EVENTS
- 1455 – The Gutenberg Bible is published. Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible edition was the first book ever printed in movable type, heralding the age of the printed book in the West.
- 1836 – The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
- 1903 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
- 1904 – US gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
- 1917 – The February Revolution begins in Russia. The demonstrations and armed clashes ultimately resulted in the demise of the Russian Empire.
- 1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
- 1941 – Glenn T. Seaborg and his team chemically identify Plutonium. The radioactive element plays an important role as nuclear fuel or in nuclear weapons.
- 1941 – Plutonium is first produced.
- 1947 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) begins operating. The ISO issues standards for everything from bicycle tires to date formats.
- 1954 – The first mass inoculation against polio is conducted. Virologist Jonas Salk’s vaccine is still one of the two versions used today, along with Hilary Koprowski’s live polio vaccine.
- 1991 – In Desert Storm, the Allied ground offensive began after a devastating month-long air campaign targeting Iraqi troops in both Iraq and Kuwait.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1685 – George Frederick Handel (Classic Composer)
- 1868 – African-American educator and leader W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
- 1899 – Erich Kästner (German author, poet)
- 1904 – Historian William L (Shirer (1904-1993) was born in Chicago
- 1929 – Alexy II of Moscow (Estonian/Russian patriarch)
- 1939 – Peter Fonda (Actor)
- 1955 – Howard Jones (Singer)
- 1965 – Michael Dell (Founder of Dell computers)
- 1983 – Aziz Ansari (Actor in Parks and Recreation)
- 1983 – Mido (Egyptian footballer)
- 1994 – Dakota Fanning (Actress)
DEATHS
- 1821 – John Keats (English poet)
- 1848 – John Quincy Adams (American politician, 6th President of the United States)
- 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss (German mathematician)
- 1934 – Edward Elgar (English composer)
- 1965 – Stan Laurel (English actor, comedian)