text:
February 6

Pre-1600

 * 590 – Hormizd IV, king of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown and blinded by his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih.
 * 1579 – The Diocese of Manila is erected by papal bull, with Domingo de Salazar appointed its first bishop.

1601–1900

 * 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.
 * 1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
 * 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
 * 1778  – New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
 * 1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
 * 1806 – Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.
 * 1819 – The Treaty of Singapore was signed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Hussein Shah of Johor, and Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and it is now recognised as the founding of modern Singapore.
 * 1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
 * 1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
 * 1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
 * 1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
 * 1851 – The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
 * 1865 – The municipal administration of Finland is established.
 * 1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
 * 1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

1901–present

 * 1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
 * 1919  – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.
 * 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
 * 1934 – Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
 * 1944 – World War II: The Great Raids Against Helsinki begins.
 * 1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
 * 1951  – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
 * 1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
 * 1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.
 * 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
 * 1959  – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
 * 1973 – The 7.6 Luhuo earthquake strikes Sichuan Province, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 2,199 people.
 * 1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
 * 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
 * 1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
 * 1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
 * 1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
 * 1996 – Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
 * 1996  – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.
 * 1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
 * 2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
 * 2006 – Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
 * 2012 – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Negros, leaving 112 people dead.
 * 2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
 * 2018 – SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.
 * 2021 – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.
 * 2023 – Two earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.

Pre-1600

 * 885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan (d. 930)
 * 1402 – Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1458)
 * 1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)
 * 1453 – Girolamo Benivieni, Florentine poet (d. 1542)
 * 1465 – Scipione del Ferro, Italian mathematician and theorist (d. 1526)
 * 1536 – Sassa Narimasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1588)
 * 1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian murderer (d. 1599)
 * 1582 – Mario Bettinus, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1657)

1601–1900

 * 1605 – Bernard of Corleone, Italian saint (d. 1667)
 * 1608 – António Vieira, Portuguese priest and philosopher (d. 1697)
 * 1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (d. 1644)
 * 1612 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1694)
 * 1643 – Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, Prussian politician, 1st Minister President of Prussia (d. 1712)
 * 1649 – Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp, German noblewoman (d. 1728)
 * 1664 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1703)
 * 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)
 * 1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1726)
 * 1719 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1759)
 * 1726 – Patrick Russell, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (d. 1805)
 * 1732 – Charles Lee, English-American general (d. 1782)
 * 1736 – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, German-Austrian sculptor (d. 1783)
 * 1744 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
 * 1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830)
 * 1753 – Évariste de Parny, French poet and author (d. 1814)
 * 1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
 * 1758 – Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Belarusian-Polish poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1841)
 * 1769 – Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, Austrian general (d. 1862)
 * 1772 – George Murray, Scottish general and politician, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (d. 1830)
 * 1778 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (d. 1827)
 * 1781 – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, Irish general and politician, Governor of Saint Lucia (d. 1844)
 * 1796 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist and geologist (d. 1861)
 * 1797 – Joseph von Radowitz, Prussian general and politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (d. 1853)
 * 1799 – Imre Frivaldszky, Hungarian botanist and entomologist (d. 1870)
 * 1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
 * 1802 – Charles Wheatstone, English-French physicist and cryptographer (d. 1875)
 * 1811 – Henry Liddell, English priest, author, and academic (d. 1898)
 * 1814 – Auguste Chapdelaine, French missionary and saint (d. 1856)
 * 1818 – William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (d. 1901)
 * 1820 – Thomas C. Durant, American railroad tycoon (d. 1885)
 * 1829 – Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, French architect, designed the La Santé Prison and Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge (d. 1914)
 * 1832 – John Brown Gordon, American general and politician, 53rd Governor of Georgia (d. 1904)
 * 1833 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author and academic (d. 1906)
 * 1833  – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
 * 1834 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist and academic (d. 1913)
 * 1834  – Ema Pukšec, Croatian-German soprano (d. 1889)
 * 1834  – Wilhelm von Scherff, German general and author (d. 1911)
 * 1838 – Henry Irving, English actor and manager (d. 1905)
 * 1838  – Israel Meir Kagan, Lithuanian-Polish rabbi and author (d. 1933)
 * 1839 – Eduard Hitzig, German neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1907)
 * 1842 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
 * 1843 – Inoue Kowashi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 1895)
 * 1843  – Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet and philologist, co-founded the Society for Psychical Research (d. 1901)
 * 1845 – Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (d. 1912)
 * 1847 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (d. 1918)
 * 1852 – C. Lloyd Morgan, English zoologist and psychologist (d. 1936)
 * 1852  – Vasily Safonov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1918)
 * 1861 – Nikolay Zelinsky, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1953)
 * 1864 – John Henry Mackay, Scottish-German philosopher and author (d. 1933)
 * 1866 – Karl Sapper, German linguist and explorer (d. 1945)
 * 1872 – Robert Maillart, Swiss engineer, designed the Salginatobel Bridge and Schwandbach Bridge (d. 1940)
 * 1874 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
 * 1875 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)
 * 1876 – Henry Blogg, English fisherman and sailor (d. 1954)
 * 1879 – Othon Friesz, French painter (d. 1949)
 * 1879  – Magnús Guðmundsson, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1937)
 * 1879  – Edwin Samuel Montagu, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1924)
 * 1879  – Carl Ramsauer, German physicist and author (d. 1955)
 * 1880 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (d. 1931)
 * 1884 – Marcel Cohen, French linguist and scholar (d. 1974)
 * 1887 – Josef Frings, German cardinal (d. 1978)
 * 1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (d. 1988)
 * 1890  – James McGirr, Australian politician, 28th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1957)
 * 1892 – Maximilian Fretter-Pico, German general (d. 1984)
 * 1892  – William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
 * 1893 – Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan (d. 1985)
 * 1894 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand-English lexicographer and academic (d. 1979)
 * 1894  – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (d. 1974)
 * 1895 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician (d. 1953)
 * 1895  – María Teresa Vera, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1965)
 * 1895  – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
 * 1898 – Harry Haywood, American soldier and politician (d. 1985)
 * 1899 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1968)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
 * 1902 – George Brunies, American trombonist (d. 1974)
 * 1903 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist and composer (d. 1991)
 * 1905 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (d. 1982)
 * 1905  – Jan Werich, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1980)
 * 1906 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (d. 1980)
 * 1908 – Geo Bogza, Romanian poet and journalist (d. 1993)
 * 1908  – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
 * 1908  – Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (d. 1987)
 * 1908  – Michael Maltese, American actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1981)
 * 1910 – Roman Czerniawski, Polish air force officer and spy (d. 1985)
 * 1910  – Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
 * 1910  – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-American gangster (d. 1993)
 * 1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
 * 1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
 * 1912  – Christopher Hill, English historian and author (d. 2003)
 * 1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
 * 1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (d. 2005)
 * 1915 – Kavi Pradeep, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1998)
 * 1916 – John Crank, English mathematician and physicist (d. 2006)
 * 1917 – Louis-Philippe de Grandpré, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
 * 1917  – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
 * 1918 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author and painter (d. 2007)
 * 1919 – Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (d. 2013)
 * 1921 – Carl Neumann Degler, American historian and author (d. 2014)
 * 1921  – Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
 * 1922 – Patrick Macnee, English-American actor and costume designer (d. 2015)
 * 1922  – Denis Norden, English actor, screenwriter, and television host (d. 2018)
 * 1922  – Haskell Wexler, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2015)
 * 1923 – Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1981)
 * 1924 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (d. 1994)
 * 1924  – Jin Yong, Hong Kong author and publisher, founded Ming Pao (d. 2018)
 * 1925 – Walker Edmiston, American actor and puppeteer (d. 2007)
 * 1927 – Gerard K. O'Neill, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1992)
 * 1928 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist and academic (d. 2017)
 * 1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008)
 * 1929  – Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan author and critic (d. 2011)
 * 1929  – Valentin Yanin, Russian historian and author (d. 2020)
 * 1930 – Jun Kondo, Japanese physicist and academic (d. 2022)
 * 1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
 * 1931  – Fred Trueman, English cricketer (d. 2006)
 * 1931  – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model
 * 1931  – Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (d. 2017)
 * 1932 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier and anarchist (d. 1959)
 * 1932  – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
 * 1933 – Leslie Crowther, English comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 1996)
 * 1936 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
 * 1938 – Fred Mifflin, Canadian admiral and politician, 19th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2013)
 * 1939 – Jean Beaudin, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2019)
 * 1939  – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, activist and public speaker
 * 1939  – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (d. 2014)
 * 1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author
 * 1940  – Petr Hájek, Czech mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
 * 1940  – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian and actor
 * 1941 – Stephen Albert, American pianist and composer (d. 1992)
 * 1941  – Dave Berry, English pop singer
 * 1941  – Gigi Perreau, American actress and director
 * 1942 – Ahmad-Jabir Ahmadov, Azerbaijani philosopher and academic (d. 2021)
 * 1942  – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (d. 2015)
 * 1942  – Charlie Coles, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
 * 1942  – James Loewen, American sociologist and historian (d. 2021)
 * 1942  – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (d. 2012)
 * 1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
 * 1943  – Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress (d. 2023)
 * 1944 – Christine Boutin, French politician, French Minister of Housing and Urban Development
 * 1944  – Willie Tee, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2007)
 * 1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
 * 1945  – Michael Tucker, American actor and producer
 * 1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2010)
 * 1946  – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
 * 1946  – Jim Turner, American captain and politician
 * 1947 – Charlie Hickcox, American swimmer (d. 2010)
 * 1947  – Bill Staines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2021)
 * 1949 – Mike Batt, English singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1949  – Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
 * 1949  – Jim Sheridan, Irish director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1949  – Mike Anderson, former American football player.
 * 1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)
 * 1950  – Timothy M. Dolan, American cardinal
 * 1950  – Punky Meadows, American rock guitarist and songwriter
 * 1951 – Kevin Whately, English actor
 * 1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, coach, and politician
 * 1952  – Viktor Giacobbo, Swiss actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1952  – Ricardo La Volpe, Argentinian footballer, manager, and coach
 * 1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
 * 1955  – John Kuester, American basketball player and coach
 * 1955  – Michael Pollan, American journalist, author, and academic
 * 1955  – Bruno Stolorz, French rugby player and coach
 * 1956 – Jerry Marotta, American drummer
 * 1957 – Andres Lipstok, Estonian economist and politician, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs
 * 1957  – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
 * 1957  – Simon Phillips, English drummer and producer
 * 1957  – Robert Townsend, American actor and director
 * 1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (d. 2004)
 * 1960 – Jeremy Bowen, Welsh journalist
 * 1960  – Megan Gallagher, American actress
 * 1961 – Cam Cameron, American football player and coach
 * 1961  – Bill Lester, American race car driver
 * 1961  – Yury Onufriyenko, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
 * 1962 – Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
 * 1962  – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1963 – David Capel, English cricketer (d. 2020)
 * 1963  – Scott Gordon, American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1963  – Quentin Letts, English journalist and critic
 * 1964 – Laurent Cabannes, French rugby player
 * 1964  – Gordon Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
 * 1964  – Colin Miller, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1964  – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director
 * 1965 – Jan Svěrák, Czech actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter
 * 1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1967  – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
 * 1967  – Michelle Thrush, Canadian actress and activist
 * 1968 – Adolfo Valencia, Colombian footballer
 * 1968  – Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer and producer
 * 1969 – David Hayter, American actor and screenwriter
 * 1969  – Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
 * 1969  – Tim Sherwood, English footballer and manager
 * 1969  – Bob Wickman, American baseball player
 * 1970 – Per Frandsen, Danish footballer and manager
 * 1970  – Tim Herron, American golfer
 * 1971 – Brad Hogg, Australian cricketer
 * 1971  – Carlos Rogers, American basketball player
 * 1971  – Brian Stepanek, American actor
 * 1972 – Stefano Bettarini, Italian footballer
 * 1972  – David Binn, American football player
 * 1974 – Aljo Bendijo, Filipino journalist
 * 1975 – Chad Allen, American baseball player and coach
 * 1975  – Orkut Büyükkökten, Turkish computer scientist and engineer, created Orkut
 * 1975  – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder and educator
 * 1976  – Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast and coach
 * 1977 – Josh Stewart, American actor
 * 1978 – Yael Naim, French-Israeli singer-songwriter
 * 1979 – Dan Bălan, Moldovan singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1980 – Kerry Jeremy, Antiguan cricketer
 * 1980  – Konnor, American wrestler
 * 1980  – Ben Lawson, Australian actor
 * 1980  – Kim Poirier, Canadian actress, singer, and producer
 * 1980  – Luke Ravenstahl, American politician, 58th Mayor of Pittsburgh
 * 1981 – Ricky Barnes, American golfer
 * 1981  – Calum Best, American-English model and actor
 * 1981  – Shim Eun-jin, South Korean singer and actress
 * 1981  – Alison Haislip, American actress and producer
 * 1981  – Jens Lekman, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1982 – Alice Eve, English actress
 * 1982  – Elise Ray, American gymnast
 * 1982  – Tank, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
 * 1983 – Dimas Delgado, Spanish footballer
 * 1983  – S. Sreesanth, Indian cricketer
 * 1983  – Jamie Whincup, Australian race car driver
 * 1984 – Darren Bent, English international footballer
 * 1984  – Piret Järvis, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1984  – Antoine Wright, American basketball player
 * 1985 – Fallulah, Danish singer-songwriter
 * 1985  – Kris Humphries, American basketball player
 * 1985  – Crystal Reed, American actress
 * 1986 – Dane DeHaan, American actor
 * 1986  – Tony Johnson, American mixed martial artist
 * 1986  – Yunho, South Korean singer and actor
 * 1987 – Pedro Álvarez, Dominican-American baseball player
 * 1987  – Travis Wood, American baseball player
 * 1988 – Anna Diop, Senegalese-American actress
 * 1988  – Bailey Hanks, American actress, singer, and dancer
 * 1989 – Craig Cathcart, Northern Irish footballer
 * 1989  – Jonny Flynn, American basketball player
 * 1990 – Adam Henrique, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1990  – Jermaine Kearse, American football player
 * 1990  – Aida Rybalko, Lithuanian figure skater
 * 1990  – Dominic Sherwood, English actor
 * 1991 – Tobias Eisenbauer, Austrian ice dancer
 * 1991  – Aleksandar Katai, Serbian footballer
 * 1991  – Ida Njåtun, Norwegian speed skater
 * 1991  – Eva Wacanno, Dutch tennis player
 * 1991  – Fei Yu, Chinese footballer
 * 1992 – Víctor Mañón, Mexican footballer
 * 1993 – Teresa Scanlan, American beauty pageant titleholder, Miss America 2011
 * 1993  – Tinashe, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
 * 1994 – Charlie Heaton, English actor and musician
 * 1995 – Nyck de Vries, Dutch race car driver
 * 1995  – Leon Goretzka, German footballer
 * 1995  – Sam McQueen, English footballer
 * 1996 – Kevon Looney, American basketball player
 * 1998 – Adley Rutschman, American baseball player

Pre-1600

 * 685 – Hlothhere, king of Kent
 * 743 – Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph (b. 691)
 * 797 – Donnchad Midi, Irish king (b. 733)
 * 891 – Photios I of Constantinople (b. 810)
 * 1135 – Elvira of Castile, Queen of Sicily (b.c. 1100)
 * 1140 – Thurstan, Archbishop of York
 * 1215 – Hōjō Tokimasa, Japanese shikken of the Kamakura bakufu (b. 1138)
 * 1378 – Joanna of Bourbon (b. 1338)
 * 1411 – Esau de' Buondelmonti, ruler of Epirus
 * 1497 – Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1410)
 * 1515 – Aldus Manutius, Italian publisher, founded the Aldine Press (b. 1449)
 * 1519 – Lorenz von Bibra, Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Würzburg (b. 1459)
 * 1539 – John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)
 * 1585 – Edmund Plowden, English lawyer and scholar (b. 1518)
 * 1593 – Jacques Amyot, French author and translator (b. 1513)
 * 1593  – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (b. 1517)
 * 1597 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1529)

1601–1900

 * 1612 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1538)
 * 1617 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1553)
 * 1685 – Charles II of England (b. 1630)
 * 1695 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1642)
 * 1740 – Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
 * 1775 – William Dowdeswell, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1721)
 * 1783 – Capability Brown, English gardener and architect (b. 1716)
 * 1793 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian-French playwright (b. 1707)
 * 1804 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (b. 1733)
 * 1833 – Pierre André Latreille, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1762)
 * 1834 – Richard Lemon Lander, English explorer (b. 1804)
 * 1865 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (b. 1836)
 * 1899 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)

1901–present

 * 1902 – John Colton, English-Australian politician, 13th Premier of South Australia (b. 1823)
 * 1908 – Harriet Samuel, English businesswoman and founder of the jewellery retailer H. Samuel (b. 1836)
 * 1916 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (b. 1867)
 * 1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (b. 1862)
 * 1929 – Maria Christina of Austria (b. 1858)
 * 1931 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (b. 1861)
 * 1932 – John Earle, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1865)
 * 1938 – Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)
 * 1942 – Jaan Soots, Estonian general and politician, 7th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1880)
 * 1951 – Gabby Street, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1882)
 * 1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
 * 1958 – victims of the Munich air disaster
 * Geoff Bent, English footballer (b. 1932)
 * Roger Byrne, English footballer (b. 1929)
 * Eddie Colman, English footballer (b. 1936)
 * Walter Crickmer, English footballer and manager (b. 1900)
 * Mark Jones, English footballer (b. 1933)
 * David Pegg, English footballer (b. 1935)
 * Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (b. 1913)
 * Tommy Taylor, English footballer (b. 1932)
 * 1963 – Piero Manzoni, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1933)
 * 1964 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (b. 1869)
 * 1967 – Martine Carol, French actress (b. 1920)
 * 1971 – Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (b. 1933)
 * 1972 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (b. 1902)
 * 1976 – Ritwik Ghatak, Bangladeshi-Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
 * 1976  – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1928)
 * 1981 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and conductor (b. 1925)
 * 1982 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (b. 1894)
 * 1985 – James Hadley Chase, English-Swiss soldier and author (b. 1906)
 * 1986 – Frederick Coutts, Scottish 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
 * 1986  – Dandy Nichols, English actress (b. 1907)
 * 1986  – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
 * 1987 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1929)
 * 1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)
 * 1990 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
 * 1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
 * 1991  – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)
 * 1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
 * 1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
 * 1994  – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (b. 1917)
 * 1995 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (b. 1926)
 * 1998 – Falco, Austrian pop-rock musician (b. 1957)
 * 1999 – Don Dunstan, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of South Australia (b. 1926)
 * 1999  – Jimmy Roberts, American tenor (b. 1924)
 * 2000 – Phil Walters, American race car driver (b. 1916)
 * 2000  – Hani al-Rahib, Syrian novelist and literary academic (b. 1939)
 * 2001 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino theoretician and activist (b. 1953)
 * 2001  – Trần Văn Lắm, South Vietnamese diplomat and politician (b. 1913)
 * 2002 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
 * 2004 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and economist (b. 1920)
 * 2005 – Karl Haas, German-American pianist, conductor, and radio host (b. 1913)
 * 2007 – Lew Burdette, American baseball player and coach (b. 1926)
 * 2007  – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1913)
 * 2007  – Willye White, American runner and long jumper (b. 1939)
 * 2008 – Tony Rolt, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
 * 2009 – Philip Carey, American actor (b. 1925)
 * 2009  – Shirley Jean Rickert, American actress (b. 1926)
 * 2009  – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
 * 2011 – Gary Moore, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)
 * 2012 – David Rosenhan, American psychologist and academic (b. 1929)
 * 2012  – Antoni Tàpies, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
 * 2012  – Janice E. Voss, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1956)
 * 2013 – Chokri Belaid, Tunisian lawyer and politician (b. 1964)
 * 2013  – Menachem Elon, German-Israeli academic and jurist (b. 1923)
 * 2014 – Vasiľ Biľak, Slovak politician (b. 1917)
 * 2014  – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
 * 2014  – Maxine Kumin, American author and poet (b. 1925)
 * 2014  – Vaçe Zela, Albanian-Swiss singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
 * 2015 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (b. 1935)
 * 2015  – Alan Nunnelee, American lawyer and politician (b. 1958)
 * 2015  – Pedro León Zapata, Venezuelan cartoonist (b. 1929)
 * 2016 – Dan Gerson, American screenwriter (b. 1966)
 * 2016  – Dan Hicks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
 * 2017 – Irwin Corey, American comedian and actor (b. 1914)
 * 2017  – Inge Keller, German actress (b. 1923)
 * 2017  – Alec McCowen, English actor (b. 1925)
 * 2017  – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby union footballer (b. 1971)
 * 2018 – Donald Lynden-Bell, English astrophysicist (b. 1935)
 * 2019 – Manfred Eigen, German Nobel Prize winning biophysical chemist (b. 1927)
 * 2019  – Rosamunde Pilcher, British author (born 1924)
 * 2020 – Jhon Jairo Velásquez, Colombian hitman and drug dealer (b. 1962)
 * 2021 – George Shultz, American politician, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor (b. 1920)
 * 2022 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian singer and music composer (b. 1929)
 * 2023 – Greta Andersen, Danish swimmer (b. 1927)
 * 2024 – Sebastian Piñera, former Chilean president (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Amand
 * Dorothea of Caesarea
 * Hildegund, O.Praem.
 * Jacut
 * Mateo Correa Magallanes (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
 * Mél of Ardagh
 * Paul Miki and Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan
 * Relindis (Renule) of Maaseik
 * Vedastus
 * February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations)
 * Ronald Reagan Day (California, United States)
 * Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden)
 * Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840.

title: February 6


text:
Francis Hopkinson

Francis Hopkinson (October 2, 1737 – May 9, 1791) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, author, and composer. He designed Continental paper money and two early versions of flags, one for the United States and one for the United States Navy. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 as a delegate from New Jersey.

Hopkinson served in various roles in the early United States government including as a member of the Second Continental Congress and as a member of the Navy Board. He became the first federal judge of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania on September 30, 1789.

Education and early career
Born on October 2, 1737 (Gregorian), September 21, 1737 (Julian) in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania. Hopkinson received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1757 from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) and an Artium Magister degree in 1760 from the same institution. He was the first native American composer of a secular song in 1759. He was secretary of a commission of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania which made a treaty between the province and certain Indian tribes in 1761. He entered private practice in Philadelphia from 1761 to 1766. He was collector of customs in Salem, Province of New Jersey in 1763.

Hopkinson spent from May 1766 to August 1767 in England in hopes of becoming commissioner of customs for North America. Although unsuccessful, he spent time with the future Prime Minister Lord North, Hopkinson's cousin James Johnson, and the painter Benjamin West. Upon his return to Philadelphia in 1768, he sold varieties of fabric and port wine.

In 1768, Hopkinson was elected to the revived American Philosophical Society and served as its curator from 1776 to 1782. He was collector of customs for New Castle, Delaware Colony from 1772 to 1773. He resumed private practice in Bordentown, New Jersey from 1773 to 1774. He was a member of the New Jersey Provincial Council from 1774 to 1776. He was a member of the Executive Council of New Jersey in 1775. He was admitted to practice before the bar of the Supreme Court of New Jersey on May 8, 1775 and was elected an associate justice of that court in 1776 but declined the office.

Second Continental Congress and judicial service
In 1776, Hopkinson served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress (Continental Congress) from June 21 through November 18. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, representing New Jersey. He was the Chairman of the Navy Board in Philadelphia from November 18, 1776, to mid-August 1778. He was treasurer for the Continental Loan Office in Philadelphia from 1778 to 1781. He was judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania from 1779 to 1789.

While sitting on the court, in December 1780 Hopkinson was impeached on allegations of accepting payment from litigants, accepting bribes in exchange for appointments, and trading in false certificates. After an impeachment trial, he was acquitted and remained in office. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention which ratified the United States Constitution.

Hopkinson was nominated by President George Washington on September 24, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, to a new seat authorized by. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and received his commission the same day.

Cultural contributions
Hopkinson wrote popular airs and political satires (jeux d'esprit) in the form of poems and pamphlets. Some were widely circulated and powerfully assisted in arousing and fostering the spirit of political independence that issued in the American Revolution. His principal writings are ''A Pretty Story. . . (1774), a satire about King George; The Prophecy (1776); and The Political Catechism'' (1777). Other notable essays are "Typographical Method of conducting a Quarrel", "Essay on White Washing", and "Modern Learning".

Hopkinson began to play the harpsichord at age seventeen and, during the 1750s, hand-copied arias, songs, and instrumental pieces by many European composers. He is credited as being the first American-born composer to commit a composition to paper with his 1759 composition "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free". By the 1760s, was playing with professional musicians in concerts.

Some of his more notable songs include "The Treaty", "The Battle of the Kegs", and "The New Roof, a song for Federal Mechanics". He also played organ at Philadelphia's Christ Church and composed or edited a number of hymns and psalms including: "A Collection of Psalm Tunes with a few Anthems and Hymns Some of them Entirely New, for the Use of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia" (1763), "A psalm of thanksgiving, Adapted to the Solemnity of Easter: To be performed on Sunday, the 30th of March, 1766, at Christ Church, Philadelphia" (1766), and "The Psalms of David, with the Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, &c. in Metre" (1767). In the 1780s, Hopkinson modified a glass harmonica to be played with a keyboard and invented the Bellarmonic, an instrument that utilized the tones of metal balls.

At his alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, one of the buildings in the Fisher-Hassenfeld College House is named after him.

Books

 * The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of Francis Hopkinson, Esq Printed by T. Dobson, 1792. Available via Google Books: Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
 * Judgments in the Admiralty of Pennsylvania in four suits Printed at T. Dobson and T. Lang, 1789. Available via Internet Archive

Essays

 * A Pretty Story Written in the Year of Our Lord 1774. Printed by John Dunlap, 1774. Available via Google Books
 * "Dissertation IV," in Four Dissertations, on the Reciprocal Advantages of a Perpetual Union between Great-Britain and Her American Colonies. Printed by William & Thomas Bradford, 1766. Available via the U.S. National Library of Medicine, Digital Collections

Musical compositions

 * Collection of Plain Tunes with a Few from Anthems and Hymns. Printed by Benjamin Carr, 1763.
 * Temple of Minerva. (The First American Opera) Printed by Benjamin Carr, 1781.
 * Seven Songs for the Harpsichord or Forte Piano. Printed by T. Dobson, 1788.
 * No. 3: "Beneath a weeping willow's shade"

Great Seal of the United States
In 1776. Hopkinson designed the Great Seal of New Jersey with assistance from Pierre Eugene du Simitiere in 1776. He was thus chosen as a consultant to design the Great Seal of the United States. Fourteen men worked on the Great Seal of the United States, including two other consultants – Simitiere (first Great Seal committee) and William Barton (third committee). The seal was finalized on June 20, 1782.

In the current rendition of the Great Seal of the United States, the 13 stars (constellation) representing the 13 original states have five points. They are arranged in the shape of a larger star with six points. The constellation comprising 13 smaller stars symbolizes the national motto, "E pluribus unum." Originally, the design had individual stars with six points, but this was changed in 1841 when a new die was cast. This seal is now impressed upon the reverse of the United States one-dollar bill. The reverse of the seal, designed by Barton, contains an unfinished pyramid below a radiant eye. The unfinished pyramid was an image used by Hopkinson when he designed the Continental $50 currency bill.

United States Flag
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the first official national flag of the newly independent United States (later celebrated as Flag Day). The resolution creating the flag came from the Continental Marine Committee. Hopkinson became a member of the committee in 1776. At the time of the flag's adoption, he was the chairman of the Navy Board, which was under the Marine Committee. Today, that office has been transferred to the United States Secretary of the Navy.

Hopkinson is recognized as a designer of the Flag of the United States, and the journals of the Continental Congress support this. On May 25, 1780, Hopkinson wrote a letter to the Continental Board of Admiralty mentioning several patriotic designs he had completed during the previous three years. One was his Board of Admiralty seal, which contained a shield of seven red and six white stripes on a blue field. Others included the Treasury Board seal, "7 devices for the Continental Currency," and "the Flag of the United States of America." Hopkinson noted that he had not asked for any compensation for the designs but was seeking a reward: "a Quarter Cask of the public Wine." The board sent that letter on to Congress.

Hopkinson submitted another bill on June 24 for his "drawings and devices." In this second letter, Hopkinson did not mention designing the flag of the United States. Instead, the first item listed was "the great Naval Flag of the United States" along with the other contributions. This flag with its red outer stripes was designed to show up well on ships at sea. A parallel flag for the national flag was most likely intended by Hopkinson with white outer stripes as on the Great Seal of the United States and on the Bennington flag, which commemorated 50th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 1826. Ironically, the Navy flag was preferred as the national flag.

For the various designs, Hopkinson asked for cash in the amount of £2,700. Auditor General James Milligan commissioned an evaluation of the request for payment. The report from the commissioner of the Chamber of Accounts said that the bill was reasonable and ought to be paid. Congress asked for an itemized bill for payment in cash. Hopkinson requested £9 for the naval flag. A committee investigated Hopkinson's charges that his payment was being delayed for arbitrary reasons. The Treasury Board turned down the request in an October 27, 1780, report to Congress. The Board cited several reasons for its action, including the fact that Hopkinson "was not the only person consulted on those exhibitions of Fancy [that were incidental to the Board (among them, the U.S. flag, the Navy flag, the Admiralty seal, and the Great Seal with a reverse) ], and therefore cannot claim the sole merit of them and not entitled in this respect to the full sum charged." The reference to the work of others is most probably a reference to his work on the Great Seal. Therefore, he would not be eligible to be paid for the Great Seal. Furthermore, the Great Seal project was still a work in progress. No known committee of the Continental Congress was documented with the assignment to design the national flag or naval flag. Hence, there was no evidence of collaboration with others on Hopkinson's flag design.

There is no known sketch of a Hopkinson flag—either U.S. or naval—in existence today. However, he incorporated elements of the two flags he designed in his rough sketches of the Great Seal of the United States and his design for the Admiralty Board Seal. The rough sketch of his second Great Seal proposal has 7 white stripes and 6 red stripes. The impression of Hopkinson's Admiralty Board Seal has a chevron with 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes. The Great Seal reflects Hopkinson's design for a governmental flag, and the Admiralty Board Seal reflects Hopkinson's design for a naval flag. Both flags were intended to have 13 stripes. Because the original stars used in the Great Seal had six points, Hopkinson's U.S. flag might also have intended the use of 6-pointed stars. This is bolstered by his original sketch for the Great Seal that featured a U.S. flag with six-pointed asterisks for stars. The stripe arrangement would have been consistent with other flags of the period that had seven stripes below the canton, or blue area with stars. For example, two of the earliest known examples of Stars and Stripes flags were painted by a Dutch artist who witnessed the arrival of Navy Lieutenant John Paul Jones' squadron in Texel, The Netherlands, in 1779. The two flags have seven stripes below the canton.

Personal life
Hopkinson was the son of Thomas Hopkinson and Mary Johnson Hopkinson. He married Ann Borden on September 1, 1768. They had five children. He was the father of Joseph Hopkinson, who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and also became a federal judge. Hopkinson's sister Mary (1742-1785) was married to Dr. John Morgan, second chief physician and director general of the Continental Army. According to Pennsylvania tax records and a Philadelphia census, Hopkinson owned at least two slaves.

Death
On May 9, 1791, Hopkinson died in Philadelphia of a sudden apoplectic seizure. He was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia.

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

title: Francis Hopkinson


text:
Honorius (emperor)

Honorius (9 September 384 – 15 August 423) was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho, ruled the western half of the empire while his brother Arcadius ruled the eastern half. His reign over the Western Roman Empire was notably precarious and chaotic. In 410, Rome was sacked for the first time in almost 800 years.

Family
Honorius was born to Emperor Theodosius I and Empress Aelia Flaccilla on 9 September 384 in Constantinople. He was the brother of Arcadius and Pulcheria. In 386, his mother died, and in 387, Theodosius married Galla who had taken a temporary refuge in Thessaloniki with her family, including her brother Valentinian II and mother Justina, away from usurper Magnus Maximus. Theodosius and Galla had a daughter, Honorius's half-sister Galla Placidia. Honorius, Arcadius, and Galla Placidia were the only children of Theodosius to survive into adulthood.

Early reign
After holding the consulate at the age of two in 386, Honorius was declared augustus by his father Theodosius I, and thus co-ruler, on 23 January 393, after the death of Valentinian II and the usurpation of Eugenius. When Theodosius died, in January 395, Honorius and Arcadius divided the Empire, so that Honorius became Western Roman emperor at the age of ten.

During the early part of his reign, Honorius depended on the military leadership of the general Stilicho, who had been appointed by Theodosius and was of mixed Vandal and Roman ancestry. To strengthen his bonds with the young emperor and to make his grandchild an imperial heir, Stilicho married his daughter Maria to Honorius. The epithalamion written for the occasion by Stilicho's court poet Claudian survives. Honorius was also influenced by the Popes of Rome. So it was that Pope Innocent I and Western bishops may have been successful in persuading Honorius to write to his brother, arguing for convening a synod in Thessalonica. At first Honorius based his capital in Milan, but when the Visigoths under King Alaric I entered Italy in 401 he moved his capital to the coastal city of Ravenna, which was protected by a ring of marshes and strong fortifications. While the new capital was easier to defend, it was poorly situated to allow Roman forces to protect Central Italy from the increasingly regular threat of barbarian incursions. It was significant that the Emperor's residence remained in Ravenna until the overthrow of Romulus Augustulus in 476. That was probably the reason why Ravenna was chosen not only as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, but also for the seat of the Byzantine exarchs as well.

Stilicho and the defense of Italy
Honorius's reign experienced continued barbarian incursions into Gaul, Italy and Hispania. At the same time, a host of usurpers rose up. The first crisis faced by Honorius was a revolt led by Gildo, the comes Africae and magister utriusque militiae per Africam, in Northern Africa, which lasted for two years (397–398). It was eventually subdued by Stilicho, under the local command of Mascezel, the brother of Gildo.

The next crisis was the Visigothic invasion of Italy in 402 under the command of their king, Alaric. Stilicho was absent in Raetia in the latter months of 401, when Alaric, who was also the Eastern Empire's magister militum in Illyricum, suddenly marched with a large army through the Julian Alps and entered Italy.

Stilicho hurried back to protect Honorius and the legions of Gaul and Britain were summoned to defend Italy. Honorius, at Milan, was besieged by Alaric, who marched into Liguria. Stilicho narrowly defeated Alaric at Pollentia, on the river Tanarus on Easter Day (6 April 402). Alaric retreated to Verona, where Stilicho attacked him again yet the battle was not entirely conclusive. The Visigoths were allowed to retreat back to Illyricum. In 405 Stilicho met an invasion of Italy led across the Danube by Radagaisus. They brought devastation to the heart of the Empire, until Stilicho defeated them in 406 and recruited most of them into his forces. Then, in 405 or 406, a number of tribes, according to some sources allegedly including Vandals, Alans, and Suebi, crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul.

The situation in Britain was even more difficult. The British provinces were isolated, lacking support from the Empire, and the soldiers supported the revolts of Marcus (406–407), Gratian (407), and Constantine III. Constantine invaded Gaul in 407, occupying Arles, and while Constantine was in Gaul, his son Constans ruled over Britain. By 410, Britain may have been told to look after its own affairs and expect no aid from Rome, although it has been argued that the order was sent to the people of Bruttium in Italy, not Britain.

The western empire was effectively overstretched due to the massive invasion of Alans, Suebi and Vandals who, although they had been repulsed from Italy in 406, moved into Gaul on 31 December 406, and arrived in Hispania in 409. In early 408, Stilicho attempted to strengthen his position at court by marrying his second daughter, Thermantia, to Honorius after the death of the Empress Maria in 407. Another invasion by Alaric was prevented in 408 by Stilicho when he forced the Roman Senate to pay 4,000 pounds of gold to persuade the Goths to leave Italy. Honorius, in the meantime, was at Bononia, on his way from Ravenna to Ticinum, when the news reached him of his brother's death in May 408. He at first was planning to go to Constantinople to help set up the court during the transition from Arcadius to Theodosius II. Summoned from Ravenna for advice, Stilicho advised Honorius not to go, and proceeded to go himself. In Stilicho's absence, a minister named Olympius gained the confidence of Honorius. He convinced the emperor that his father-in-law was conspiring with the barbarians to overthrow him.

On his return to Ravenna, Honorius ordered the arrest and execution of Stilicho. With Stilicho's fall, Honorius moved against all of his former father-in-law's allies, killing and torturing key individuals and ordering the confiscation of the property of anyone who had borne any office while Stilicho was in command. Honorius's wife Thermantia was taken from the imperial throne and given over to her mother; Eucherius, the son of Stilicho, was put to death. The purge also massacred the families of Stilicho's foederati troops, and they defected en masse to Alaric.

In October 408, Alaric returned to Italy to claim more gold and land to settle in, as feudatory vassals of the Empire, which Stilicho had promised him. The city bought him off with 5,000 lbs of gold and 30,000 lbs of silver after a short siege with Rome on the verge of famine.

A palace revolution in Honorius's court led meanwhile to a change of ministers, and those hostile to the Goths were replaced by officers favorable to Alaric, who began peace negotiations. While the embassy was absent, a new change occurred at Ravenna, and Honorius disclaimed the peace which was on the verge of being concluded. The enraged Alaric returned to Rome in late 409 and forced the Senate to elect Priscus Attalus as emperor, who ratified Alaric's former treaty with Stilicho.

Sack of Rome
Rome had been under Visigothic siege since shortly after Stilicho's deposition and execution in the summer of 408. In 410, the Eastern Roman Empire sent six legions (6,000 men; due to changes in tactics, legions of this period were about 1,000 soldiers, down from the 6,000-soldier legions of the Republic era and Empire period up to late 4th century) from Ravenna to aid Honorius, but Alaric ambushed the legions on the way, and only a handful of them reached Rome. Lacking a strong general to control the by-now mostly Germanic Roman army, Honorius could do little to attack Alaric's forces directly, and apparently adopted the only strategy he could in the situation: wait passively for the Visigoths to grow weary and spend the time marshalling what forces he could. This course of action appeared to be the product of Honorius's indecisive character and he suffered much criticism for it both from contemporaries and later historians.

To counter Attalus, Honorius tried to negotiate with Alaric in addition to restricting grain shipments to Rome from North Africa. Attalus dispatched an army to conquer Africa and restore the grain supply to Rome, but the governor, Heraclian, who was loyal to Honorius, wiped out this force as soon as it landed on the coast. As Rome was dependent on North African grain for sustenance, the populace was faced with the prospect of famine, and they blamed Attalus for the impending calamity. Growing desperate, Attalus searched for means of pacifying the people, but found himself, in consequence of conciliatory expenditures, incapable of satisfying his debt to Alaric, and thus alienated both Romans and Goths. In turn he came out to be exploited in political terms. Confronted with the increasing unpopularity and truculence of Attalus, Alaric dethroned him in 410 and proposed to renew negotiations with Honorius. Honorius, overconfident at Attalus' fall and the victory of his general Heraclian over Attalus' African expeditionary force, refused negotiation, and declared Alaric the eternal enemy of the Republic.

Stricken by starvation, somebody opened Rome's defenses to Alaric and the Goths poured in. The city had not been under the control of a foreign force since an invasion of Gauls some eight centuries before. The sack itself was notably mild as sacks go. For example, churches and religious statuary went unharmed. The psychological blow to the contemporary Roman world was considerably more painful. The shock of this event reverberated from Britain to Jerusalem, and inspired Augustine to write his magnum opus, The City of God.

Constantius and the beginning of erosion of the Western Empire
The revolt of Constantine III in the west continued through this period. In 409, Gerontius, Constantine III's general in Hispania, rebelled against him, proclaimed Maximus Emperor, and besieged Constantine at Arles. Honorius now found himself an able commander, Constantius, who defeated Maximus and Gerontius, and then Constantine, in 411.

Gaul was again a source of troubles for Honorius: just after Constantius's troops had returned to Italy, Jovinus revolted in northern Gaul, with the support of Alans, Burgundians, and the nobility of Gallic descent. Jovinus tried to negotiate with the invading Goths of Ataulf (412), but his proclamation of his brother Sebastianus as Augustus made Ataulf seek alliance with Honorius. Honorius had Ataulf defeat and execute Jovinus in 413. At the same time, Heraclianus raised the standard of revolt in North Africa, but failed during an invasion of Italy. Defeated, he fled back to Carthage and was killed.

In 414, Constantius attacked Ataulf, who proclaimed Priscus Attalus emperor again. Constantius drove Ataulf into Hispania, and Attalus, having again lost Visigoth support, was captured and deposed once again. In the eleventh consulship of Honorius and the second of Constantius, the Emperor entered Rome in triumph, with Attalus at the wheels of his chariot. Honorius punished Attalus by cutting off his right finger and thumb, inflicting the same fate with which Attalus had threatened Honorius. Remembering how Attalus had suggested that Honorius should retire to some small island, he returned the favor by banishing Attalus to the island of Lipara.

Northeastern Gaul became subject to even greater Frankish influence, while a treaty signed in 418 granted to the Visigoths southwestern Gaul, the former Gallia Aquitania. Under the influence of Constantius, Honorius issued the Edict of 418, which was designed to enable the Empire to retain a hold on the lands which were to be surrendered to the Goths. This edict relaxed the administrative bonds that connected all the Seven Provinces (The Maritime Alps, Narbonensis Prima, Narbonensis Secunda, Novempopulania, Aquitania Prima, Aquitania Secunda and Viennensis) with the central government. It removed the imperial governors and allowed the inhabitants, as a dependent federation, to conduct their own affairs, for which purpose representatives of all the towns were to meet every year in Arles.

In 417, Constantius married Honorius's sister, Galla Placidia, much against her will. In 421, Honorius recognized him as co-emperor Constantius III; however, when the announcement of his elevation was sent to Constantinople, Theodosius refused to recognise him. Constantius, enraged, began preparations for a military conflict with the eastern empire but before he could commence it, he died in September 421.

In 420–422, another Maximus (or perhaps the same) gained and lost power in Hispania. By the time of Honorius's death in 423, Britain, Spain and Gaul had been ravaged by barbarians. In his final years, Honorius fell out with his sister after his soldiers clashed with hers. Galla Placidia and her children, the future emperor Valentinian III and his sister, Honoria, were forced to flee to Constantinople.

Death
Honorius died of edema on 15 August 423, leaving no heir. In the subsequent interregnum Joannes was nominated Emperor. The following year, however, the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II installed his cousin Valentinian III, son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, as Emperor. The Mausoleum of Honorius was located on the Vatican Hill, accessed from the transept of the Old Saint Peter's Basilica. It was first used for Maria. Probably Thermantia and Honorius's sister Galla Placidia, and perhaps other imperial family members, were later buried there. In the 8th century it was transformed into a church, the Chapel of St Petronilla, which held the relics of the saint and was demolished when the New St Peter's was erected.

The year 410 also saw Honorius reply to a British plea for assistance against local barbarian incursions, called the Rescript of Honorius. Preoccupied with the Visigoths, Honorius lacked any military capability to assist the distant province. According to the sixth century Byzantine scholar Zosimus, "Honorius wrote letters to the cities in Britain, bidding them to guard themselves." This sentence is located randomly in the middle of a discussion of southern Italy; no further mention of Britain is made, which has led some modern academics to suggest that the rescript does not apply to Britain, but to Bruttium in Italy.

Assessments
In his History of the Wars, Procopius mentions a likely apocryphal story where, on hearing the news that Rome had "perished", Honorius was initially shocked, thinking the news was in reference to a favourite chicken he had named "Roma". At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna received the message from one of the eunuchs, evidently a keeper of the poultry, that Rome had perished. And he cried out and said, 'And yet it has just eaten from my hands!' For he had a very large cock, Rome by name; and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric, and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly: 'But I thought that my fowl Rome had perished.' So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was possessed. —Procopius, The Vandalic War (III.2.25–26) While the tale is discounted as a rumour by more recent historians like Edward Gibbon, it is useful in understanding Roman public opinion towards Honorius.

Honorius was negatively assessed by some 19th and 20th century historians, including J.B. Bury.

Honorius issued a decree during his reign, prohibiting men from wearing trousers in Rome. The last known gladiatorial games took place during the reign of Honorius, who banned the practice in 399 and again in 404, reportedly due to the martyrdom of a Christian monk named Telemachus while he was protesting a gladiator fight.

title: Honorius (emperor)


text:
Formant

In speech science and phonetics, a formant is the broad spectral maximum that results from an acoustic resonance of the human vocal tract. In acoustics, a formant is usually defined as a broad peak, or local maximum, in the spectrum. For harmonic sounds, with this definition, the formant frequency is sometimes taken as that of the harmonic that is most augmented by a resonance. The difference between these two definitions resides in whether "formants" characterise the production mechanisms of a sound or the produced sound itself. In practice, the frequency of a spectral peak differs slightly from the associated resonance frequency, except when, by luck, harmonics are aligned with the resonance frequency, or when the sound source is mostly non-harmonic, as in whispering and vocal fry.

A room can be said to have formants characteristic of that particular room, due to its resonances, i.e., to the way sound reflects from its walls and objects. Room formants of this nature reinforce themselves by emphasizing specific frequencies and absorbing others, as exploited, for example, by Alvin Lucier in his piece I Am Sitting in a Room. In acoustic digital signal processing, the way a collection of formants (such as a room) affects a signal can be represented by an impulse response.

In both speech and rooms, formants are characteristic features of the resonances of the space. They are said to be excited by acoustic sources such as the voice, and they shape (filter) the sources' sounds, but they are not sources themselves.

History
From an acoustic point of view, phonetics had a serious problem with the idea that the effective length of vocal tract changed vowels. Indeed, when the length of the vocal tract changes, all the acoustic resonators formed by mouth cavities are scaled, and so are their resonance frequencies. Therefore, it was unclear how vowels could depend on frequencies when talkers with different vocal tract lengths, for instance bass and soprano singers, can produce sounds that are perceived as belonging to the same phonetic category. There had to be some way to normalize the spectral information underpinning the vowel identity. Hermann suggested a solution to this problem in 1894, coining the term “formant”. A vowel, according to him, is a special acoustic phenomenon, depending on the intermittent production of a special partial, or “formant”, or “characteristique” feature. The frequency of the “formant” may vary a little without altering the character of the vowel. For “long e” (ee or iy) for example, the lowest-frequency “formant” may vary from 350 to 440 Hz even in the same person.

Phonetics
Formants are distinctive frequency components of the acoustic signal produced by speech, musical instruments or singing. The information that humans require to distinguish between speech sounds can be represented purely quantitatively by specifying peaks in the frequency spectrum. Most of these formants are produced by tube and chamber resonance, but a few whistle tones derive from periodic collapse of Venturi effect low-pressure zones.

The formant with the lowest frequency is called F1, the second F2, the third F3, and so forth. The fundamental frequency or pitch of the voice is sometimes referred to as F0, but it is not a formant. Most often the two first formants, F1 and F2, are sufficient to identify the vowel. The relationship between the perceived vowel quality and the first two formant frequencies can be appreciated by listening to "artificial vowels" that are generated by passing a click train (to simulate the glottal pulse train) through a pair of bandpass filters (to simulate vocal tract resonances). Front vowels have higher F2, while low vowels have higher F1. Lip rounding tends to lower F1 and F2 in back vowels and F2 and F3 in front vowels.

Nasal consonants usually have an additional formant around 2500 Hz. The liquid usually has an extra formant at 1500 Hz, whereas the English "r" sound  is distinguished by a very low third formant (well below 2000 Hz).

Plosives (and, to some degree, fricatives) modify the placement of formants in the surrounding vowels. Bilabial sounds (such as and  in "ball" or "sap") cause a lowering of the formants; on spectrograms, velar sounds ( and  in English) almost always show F2 and F3 coming together in a 'velar pinch' before the velar and separating from the same 'pinch' as the velar is released; alveolar sounds (English  and ) cause fewer systematic changes in neighbouring vowel formants, depending partially on exactly which vowel is present. The time course of these changes in vowel formant frequencies are referred to as 'formant transitions'.

In normal voiced speech, the underlying vibration produced by the vocal folds resembles a sawtooth wave, rich in harmonic overtones. If the fundamental frequency or (more often) one of the overtones is higher than a resonance frequency of the system, then the resonance will be only weakly excited and the formant usually imparted by that resonance will be mostly lost. This is most apparent in the case of soprano opera singers, who sing at pitches high enough that their vowels become very hard to distinguish.

Control of resonances is an essential component of the vocal technique known as overtone singing, in which the performer sings a low fundamental tone, and creates sharp resonances to select upper harmonics, giving the impression of several tones being sung at once.

Spectrograms may be used to visualise formants. In spectrograms, it can be hard to distinguish formants from naturally occurring harmonics when one sings. However, one can hear the natural formants in a vowel shape through atonal techniques such as vocal fry.

Formant estimation
Formants, whether they are seen as acoustic resonances of the vocal tract, or as local maxima in the speech spectrum, like band-pass filters, are defined by their frequency and by their spectral width (bandwidth).

Different methods exist to obtain this information. Formant frequencies, in their acoustic definition, can be estimated from the frequency spectrum of the sound, using a spectrogram (in the figure) or a spectrum analyzer. However, to estimate the acoustic resonances of the vocal tract (i.e. the speech definition of formants) from a speech recording, one can use linear predictive coding. An intermediate approach consists in extracting the spectral envelope by neutralizing the fundamental frequency, and only then looking for local maxima in the spectral envelope.

Formant plots
The first two formants are important in determining the quality of vowels, and are frequently said to correspond to the open/close (or low/high) and front/back dimensions (which have traditionally been associated with the shape and position of the tongue). Thus the first formant F1 has a higher frequency for an open or low vowel such as and a lower frequency for a closed or high vowel such as  or ; and the second formant F2 has a higher frequency for a front vowel such as  and a lower frequency for a back vowel such as.

Vowels will almost always have four or more distinguishable formants, and sometimes more than six. However, the first two formants are the most important in determining vowel quality and are often plotted against each other in vowel diagrams, though this simplification fails to capture some aspects of vowel quality such as rounding.

Many writers have addressed the problem of finding an optimal alignment of the positions of vowels on formant plots with those on the conventional vowel quadrilateral. The pioneering work of Ladefoged used the Mel scale because this scale was claimed to correspond more closely to the auditory scale of pitch than to the acoustic measure of fundamental frequency expressed in Hertz. Two alternatives to the Mel scale are the Bark scale and the ERB-rate scale. Another widely adopted strategy is plotting the difference between F1 and F2 rather than F2 on the horizontal axis.

Singer's formant
Studies of the frequency spectrum of trained speakers and classical singers, especially male singers, indicate a clear formant around 3000 Hz (between 2800 and 3400 Hz) that is absent in speech or in the spectra of untrained speakers or singers. It is thought to be associated with one or more of the higher resonances of the vocal tract. It is this increase in energy at 3000 Hz which allows singers to be heard and understood over an orchestra. This formant is actively developed through vocal training, for instance through so-called voce di strega or "witch's voice" exercises and is caused by a part of the vocal tract acting as a resonator. In classical music and vocal pedagogy, this phenomenon is also known as squillo.

title: Formant


text:
February 20

Pre-1600

 * 1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
 * 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
 * 1521 – Juan Ponce de León sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.
 * 1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

1601–1900

 * 1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
 * 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
 * 1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
 * 1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
 * 1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
 * 1824 – William Buckland formally announces the name Megalosaurus, the first scientifically validly named non-avian dinosaur species.
 * 1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.
 * 1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
 * 1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
 * 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
 * 1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

1901–present

 * 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
 * 1905 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
 * 1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
 * 1913 – King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
 * 1920 – An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.
 * 1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
 * 1931  – An anarchist uprising in Encarnación, Paraguay briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.
 * 1933 – The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.
 * 1933  – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.
 * 1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
 * 1939 – Madison Square Garden Nazi rally: The largest ever pro-Nazi rally in United States history is convened in Madison Square Garden, New York City, with 20,000 members and sympathizers of the German American Bund present.
 * 1942 – World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
 * 1943 – World War II: American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
 * 1943  – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
 * 1944 – World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
 * 1944  – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.
 * 1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
 * 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
 * 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
 * 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
 * 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
 * 1968 – The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.
 * 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
 * 1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.
 * 1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
 * 1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
 * 1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
 * 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
 * 2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
 * 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
 * 2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
 * 2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.
 * 2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers.
 * 2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.
 * 2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

Pre-1600

 * 1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)
 * 1469 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)
 * 1523 – Jan Blahoslav, Czech writer (d. 1571)
 * 1549 – Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, last Duke of Urbino (d. 1631)
 * 1552 – Sengoku Hidehisa, Daimyō (d. 1614)

1601–1900

 * 1608 – Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (d. 1649)
 * 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
 * 1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch painter (d. 1702)
 * 1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French musette player and composer (d. 1782)
 * 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
 * 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (d. 1813)
 * 1748 – Luther Martin, American politician (d. 1826)
 * 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)
 * 1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
 * 1756 – Angelica Schuyler Church, American socialite, sister-in-law to Alexander Hamilton (d. 1814)
 * 1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)
 * 1774 – Vicente Sebastián Pintado, Spanish cartographer, engineer, military officer and land surveyor of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish West Florida (d. 1829)
 * 1784 – Judith Montefiore, British linguist, travel writer, philanthropist (d. 1862)
 * 1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)
 * 1794 – William Carleton, Irish author (d. 1869)
 * 1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)
 * 1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)
 * 1839 – Benjamin Waugh, English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)
 * 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)
 * 1844  – Joshua Slocum, Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
 * 1848 – E. H. Harriman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)
 * 1857 – A. P. Lucas, English cricketer (d. 1923)
 * 1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)
 * 1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)
 * 1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)
 * 1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
 * 1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)
 * 1880 – Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, French author and poet (d. 1923)
 * 1882 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-American sculptor (d. 1946)
 * 1887 – Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
 * 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
 * 1889 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and physician (d. 1948)
 * 1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)
 * 1895 – Louis Zborowski, English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)
 * 1897 – Ivan Albright, American painter (d. 1983)
 * 1898 – Ante Ciliga, Croatian politician, writer and publisher (d. 1992)
 * 1898  – Enzo Ferrari, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, founder of Scuderia Ferrari and Ferrari (d. 1988)
 * 1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)

1901–present

 * 1901 – René Dubos, French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)
 * 1901  – Louis Kahn, American architect, designed the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
 * 1901  – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
 * 1901  – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (d. 1978)
 * 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)
 * 1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
 * 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
 * 1912  – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (d. 2006)
 * 1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
 * 1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)
 * 1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2020)
 * 1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)
 * 1919 – James O'Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
 * 1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)
 * 1921 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 1992)
 * 1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
 * 1923  – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
 * 1923  – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress (d. 2004)
 * 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (d. 2019)
 * 1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
 * 1925  – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
 * 1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)
 * 1926  – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2018)
 * 1926  – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
 * 1926  – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete (d. 2023)
 * 1926  – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)
 * 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)
 * 1927  – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (d. 2005)
 * 1927  – Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer (d. 2018)
 * 1927  – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat (d. 2022)
 * 1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland (d. 2020)
 * 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
 * 1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic
 * 1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)
 * 1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver (d. 2021)
 * 1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 2024)
 * 1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress (d. 2020)
 * 1936  – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
 * 1936  – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
 * 1937 – Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1937  – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman
 * 1937  – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
 * 1939 – Herbert Kohler Jr., American businessman (d. 2022)
 * 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer and TV pundit (d. 2021)
 * 1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian lawyer and politician
 * 1941  – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
 * 1942  – Mitch McConnell, American lawyer and politician
 * 1942  – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
 * 1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician (d. 2022)
 * 1943  – Mike Leigh, English director and screenwriter
 * 1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian economist and politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)
 * 1944  – Lew Soloff, American trumpet player, composer, and actor (d. 2015)
 * 1944  – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
 * 1945 – Alan Hull, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
 * 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
 * 1946  – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer
 * 1946  – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
 * 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
 * 1947  – Peter Strauss, American actor and producer
 * 1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
 * 1948  – Jennifer O'Neill, American model and actress
 * 1949 – Eddie Hemmings, English cricketer
 * 1949  – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (d. 2022)
 * 1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
 * 1950  – Peter Marinello, Scottish footballer
 * 1950  – Tony Wilson, English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
 * 1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
 * 1951  – Gordon Brown, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
 * 1951  – Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
 * 1951  – Phil Neal, English footballer and manager
 * 1953 – Poison Ivy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player
 * 1954  – Anthony Head, English actor
 * 1954  – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
 * 1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1958 – James Wilby, English actor
 * 1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver (d. 1996)
 * 1959  – David Corn, American journalist and author
 * 1959  – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
 * 1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
 * 1960  – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
 * 1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer
 * 1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)
 * 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1963  – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter and musician
 * 1963  – Joakim Nystrom, Swedish tennis player
 * 1963  – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health
 * 1963  – Cui Yongyuan, Chinese former anchor
 * 1964 – Willie Garson, American actor and director (d. 2021)
 * 1964  – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician
 * 1964  – Jeff Maggert, American golfer
 * 1964  – French Stewart, American actor
 * 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
 * 1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier
 * 1967  – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
 * 1967  – David Herman, American comedian and actor
 * 1967  – Andrew Shue, American actor and activist, founded Do Something
 * 1967  – Lili Taylor, American actress
 * 1969 – Kjell Ove Hauge, Norwegian school principal and track and field athlete
 * 1969  – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2022)
 * 1969  – Danis Tanović, Bosnian director and screenwriter
 * 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
 * 1971  – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)
 * 1973 – Andrea Savage, American actress and comedian
 * 1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager
 * 1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban-American baseball player
 * 1975  – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1977 – Gail Kim, Canadian wrestler
 * 1977  – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
 * 1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress
 * 1978  – Jay Hernandez, American actor
 * 1978  – Chelsea Peretti, American actress, comedian, writer, and singer-songwriter
 * 1979 – Michael Zegen, American actor
 * 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
 * 1980  – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
 * 1980  – Artur Boruc, Polish footballer
 * 1981 – Majandra Delfino, American actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1981  – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
 * 1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican baseball player
 * 1983  – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
 * 1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player
 * 1984  – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host
 * 1985 – Killian Dain, Northern Irish wrestler
 * 1985  – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
 * 1985  – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress
 * 1986 – Julio Borbón, American baseball player
 * 1987 – Luke Burgess, English rugby league player
 * 1987  – Martin Hanzal, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1987  – James Johnson, American basketball player
 * 1987  – Daniella Pineda, American actress
 * 1987  – Miles Teller, American actor
 * 1988 – Ki Bo-bae, South Korean archer
 * 1988  – Jiah Khan, Indian singer and actress (d. 2013)
 * 1988  – Rihanna, Barbadian singer, songwriter and actress
 * 1989 – Jack Falahee, American actor and singer-songwriter
 * 1990 – Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer
 * 1991 – Hidilyn Diaz, Filipino weightlifter
 * 1991  – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player
 * 1993 – Jurickson Profar, Curaçaoan baseball player
 * 1994 – Kateryna Baindl, Ukrainian tennis player
 * 1994  – Luis Severino, Dominican baseball player
 * 1995 – Elle Purrier St. Pierre, American track and field athlete
 * 1996 – Clarke Schmidt, American baseball player
 * 1998 – Emam Ashour, Egyptian footballer
 * 1999 – Jarrett Culver, American basketball player
 * 2000 – Josh Sargent, American soccer player
 * 2002 – Gavin Bazunu, Irish footballer
 * 2003 – Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer

Pre-1600

 * 789 – Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (b. 709)
 * 922 – Theodora, Byzantine empress
 * 1054 – Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kyiv (b. 978)
 * 1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury (b. c. 1080)
 * 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
 * 1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)
 * 1258 – Al-Musta'sim, Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)
 * 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of England (b. 1341)
 * 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
 * 1458 – Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia
 * 1513 – King John of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1455)
 * 1524 – Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler (b. 1500)
 * 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)

1601–1900

 * 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
 * 1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (b. 1563)
 * 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
 * 1771 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)
 * 1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
 * 1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)
 * 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
 * 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
 * 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader (b. 1767)
 * 1850 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843–1844) (b. 1794)
 * 1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
 * 1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)
 * 1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
 * 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (b. c. 1818)
 * 1900 – Washakie, American tribal leader (b. 1798)

1901–present

 * 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
 * 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
 * 1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1910)
 * 1920  – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
 * 1933 – Takiji Kobayashi, Japanese writer (b. 1903)
 * 1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
 * 1957 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Turkish scholar and politician (b. 1878)
 * 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)
 * 1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer (b. 1879)
 * 1965 – Michał Waszyński, Polish film director and producer (b. 1904)
 * 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
 * 1968 – Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
 * 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
 * 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
 * 1972  – Walter Winchell, American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
 * 1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
 * 1976  – Kathryn Kuhlman, healing evangelist, known for belief in Holy Spirit (b. 1907)
 * 1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)
 * 1987 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (b. 1905)
 * 1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)
 * 1992  – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
 * 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)
 * 1993  – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
 * 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)
 * 1996  – Audrey Munson, American model (b. 1891)
 * 1996  – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
 * 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
 * 1999  – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
 * 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
 * 2001  – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
 * 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
 * 2003  – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
 * 2003  – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
 * 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1942)
 * 2005  – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1921)
 * 2005  – John Raitt, American actor and singer (b. 1917)
 * 2005  – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
 * 2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
 * 2006  – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
 * 2008 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (b. 1907)
 * 2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
 * 2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
 * 2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
 * 2012  – Katie Hall, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
 * 2013 – Kenji Eno, Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)
 * 2013  – David S. McKay, American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
 * 2013  – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
 * 2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)
 * 2014  – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
 * 2014  – Garrick Utley, American journalist (b. 1939)
 * 2015 – Govind Pansare, Indian author and activist (b. 1933)
 * 2015  – Henry Segerstrom, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
 * 2015  – John C. Willke, American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)
 * 2016 – Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
 * 2017 – Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (b. 1952)
 * 2017  – Mildred Dresselhaus, American physicist (b. 1930)
 * 2017  – Steve Hewlett, British journalist (b. 1958)
 * 2020 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (b. 1952)
 * 2021 – Nurul Haque Miah, Bangladeshi professor and writer (b. 1944)
 * 2021  – Mauro Bellugi, Italian footballer (b. 1950)
 * 2024 – Andreas Brehme, German footballer (b. 1960)
 * 2024   – Yoko Yamamoto, Japanese actress (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Eleutherius of Tournai
 * Eucherius of Orléans
 * Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
 * Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * Wulfric of Haselbury
 * February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)
 * World Day of Social Justice

title: February 20