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February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 313 days remaining, 314 in Leap Year s.
Events
- 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria .
- 1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.
- 1543 - Battle Of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopia n and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn .
- 1613 - Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a National Assembly , beginning the Romanov Dynasty of Imperial Russia .
- 1743 - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel 's Oratorio , " Samson ".
- 1804 - The first self-propelling Steam Locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales .
- 1842 - John J. Greenough patents the Sewing Machine .
- 1848 - Karl Marx publishes the Communist Manifesto .
- 1874 - The '' Oakland Daily Tribune '' publishes its first Newspaper .
- 1875 - Jeanne Calment was born, going on to live for 122 years 164 days, the Longest Confirmed Lifespan for any human being in history.
- 1878 - The first Telephone Book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut .
- 1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
- 1893 - Thomas Edison receives two U.S. Patent s for a " Cut Out For Incandescent Electric Lamps " and for a " Stop Device "
- the Battle Of Verdun begins.
- 1925 - '' The New Yorker '' publishes its first issue.
- 1937 - Initial flight of the first successful Flying Car , Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile .
- 1937 - The League Of Nations bans foreign national " Volunteers " in the Spanish Civil War .
- 1947 - In New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first " Instant Camera ", the Polaroid Land Camera , to a meeting of the Optical Society Of America .
- 1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.
- 1952 - Language Martyrs' Day , marking language-revolution in the then East Pakistan (currently, the independent state of People's Republic of Bangladesh ).
- 1952 - The Government of Winston Churchill abolishes Identity Cards in the UK to "set the people free".
- 1952 - In East Pakistan (Present Bangladesh ) Police opened fire on a procession of students, who demended to establish Bangla as the State Language , killing four people and starting a country-wide protest which led to the independence of Bangladesh in 1971 . 21st February was later declared as " International Mother Language Day " by UNESCO .
- 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
- 1960 - Cuba n leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba .
- 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation Of Islam .
- , Switzerland .
- 1971 - The Convention On Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna .
- 1972 - President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic Of China to normalize Sino-American Relations .
- 1972 - The Soviet unmanned Spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon .
- 1973 - Over the Sinai Desert , Israel i Fighter Aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
- 1974 - The long-running Japan ese Comic Strip " Sazae-san " publishes its final installment in the '' Asahi Shimbun ''.
- 1974 - The last Israel i soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt .
- John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
- 1981 - Charles Rocket , portraying the gunshot victim in a Saturday Night Live parody of the " Who Shot J.R. " plot on the program Dallas , said, "I'd like to know who the fuck did it," during the live feed of the "goodnights" segment. Afterward, everyone except Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo was fired.
- 1986 - Nintendo released The Legend Of Zelda for the Famicom in Japan .
- 1986 - Metallica released their 3rd album Master Of Puppets .
- 1988 - Jimmy Swaggart , on his own Televangelism program being taped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana , confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be temporarily leaving the pulpit.
- 1995 - Serkadji Prison Mutiny in Algeria ; 4 guards and 96 prisoners killed in a day and a half.
- 1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan , Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a Balloon .
- 2000 - David Letterman returns to The Late Show over a month after having an emergency quintuple Heart Bypass surgery.
- 2003 - Over 100 concert goers in Rhode Island Die In A Fire during a performance of the rock band Great White .
- 2004 - The first European Political Party organization, the European Greens , is established in Rome .
Births
- 1484 - Elector Joachim I Of Brandenburg (d. 1535 )
- 1556 - Sethus Calvisius , German calendar reformer (d. 1615 )
- 1621 - Rebecca Nurse , American accused witch (d. 1692 )
- 1675 - Franz Xaver Josef Von Unertl , Bavarian politician (d. 1750 )
- 1688 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora Of Sweden (d. 1741 )
- 1705 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke , British naval officer (d. 1781 )
- 1721 - John McKinly , American physician and President of Delaware (d. 1796 )
- 1723 - Louis-Pierre Anquetil , French historian (d. 1808 )
- 1728 - Tsar Peter III Of Russia , husband of Catherine The Great (d. 1762 )
- 1791 - Carl Czerny , Austrian composer (d. 1857 )
- 1801 - John Henry Newman , English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890 )
- 1821 - Charles Scribner , American publisher (d. 1871 )
- 1836 - Léo Delibes , French composer (d. 1891 )
- 1844 - Charles-Marie Widor , French organist and composer (d. 1937 )
- 1865 - John Haden Badley , English author and school founder (d. 1967 )
- 1867 - Otto Hermann Kahn , German millionaire and benefactor (d. 1934 )
- 1875 - Jeanne Calment , supercentenarian (d. 1997 )
- 1880 - Waldemar Bonsels , German writer (d. 1952 )
- 1885 - Sacha Guitry , Russian dramatist, writer, director, and actor (d. 1957 )
- 1893 - Celia Lovsky , Russian-born actress (d. 1979 )
- 1893 - Andrés Segovia , Spanish guitarist (d. 1987 )
- 1895 - Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (d. 1976 )
- 1903 - Fairfax M. Cone , American advertising executive (d. 1977 )
- 1903 - Anaïs Nin , French writer (d. 1977 )
- 1907 - W. H. Auden , English poet (d. 1973 )
- 1910 - Douglas Bader , British pilot (d. 1982 )
- 1910 - Carmine Galante , Italian-born gangster (d. 1979 )
- 1910 - Eddie Waring , British sports commentator (d. 1986 )
- 1915 - Ann Sheridan , American actress (d. 1967 )
- 1917 - Lucille Bremer , American actress (d. 1996 )
- 1924 - Robert Mugabe first President Of Zimbabwe
- 1925 - Sam Peckinpah , American director (d. 1984 )
- 1927 - Erma Bombeck , American humorist (d. 1996 )
- 1927 - Hubert De Givenchy , French fashion designer
- 1929 - Roberto "Chespirito" Carlos Bolanõs , Mexican actor, writer, comedian, and songwriter
- 1933 - Nina Simone , American singer (d. 2003 )
- 1934 - Rue McClanahan , American actress
- 1936 - Barbara Jordan , American politician (d. 1996 )
- 1937 - King Harald V Of Norway
- 1937 - Gary Lockwood , American actor
- 1940 - John Lewis , American politician
- 1941 - James Wong , Hong Kong composer (d. 2004 )
- 1942 - Margarethe Von Trotta , German actor, film director, and writer
- 1943 - David Geffen , American record producer
- 1946 - Tyne Daly , American actress
- 1946 - Anthony Daniels , British actor
- 1946 - Alan Rickman , English actor
- 1947 - Olympia Snowe , American politician
- 1947 - Victor Sokolov , Russian dissident journalist and priest (d. 2006 )
- 1949 - Jerry Harrison , American musician
- 1953 - Christine Ebersole , American actress
- 1953 - William Petersen , American actor
- 1955 - Sir Steven Fayburgh KCMG , British diplomat
- 1955 - Kelsey Grammer , American actor
- 1958 - Jake Burns , Northern Ireland singer ( Stiff Little Fingers }
- 1958 - Mary Chapin Carpenter , American singer
- 1958 - Alan Trammell , baseball player and manager
- 1961 - Davey Allison , American race car driver (d. 1993 )
- 1961 - Christopher Atkins , American actor
- 1961 - Martha Hackett , American actress
- 1961 - Chuck Palahniuk , American writer
- 1962 - Vanessa Feltz , British television presenter
- 1962 - David Foster Wallace , American writer
- 1963 - William Baldwin , American actor
- 1967 - Leroy Burrell , American sprinter
- 1969 - Eric Wilson , American musician ( Sublime )
- 1969 - James Dean Bradfield , Welsh musician ( Manic Street Preachers )
- 1970 - Michael Slater , Australian cricketer
- 1972 - Seo Taiji , Korean musician
- 1973 - Tad Kinchla, American musician Blues Traveler
- 1974 - Ivan Campo , Spanish footballer
- 1974 - Roberto Heras , Spanish cyclist
- 1975 - Affirmed , American race horse (d. 2001 )
- 1977 - Steve Francis , NBA Basketball player
- 1977 - Kevin Rose , American television host
- 1979 - Pascal Chimbonda , French footballer
- 1979 - Lonnie Ford , Arena Football League fullback/linebacker
- 1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt , American actress and singer
- 1983 - Braylon Edwards , American football player
- 1986 - Charlotte Church , Welsh singer
- 1987 - Anthony Walker , British student, hate crime murder victim (d. 2005 )
Deaths
- 1437 - King James I Of Scotland (b. 1394 )
- 1471 - John Of Rokycan , Czech Catholic archbishop
- 1513 - Pope Julius II (b. 1443 )
- 1543 - Ahmed Gragn , Sultan of Adal
- 1554 - Hieronymus Bock , German botanist
- 1595 - Robert Southwell , English poet
- 1668 - John Thurloe , English Puritan spy (b. 1616 )
- 1677 - Baruch Spinoza , Dutch philosopher (b. 1632 )
- 1715 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore , Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637 )
- 1788 - Johann Georg Palitzsch , German astronomer (b. 1723 )
- 1824 - Eugène De Beauharnais , son of Napoleon's Wife, Josephine (b. 1781 )
- 1846 - Emperor Ninko Of Japan , (b. 1800 )
- 1862 - Justinus Kerner , German poet (b. 1786 )
- 1901 - George Francis FitzGerald , Irish mathematician (b. 1851 )
- 1926 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes , Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853 )
- 1938 - George Ellery Hale , American astronomer (b. 1868 )
- 1941 - Frederick Banting , Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1891 )
- 1944 - Ferenc Szisz , Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873 )
- 1945 - Eric Liddell , Scottish runner (b. 1902 )
- 1965 - Malcolm X , American black activist (b. 1925 )
- 1967 - Charles Beaumont , American writer (b. 1929 )
- 1968 - Howard Walter Florey , Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1898 )
- 1974 - Tim Horton , Canadian hockey player (b. 1905 )
- 1984 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov , Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905 )
- 1991 - Dame Margot Fonteyn , English ballet dancer (b. 1919 )
- 1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio , Mexican politician (b. 1948 )
- 1996 - Morton Gould , American composer (b. 1913 )
- 1999 - Gertrude B. Elion , American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (b. 1918 )
- 2002 - John Thaw , English actor (b. 1942 )
- 2002 - Harold Furth , Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939 )
- 2004 - John Charles , Welsh footballer (b. 1931 )
- 2004 - Guido Molinari , Canadian artist (b. 1933 )
- 2005 - Ara Berberian , American opera singer (b. 1930 )
- 2005 - Guillermo Cabrera Infante , Cuban novelist (b. 1929 )
- 2005 - Eugene Scott , American religious broadcaster (b. 1929 )
Holidays and observances
External links
February 20 - February 22 - January 21 - March 21 -- Listing Of All Days
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