February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar . There are 330 days remaining until the end of the year (331 in leap years ).
This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).
Events
211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians . He leaves the empire in the control of his two quarrelling sons.
634 – Battle of Dathin : Rashidun forces under Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan defeat the Christian Arabs around Gaza (Palestine ).
960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song , initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
1169 – A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania .
1454 – In the Thirteen Years' War , the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master .
1555 – John Rogers was a clergyman , Bible translator and commentator, and the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England .
1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
1758 – Macapá , Brazil is founded.
1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College .
1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic . It will be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador , causing up to 40,000 casualties.
1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States .
1810 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe .
1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.
1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal .
1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois , westward towards Salt Lake Valley .
1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt .
1861 – American Civil War : In Montgomery, Alabama , delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America .
1899 – The Philippine–American War begins with the Battle of Manila .
1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War : Harbin , Manchuria , falls to Japan .
1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
1945 – World War II : Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill , Roosevelt , and Stalin ) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea .
1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations .
1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka ) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth .
1961 – Angolan War of Independence begins.
1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay , killing 133.
1967 – Lunar Orbiter program : Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization .
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California .
1974 – M62 coach bombing : The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire , England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale ) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning , China.
1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails , killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.
1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran .
1992 – A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez .
1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States , Milwaukee, Wisconsin and ties all-time record low temperature at −26 °F (−32.2 °C)
1997 – En route to Lebanon , two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
1997 – After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
2003 – The Bengali Hindus declare the independence of the Republic of Bangabhumi from Bangladesh.
2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2004 – Facebook , a mainstream online social networking site , is founded by Mark Zuckerberg .
2006 – A stampede occurs in the PhilSports Arena near Manila , killing 71 people.
2015 – A TransAsia Airways aircraft with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen , crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing at least 31 people.
Births
1505 – Mikołaj Rej , Polish poet and author (d. 1580)
1575 – Pierre de Bérulle , French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629)
1639 – Alessandro Melani , Italian composer (d. 1703)
1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann , German poet and politician (d. 1699)
1676 – Giacomo Facco , Italian violinist and composer (d. 1753)
1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach , German violinist and composer (d. 1731)
1688 – Pierre de Marivaux , French author and playwright (d. 1763)
1725 – Dru Drury , English entomologist and author (d. 1804)
1740 – Carl Michael Bellman , Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle , Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841)
1799 – Almeida Garrett , Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854)
1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl , Czech actor and playwright (d. 1856)
1831 – Oliver Ames , American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1846 – Nikolay Umov , Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1915)
1848 – Jean Aicard , French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921)
1849 – Jean Richepin , French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926)
1865 – Abe Isoo , Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949)
1870 – Constant van Langhendonck , Belgian horse rider (d. 1944)
1871 – Friedrich Ebert , German politician, 1st President of Germany (d. 1925)
1872 – Gotse Delchev , Greek activist and educator (d. 1903)
1873 – Étienne Desmarteau , Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905)
1875 – Ludwig Prandtl , German physicist and engineer (d. 1953)
1877 – Eddie Cochems , American football player and coach (d. 1953)
1881 – Fernand Léger , French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
1883 – Jakob Sildnik , Estonian photographer and director (d. 1973)
1887 – Anna Hedvig Büll , Estonian-German missionary (d. 1981)
1891 – M. A. Ayyangar , Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
1892 – Andrés Nin , Spanish politician (d. 1937)
1892 – E. J. Pratt , Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964)
1895 – Nigel Bruce , British actor (d. 1953)
1896 – Friedrich Glauser , Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938)
1896 – Friedrich Hund , German physicist and academic (d. 1997)
1897 – Ludwig Erhard , German soldier and politician, 2nd Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977)
1900 – Jacques Prévert , French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1902 – Charles Lindbergh , American pilot and explorer (d. 1974)
1902 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross , German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003)
1903 – Alexander Imich , Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014)
1904 – MacKinlay Kantor , American author and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer , German pastor and theologian (d. 1945)
1906 – Clyde Tombaugh , American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
1908 – Julian Bell , English poet and academic (d. 1937)
1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk , Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999)
1912 – Erich Leinsdorf , Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993)
1912 – Byron Nelson , American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006)
1912 – Louis-Albert Vachon , Canadian cardinal (d. 2006)
1913 – Rosa Parks , American activist (d. 2005)
1913 – Richard Seaman , English race car driver (d. 1939)
1914 – Alfred Andersch , German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980)
1915 – Ray Evans , American songwriter (d. 2007)
1915 – William Talman , American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
1915 – Norman Wisdom , English comedian and actor (d. 2010)
1917 – Yahya Khan , Pakistan general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
1918 – Ida Lupino , English-American actress and director (d. 1995)
1918 – Luigi Pareyson , Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991)
1920 – Janet Waldo , American actress
1921 – Betty Friedan , American author and activist (d. 2006)
1921 – Lotfi A. Zadeh , Azerbaijani-American mathematician and computer scientist
1922 – Bhimsen Joshi , Indian singer (d. 2011)
1923 – Bonar Bain , Canadian actor (d. 2005)
1923 – Conrad Bain , Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
1925 – Russell Hoban , American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
1925 – Stanley Karnow , American journalist and historian (d. 2013)
1925 – Christopher Zeeman , Japanese-English mathematician and academic
1926 – Gyula Grosics , Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1927 – Rolf Landauer , German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
1927 – A. J. P. Ponrajah , Sri Lankan engineer (d. 1986)
1928 – Osmo Antero Wiio , Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
1929 – Jerry Adler , American actor, director, and producer
1929 – Julien Chouinard , Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 1987)
1929 – Eduard Zimmermann , German journalist (d. 2009)
1930 – Tibor Antalpéter , Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012)
1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón , Argentinian politician, 41st President of Argentina
1933 – Igor Kvasha , Russian actor (d. 2012)
1935 – Ali Nassirian , Iranian actor and screenwriter
1935 – Martti Talvela , Finnish opera singer (d. 1989)
1936 – David Brenner , American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014)
1936 – Claude Nobs , Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013)
1937 – David Newman , American director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1938 – Birju Maharaj , Indian dancer and choreographer
1940 – George A. Romero , American director and producer
1941 – Jiří Raška , Czech skier and coach (d. 2012)
1941 – John Steel , English musician (The Animals )
1943 – Alberto João Jardim , Portuguese journalist and politician, 2nd President of the Regional Government of Madeira
1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz , Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
1943 – Ken Thompson , American computer scientist, co-developed the B programming language
1947 – Dennis C. Blair , American admiral and politician, 3rd Director of National Intelligence
1947 – Dan Quayle , American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
1948 – Alice Cooper , American singer-songwriter and actor
1948 – Rod Grams , American journalist and politician (d. 2013)
1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi , Japanese sumo wrestler
1949 – Michael Beck , American actor
1949 – Rasim Delić , Bosnian general (d. 2010)
1951 – Patrick Bergin , Irish actor and singer
1951 – Dariush Eghbali , Iranian singer-songwriter
1952 – Mervyn Cawston , English footballer
1952 – Lisa Eichhorn , American actress and producer
1952 – Jenny Shipley , New Zealand educator and politician, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1952 – Bolesław Proch , Polish motorcycle racer (d. 2012)
1952 – Li Yinhe , Chinese sociologist and sexologist
1953 – Kitarō , Japanese keyboard player, composer, and producer
1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda , Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia
1955 – Takayuki Miyauchi , Japanese singer
1957 – Don Davis , American composer and conductor
1958 – Tomasz Pacyński , Polish journalist and author (d. 2005)
1958 – Saburō Tokitō , Japanese actor
1959 – Christian Schreier , German footballer and manager
1959 – Lawrence Taylor , American football player and sportscaster
1960 – Siobhan Dowd , British author and activist (d. 2007)
1960 – Jenette Goldstein , American actress
1960 – Adrienne King , American actress, dancer, and painter
1960 – Jonathan Larson , American composer and playwright (d. 1996)
1961 – Denis Savard , Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Stephen Hammond , English banker and politician
1962 – Alfred Twardecki , Polish historian and curator
1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen , Swiss skier
1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov , Russian cyclist
1966 – Kyōko Koizumi , Japanese actress and singer
1967 – Sergei Grinkov , Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
1967 – Christina Lampe Önnerud , Swedish chemist
1968 – Marko Matvere , Estonian actor
1968 – Kuranosuke Sasaki , Japanese actor
1969 – Duncan Coutts , Canadian bass player and songwriter (Our Lady Peace )
1969 – Dallas Drake , Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Gabrielle Anwar , English actress
1971 – Eric Garcetti , American lieutenant and politician, 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles
1972 – Dara Ó Briain , Irish comedian and television host
1972 – Giovanni Silva de Oliveira , Brazilian footballer and manager
1973 – Oscar De La Hoya , American boxer and singer
1973 – Manny Legace , Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1974 – Mijntje Donners , Dutch field hockey player
1974 – Urmila Matondkar , Indian actress
1975 – Natalie Imbruglia , Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1976 – Cam'ron , American rapper and actor (The Diplomats )
1977 – Gavin DeGraw , American singer-songwriter and actor
1978 – Danna García , Colombian actress
1978 – Shingo Kawaguchi , Japanese actor
1978 – Ömer Onan , Turkish basketball player and manager
1979 – Andrei Arlovski , Belarusian mixed martial artist and actor
1979 – Giorgio Pantano , Italian race car driver
1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis , Latvian basketball player
1981 – Jason Kapono , America basketball player
1981 – Johan Vansummeren , Belgian cyclist
1982 – Chris Sabin , American wrestler
1982 – Ivars Timermanis , Latvian basketball player
1982 – Tomas Vaitkus , Lithuanian cyclist
1982 – Kimberly Wyatt , American singer-songwriter and dancer (The Pussycat Dolls and Her Majesty & the Wolves )
1983 – Lee Stempniak , American ice hockey player
1984 – Sandeep Acharya , Indian singer (d. 2013)
1984 – Mauricio Pinilla , Chilean footballer
1986 – Asif Ali , Indian actor
1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad , Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Darren O'Dea , Irish footballer
1989 – Shogo Suzuki , Japanese actor and musician
1990 – Haruka Tomatsu , Japanese voice actress and singer (Sphere )
1993 – Grex , Chilean actor
1997 – Ayami Nakajō , Japanese actress and model
Deaths
211 – Septimius Severus , Roman emperor (b. 145)
708 – Pope Sisinnius (b. 650)
856 – Rabanus Maurus , Frankish archbishop and theologian (b. 780)
1508 – Conrad Celtes , German poet and scholar (b. 1459)
1555 – John Rogers , English clergyman, Bible translator and commentator (b. 1505)
1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino , Italian composer and theorist (b. 1517)
1615 – Giambattista della Porta , Italian playwright and scholar (b. 1535)
1615 – Dom Justo Takayama , Japanese daimyo (b. 1552)
1617 – Lodewijk Elzevir , Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546)
1694 – Natalya Naryshkina , Russian wife of Alexis of Russia (b. 1651)
1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury , English philosopher and politician (b. 1671)
1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine , French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée , French architect and educator (b. 1728)
1781 – Josef Mysliveček , Czech composer (b. 1737)
1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis , Greek general (b. 1770)
1894 – Adolphe Sax , Belgian instrument maker, invented the Saxophone (b. 1814)
1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias , French sculptor and academic (b. 1841)
1912 – Franz Reichelt , Austrian-French tailor (b. 1879)
1926 – İskilipli Mehmed Atıf Hoca , Turkish author and scholar (b. 1875)
1928 – Hendrik Lorentz , Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
1933 – Archibald Sayce , English linguist and educator (b. 1846)
1936 – Wilhelm Gustloff , Swiss politician (b. 1895)
1940 – Nikolai Yezhov , Russian police officer and politician (b. 1895)
1943 – Frank Calder , English-Canadian ice hockey player and journalist (b. 1877)
1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev , Russian author and translator (b. 1872)
1945 – Cecil Kimber , English automobile engineer (b. 1888)
1956 – Savielly Tartakower , Russian-French chess player (b. 1887)
1958 – Henry Kuttner , American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
1959 – Una O'Connor , Irish-American actress (b. 1880)
1968 – Neal Cassady , American author and poet (b. 1926)
1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose , Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1894)
1975 – Louis Jordan , American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (Tympany Five ) (b. 1908)
1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen , German lawyer and judge (b. 1909)
1983 – Karen Carpenter , American singer and drummer (The Carpenters ) (b. 1950)
1984 – Patrick Nagel , American painter and illustrator (b. 1945)
1987 – Liberace , American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (b. 1919)
1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal , Afghan activist, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (b. 1956)
1987 – Carl Rogers , American psychologist and academic (b. 1902)
1992 – Lisa Fonssagrives , Swedish-American model and dancer (b. 1911)
1994 – Fred De Bruyne , Belgian cyclist and manager (b. 1930)
1995 – Godfrey Brown , Indian-English runner and educator (b. 1915)
1995 – Patricia Highsmith , American-Swiss author (b. 1921)
2000 – Carl Albert , American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
2001 – Mahmud Esad Coşan , Turkish preacher, author, and academic author (b. 1938)
2001 – J. J. Johnson , American trombonist and composer (b. 1924)
2001 – Pankaj Roy , Indian cricketer (b. 1928)
2001 – Iannis Xenakis , Greek-French composer and architect (b. 1922)
2002 – George Nader , American actor (b. 1921)
2002 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1907)
2003 – Benyoucef Benkhedda , Algerian pharmacist and politician (b. 1920)
2003 – André Noyelle , Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
2005 – Ossie Davis , American actor, director, and playwright (b. 1917)
2006 – Betty Friedan , American author and activist (b. 1921)
2007 – José Carlos Bauer , Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev , Russian-English poet and translator (b. 1959)
2007 – Jules Olitski , Ukrainian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
2008 – Augusta Dabney , American actress (b. 1918)
2008 – Stefan Meller , Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (b. 1942)
2010 – Kostas Axelos , Greek-French philosopher and author (b. 1924)
2011 – Martial Célestin , Haitian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1913)
2012 – István Csurka , Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1934)
2012 – Florence Green , English soldier (b. 1901)
2012 – János Sebestyén , Hungarian organist (b. 1931)
2013 – Donald Byrd , American trumpet player (b. 1932)
2014 – Eugenio Corti , Italian soldier, author, and playwright (b. 1921)
2014 – Dennis Lota , Zambian footballer (b. 1973)
2014 – Wu Ma , Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Related