February 14

February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 320 days remaining until the end of the year (321 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages respectively.
1009 – First documented mention of Lithuania
1014 – Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned.
1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
1349 – Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remainder of their population are forced from the city of Strasbourg.
1556 – In England, Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic. He is later burned at the stake.
1648 – A storm flood affects the Holstein area of present–day Northern Germany.
1778 – The Flag of the United States is formally recognised by a foreign vessel for the first time.
1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia.
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent – The British Royal Navy defeats a Spanish fleet near Gibraltar.
1804 – Karadjordje leads the first Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
1849 – In New York City James K. Polk becomes the first sitting US president to have his photograph taken.
1852 – The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London is opened.
1853 – Mormon leader Brigham Young lays the foundation stone for the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States.
1859 – Oregon becomes the 33rd State of the US.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both apply for a patent for the telephone.
1879 – The War of the Pacific begins when Chilean forces occupy the then–Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
1899 – Voting machines are approved by the United States Congress for use on federal elections.
1900 – Second Boer War in South Africa: 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.

1901 – 2000

1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is created. It later splits into the United States Department of Commerce and the United States Department of Labor.
1908 – The world's first ski lift, invented by Robert Winterhalder, is opened in Schollach, Black Forest, Germany.
1912 – Arizona becomes the 48th State of the US.
1912 – The first diesel–powered submarine is commissioned.
1918 – The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1919 – The Polish-Soviet War begins.
1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
1929 – St. Valentine's Day massacre: Seven people, gangster rivals of Al Capone, are shot dead in Chicago.
1932 – The football club FC Vaduz is founded in Liechtenstein.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Pasir-Panyang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
1944 – An anti–Japanese revolt occurs on Java.
1946 – The Bank of England is nationalised.
1946 – The ENIAC digital calculator is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.
1949 – The Knesset, Israeli parliament, meets for the first time.
1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada.
1952 – In Oslo, the Winter Olympics begin.
1956 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union begins in Moscow.
1961 – Element 103, Lawrencium, is synthesised at the University of California.
1962 – US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gives television viewers a tour of the White House.
1966 – Australian currency is decimalised.
1967 – The Treaty of Tlatelolco declares the Caribbean and Latin America a nuclear weapon–free zone, with Cuba becoming the last country to sign it in 2002.
1970 – The Who record the iconic live rock album Live at Leeds.
1972 – The Star of Sierra Leone becomes the third–largest diamond ever found.
1981 – Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people.
1984 – 1984 Winter Olympics: In pairs figure skating, Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean of Great Britain win a historic gold medal, receiving perfect scores.
1989 – Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa (death warrant) against the writer Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.
1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes a photograph of Earth from a distance of 6.4 billion kilometres.
1990 – 92 people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes at Bangalore, India.
1996 – A Chinese rocket, launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, goes out of control and crashes into a nearby village, where an estimated 500 people are killed.
1998 – An oil tanker collides with a freight train in Yaounde, Cameroon.
2000 – The Spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters into orbit around asteroid 433 Eros.

From 2001

2002 – Bahrain becomes a kingdom.
2004 – In Moscow, the roof of the Transvaal Water Park collapses, killing 25 people.
2005 – In the Philippines a series of bomb attacks in Manila, Davao City and General Santos City kills 7 people.
2005 – The Sunjawan Mine Explosion in Liaoning Province, China, kills 214 miners.
2005 – A car bomb in Beirut kills 23 people, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
2005 – YouTube is founded by a group of college students.
2011 – As part of a series of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East, protests begin in Bahrain.
2013 – South African model Reeva Steenkamp is shot dead by her then–partner, athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is found guilty of her manslaughter in 2014.
2014 – Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Letta submits his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.
2015 – 2015 Copenhagen attacks: A gunman attacks a free speech meeting at a café in Copenhagen that was attended by Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, killing one. He later attacks the city's main synagogue, killing one and injuring two, before being shot dead by police early the following day.
2015 – Slovenia's Peter Prevc breaks the ski jumping world record, by jumping 250 metres in Vikersund, Norway.
2018 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting: 17 people are shot dead at a high school in Parkland, Southern Florida.
2018 – Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
2024 – 9 people die in a mass shooting in Kansas City MO.

Births

Up to 1850

1404 – Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (died 1472)
1468 – Johannes Werner, German mathematician (died 1522)
1483 – Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul dynasty (died 1530)
1545 – Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara (died 1561)
1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (died 1676)
1679 – Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, German composer and organist (died 1735)
1680 – John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (died 1737)
1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (died 1754)
1701 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (died 1773)
1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (died 1813)
1766 – Thomas Malthus, English economist (died 1834)
1778 – Minh Mang, Emperor of Vietnam (died 1844)
1781 – Valentin Gomez Farias, Mexican politician (died 1858)
1799 – Walenty Wankowicz, Polish painter (died 1842)
1800 – Emory Washburn, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (died 1877)
1802 – John White, American politician (died 1845)
1812 – Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)
1812 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American inventor, publisher and politician (died 1890)
1813 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (died 1869)
1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American general (died 1886)
1835 – Piet Paaltiens, Dutch poet and minister (died 1894)
1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (died 1914)
1839 – Hermann Hankel, German mathematician (died 1873)
1847 – Maria Pia of Savoy, of Portugal (died 1911)
1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, English–born American women's suffrage leader (died 1919)
1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (died 1934)

1851 – 1900

1855 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian writer (died 1888)
1856 – Frank Harris, Irish writer and editor (died 1931)
1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., American engineer, inventor of the Ferris Wheel (died 1896)
1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (died 1954)
1864 – Robert E. Park, American sociologist (died 1944)
1869 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959)
1871 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (died 1959)
1878 – Koki Hirota, Prime Minister of Japan (died 1948)
1882 – John Barrymore, American actor (died 1942)
1884 – Nils Olof Chrisander, Swedish actor and movie director (died 1947)
1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet (died 1974)
1884 – Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (died 1972)
1885 – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian–born Pakistani philosopher (died 1949)
1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (died 1956)
1891 – Katherine Stinson, American pilot (died 1977)
1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech commander and politician (died 1948)
1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (died 1974)
1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (died 1973)
1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (died 1977)
1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss–American physicist and astronomer (died 1974)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Alexander Abusch, German journalist, writer and politician (died 1982)
1902 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (died 1969)
1903 – Stu Erwin, American actor (died 1967)
1907 – Sven Andersson, Swedish footballer (died 1981)
1907 – Johnny Longden, British–American jockey (died 2003)
1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (died 1988)
1913 – Mel Allen, American sports reporter (died 1996)
1913 – Woody Hayes, American college football coach (died 1987)
1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (disappeared 1975)
1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director
1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French military officer (died 2010)
1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (died 1974)
1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (died 2011)
1920 – Albert Barillé, Polish–French television producer, screenwriter and cartoonist (d. 2009)
1921 – Hugh Downs, American game show host
1924 – Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
1924 – Peg Murray, American actress and singer
1925 – Bom Gillies, New Zealand soldier
1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (died 2007)
1928 – Sergey Kapitsa, Russian scientist (died 2012)
1928 – William Allain, Governor of Mississippi (died 2013)
1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor (died 1982)
1931 – Newton de Sordi, Brazilian footballer (died 2013)
1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor (died 2005)
1931 – Margarita Lozano, Spanish actress
1932 – Alexander Kluge, German actor and movie director
1932 – Harriet Andersson, Swedish actress
1933 – Robert Shea, American writer (died 1994)
1934 – Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor
1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (died 2016)
1934 – Herwig Wolfram, Austrian historian
1935 – David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, Scottish academic and diplomat, 27th Governor of Hong Kong
1935 – Krystyna Sienkiewicz, Polish actress and singer (died 2017)
1936 – Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer
1936 – Andrew Prine, American actor
1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist
1939 – Blowfly, American musician, singer and songwriter (died 2016)
1940 – Mary Rand, British athlete
1941 – Donna Shalala, American politician, educator
1941 – Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator (died 1997)
1942 – Piotr Szczepanik, Polish singer
1942 – Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
1943 – Ischa Meijer, Dutch journalist, writer, actor and television presenter (died 1995)
1943 – Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist
1944 – Alan Parker, British movie director and writer
1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish racing driver (died 1987)
1945 – Frank Welker, American actor
1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
1945 – Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Uruguayan footballer (died 2013)
1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (died 2003)
1946 – Ainsley Gotto, Australian political staffer and interior designer (died 2018)
1946 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (died 2003)
1947 – Judd Gregg, American politician, former Governor of New Hampshire
1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter (died 1975)
1947 – Heide Rosendahl, German athlete
1948 – Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host
1948 – Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)

1951 – 1975

1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer
1951 – JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater
1952 – Sushma Swaraj, Indian politician
1953 – Hans Krankl, Austrian footballer
1953 – Sergey Mironov, Russian politician
1956 – Howard Davis, Jr., American boxer (died 2015)
1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano
1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player
1960 – Meg Tilly, Canadian actress
1962 – Josef Hader, Austrian comedian and actor
1962 – Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist
1963 – Philippe Sella, French rugby player
1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor
1963 – Zach Galligan, American actor
1963 – Guildo Horn, German singer
1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player
1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1967 – Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Cypriot–British airline entrepreneur
1968 – Jules Asner, American model and television personality
1968 – Latifa, Tunisian singer
1968 – Scott McClellan, 25th White House Press Secretary
1970 – Simon Pegg, English comedian, writer, and actor
1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
1971 – Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer
1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipina television host, actress and model
1971 – Nelson Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler (d. 2014)
1972 – Hiroshi, Japanese comedian
1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player
1972 – Jann Tallinn, Estonian programmer and physicist
1972 – Rob Thomas, American musician (matchbox twenty)
1973 – Yuka Sato, Japanese figure skater
1973 – Deena Kastor, American marathon runner
1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (died in 2009)
1974 – Filippa Giordano, Italian singer
1974 – Valentina Vezzali, Italian fencer and politician
1975 – Xie Hui, Chinese footballer

From 1976

1977 – Cadel Evans, cyclist, first Australian Tour de France winner
1977 – Darren Bennett, English dancer
1978 – Dean Gaffney, English actor
1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
1980 – Fatima Leyva, Mexican footballer
1981 – Brad Halsey, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1982 – Matteo Brighi, Italian footballer
1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer
1984 – Hamed Namouchi, Tunisian footballer
1985 – Lee Hae-ri, South Korean singer and actress
1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer
1986 – Tiffany Thornton, American actress
1987 – Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Yulia Savicheva, Russian singer
1988 – Angel Di Maria, Argentine footballer
1988 – Asia Nitollano, American dancer and reality show contestant
1989 – Adam Matuszczak, Polish footballer
1989 – Emma Miskew, Canadian curler
1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Kristian Thomas, English gymnast
1990 – Brett Dier, Canadian actor
1992 – Christian Eriksen, Danish footballer
1992 – Freddie Highmore, British actor
1993 – Shane Harper, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
1994 – Paul Butcher, American actor
1995 – Nikita Tregubov, Russian skeleton bobsledder
1997 – Breel Embolo, Cameroonian–Swiss footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900

270 – Saint Valentine
869 – Saint Cyril, Greek monk, scholar, theologian and linguist (b. 827)
1229 – Ragnvald Godredson, King of the Isles
1317 – Margaret of France, Queen of England (b. 1282)
1400 – King Richard II of England (b. 1367)
1405 – Timur, Mongol ruler (b. 1336)
1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, Queen Consort of Spain (b. 1688)
1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
1779 – James Cook, British naval officer and explorer (b. 1728)
1782 – Singu Min, King of Burma (b. 1756)
1808 – John Dickinson, Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (b. 1732)
1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)
1831 – Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)
1834 – John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth, British politician (b. 1751)
1881 – Fernando Wood, Mayor of New York City (b. 1812)
1884 – Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt (b. 1861)
1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (b. 1820)
1894 – Eugene Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (b. 1814)

1901 – 2000

1901 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1819)
1910 – Giovanni Passannante, Italian anarchist (b. 1849)
1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (b. 1880)
1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter (b. 1875)
1929 – Frank Gusenberg, American gangster (b. 1892)
1929 – Peter Gusenberg, American gangster (b. 1899)
1930 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish–New Zealand politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1853)
1938 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian politician (b. 1869)
1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)
1943 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (b. 1876)
1958 – Abdur Rab Nishtar, Pakistani politician (b. 1899)
1959 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)
1967 – Sig Ruman, German–American actor (b. 1884)
1969 – Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)
1975 – Julian Huxley, English biologist (b. 1887)
1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
1980 – Rudra Baruah, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
1983 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
1988 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian–American composer (b. 1901)
1989 – Albert Hawke, Australian politician (b. 1900)
1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (b. 1936)
1995 – U Nu, Burmese politician (b. 1907)
1995 – Ischa Meijer, Dutch journalist, writer, actor and television presenter (b. 1943)
1996 – Bob Paisley, English football manager (b. 1919)
1996 – McLean Stevenson, American actor (b. 1929)
1999 – John Ehrlichman, American politician (b. 1925)
1999 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)

From 2001

2002 – Nandor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
2003 – Dolly the Sheep, cloned mammal (b. 1996)
2003 – Johnny Longden, British–American jockey (b. 1907)
2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
2005 – Rafik Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician (b. 1944)
2010 – Dick Francis, British jockey and writer (b. 1920)
2011 – George Shearing, English–born American jazz pianist (b. 1919)
2013 – Reeva Steenkamp, South African model (b. 1983)
2013 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher (b. 1931)
2014 – Remo Capitani, Italian actor (b. 1927)
2014 – James Condon, Australian actor (b. 1923)
2014 – Tom Finney, English footballer (b. 1922)
2014 – Bob L. Harris, American actor (b. 1922)
2014 – Ferry Hoogendijk, Dutch political scientist (b. 1933)
2014 – Ken Jones, English actor (b. 1930)
2014 – Mike Stepovich, American politician, last–surviving territorial Governor in the US (in Alaska) (b. 1919)
2014 – Edward J. Walsh, American journalist (b. 1942)
2015 – Wim Ruska, Dutch judoka (b. 1940)
2015 – Michele Ferrero, Italian businessman (b. 1925)
2015 – Louis Jourdan, French actor (b. 1921)
2015 – Philip Levine, American poet (b. 1928)
2015 – Pamela Cundell, English actress (b. 1920)
2015 – Franjo Mihalic, Serbian runner (b. 1920)
2016 – Muriel Casals i Couturier, Spanish economist (b. 1945)
2016 – Ali Brownlee, English radio sports broadcaster (b. 1959)
2016 – Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English politician (b. 1928)
2016 – Wieslaw Rudkowski, Polish boxer (b. 1946)
2017 – Hans Trass, Estonian botanist (b. 1928)
2017 – Cipriano Chemello, Italian cyclist (b. 1945)
2017 – Siegfried Herrmann, German long–distance runner (b. 1932)
2017 – Elisabeth Lichtenberger, Austrian geographer (b. 1925)
2018 – Lerone Bennett Jr., American scholar, writer and editor (b. 1928)
2018 – Don Carter, American businessman (b. 1935)
2018 – Antoni Krauze, Polish screenwriter and director (b. 1940)
2018 – Ruud Lubbers, former Prime minister of the Netherlands (b. 1939)
2018 – Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician, opposition leader and 2nd Prime minister of Zimbabwe (b. 1952)

Observances

Valentine's Day
Statehood Day in Arizona and Oregon