945  – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
 * 1945  – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
 * 1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
 * 1961 – The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
 * 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
 * 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
 * 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
 * 1974  – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
 * 1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
 * 1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
 * 1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.
 * 1992 – A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
 * 1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73.
 * 1997  – The Bojnurd earthquake measuring  6.5 strikes Iran. With a Mercalli intensity of VIII, it kills at least 88 and damages 173 villages.
 * 1998 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
 * 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
 * 2000 – The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.
 * 2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.
 * 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.
 * 2008 – Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.
 * 2015 – TransAsia Airways Flight 235, with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after takeoff, killing 43 people.
 * 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.

Pre–1600

 * 1447 – Lodovico Lazzarelli, Italian poet (d. 1500)
 * 1495 – Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1535)
 * 1495  – Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1568)
 * 1505 – Mikołaj Rej, Polish poet and author (d. 1580)
 * 1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629)

1601–1900

 * 1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet and politician (d. 1699)
 * 1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (d. 1731)
 * 1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (d. 1763)
 * 1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (d. 1804)
 * 1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
 * 1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841)
 * 1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854)
 * 1818 – Emperor Norton, San Francisco eccentric and visionary (d. 1880)
 * 1831 – Oliver Ames, American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
 * 1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921)
 * 1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926)
 * 1862 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (d. 1942)
 * 1865 – Abe Isoo, Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949)
 * 1868 – Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary and first woman elected to the UK House of Commons (d. 1927)
 * 1869 – Bill Haywood, American labor organizer (d. 1928)
 * 1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, first President of Germany (d. 1925)
 * 1872 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian and Macedonian revolutionary activist (d. 1903)
 * 1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905)
 * 1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (d. 1953)
 * 1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953)
 * 1881 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (d. 1939)
 * 1881  – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
 * 1881 – Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet politician and Marshal of the Soviet Union, People's Commissar for Defence (d. 1969)
 * 1883 – Reinhold Rudenberg, German-American inventor and a pioneer of electron microscopy (d. 1961)
 * 1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, second Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
 * 1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964)
 * 1893 – Raymond Dart, Australian paleoanthropologist (d. 1988)
 * 1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
 * 1896 – Friedrich Glauser, Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938)
 * 1896  – Friedrich Hund, German physicist and academic (d. 1997)
 * 1897 – Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, second Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977)
 * 1899 – Virginia M. Alexander, American physician and founder of the Aspiranto Health Home (d. 1949)
 * 1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974)
 * 1902  – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003)
 * 1903 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014)
 * 1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author and screenwriter (d. 1977)
 * 1904  – Deng Yingchao, Chinese politician, Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (d. 1968)
 * 1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (d. 1986)
 * 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (d. 1945)
 * 1906  – Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, Irish librarian (d. 1994)
 * 1906  – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
 * 1908 – Julian Bell, English poet and academic (d. 1937)
 * 1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999)
 * 1912  – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993)
 * 1912  – Byron Nelson, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006)
 * 1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
 * 1914 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980)
 * 1915 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
 * 1915  – Norman Wisdom, English comedian, actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
 * 1917 – Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, third President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
 * 1918 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (d. 1995)
 * 1918  – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991)
 * 1920 – Janet Waldo, American actress and voice artist (d. 2016)
 * 1921 – Betty Friedan, American author and feminist (d. 2006)
 * 1921  – Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian-American mathematician and computer scientist and founder of fuzzy logic (d. 2017)
 * 1922 – Bhimsen Joshi, Indian vocalist of the Hindustani classical music tradition (d. 2011)
 * 1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
 * 1925 – Russell Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
 * 1925  – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (d. 2013)
 * 1925  – Christopher Zeeman, English mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
 * 1926 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
 * 1927 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
 * 1928 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentinian racing driver (d. 1967)
 * 1928  – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
 * 1929 – Jerry Adler, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1929  – Paul Burlison, American musician (d. 2003)
 * 1929  – Neil Johnston, American basketball player (d. 1978)
 * 1930 – Tibor Antalpéter, Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012)
 * 1930  – Arthur E. Chase, American businessman and politician (d. 2015)
 * 1930  – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
 * 1931 – Isabel Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina
 * 1935 – Wallis Mathias, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1994)
 * 1935  – Martti Talvela, Finnish opera singer (d. 1989)
 * 1935  – Collin Wilcox, American actress (d. 2009)
 * 1936 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014)
 * 1936  – Gary Conway, American actor
 * 1936  – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013)
 * 1937 – Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer, composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance (d. 2022)
 * 1937  – David Newman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
 * 1938 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (d. 2010)
 * 1939 – Stan Lundine, American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New York
 * 1940 – George A. Romero, American director and producer (d. 2017)
 * 1940  – John Schuck, American actor
 * 1941 – Russell Cooper, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of Queensland
 * 1941  – Ron Rangi, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
 * 1941  – Jiří Raška, Czech skier and coach (d. 2012)
 * 1941  – John Steel, English musician and songwriter
 * 1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese journalist and politician, second President of the Regional Government of Madeira
 * 1943  – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
 * 1943  – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language
 * 1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer and actress
 * 1944 – Alan Shields, American artist and ship captain (d. 2005)
 * 1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and politician, third Director of National Intelligence
 * 1947  – Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
 * 1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter
 * 1948  – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler
 * 1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
 * 1949  – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general (d. 2010)
 * 1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
 * 1952 – Lisa Eichhorn, American actress, writer, and producer
 * 1952  – Jenny Shipley, New Zealand politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand
 * 1952  – Thomas Silverstein, American criminal and prisoner (d. 2019)
 * 1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia
 * 1957 – Matthew Cobb, British zoologist and author
 * 1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (d. 2005)
 * 1959 – Christian Schreier, German footballer and manager
 * 1959  – Lawrence Taylor, American football player
 * 1960 – Siobhan Dowd, English author and activist (d. 2007)
 * 1960  – Jonathan Larson, American lyricist, composer, and playwright (d. 1996)
 * 1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1962 – Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1962  – Vern Fleming, American basketball player
 * 1963 – Noodles, American musician and songwriter
 * 1963  – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
 * 1964 – Elke Philipp, German Paralympic equestrian
 * 1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
 * 1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
 * 1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
 * 1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English-American actress
 * 1970  – Hunter Biden, American attorney and lobbyist
 * 1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1971  – Michael A. Goorjian, American actor, director, and writer
 * 1972 – Giovanni, Brazilian footballer and manager
 * 1972  – Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host
 * 1973 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
 * 1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1976 – Cam'ron, American rapper and actor
 * 1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter
 * 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing driver
 * 1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player
 * 1981 – Jason Kapono, American basketball player
 * 1981  – Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist
 * 1982 – Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player
 * 1983 – Hannibal Buress, American comedian and actor
 * 1983  – Rebecca White, Australian politician
 * 1984 – Doug Fister, American baseball player
 * 1984  – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
 * 1986 – Maximilian Götz, German racing driver
 * 1986  – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer
 * 1987 – Darren O'Dea, Irish footballer
 * 1987  – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
 * 1988 – Charlie Barnett, American actor
 * 1988  – Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer
 * 1989 – Lavoy Allen, American basketball player
 * 1996 – Mohamed Sherif, Egyptian footballer
 * 1998 – Malik Monk, American basketball player
 * 1998  – Maximilian Wöber, Austrian footballer
 * 2003 – Kyla Kenedy, American actress
 * 2003  – Rasmus Højlund, Danish footballer

Pre–1600

 * 211 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 145)
 * 708 – Pope Sisinnius (b. 650)
 * 856 – Rabanus Maurus, Frankish archbishop and theologian (b. 780)
 * 870 – Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury
 * 1169 – John of Ajello, Bishop of Catania
 * 1498 – Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian artist (b. 1429/1433)
 * 1505 – Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Louis XI of France (b. 1464)
 * 1508 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (b. 1459)
 * 1555 – John Rogers, English clergyman and translator (b. 1505)
 * 1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1517)

1601–1900

 * 1615 – Giambattista della Porta, Italian playwright and scholar (b. 1535)
 * 1617 – Lodewijk Elzevir, Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546)
 * 1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (b. 1671)
 * 1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
 * 1781 – Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)
 * 1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect and educator (b. 1728)
 * 1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (b. 1770)
 * 1891 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (b. 1816)

1901–present

 * 1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (b. 1841)
 * 1912 – Franz Reichelt, French tailor and inventor (b. 1878)
 * 1926 – İskilipli Âtıf Hodja, Turkish author and scholar (b. 1875)
 * 1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
 * 1933 – Archibald Sayce, English linguist and educator (b. 1846)
 * 1936 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German-Swiss soldier, founded Swiss NSDAP/AO (b. 1895)
 * 1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Russian police officer and politician (b. 1895)
 * 1943 – Frank Calder, English-Canadian ice hockey player and journalist (b. 1877)
 * 1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (b. 1872)
 * 1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Russian-French chess player, journalist, and author (b. 1887)
 * 1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
 * 1959 – Una O'Connor, Irish-American actress (b. 1880)
 * 1968 – Neal Cassady, American novelist and poet (b. 1926)
 * 1970 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (b. 1897)
 * 1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1894)
 * 1975 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1908)
 * 1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1935)
 * 1982  – Georg Konrad Morgen, German lawyer and judge (b. 1909)
 * 1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
 * 1987 – Liberace, American singer-songwriter and pianist, (b. 1919)
 * 1987  – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan activist, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (b. 1956)
 * 1987  – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (b. 1902)
 * 1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
 * 1992 – John Dehner, American actor (b. 1915)
 * 1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1921)
 * 2000 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
 * 2002 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1907)
 * 2003 – Benyoucef Benkhedda, Algerian pharmacist and politician (b. 1920)
 * 2004 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian poet, novelist, and playwright (b. 1930)
 * 2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, director, and playwright (b. 1917)
 * 2006 – Betty Friedan, American author and activist (b. 1921)
 * 2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
 * 2007  – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian-English poet and translator (b. 1959)
 * 2007  – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
 * 2007  – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
 * 2007  – Alfred Worm, Austrian journalist, author, and academic (b. 1945)
 * 2008 – Augusta Dabney, American actress (b. 1918)
 * 2008  – Stefan Meller, Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (b. 1942)
 * 2010 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (b. 1924)
 * 2010  – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer (b. 1919)
 * 2011 – Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, first Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1913)
 * 2012 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1934)
 * 2012  – Florence Green, English soldier (b. 1901)
 * 2012  – Robert Daniel, American farmer, soldier, and politician (b. 1936)
 * 2012  – Mike deGruy, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1951)
 * 2012  – Susanne Suba, Hungarian-born watercolorist and illustrator, active in the United States (b. 1913)
 * 2013 – Donald Byrd, American trumpet player (b. 1932)
 * 2013  – Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
 * 2014 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
 * 2014  – Eugenio Corti, Italian soldier, author, and playwright (b. 1921)
 * 2014  – Dennis Lota, Zambian footballer (b. 1973)
 * 2015  – Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American colonel and pilot (b. 1925)
 * 2016 – Edgar Mitchell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
 * 2017 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (b. 1949)
 * 2017  – Bano Qudsia, Pakistani writer (b. 1928)
 * 2018 – John Mahoney, English-American actor, voice artist, and comedian (b. 1940)
 * 2019 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish Olympic-winning ski jumper and singer (b. 1963)
 * 2020 – Daniel arap Moi, Former President of Kenya (b. 1924)
 * 2021 – Millie Hughes-Fulford, American astronaut, molecular biologist and NASA payload specialist (b. 1945)
 * 2023 – Vani Jairam, Indian playback singer (b. 1945)
 * 2023 – Sherif Ismail, 53rd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1955)
 * 2024 – Barry John, Welsh rugby player (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Andrew Corsini
 * Eduardo Francisco Pironio
 * Gilbert of Sempringham
 * John de Brito
 * Goldrofe of Arganil
 * Blessed Rabanus Maurus
 * Rimbert
 * February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola)
 * Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Western Christianity)
 * Independence Day (Sri Lanka)
 * Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States)
 * World Cancer Day
 * International Day of Human Fraternity

title: February 4


text:
February 8

Pre-1600

 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
 * 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
 * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
 * 1347 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.
 * 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

1601–1900

 * 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.
 * 1693 – The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
 * 1807 – Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.
 * 1817 – An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.
 * 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.
 * 1865 – Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified by Delaware on February 12, 1901, the 92nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.
 * 1879 – Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
 * 1879  – England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
 * 1885 – The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.
 * 1887 – The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.

1901–present

 * 1904 – Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.
 * 1904  – The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
 * 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
 * 1915 – D. W. Griffith's controversial landmark film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
 * 1924 – The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
 * 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.
 * 1942 – World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
 * 1945 – World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.
 * 1945  – World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.
 * 1946 – The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.
 * 1950 – The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
 * 1960 – Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
 * 1960  – The Hollywood Walk of Fame is founded.
 * 1962 – Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.
 * 1963 – The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
 * 1965 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people onboard.
 * 1968 – American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
 * 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
 * 1971  – South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.
 * 1974 – The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.
 * 1983 – A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.
 * 1983  – Irish race horse Shergar is stolen and allegedly killed by gunmen in a ransom attempt by the PIRA.
 * 1986 – Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, making it one of the worst rail accidents in Canada.
 * 1989 – Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board.
 * 1993 – An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people onboard both aircraft.
 * 2010 – Over 2 miles of road are buried after a storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of avalanches, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 others.
 * 2013 – A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
 * 2014 – A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

Pre-1600

 * 120 – Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (d. ~175)
 * 412 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (d. ~485)
 * 882 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt (d. 946)
 * 1191 – Yaroslav II of Vladimir (d. 1246)
 * 1291 – Afonso IV of Portugal, Portuguese king (d. 1357)
 * 1405 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1453)
 * 1487 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, German duke (d. 1550)
 * 1514 – Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar (d. 1570)
 * 1552 – Agrippa d'Aubigné, French poet and soldier (d. 1630)
 * 1577 – Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar (d. 1640)
 * 1591 – Guercino, Italian painter (d. 1666)

1601–1900

 * 1685 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author (d. 1770)
 * 1700 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1782)
 * 1720 – Emperor Sakuramachi, Japanese emperor (d. 1750)
 * 1741 – André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer (d. 1813)
 * 1762 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1820)
 * 1764 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1846)
 * 1792 – Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, German princess (d. 1873)
 * 1798 – Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, Russian grand duke (d. 1849)
 * 1807 – Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist (d. 1889)
 * 1817 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (d. 1872)
 * 1819 – John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (d. 1900)
 * 1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (d. 1891)
 * 1822 – Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist (d. 1894)
 * 1825 – Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1892)
 * 1828 – Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1905)
 * 1829 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1902)
 * 1834 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1907)
 * 1850 – Kate Chopin, American author (d. 1904)
 * 1860 – Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist (d. 1937)
 * 1866 – Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (d. 1947)
 * 1876 – Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (d. 1907)
 * 1878 – Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (d. 1965)
 * 1880 – Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (d. 1916)
 * 1880  – Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director (d. 1931)
 * 1882 – Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1908)
 * 1883 – Isak Penttala, Finnish politician (d. 1955)
 * 1883 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (d. 1950)
 * 1884 – Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor (d. 1953)
 * 1886 – Charlie Ruggles, American actor (d. 1970)
 * 1888 – Edith Evans, English actress (d. 1976)
 * 1890 – Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1960)
 * 1893 – Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1977)
 * 1894 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
 * 1897 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (d. 1969)
 * 1899 – Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Demchugdongrub, Mongol prince and politician, head of state of Mengjiang (d. 1966)
 * 1903 – Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress (d. 1977)
 * 1903  – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
 * 1906 – Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography (d. 1968)
 * 1909 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (d. 2012)
 * 1911 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author (d. 1979)
 * 1913 – Betty Field, American actress (d. 1973)
 * 1913  – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
 * 1914 – Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (d. 1974)
 * 1915 – Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1997)
 * 1918 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (d. 2003)
 * 1921 – Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2011)
 * 1921  – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (d. 2020)
 * 1921  – Balram Singh Rai, Guyanese politician, 1st Minister of Home Affairs (d. 2022)
 * 1921  – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
 * 1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (d. 1996)
 * 1925 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (d. 2001)
 * 1926 – Neal Cassady, American author and poet (d. 1968)
 * 1926  – Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress (d. 2021)
 * 1930 – Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director (d. 1987)
 * 1931 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
 * 1931 – Shadia, Egyptian actress and singer (d. 2017)
 * 1932 – Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman (d. 2005)
 * 1932  – John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
 * 1933 – Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
 * 1937 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
 * 1937  – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2016)
 * 1939 – Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist (d. 2022)
 * 1940 – Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician (d. 1999)
 * 1940  – Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
 * 1941 – Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
 * 1941  – Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1941  – Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
 * 1942 – Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
 * 1942  – Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
 * 1943 – Creed Bratton, American actor and musician
 * 1943  – Valerie Thomas, American scientist and inventor
 * 1944 – Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (d. 2014)
 * 1944  – Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist
 * 1948 – Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
 * 1949 – Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1949  – Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1952 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
 * 1953 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
 * 1955 – John Grisham, American lawyer and author
 * 1955  – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (d. 2018)
 * 1956 – Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1957 – Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
 * 1958 – Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
 * 1958  – Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
 * 1959 – Henry Czerny, Canadian actor
 * 1959  – Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
 * 1959  – Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
 * 1959  – Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
 * 1960 – Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines (d. 2021)
 * 1960  – Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1961 – Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1963 – Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
 * 1964 – Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
 * 1964  – Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
 * 1964  – Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
 * 1966 – Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1966  – Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
 * 1967 – Adelir Antônio de Carli, Brazilian priest and balloonist
 * 1967   – Michael Ansley, American basketball player
 * 1968 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
 * 1969 – Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
 * 1969  – Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
 * 1969  – Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
 * 1970 – Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
 * 1970  – John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
 * 1970  – Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
 * 1971 – Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
 * 1971  – Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
 * 1971  – Susan Misner, American actress
 * 1972 – Big Show, American wrestler and actor
 * 1973 – Michelle Brogan, Australian basketball player
 * 1974 – Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, French musician, singer, composer, and record producer
 * 1974  – Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
 * 1974  – Joshua Morrow, American actor
 * 1974  – Kimbo Slice, Bahamian-American mixed martial artist (d. 2016)
 * 1976 – Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
 * 1976  – Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
 * 1977 – Dave Farrell, American musician and songwriter
 * 1977  – Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
 * 1978 – Ranveer Brar, Indian chef, author, restauranteur, and television personality
 * 1978  – Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
 * 1979 – Aaron Cook, American baseball player
 * 1980 – William Jackson Harper, American actor
 * 1981 – Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (d. 2015)
 * 1981  – Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
 * 1981  – Jim Parrack, American actor
 * 1983 – Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
 * 1983  – Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1984 – Sean Bergenheim, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1984  – Cecily Strong, American actress
 * 1984  – Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
 * 1985 – Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
 * 1985  – Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
 * 1985  – Félix Pie, Dominican baseball player
 * 1985  – Brian Randle, American basketball player and coach
 * 1986 – Anderson .Paak, American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer
 * 1987 – Javi García, Spanish footballer
 * 1987  – Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
 * 1988 – Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
 * 1989 – Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1989  – JaJuan Johnson, American basketball player
 * 1989  – Julio Jones, American football player
 * 1989  – Brendan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1989  – Courtney Vandersloot, American-Hungarian basketball player
 * 1990 – Bethany Hamilton, American surfer
 * 1990  – Klay Thompson, American basketball player
 * 1991 – Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer
 * 1992 – Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
 * 1994 – Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
 * 1994  – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
 * 1995 – Gabriel Deck, Argentine basketball player
 * 1995  – Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
 * 1996 – Kenedy, Brazilian footballer
 * 1996  – Leighton Vander Esch, American football player
 * 1997 – Kathryn Newton, American actress
 * 1998 – Rui Hachimura, Japanese basketball player

Pre-1600

 * 538 – Severus of Antioch, patriarch of Antioch (b. 465)
 * 1204 – Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1182)
 * 1229 – Ali ibn Hanzala, sixth Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma'ilism
 * 1250 – Robert I, Count of Artois (b. 1216)
 * 1250  – William II Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, English martyr (b. 1212)
 * 1265 – Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)
 * 1285 – Theodoric of Landsberg (b. 1242)
 * 1296 – Przemysł II of Poland (b. 1257)
 * 1314 – Helen of Anjou, queen of Serbia (b. 1236)
 * 1382 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (b. 1328)
 * 1537 – Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, Italian humanitarian (b. 1481)
 * 1599 – Robert Rollock, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1555)

1601–1900

 * 1676 – Alexis of Russia (b. 1629)
 * 1696 – Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)
 * 1709 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1658)
 * 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
 * 1749 – Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
 * 1750 – Aaron Hill, English playwright and poet (b. 1685)
 * 1772 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (b. 1719)
 * 1849 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (b. 1781)
 * 1849  – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (b. 1800)
 * 1856 – Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist and academic (b. 1773)

1901–present

 * 1907 – Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1854)
 * 1910 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian philosopher and activist (b. 1854)
 * 1915 – François Langelier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1838)
 * 1921 – George Formby Sr, English actor and singer (b. 1876)
 * 1921  – Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist (b. 1842)
 * 1928 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (b. 1857)
 * 1932 – Yordan Milanov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (b. 1867)
 * 1935 – Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
 * 1936 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)
 * 1938 – Olga Taratuta, Ukrainian Jewish anarchist (b. 1876)
 * 1945 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer and coach (b. 1866)
 * 1956 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (b. 1862)
 * 1957 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
 * 1957  – John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)
 * 1959 – William J. Donovan, American head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (b. 1883)
 * 1960 – J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic (b. 1911)
 * 1960  – Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral (b. 1880)
 * 1963 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (b. 1908)
 * 1964 – Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
 * 1970 – Cahir Healy, Northern Irish republican and politician (b. 1877)
 * 1971 – Kanaiyalal Munshi, Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer and educationist (b. 1887)
 * 1972 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1905)
 * 1975 – Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b.1886)
 * 1977 – Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (b. 1901)
 * 1979 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
 * 1980 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
 * 1982 – John Hay Whitney, American financier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1904)
 * 1985 – William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Swallow Sidecar Company (b. 1901)
 * 1987 – Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress (b. 1905)
 * 1990 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
 * 1990  – Ernest Titterton, British Australian nuclear physicist (b. 1916)
 * 1992 – Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant (b. 1918)
 * 1994 – Raymond Scott, American pianist and composer (b. 1908)
 * 1996 – Del Ennis, American baseball player (b. 1925)
 * 1997 – Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider (b. 1968)
 * 1998 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
 * 1998  – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health (b. 1912)
 * 1998  – Julian Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
 * 1999 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (b. 1919)
 * 2000 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1918)
 * 2000  – Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)
 * 2001 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (b. 1920)
 * 2002 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (b. 1936)
 * 2004 – Julius Schwartz, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
 * 2005 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan sailor and politician (b. 1944)
 * 2006 – Elton Dean, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
 * 2006  – Thierry Fortineau, French actor (b. 1953)
 * 2006  – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
 * 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)
 * 2007  – Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1918)
 * 2008 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (b. 1931)
 * 2010 – John Murtha, American colonel and politician (b. 1932)
 * 2011 – Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1909)
 * 2012 – Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
 * 2012  – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
 * 2013 – Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (b. 1918)
 * 2013  – James DePreist, American conductor and educator (b. 1936)
 * 2013  – Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
 * 2013  – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (b. 1918)
 * 2014 – Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1932)
 * 2014  – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (b. 1988)
 * 2014  – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (b. 1938)
 * 2015 – Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (b. 1939)
 * 2016 – Amelia Bence, Argentine actress (b. 1914)
 * 2016  – Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1938)
 * 2016  – Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1938)
 * 2016  – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (b. 1933)
 * 2017 – Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1933)
 * 2017  – Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer (b. 1998)
 * 2017  – Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter (b. 1929)
 * 2020 – Robert Conrad, American actor (b. 1935)
 * 2021 – Marty Schottenheimer, American football player and coach (b. 1943)
 * 2021  – Mary Wilson, American singer (b. 1944)
 * 2023 – Arto Heiskanen, Finnish professional hockey player (b. 1963)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Cuthmann of Steyning
 * Elffled of Whitby
 * Elisabetta Martinez
 * Gerolamo Emiliani
 * Josephine Bakhita
 * Juventius of Pavia
 * Mengold of Huy
 * Stephen of Muret
 * February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions; most celebrate on February 15)
 * Prešeren Day (Slovenia)
 * Propose Day (India)

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

title: February 8


text:
February 9

Pre-1600

 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
 * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
 * 1098 – A First Crusade army led by Bohemond of Taranto wins a major battle against the Seljuq emir Ridwan of Aleppo during the siege of Antioch
 * 1539 – The first recorded race is held on Chester Racecourse, known as the Roodee.
 * 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.

1601–1900

 * 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
 * 1654 – The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
 * 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
 * 1778 – Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
 * 1822 – Haiti attacks the newly established Dominican Republic on the other side of the island of Hispaniola.
 * 1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election.
 * 1849 – The new Roman Republic is declared.
 * 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama
 * 1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.
 * 1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
 * 1893 – Verdi's last opera, Falstaff premieres at La Scala, Milan.
 * 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
 * 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.

1901–present

 * 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.
 * 1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
 * 1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
 * 1920 – Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.
 * 1922 – Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
 * 1929 – Members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng assassinate the labor recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities.
 * 1932 – Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law.
 * 1934 – The Balkan Entente is formed between Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey.
 * 1941 – World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.
 * 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
 * 1943 – World War II: Pacific War: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
 * 1945 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer (P68) sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.
 * 1945  – World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway.
 * 1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
 * 1951 – Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea.
 * 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
 * 1961 – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg.
 * 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States.
 * 1965 – Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
 * 1971 – The 6.5–6.7 Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
 * 1971  – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.
 * 1971  – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.
 * 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
 * 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.
 * 1978 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 * 1982 – Japan Air Lines Flight 350 crashes near Haneda Airport in an attempted pilot mass murder-suicide, killing 24 of the 174 people on board.
 * 1986 – Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
 * 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union.
 * 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf, killing two people.
 * 1996  – Copernicium is discovered by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.
 * 2001 – The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision takes place, killing nine of the thirty-five people on board the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru, leaving the USS Greeneville (SSN-772) with US $2 million in repairs, at Pearl Harbor.
 * 2016 – Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people die and 85 others are injured.
 * 2018 – Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.
 * 2020 – Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis.
 * 2021 – Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.

Pre-1600

 * 1060 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1130)
 * 1274 – Louis of Toulouse, French bishop (d. 1297)
 * 1313 – Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile, Portuguese infanta (d. 1357)
 * 1344 – Meinhard III, count of Tyrol (d. 1363)
 * 1441 – Ali-Shir Nava'i, Turkic poet, linguist, and painter (d. 1501)
 * 1533 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (d. 1611)
 * 1579 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1639)

1601–1900

 * 1651 – Procopio Cutò, French entrepreneur (d. 1727)
 * 1666 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish field marshal (d. 1737)
 * 1711 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (d. 1762)
 * 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809)
 * 1741 – Henri-Joseph Rigel, German-French composer (d. 1799)
 * 1748 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1817)
 * 1763 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1830)
 * 1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848)
 * 1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
 * 1775 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1856)
 * 1781 – Johann Baptist von Spix, German biologist and explorer (d. 1826)
 * 1783 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1852)
 * 1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German engineer, invented Gabelsberger shorthand (d. 1849)
 * 1800 – Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)
 * 1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (d. 1886)
 * 1815 – Federico de Madrazo, Spanish painter (d. 1894)
 * 1830 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish emperor (d. 1876)
 * 1834 – Felix Dahn, German lawyer, historian, and author (d. 1912)
 * 1826 – Keelikōlani, Hawaiian royal and governor (d. 1883)
 * 1837 – José Burgos, Filipino priest and revolutionary (d. 1872)
 * 1839 – Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1896)
 * 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (d. 1929)
 * 1846  – Whitaker Wright, English businessman and financier (d. 1904)
 * 1847 – Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh-English clergyman and theologian (d. 1902)
 * 1854 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (d. 1929)
 * 1856 – Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1921)
 * 1859 – Akiyama Yoshifuru, Japanese general (d. 1930)
 * 1863 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (d. 1933)
 * 1864 – Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
 * 1865 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English-French actress (d. 1940)
 * 1865  – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (d. 1949)
 * 1867 – Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (d. 1916)
 * 1871 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (d. 1910)
 * 1874 – Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 1925)
 * 1876 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1963)
 * 1878 – Jack Kirwan, Irish international footballer (d. 1959)
 * 1880 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
 * 1883 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (d. 1951)
 * 1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1935)
 * 1885  – Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (d. 1960)
 * 1889 – Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1928)
 * 1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958)
 * 1891  – Kristian Krefting, Norwegian footballer and chemical engineer (d. 1964)
 * 1891 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (d. 1980)
 * 1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
 * 1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1987)
 * 1895 – Hermann Brill, German lawyer and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (d. 1959)
 * 1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1982)
 * 1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian captain and pilot (d. 1935)
 * 1898 – Jūkichi Yagi, Japanese poet and educator (d. 1927)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (d. 1972)
 * 1901  – James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)
 * 1905 – David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, English hurdler and politician (d. 1981)
 * 1906 – André Kostolany, Hungarian-French economist and journalist (d. 1999)
 * 1907 – Trường Chinh, Vietnamese politician, 4th President of Vietnam (d. 1988)
 * 1907  – Dit Clapper, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1978)
 * 1907  – Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
 * 1909 – Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson, Scottish historian (d. 2002)
 * 1909  – Heather Angel, English-American actress (d. 1986)
 * 1909  – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1955)
 * 1909  – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
 * 1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
 * 1911 – William Orlando Darby, American general (d. 1945)
 * 1911  – Esa Pakarinen, Finnish actor and musician (d. 1989)
 * 1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
 * 1912  – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (d. 1968)
 * 1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
 * 1916 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993)
 * 1918 – Lloyd Noel Ferguson, American chemist (d. 2011)
 * 1919 – John Abramovic, American basketball player (d. 2000)
 * 1920 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2012)
 * 1920  – Enrico Schiavetti, Italian football player (d. 1993)
 * 1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010)
 * 1922  – Jim Laker, English cricketer and broadcaster (d. 1986)
 * 1922  – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014)
 * 1922  – Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (d. 2005)
 * 1923 – Brendan Behan, Irish rebel, poet, and playwright (d. 1964)
 * 1923  – Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (d. 2014)
 * 1925 – John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian
 * 1925  – Burkhard Heim, German physicist and academic (d. 2001)
 * 1926 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2011)
 * 1927 – Richard A. Long, American historian and author (d. 2013)
 * 1928 – Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (d. 2010)
 * 1928  – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2005)
 * 1928  – Roger Mudd, American journalist (d. 2021)
 * 1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
 * 1929  – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (d. 2005)
 * 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003)
 * 1931 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1989)
 * 1931  – Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (d. 2015)
 * 1931  – Robert Morris, American sculptor and painter (d. 2018)
 * 1932 – Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager
 * 1932  – Gerhard Richter, German painter and photographer
 * 1935 – Lionel Fanthorpe, English-Welsh priest, journalist, and author
 * 1936 – Callistus Ndlovu, Zimbabwean academic and politician (d. 2019)
 * 1936  – Clive Swift, English actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
 * 1937 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
 * 1939 – Mahala Andrews, English vertebrae palaeontologist (d. 1997)
 * 1939  – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer
 * 1939  – Janet Suzman, South African-British actress and director
 * 1940 – Brian Bennett, English drummer and songwriter
 * 1940  – J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian novelist, essayist, and linguist, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1941 – Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer
 * 1941  – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician
 * 1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1943 – Barbara Lewis, American singer-songwriter
 * 1943  – Joe Pesci, American actor
 * 1943  – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1944 – Derryn Hinch, New Zealand-Australian radio and television host and politician
 * 1944  – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
 * 1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and model
 * 1945  – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese biologist, 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
 * 1945  – Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic
 * 1946 – Bob Eastwood, American golfer
 * 1946  – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1946  – Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy
 * 1947 – Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer and diplomat
 * 1947  – Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1947  – Major Harris, American singer (d. 2012)
 * 1947  – Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (d. 2019)
 * 1948 – Guy Standing, English economist and academic
 * 1949 – Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer and journalist
 * 1949  – Judith Light, American actress
 * 1950 – Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician
 * 1951 – David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer
 * 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1953 – Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
 * 1953  – Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary, priest, and martyr (d. 1985)
 * 1953  – Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek
 * 1954 – Jo Duffy, American author
 * 1954  – Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist
 * 1954  – Kevin Warwick, English scientist
 * 1955 – Jerry Beck, American historian and author
 * 1955  – Jimmy Pursey, English singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1955  – Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
 * 1956 – Phil Ford, American basketball player and coach
 * 1956  – Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach
 * 1957 – Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia
 * 1957  – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
 * 1958 – Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer
 * 1958  – Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host
 * 1960 – Holly Johnson, English singer-songwriter and bass player
 * 1960  – David Simon, American journalist, author, screenwriter, and television producer
 * 1960  – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut
 * 1961 – John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1962 – Anik Bissonnette, Canadian ballerina
 * 1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist
 * 1963  – Peter Rowsthorn, Australian comedian and actor
 * 1963  – Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
 * 1964 – Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager
 * 1964  – Dewi Morris, English rugby player
 * 1964  – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
 * 1965 – Dieter Baumann, German runner
 * 1965  – Julie Warner, American actress
 * 1966 – Harald Eia, Norwegian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
 * 1967 – Gaston Browne, Antiguan and Barbudan Prime Minister
 * 1967  – Venus Lacy, American basketball player
 * 1967  – Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach
 * 1967  – Dan Shulman, Canadian sportscaster
 * 1968 – Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1968  – Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver
 * 1968  – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
 * 1969 – Jimmy Smith, American football player
 * 1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1971 – Sharon Case, American actress and model
 * 1971  – Matt Gogel, American golfer
 * 1971  – Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager
 * 1972 – Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
 * 1972  – Jason Winston George, American actor and model
 * 1973 – Svetlana Boginskaya, Belarusian gymnast
 * 1973  – Colin Egglesfield, American actor
 * 1973  – Makoto Shinkai, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
 * 1974 – Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager
 * 1974  – Brad Maynard, American football player
 * 1974  – Amber Valletta, American model
 * 1974  – John Wallace, American basketball player and coach
 * 1975 – Kurt Asle Arvesen, Norwegian cyclist and coach
 * 1975  – Clinton Grybas, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
 * 1975  – Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player
 * 1976 – Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1977 – A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1979 – Akinori Iwamura, Japanese baseball player
 * 1979  – Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
 * 1979  – Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and model
 * 1980 – Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer
 * 1980  – Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress
 * 1980  – Manu Raju, American journalist
 * 1981 – Tom Hiddleston, English actor
 * 1981  – John Walker Lindh, American Taliban member
 * 1981  – Daisuke Sekimoto, Japanese wrestler
 * 1981  – The Rev, American musician (d. 2009)
 * 1982 – Domingo Cisma, Spanish footballer
 * 1982  – Jameer Nelson, American basketball player
 * 1982  – Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1982  – Chris Weale, English footballer and manager
 * 1983 – Mikel Arruabarrena, Spanish footballer
 * 1984 – Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer
 * 1984  – Dioner Navarro, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1984  – Shōhōzan Yūya, Japanese sumo wrestler
 * 1985 – Nigel Dawes, Canadian-Kazakhstani ice hockey player
 * 1985  – David Gallagher, American actor
 * 1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor
 * 1987  – Davide Lanzafame, Italian footballer
 * 1987  – Rose Leslie, Scottish actress
 * 1987  – Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete
 * 1989 – Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
 * 1990 – Randall Delgado, Panamanian baseball player
 * 1990  – Tariq Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
 * 1990 – Camille Winbush, American actress
 * 1991 – Helena Kmieć, Polish Roman Catholic missionary (d. 2017)
 * 1991 – Logan Ryan, American football player
 * 1992 – Avan Jogia, Canadian actor
 * 1993 – Wataru Endō, Japanese footballer
 * 1993  – K. J. McDaniels, American basketball player
 * 1993  – Despina Papamichail, Greek tennis player
 * 1993   – Niclas Füllkrug, German footballer
 * 1995 – André Burakovsky, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1995  – Mario Pašalić, Croatian footballer
 * 1995  – Sheraldo Becker, Surinamese footballer
 * 1996 – Jimmy Bennett, American actor
 * 1996  – Kelli Berglund, American actress
 * 1996  – Chungha, South Korean singer
 * 1996 – Sebastián Driussi, Argentinian footballer
 * 1997 – Jaire Alexander, American football player
 * 1997  – Saquon Barkley, American football player
 * 1997  – Valentini Grammatikopoulou, Greek tennis player
 * 1998 – Cem Bölükbaşı, Turkish racing driver and former sim racer
 * 1998  – Isabella Gomez, Colombian-American actress
 * 2002 – Jalen Green, American basketball player

Pre-1600

 * 966 – Ono no Michikaze, Japanese calligrapher (b. 894)
 * 967 – Sayf al-Dawla, emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
 * 978 – Luitgarde, duchess consort of Normandy
 * 1011 – Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
 * 1014 – Yang Yanzhao, Chinese general
 * 1135 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1075)
 * 1199 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1147)
 * 1251 – Matthias II, duke of Lorraine
 * 1407 – William I, margrave of Meissen (b. 1343)
 * 1450 – Agnès Sorel, French mistress of Charles VII of France (b. 1421)
 * 1555 – John Hooper, English bishop and martyr (b. 1495)
 * 1555  – Rowland Taylor, English priest and martyr (b. 1510)
 * 1588 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (b. 1526)
 * 1600 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1542)

1601–1900

 * 1619 – Lucilio Vanini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1585)
 * 1670 – Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
 * 1675 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
 * 1709 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (b. 1664)
 * 1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)
 * 1803 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier, poet, and philosopher (b. 1716)
 * 1857 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and translator (b. 1798)
 * 1874 – Jules Michelet, French historian, philosopher, and academic (b. 1798)
 * 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher (b. 1821)
 * 1891 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (b. 1816)
 * 1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1872)
 * 1928 – William Gillies, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Queensland (b. 1868)
 * 1930 – Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (b. 1846)
 * 1932 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and banker (b. 1869)
 * 1932  – A.K. Golam Jilani, Bangladeshi soldier and activist (b. 1904)
 * 1935 – Bob Diry, Austrian-born wrestler and boxer (b. 1884)
 * 1942 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (b. 1883)
 * 1945 – Ella D. Barrier, American educator (b. 1852)
 * 1950 – Ted Theodore, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Queensland (b. 1884)
 * 1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)
 * 1957 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (b. 1868)
 * 1960 – Alexandre Benois, Russian painter and critic (b. 1870)
 * 1960  – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1877)
 * 1965 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and educator (b. 1874)
 * 1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)
 * 1969 – George "Gabby" Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)
 * 1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
 * 1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Bureau (b. 1894)
 * 1978 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1893)
 * 1979 – Allen Tate, American poet and academic (b. 1899)
 * 1980 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and author (b. 1900)
 * 1981 – M. C. Chagla, Indian jurist and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1900)
 * 1981  – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
 * 1984 – Yuri Andropov, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
 * 1989 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese illustrator, animator, and producer (b. 1928)
 * 1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
 * 1995 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
 * 1995  – Kalevi Keihänen, Finnish entrepreneur (b. 1924)
 * 1995  – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)
 * 1998 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911)
 * 2001 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * 2002 – Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (b. 1920)
 * 2002  – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
 * 2003 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
 * 2004 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1925)
 * 2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the intermittent windscreen wiper (b. 1927)
 * 2006 – Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (b. 1922)
 * 2007 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1922)
 * 2007  – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
 * 2008 – Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (b. 1943)
 * 2008  – Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (b. 1932)
 * 2008  – Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian painter, poet, and sculptor (b. 1931)
 * 2009 – Orlando "Cachaíto" López, Cuban bassist and composer (b. 1933)
 * 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920)
 * 2011 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (b. 1939)
 * 2012 – O. P. Dutta, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
 * 2012  – John Hick, English philosopher and academic (b. 1922)
 * 2012  – Joe Moretti, Scottish-South African guitarist and songwriter (b. 1938)
 * 2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)
 * 2013  – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (b. 1913)
 * 2013  – Jimmy Smyth, Irish hurler (b. 1931)
 * 2014 – Gabriel Axel, Danish actor, director, and producer (b. 1918)
 * 2014  – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
 * 2014  – Logan Scott-Bowden, English general (b. 1920)
 * 2015 – Liu Han, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (b. 1965)
 * 2015  – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916)
 * 2016 – Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1939)
 * 2016  – Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb military commander (b. 1948)
 * 2017 – André Salvat, French Army colonel (b. 1920)
 * 2018 – Reg E. Cathey, American actor of stage, film, and television (b. 1958)
 * 2018  – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic composer (b. 1969)
 * 2018  – John Gavin,  American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (b. 1931)
 * 2021 – Chick Corea, American jazz composer (b. 1941)
 * 2022 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances

 * Alto of Altomünster
 * Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
 * Ansbert of Rouen
 * Apollonia
 * Bracchio
 * Einion the King (Western Orthodoxy)
 * Blessed Leopold of Alpandeire
 * Maron (Maronite Church)
 * Miguel Febres Cordero
 * Nebridius
 * Sabinus of Canosa
 * Teilo (Wales)
 * February 9 is the earliest day on which Clean Monday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of Great Lent. (Eastern Christianity)
 * February 9 is the earliest day on which People's Sunday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent. (Malta)
 * St. Maroun's Day (public holiday in Lebanon)

title: February 9


text:
February 16

Pre-1600

 * 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
 * 1270 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.

1601–1900

 * 1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
 * 1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First English Civil War.
 * 1699 – First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
 * 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
 * 1796 – Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.
 * 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia (1799).
 * 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
 * 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
 * 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
 * 1899 – Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
 * 1900 – The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.

1901–present

 * 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
 * 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
 * 1930 – The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
 * 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
 * 1936 – The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.
 * 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.
 * 1940 – World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. A total of 299 British prisoners are freed.
 * 1942 – World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established
 * 1942  – World War II: Attack on Aruba, first World War II German shots fired on a land based object in the Americas.
 * 1943 – World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
 * 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
 * 1945  – The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law.
 * 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
 * 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton (SSRN-586) begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
 * 1961 – Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
 * 1962 – The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged.
 * 1962  – Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.
 * 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
 * 1968  – Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground.
 * 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
 * 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.
 * 1985 – Hezbollah is founded.
 * 1986 – The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
 * 1986  – China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.
 * 1991 – Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
 * 1996 – A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.
 * 1998 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground.
 * 2000 – Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, killing all three aboard.
 * 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
 * 2005  – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs.
 * 2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
 * 2013 – A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.
 * 2021 – Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the two year anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.

Pre-1600

 * 1222 – Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (d. 1282)
 * 1304 – Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor (d. 1332)
 * 1331 – Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader (d. 1406)
 * 1419 – John I, Duke of Cleves (d. 1481)
 * 1470 – Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1540)
 * 1471 – Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (d. 1529)
 * 1497 – Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (d. 1560)
 * 1514 – Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker (d. 1574)
 * 1519 – Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (d. 1572)
 * 1543 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator (d. 1590)

1601–1900

 * 1620 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1688)
 * 1643 – John Sharp, English archbishop (d. 1714)
 * 1698 – Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (d. 1758)
 * 1727 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (d. 1817)
 * 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
 * 1761 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (d. 1804)
 * 1774 – Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer (d. 1830)
 * 1786 – Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess (d. 1859)
 * 1802 – Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher (d. 1866)
 * 1804 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (d. 1885)
 * 1812 – Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
 * 1821 – Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar (d. 1865)
 * 1822 – Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (d. 1911)
 * 1824 – Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1879)
 * 1826 – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (d. 1886)
 * 1830 – Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (d. 1902)
 * 1831 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (d. 1895)
 * 1834 – Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (d. 1919)
 * 1838 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (d. 1918)
 * 1841 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (d. 1927)
 * 1843 – Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (d. 1932)
 * 1845 – George Kennan, American journalist and explorer (d. 1924)
 * 1848 – Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (d. 1935)
 * 1848  – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1917)
 * 1856 – Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (d. 1920)
 * 1866 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (d. 1940)
 * 1873 – Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author (d. 1908)
 * 1876 – G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (d. 1962)
 * 1877 – Tom Crean, Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer (d. 1938)
 * 1878 – Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator (d. 1951)
 * 1878  – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1920)
 * 1884 – Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (d. 1951)
 * 1887 – Kathleen Clifford, American actress (d. 1962)
 * 1891 – Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic (d. 1968)
 * 1893 – Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer (d. 1974)
 * 1896 – Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian (d. 2010)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor (d. 1985)
 * 1901  – Chester Morris, American actor (d. 1970)
 * 1902 – Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer (d. 1968)
 * 1903 – Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor (d. 1978)
 * 1904 – James Baskett, American actor and singer (d. 1948)
 * 1904  – George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (d. 2005)
 * 1905 – Henrietta Barnett, English Women's Royal Air Force officer (d. 1985)
 * 1906 – Vera Menchik, Russian-Czechoslovak-British chess player (d. 1944)
 * 1909 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director (d. 1982)
 * 1909  – Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald's (d. 1998)
 * 1914 – Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1982)
 * 1916 – Bill Doggett, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
 * 1919 – Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer (d. 1989)
 * 1920 – Anna Mae Hays, American general (d. 2018)
 * 1921 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (d. 1959)
 * 1921  – John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1921  – Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
 * 1922 – Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot (d. 1950)
 * 1923 – Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (d. 2016)
 * 1925 – Ed Emshwiller, American illustrator and experiment film maker (d. 1990)
 * 1926 – Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (d. 1945)
 * 1926  – John Schlesinger, English actor and director (d. 2003)
 * 1927 – June Brown, English actress (d. 2022)
 * 1929 – Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect (d. 1980)
 * 1929  – Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator (d. 2010)
 * 1931 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2002)
 * 1931  – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2006)
 * 1931  – Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer (d. 2014)
 * 1932 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2014)
 * 1932  – Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2007)
 * 1934 – August Coppola, American author and academic (d. 2009)
 * 1934  – Marlene Hagge, American golfer (d. 2023)
 * 1935 – Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (d. 2016)
 * 1934 – Ken Brown, English footballer and manager
 * 1935  – Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician  (d. 1998)
 * 1935  – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (d. 2014)
 * 1935  – Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer
 * 1935  – Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
 * 1936 – Carl Icahn, American businessman and investor
 * 1937 – Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer
 * 1937  – Valentin Bondarenko, Soviet aviator and cosmonaut (d. 1961)
 * 1937  – Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic (d. 2023)
 * 1938 – John Corigliano, American composer and academic
 * 1939 – Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge
 * 1940 – Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer (d. 1979)
 * 1941 – Kim Jong Il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 2011)
 * 1944 – Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician
 * 1944  – Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer
 * 1944  – António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde (d. 2016)
 * 1947 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (d. 2020)
 * 1948 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (d. 2014)
 * 1950 – Peter Hain, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
 * 1951 – William Katt, American actor
 * 1952 – James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2019)
 * 1952  – Peter Kitchen, English footballer
 * 1953 – John Bradbury, English musician, songwriter, and producer (d. 2015)
 * 1953  – Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
 * 1953  – Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment
 * 1954 – Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright (d. 2013)
 * 1954  – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (d. 1996)
 * 1954  – Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1956 – Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter
 * 1957 – LeVar Burton, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1958 – Natalie Angier, American author
 * 1958  – Ice-T, American rapper and actor
 * 1958  – Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player
 * 1958  – Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach
 * 1959 – John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster
 * 1959  – Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1960 – Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter
 * 1961 – Liu Kang, Chinese footballer and manager (d. 2013)
 * 1961  – Niko Nirvi, Finnish journalist
 * 1961  – Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1962 – John Balance, English singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
 * 1964 – Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager
 * 1964  – Christopher Eccleston, English actor
 * 1965 – Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American musician and songwriter
 * 1967 – Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1968 – Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter
 * 1970 – Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager
 * 1971 – Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit
 * 1971  – Craig Laundy, Australian politician
 * 1972 – Jerome Bettis, American football player
 * 1972  – Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player
 * 1972  – Sarah Clarke, American actress
 * 1972  – Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress
 * 1973 – Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter
 * 1974 – Mahershala Ali, American actor
 * 1974  – José Dominguez, Portuguese footballer and manager
 * 1976 – Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1976  – Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1977 – Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Freenet
 * 1977  – Ahman Green, American football player
 * 1977  – Alexei Morozov, Russian ice hockey player and executive
 * 1978 – Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist
 * 1978  – Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer
 * 1978  – John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer
 * 1979 – Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer
 * 1979  – Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor
 * 1979  – Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer
 * 1980 – Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American musician and songwriter
 * 1981 – Jay Howard, English race car driver
 * 1981  – Susanna Kallur, Swedish sprint hurdler
 * 1981  – Jerry Owens, American baseball player
 * 1981  – Qyntel Woods, American basketball player
 * 1982 – Manny Delcarmen, American baseball player
 * 1982  – Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer
 * 1982  – Lupe Fiasco, American rapper
 * 1982  – Rickie Lambert, English footballer
 * 1983 – Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer
 * 1983  – Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
 * 1984 – Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player
 * 1984  – Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer
 * 1985 – Simon Francis, English footballer
 * 1985  – Stacy Lewis, American golfer
 * 1985  – Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer
 * 1986 – Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer
 * 1986  – Shawne Williams, American basketball player
 * 1987 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
 * 1987  – Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer
 * 1987  – Tommy Milone, American baseball player
 * 1987  – Jon Ossoff, American politician and filmmaker
 * 1987  – Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player
 * 1988 – Diego Capel, Spanish footballer
 * 1988  – Denílson, Brazilian footballer
 * 1988  – Korbinian Holzer, German ice hockey player
 * 1988  – Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player
 * 1988  – Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer
 * 1988  – Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer
 * 1989 – Elizabeth Olsen, American actress
 * 1990 – The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1991 – Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer
 * 1992 – Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer
 * 1992  – Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player
 * 1994 – Annika Beck, German tennis player
 * 1994  – Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer
 * 1994  – Ava Max, American singer and songwriter
 * 1995 – Katy Dunne, English tennis player
 * 1995  – Carina Witthöft, German tennis player
 * 1997 – Jordan Greenway, American ice hockey player
 * 1999 – Ignatius Ganago, Cameroonian footballer
 * 1999  – Marie Ulven Ringheim, Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer
 * 2000 – Koffee, Jamaican singer, songwriter and rapper
 * 2000  – Coby White, American basketball player
 * 2001 – Yuki Naito, Japanese tennis player

Pre-1600

 * 549 – Zhu Yi, Chinese general (b. 483)
 * 902 – Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (b. 875)
 * 1184 – Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury
 * 1247 – Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (b. 1204)
 * 1279 – Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)
 * 1281 – Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen consort of Germany (b. c. 1225)
 * 1390 – Rupert I, Elector Palatine (b. 1309)
 * 1391 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1332)
 * 1531 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1452)
 * 1560 – Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (b. 1493)
 * 1579 – Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer (b. 1509)

1601–1900

 * 1645 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (b. 1585)
 * 1710 – Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author (b. 1632)
 * 1721 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1686)
 * 1754 – Richard Mead, English physician (b. 1673)
 * 1820 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (b. 1758)
 * 1862 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1796)
 * 1898 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1843)
 * 1899 – Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (b. 1841)

1901–present

 * 1907 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
 * 1912 – Nicholas of Japan, Russian-Japanese monk and saint (b. 1836)
 * 1917 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (b. 1848)
 * 1919 – Vera Kholodnaya, Ukrainian actress (b. 1893)
 * 1928 – Eddie Foy Sr., American actor and dancer (b. 1856)
 * 1932 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1841)
 * 1932  – Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist (b. 1862)
 * 1944 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1870)
 * 1957 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1876)
 * 1961 – Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (b. 1891)
 * 1964 – James M. Canty, American educator, school administrator, and businessperson (b. 1865)
 * 1967 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1911)
 * 1974 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle (b. 1888)
 * 1975 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (b. 1903)
 * 1977 – Janani Luwum, bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr (b. c.1922)
 * 1977  – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1905)
 * 1980 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist (b. 1895)
 * 1984 – M. A. G. Osmani, Bangladeshi general (b. 1918)
 * 1988 – Ye Shengtao, Chinese writer, educator, and politician (b. 1894)
 * 1990 – Keith Haring, American painter and activist (b. 1958)
 * 1991 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer (b. 1932)
 * 1992 – Angela Carter, English novelist, short story writer (b. 1940)
 * 1992  – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil (b. 1917)
 * 1992  – Herman Wold, Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician (b. 1908)
 * 1996 – Roberto Aizenberg, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
 * 1996  – Roger Bowen, American actor and author (b. 1932)
 * 1996  – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (b. 1905)
 * 1996  – Brownie McGhee, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1915)
 * 1997 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
 * 1998 – Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (b. 1908)
 * 1998  – Sheu Yuan-dong, Taiwanese politician (b. 1927)
 * 2000 – Marceline Day, American actress (b. 1908)
 * 2000  – Lila Kedrova, Russian-French actress and singer
 * 2000  – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING (b. 1911)
 * 2001 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (b. 1916)
 * 2001  – William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1915)
 * 2002 – Walter Winterbottom, English footballer and manager (b. 1913)
 * 2003 – Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (b. 1955)
 * 2004 – Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
 * 2006 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (b. 1966)
 * 2006  – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (b. 1925)
 * 2009 – Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korean cardinal (b. 1921)
 * 2011 – Len Lesser, American actor (b. 1922)
 * 2011  – Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
 * 2012 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (b. 1954)
 * 2012  – Elyse Knox, American model, actress, and fashion designer (b. 1917)
 * 2012  – John Macionis, American swimmer and lieutenant (b. 1916)
 * 2012  – Anthony Shadid, American journalist (b. 1968)
 * 2013 – Colin Edwards, Guyanese footballer (b. 1991)
 * 2013  – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (b. 1918)
 * 2013  – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
 * 2014 – Ken Farragut, American football player (b. 1928)
 * 2014  – Kralle Krawinkel, German guitarist (b. 1947)
 * 2014  – Michael Shea, American author (b. 1946)
 * 2015 – Lasse Braun, Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
 * 2015  – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
 * 2015  – R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1957)
 * 2015  – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (b. 1971)
 * 2016 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1922)
 * 2019 – Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (b. 1941)
 * 2021 – Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian politician, 42nd President of Ecuador (b. 1937)
 * 2024 – Alexei Navalny, Russian activist (b. 1976)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Abda of Edessa
 * Elias and companions
 * Juliana of Nicomedia (Catholic Church)
 * Onesimus
 * Charles Todd Quintard (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * February 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong Il's birthday) (North Korea)
 * Restoration of Lithuania's Statehood Day, celebrate the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918 (Lithuania)
 * Elizabeth Peratrovich Day (Alaska)

title: February 16