February 2

February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
332 days remaining, (333 in leap years).

Events

   * 962 - Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
   * 1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy
   * 1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope
   * 1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
   * 1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated
   * 1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island,
     inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
   * 1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California
   * 1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is singed
     ending the war.
   * 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants
     seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
   * 1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved
     gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
   * 1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major
     League Baseball is formed
   * 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
   * 1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana
   * 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut
   * 1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is
     observed.
   * 1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
   * 1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees
     Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and
     Melbourne.
   * 1900 - The American League of Major League Baseball is formed
   * 1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia
   * 1920 - France occupies Memel
   * 1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring
     the Iditirod race
   * 1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament
   * 1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard
     Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
   * 1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra
   * 1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets
     following the Battle of Stalingrad.
   * 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime
     Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph
     Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
   * 1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
   * 1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
   * 1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote
     as leader.
   * 1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting
     members of the United States Congress in a sting operation.
   * 1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored
     column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.
   * 1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the
     African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set
     Nelson Mandela free.

Births

   * 1650 - Nell Gwynne, actress, royal mistress (+ 1687)
   * 1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, diplomat (+ 1794)
   * 1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, politician (+ 1838)
   * 1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate general (+ 1862)
   * 1829 - Alfred Brehm, zoologist (+ 1884)
   * 1882 - James Joyce, author (+ 1941)
   * 1888 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer
   * 1895 - George Halas, American football player, coach, co-founder of the
     [[National Football League (+ 1983)
   * 1901 - Jascha Heifetz, musician (+ 1987)
   * 1905 - Ayn Rand, author (+ 1982)
   * 1906 - Gale Gordon, actor (+ 1995)
   * 1915 - Abba Eban, diplomat (+ 2002)
   * 1923 - James Dickey, poet, author (+ 1997)
   * 1923 - Liz Smith, gossip columnist
   * 1925 - Elaine Stritch, actress
   * 1926 - Valery Giscard d'Estaing, politican
   * 1927 - Stan Getz, musician (+ 1991)
   * 1931 - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
   * 1937 - Tom Smothers, musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers
   * 1942 - Graham Nash, musician
   * 1947 - Farrah Fawcet, actress
   * 1947 - Melanie, singer
   * 1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress
   * 1954 - Christie Brinkley, model
   * 1977 - Shakira, singer

Deaths

   * 1648 - George Abbot, english writer
   * 1922 - William Desmond Taylor, film director
   * 1959 - rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big
     Bopper, in a plane crash outside Mason City, Iowa
   * 1969 - Boris Karloff, actor
   * 1970 - Bertrand Russell, mathematician and philosopher, recipient of
     the Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 (+ 1970)
   * 1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols
   * 1992 - Bert Parks, game show host, Miss America host
   * 1995 - Donald Pleasence, actor
   * 1996 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor, director
   * 2003 - Lou Harrison, composer

Holidays and observances

   * Catholicism - Presentation of the Lord.
   * Catholicism - World Day for Consecrated Life (Feb. 2-3 in the U.S)
   * Ancient Latvia - Veja Diena observed
   * United States - Groundhog Day
   * Candlemas is one of the Scottish quarter days in the Christian calendar

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