Almanac - February 4
Rosa Parks 1913-2005
Events
- 211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians.He leaves the empire in the control of his two quarrelling sons.
- 960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
- 1169 - A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of victims, especially in Catania.
- 1454 – In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
- 1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
- 1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
- 1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
- 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
- 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1810 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
- 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2 day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.
- 1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
- 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Utah Territory.
- 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
- 1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
- 1899 – The Philippine-American War begins.
- 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
- 1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
- 1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
- 1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
- 1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
- 1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
- 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
- 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
- 1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
- 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
- 1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
- 1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
- 1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
- 1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.
- 1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
- 1992 – A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
- 1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
- 1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
- 1997 – After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Miloševic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
- 1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
- 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- 1999 – The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
- 2000 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
- 2002 – Cancer Research UK, the world's largest independent cancer research charity, is founded.
- 2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
- 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
- 2006 – A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
- 2008 – The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme begins to operate in the UK.
- 2010 – The Federal Court of Australia's ruling in Roadshow Films v iiNet sets a precedent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not responsible for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them.
Births
- 1505 – Nicolaus Rey, Polish poet (d. 1580)
- 1524 – Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet (d. 1580)
- 1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1629)
- 1620 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)
- 1639 – Alessandro Melani, Italian composer (d. 1703)
- 1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d. 1699)
- 1676 – Giacomo Facco, Italian Baroque violinist, conductor and composer (d. 1753)
- 1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)
- 1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d. 1763)
- 1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
- 1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
- 1746 – Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish, Belarusian-Lithuanian, and American national hero (d. 1817)
- 1778 – A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
- 1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer (d. 1854)
- 1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, author of the Czech national anthem (d. 1856)
- 1831 – Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
- 1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)
- 1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet (d. 1921)
- 1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet (d. 1926)
- 1859 – Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (d. 1881)
- 1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
- 1872 – Gotse Delchev, a great Bulgarian revolutionary, (d. 1903)
- 1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
- 1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
- 1877 – Eddie Cochems, Father of the Forward Pass in American football (d. 1953)
- 1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
- 1891 – Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker of Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
- 1892 – Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)
- 1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d. 1964)
- 1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
- 1896 – Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (d. 1938)
- 1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist (d. 1997)
- 1897 – Ludwig Erhard, 2nd Bundeskanzler of Germany (d. 1977)
- 1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and lyricist (d. 1977)
- 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and social activist (d. 1974)
- 1902 – Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
- 1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)
- 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
- 1908 – Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)
- 1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian politician (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
- 1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer (d. 2006)
- 1912 – Louis-Albert Vachon, cardinal archbishop of Quebec (d. 2006)
- 1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)
- 1915 – Ray Evans, American songwriter with Jay Livingston (d. 2007)
- 1915 – William Talman, American actor (d. 1968)
- 1915 – Sir Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
- 1918 – Porky Chedwick, American radio personality
- 1918 – Ida Lupino, English film actress and director (d. 1995)
- 1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)
- 1918 – Janet Waldo, American actress
- 1921 – Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Lotfi Asker Zadeh, American-Iranian/Russian mathematician and computer scientist
- 1922 – Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Indian classical singer (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor
- 1923 – Joan Vollmer, American beatnik (d. 1951)
- 1924 – Janet Waldo, American Actress
- 1925 – Russell Hoban, American writer (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Gerald Sim, English actor
- 1926 – Roger Blais, Canadian geological engeneer and academic (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Rolf Landauer, American physicist and electrical engineer (d. 1999)
- 1929 – Jerry Adler, American actor
- 1929 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian civil servant and Puisne Justice of The Supreme Court of Canada (d. 1987)
- 1929 – Eduard Zimmermann, German journalist, TV presenter and security expert (d. 2009)
- 1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, President of Argentina (1974–1976), widow of Argentine President Juan Perón
- 1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
- 1936 – David Brenner, American comedian
- 1936 – Gary Conway, American actor
- 1937 – David Newman, American filmmaker (d. 2003)
- 1938 – Donald W. Riegle, Jr., American Senator
- 1940 – George A. Romero, American director, screenwriter and producer
- 1940 – Michelle Rossignol, Canadian actress
- 1940 – John Schuck, American actor
- 1941 – John Steel, British musician (The Animals)
- 1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira
- 1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
- 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
- 1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer (The 5th Dimension)
- 1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and Director of National Intelligence
- 1947 – Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States
- 1948 – Alice Cooper, American musician
- 1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 57th Yokozuna
- 1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
- 1949 – Rasim Delic, Bosnian military chief of staff and war criminal (d. 2010)
- 1950 – Pamela Franklin, British actress
- 1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
- 1951 – Phil Ehart, American musician (Kansas)
- 1951 – Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer and musician
- 1951 – Stan Papi, American baseball player
- 1952 – Lisa Eichhorn, American actress
- 1952 – Jerry Shirley, Drummer (Humble Pie)
- 1952 – Li Yinhe, Chinese sexologist
- 1953 – Kitaro, Japanese composer
- 1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak Prime Minister
- 1957 – Don Davis, American composer
- 1957 – Evan Wolfson, American attorney and activist
- 1958 – Tomasz Pacynski, Polish writer
- 1959 – Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
- 1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player
- 1960 – Tim Booth, British singer (James)
- 1960 – Mark Dawson, British-born American entertainment manager (The Iron Maidens)
- 1960 – Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
- 1960 – Jenette Goldstein, American actress
- 1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)
- 1960 – Dave Pichette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Stewart O'Nan, American author
- 1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1962 – Clint Black, American musician
- 1962 – Michael Riley, Canadian actor
- 1962 – Alfred Twardecki, Polish historian
- 1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
- 1964 – Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
- 1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
- 1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
- 1966 – Kyoko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer
- 1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
- 1968 – Marko Matvere, Estonian actor
- 1969 – Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (Our Lady Peace)
- 1969 – Dallas Drake, ice hockey player
- 1969 – Brandy Ledford, American actress and model
- 1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
- 1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian
- 1971 – Michael A. Goorjian, American actor
- 1972 –Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian
- 1972 – Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 – Oscar de la Hoya, Mexican-American boxer
- 1973 – Manny Legacé, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
- 1974 – Mijntje Donners, Dutch hockey international
- 1974 – Urmila Matondkar, Indian actress
- 1974 – Eric Townsend, American musician and record producer
- 1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress
- 1975 – Thomas Tebbich, Austrian decathlete
- 1976 – Cam'ron, American rapper
- 1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American musician
- 1977 – Mitra Hajjar, Iranian actress
- 1978 – Danna Garcia, Colombian actress
- 1978 – Ömer Onan, Turkish basketball player
- 1979 – Andrei Arlovski, Belarussian mixed martial artist
- 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver
- 1981 – Allen Forrest, American recording artist/ music producer
- 1981 – Ben Hendrickson, American baseball player
- 1981 – Jason Kapono, America professional basketball player
- 1981 – Tom Mastny, Indonesian baseball player
- 1981 – Johan Van Summeren, Belgian cyclist
- 1982 – Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler
- 1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
- 1982 – Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)
- 1983 – Lee Stempniak, American ice hockey player
- 1983 – Jarrad Waite, Australian rules footballer
- 1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
- 1985 – Bug Hall, American actor
- 1986 – Mohammad Mahmudullah, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1987 – Lucie Šafárová, Czech tennis player
- 1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast
Deaths
- 211 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 145)
- 708 – Pope Sisinnius
- 856 – Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz (b. c. 780)
- 869 – Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)
- 1508 – Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar (b. 1459)
- 1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (b. 1517)
- 1615 – Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath and child prodigy (b. 1535)
- 1615 – Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
- 1617 – Louis Elsevier, Dutch publisher (b. 1546)
- 1694 – Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)
- 1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (b. 1671)
- 1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
- 1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)
- 1781 – Josef Myslivecek, Czech composer (b. 1737)
- 1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general in the Greek War of Independence (b. 1770)
- 1894 – Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker (b. 1814)
- 1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)
- 1912 – Franz Reichelt, Austrian tailor/Inventor (b. 1800's)
- 1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1853)
- 1933 – Archibald Sayce, English educator (b. 1846)
- 1936 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
- 1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet NKVD (b. 1895)
- 1943 – Frank Calder, the first NHL President (b. 1877)
- 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (b. 1872)
- 1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author (b. 1915)
- 1959 – Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
- 1966 – Gilbert H. Grosvenor, American president of the National Geographic Society (b. 1875)
- 1967 – Albert Orsborn, 6th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1886)
- 1968 – Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
- 1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)
- 1975 – Howard Hill, American archer (b. 1899)
- 1975 – Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
- 1977 – Brett Halliday, American writer (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish musician (b. 1935)
- 1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen, German judge (b. 1909)
- 1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters) (b. 1950)
- 1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan feminist and founder of RAWA (b. 1956)
- 1987 – Liberace, American musician (b. 1919)
- 1987 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b. 1902)
- 1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1917)
- 1992 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)
- 1993 – Connie Saylor, American NASCAR racecar driver (b. 1940)
- 1994 – Jane Arbor, British writer (b. 1903)
- 1994 – Fred De Bruyne, Belgian cyclist (b. 1930)
- 1995 – Godfrey Brown, British athlete and teacher (b. 1915)
- 1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American author (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Carl Albert, American politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
- 2000 – Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (b. 1941)
- 2000 – Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)
- 2001 – J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b. 1924)
- 2001 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer and architect (b. 1922)
- 2002 – George Nader, American film and television actor (b. 1921)
- 2002 – Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland (b. 1907)
- 2003 – Charlie Biddle, Canadian jazz bassist (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)
- 2003 – André Noyelle, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, activist (b. 1917)
- 2006 – Betty Friedan, American feminist (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Myron Waldman, American animator (b. 1908)
- 2007 – Steve Barber, American baseball pitcher (b. 1938)
- 2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian footballer (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian poet and translator (b. 1959)
- 2007 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-born American abstract painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Stefan Meller, Polish foreign minister (b. 1942)
- 2009 – Lux Interior, American musician (The Cramps) (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-born American composer (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Woodie Fryman, American baseball pitcher (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances
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