February 16

Events

• 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
• 1270 - Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.
• 1630 - Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
• 1646 - Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the first English Civil War.
• 1699 - First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
• 1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1796 - Colombo in Ceylon falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.
• 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate.
• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
• 1881 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa.
• 1899 - Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
• 1918 - The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
• 1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
• 1930 - The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
• 1934 - The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
• 1936 - The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.
• 1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.
• 1940 - World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer. 299 British prisoners are freed.
• 1943 - World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
• 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
• 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1960 - The U.S. Navy submarine begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
• 1961 - Explorer program: Explorer 9 is launched.
• 1962 - Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.
• 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
• 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created.
• 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.
• 1985 - Hezbollah is founded.
• 1986 - The Soviet liner runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 1986 - China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.
• 1991 - Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
• 1996 - A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.
• 1998 - China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground.
• 2005 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
• 2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs.
• 2006 - The last Mobile army surgical hospital is decommissioned by the United States Army.
• 2013 - A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.

  Births

• 1222 - Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism
• 1304 - Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor
• 1331 - Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader
• 1419 - John I, Duke of Cleves
• 1470 - Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
• 1471 - Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire
• 1497 - Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic
• 1514 - Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker
• 1519 - Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral
• 1543 - Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator
• 1620 - Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
• 1643 - John Sharp, English archbishop
• 1698 - Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer
• 1727 - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist
• 1740 - Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver
• 1761 - Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general
• 1774 - Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer
• 1786 - Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess
• 1802 - Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher
• 1804 - Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist
• 1812 - Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States
• 1821 - Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar
• 1822 - Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician
• 1824 - Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer
• 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author
• 1830 - Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter
• 1831 - Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist
• 1834 - Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher
• 1838 - Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author
• 1841 - Armand Guillaumin, French painter
• 1843 - Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln
• 1845 - George Kennan, American journalist and explorer
• 1848 - Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic
• 1848 - Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright
• 1856 - Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
• 1866 - Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager
• 1868 - Edward S. Curtis, American ethnologist and photographer
• 1873 - Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author
• 1876 - G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic
• 1878 - Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator
• 1878 - James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss
• 1884 - Robert J. Flaherty, German-Irish American director and producer
• 1886 - Andy Ducat, English international footballer and Cricketer
• 1887 - Kathleen Clifford, American actress
• 1891 - Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic
• 1893 - Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer
• 1896 - Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian
• 1901 - Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor
• 1901 - Chester Morris, American actor
• 1902 - Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer
• 1903 - Edgar Bergen, Swedish-American ventriloquist and actor
• 1904 - James Baskett, African-American actor and singer
• 1904 - George F. Kennan, Scotch-Irish American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
• 1905 – Henrietta Barnett, British Women's Royal Air Force officer
• 1906 - Vera Menchik, British-Czechoslovak-Russian chess player
• 1909 - Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director
• 1909 - Richard McDonald, Irish-American businessman, co-founded McDonald's
• 1914 - Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor
• 1916 - Bill Doggett, African-American pianist and composer
• 1919 - Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer
• 1920 - Anna Mae Hays, American general
• 1921 - Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1921 - Jean Behra, French race car driver
• 1921 - John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic
• 1922 - Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot
• 1923 - Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter
• 1926 - Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim
• 1926 - John Schlesinger, English actor and director
• 1927 - June Brown, English actress
• 1929 - Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect
• 1929 - Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator
• 1931 - Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1931 - Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer
• 1932 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone
• 1932 - Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1934 - August Coppola, American author and academic
• 1934 - Marlene Hagge, American golfer
• 1935 - Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director
• 1935 - Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician
• 1935 - Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm
• 1935 - Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer
• 1935 - Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor
• 1937 - Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer
• 1937 - Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic
• 1938 - John Corigliano, American composer and academic
• 1939 - Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge
• 1940 - Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer
• 1941 - Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea
• 1942 - Richard Williams, American tennis player and coach
• 1944 - Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician
• 1944 - Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer
• 1944 - Sigiswald Kuijken, Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor
• 1944 - António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde
• 1947 - Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician
• 1948 - Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach
• 1949 - Bob O'Reilly, Australian rugby league player
• 1950 - Peter Hain, Kenyan-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
• 1951 - Barry Foote, American baseball player and coach
• 1952 - William Katt, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1952 - Peter Kitchen, English footballer, striker
• 1952 - James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1953 - John Bradbury, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
• 1953 - Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1953 - Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment
• 1954 - Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright
• 1954 - Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress
• 1954 - Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster
• 1956 - Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter
• 1957 - LeVar Burton, German-born American actor, director, and producer
• 1958 - Natalie Angier, American author
• 1958 - Ice-T, American rapper and actor
• 1958 - Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player
• 1958 - Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach
• 1959 - John McEnroe, German-American tennis player and sportscaster
• 1959 - Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1960 - Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter
• 1961 - Des Hasler, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1961 - Liu Kang, Chinese footballer and manager
• 1961 - Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1962 - John Balance, English singer-songwriter
• 1964 - Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager
• 1964 - Christopher Eccleston, English actor
• 1965 - Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American drummer
• 1967 - Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1968 - Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter
• 1970 - Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager
• 1971 - Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit
• 1971 - Craig Laundy, Australian politician
• 1972 - Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player
• 1972 - Sarah Clarke, American actress
• 1972 - Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress
• 1972 - Darrell Trindall, Australian rugby league player
• 1973 - Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter
• 1974 - Mahershala Ali, American actor
• 1974 - José Dominguez, Portuguese international footballer, winger and manager
• 1976 - Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1976 - Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
• 1977 - Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Freenet
• 1977 - Ahman Green, American football player
• 1978 - Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist
• 1978 - Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer
• 1978 - John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer
• 1979 - Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer, midfielder
• 1979 - Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor
• 1979 - Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer
• 1980 - Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American drummer
• 1981 - Jay Howard, English race car driver
• 1981 - Jerry Owens, American baseball player
• 1981 - Qyntel Woods, American basketball player
• 1982 - Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer
• 1982 - Rickie Lambert, English footballer
• 1982 - Lupe Fiasco, American rapper
• 1983 - Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer
• 1984 - Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player
• 1984 - Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer
• 1985 - Simon Francis, English footballer
• 1985 - Stacy Lewis, American golfer
• 1985 - Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer
• 1986 - Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer
• 1987 - Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1987 - Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer
• 1987 - Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player
• 1988 - Diego Capel, Spanish footballer
• 1988 - Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player
• 1988 - Denílson Pereira Neves, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 - Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer
• 1988 - Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer
• 1989 - Elizabeth Olsen, American actress
• 1990 - Dunamis Lui, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
• 1990 - The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1991 - Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer
• 1992 - Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer
• 1992 - Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player
• 1994 - Annika Beck, German tennis player
• 1994 - Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer
• 1994 - Ava Max, American singer and songwriter
• 1995 - Katy Dunne, English tennis player
• 1995 - Carina Witthöft, German tennis player

  Deaths

• 549 - Zhu Yi, Chinese general
• 902 - Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint
• 1184 - Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1247 - Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia
• 1279 - Afonso III of Portugal
• 1281 - Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen consort of Germany
• 1390 - Rupert I, Elector Palatine
• 1391 - John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor
• 1531 - Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer
• 1560 - Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat
• 1579 - Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer
• 1645 - Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan
• 1710 - Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author
• 1721 - James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department
• 1754 - Richard Mead, English physician
• 1820 - Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general
• 1862 - William Pennington American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• 1898 - Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician
• 1899 - Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France
• 1907 - Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1912 - Nicholas of Japan, Russian-Japanese monk and saint
• 1917 - Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright
• 1919 - Vera Kholodnaya, Ukrainian actress
• 1928 - Eddie Foy Sr., American actor and dancer
• 1932 - Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1932 - Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist
• 1944 - Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1957 - Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer
• 1961 - Dazzy Vance, American baseball player
• 1967 - Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1974 - John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle
• 1975 - Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach
• 1977 - Janani Luwum, bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr
• 1977 - Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician
• 1980 - Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist
• 1984 - M. A. G. Osmani, Bangladeshi general
• 1990 - Keith Haring, American painter and activist
• 1991 - Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer
• 1992 - Angela Carter, English novelist, short story writer
• 1992 - Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil
• 1992 - Herman Wold, Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician
• 1996 - Roberto Aizenberg, Argentinian painter and sculptor
• 1996 - Roger Bowen, American actor and author
• 1996 - Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California
• 1996 - Brownie McGhee, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1997 - Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic
• 1998 - Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher
• 2000 - Marceline Day, American actress
• 2000 - Lila Kedrova, Russian-French actress and singer
• 2000 - Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING
• 2001 - Howard W. Koch, American director and producer
• 2001 - William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist
• 2002 - Walter Winterbottom, English footballer and manager
• 2003 - Rusty Magee, American actor and composer
• 2004 - Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter
• 2006 - Johnny Grunge, American wrestler
• 2006 - Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach
• 2009 - Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korean cardinal
• 2011 - Len Lesser, American actor
• 2011 - Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright
• 2012 - Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach
• 2012 - Elyse Knox, American model, actress, and fashion designer
• 2012 - John Macionis, American swimmer and lieutenant
• 2012 - Anthony Shadid, American journalist
• 2013 - Colin Edwards, Guyanese footballer
• 2013 - Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author
• 2013 - Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 2014 - Ken Farragut, American football player
• 2014 - Gert Krawinkel, German guitarist
• 2014 - Michael Shea, American author
• 2015 - Lasse Braun, Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 2015 - Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter
• 2015 - R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
• 2015 - Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer
• 2016 - Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations
• 2019 - Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Abda of Edessa
• *Elias and companions
• *Juliana of Nicomedia
• *Onesimus
• *Charles Todd Quintard
• *February 16
• Day of the Shining Star
• Restoration of Lithuania's Statehood Day, celebrate the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918