February 21

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 313 days remaining until the end of the year (314 in leap years).

Events

• 362 – Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
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• 1437 – James I of Scotland is assassinated.
• 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 – Battle of Wayna Daga – A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeats a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
• 1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.
• 1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
• 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
• 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
• 1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
• 1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
• 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1919 – German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
• Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup
• 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1945 – World War II: Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.
• 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
• 1952 – The Bengali Language Movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
• 1958 – The peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
• 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the F.B.I.
• 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.
• 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2013 – At least 17 people are dead and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.

Births

• 1484 – Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German astronomer, composer, and theorist (d. 1615)
• 1621 – Rebecca Nurse, English-American victim of the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
• 1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, English admiral (d. 1781)
• 1721 – John McKinly, Irish-American physician and politician, 1st Governor of Delaware (d. 1796)
• 1723 – Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian and author (d. 1808)
• 1728 – Peter III of Russia (d. 1762)
• 1783 – Catharina of Württemberg (d. 1835)
• 1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (d. 1876)
• 1801 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1893)
• 1821 – Charles Scribner I, American publisher, founded Charles Scribner's Sons (d. 1871)
• 1836 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 – Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist and author (d. 1927)
• 1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh-English sculptor (d. 1952)
• 1865 – John Haden Badley, English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (d. 1967)
• 1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1934)
• 1875 – Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian (d. 1997)
• 1876 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Mirra Alfassa, French-Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
• 1880 – Waldemar Bonsels, German author (d. 1952)
• 1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (d. 1957)
• 1887 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of War (d. 1945)
• 1888 – Clemence Dane, English author and playwright (d. 1965)
• 1892 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1949)
• 1893 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-American actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian chemist and academic (d. 1955)
• 1895 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• 1896 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (d. 1961)
• 1899 – Sigrid Holmquist, Swedish actress (d. 1970)
• 1900 – Madeleine Renaud, French actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Scrapper Blackwell, American singer and guitarist (d. 1962)
• 1903 – Anaïs Nin, French-American author (d. 1977)
• 1903 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (d. 1976)
• 1907 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
• 1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
• 1910 – Douglas Bader, English captain and pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 – Carmine Galante, American gangster (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Arline Judge, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
• 1913 – Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (d. 1999)
• 1914 – Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
• 1915 – Ann Sheridan, American actress and singer (d. 1967)
• 1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (d. 1996)
• 1919 – Kehat Shorr, Israeli target shooter and coach (d. 1972)
• 1921 – John Rawls, American philosopher and academic (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Peter Whalley, Canadian cartoonist and sculptor (d. 2007)
• 1924 – Thelma Estrin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe
• 1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director and screenwriter (d. 1984)
• 1925 – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer, founded Givenchy
• 1929 – Chespirito, Mexican actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1929 – James Beck, English actor (d. 1973)
• 1930 – Pedro R. Dean, Filipino archbishop
• 1933 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2003)
• 1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress, singer, and producer (d. 2010)
• 1935 – Richard A. Lupoff, American author
• 1935 – Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1936 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 – Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician (d. 2015)
• 1937 – Jilly Cooper, English journalist and author
• 1937 – Harald V of Norway
• 1937 – Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1938 – Bobby Charles, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
• 1940 – Peter Gethin, English race car driver (d. 2011)
• 1940 – Wong Jim, Hong Kong actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 2004)
• 1940 – John Lewis, American politician
• 1942 – Tony Martin, Trinidadian-American historian and educator (d. 2013)
• 1942 – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and director
• 1943 – David Geffen, American film and record producer, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
• 1945 – Paul Newton, English bass player (Uriah Heep)
• 1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 – Anthony Daniels, English actor and producer
• 1946 – Alan Rickman, English actor, singer, director, and screenwriter
• 1946 – Vito Rizzuto, Italian-Canadian mob boss (d. 2013)
• 1946 – Bob Ryan, American journalist and author
• 1947 – Johnny Echols, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Love)
• 1947 – Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 – Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1948 – Bill Slayback, American baseball player and singer (d. 2015)
• 1949 – Frank Brunner, American illustrator
• 1949 – Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Talking Heads and The Modern Lovers)
• 1951 – Dos Caras, Mexican wrestler and actor
• 1951 – Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (Grateful Dead, The Tubes, and Missing Man Formation) (d. 2006)
• 1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (The Stranglers)
• 1952 – Jeff Shaara, American author
• 1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress and singer
• 1953 – William Petersen, American actor and producer
• 1954 – Victor Martinez, Mexican-American author and poet (d. 2011)
• 1954 – Mike Pickering, English DJ and saxophonist (Quando Quango and M People)
• 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor, singer, director, and producer
• 1957 – Julia Benjamin, American actress
• 1958 – Jake Burns, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Stiff Little Fingers)
• 1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1958 – Jack Coleman, American actor and screenwriter
• 1958 – Alan Trammell, American baseball player and manager
• 1959 – José María Cano, Spanish singer-songwriter and painter (Mecano)
• 1960 – Plamen Oresharski, Bulgarian economist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria
• 1960 – Laurent Petitguillaume, French radio and television host
• 1960 – Steve Wynn, American singer-songwriter (The Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project)
• 1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1961 – Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1961 – Rhonda Sing, Canadian wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1962 – Vanessa Feltz, English journalist and actress
• 1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American journalist and author
• 1962 – David Foster Wallace, American author and academic (d. 2008)
• 1963 – William Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1964 – Mark Kelly, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
• 1964 – Scott Kelly, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
• 1964 – Jane Tomlinson, English runner and activist (d. 2007)
• 1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner and coach
• 1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1969 – Aunjanue Ellis, American actress and producer
• 1969 – Corey Harris, American singer and guitarist
• 1969 – Tony Meola, American soccer player
• 1969 – Cathy Richardson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jefferson Starship and Big Brother and the Holding Company)
• 1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
• 1970 – Eric Wilson, American bass player (Sublime, Sublime with Rome and Long Beach Dub Allstars)
• 1971 – Randy Blythe, American singer-songwriter (Lamb of God)
• 1972 – Seo Taiji, South Korean singer-songwriter (Sinawe)
• 1973 – Brodus Clay, American wrestler and actor
• 1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist (Týr)
• 1973 – Brian Rolston, American ice hockey player
• 1973 – Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer and actress
• 1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 – Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1975 – Wish Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-n-Harmony)
• 1976 – Tomasz Kiełbowicz, Polish footballer
• 1976 – Michael McIntyre, English comedian and actor
• 1976 – Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1977 – Jonathan Safran Foer, American author and academic
• 1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 – Owen King, American author
• 1977 – Kevin Rose, American businessman and television host, founded Digg
• 1978 – Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Kim Ha-neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Nicole Parker, American actress and singer
• 1979 – Pascal Chimbonda, Guadeloupean-French footballer
• 1979 – Carly Colón, Puerto Rican and Canadian wrestler
• 1979 – Shane Gibson, American guitarist (stOrk and Jonathan Davis and the SFA) (d. 2014)
• 1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress, singer, and producer
• 1979 – Jordan Peele, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1980 – Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1980 – Yannick Lupien, Canadian swimmer
• 1980 – Brendan Sexton III, American actor
• 1980 – Kayoko Shibata, Japanese actress, singer, and model
• 1980 – Jim Vandermeer, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese king
• 1981 – Jun Kaname, Japanese actor
• 1982 – Andre Barrett, American basketball player
• 1982 – Chantal Claret, American singer-songwriter and actress (Morningwood)
• 1982 – Tebogo Jacko Magubane, South African DJ and producer
• 1983 – Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 – Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1983 – Mélanie Laurent, French actress, singer, director, and screenwriter
• 1984 – Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby player
• 1984 – Karina Nose, Japanese model and actress
• 1984 – David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1984 – Marco Paoloni, Italian footballer
• 1984 – James Wisniewski, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Crimson, American wrestler and actor
• 1985 – Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1985 – Jamaal Westerman, American football player
• 1986 – Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1986 – Charlotte Church, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
• 1987 – Eniola Aluko, Nigerian-English footballer
• 1987 – Ashley Greene, American model and actress
• 1987 – Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 – Joel Redman, English wrestler
• 1988 – Matthias de Zordo, German javelin thrower
• 1989 – Corbin Bleu, American actor, singer, and dancer
• 1989 – Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 – Jem Karacan, English-Turkish footballer
• 1989 – Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
• 1989 – Josh Walker, English footballer
• 1990 – David Addy, Ghanaian footballer
• 1990 – Thabiso Baholo, Lesotho swimmer
• 1990 – Mattias Tedenby, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
• 1991 – Ji So-yun, South Korean footballer
• 1991 – Devon Travis, American baseball player
• 1993 – Steve Leo Beleck, Cameroonian footballer
• 1993 – Masaki Suda, Japanese actor
• 1994 – Tang Haochen, Chinese tennis player
• 1994 – Charalampos Mavrias, Greek footballer
• 1996 – Sophie Turner, English actress
• 2000 – Yuto Miyazawa, Japanese guitarist
• 2001 – Isabella Acres, American actress

Deaths

• 1437 – James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
• 1471 – Jan Rokycana, Czech bishop and theologian (b. 1396)
• 1513 – Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
• 1543 – Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Somalian general (b. 1507)
• 1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist and physician (b. 1498)
• 1595 – Robert Southwell, English priest and poet (b. 1561)
• 1668 – John Thurloe, English secretary and spy (b. 1616)
• 1677 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher and scholar (b. 1632)
• 1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (b. 1637)
• 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
• Georg Friedrich von Martens, German jurist and diplomat (b. 1756)
• 1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais, French general (b. 1781)
• 1846 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (b. 1800)
• 1862 – Justinus Kerner, German poet and physician (b. 1786)
• 1891 – James Timberlake, American lieutenant and police officer (b. 1846)
• 1900 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun maker (b. 1853)
• 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (b. 1867)
• 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
• 1934 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (b. 1895)
• George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and academic (b. 1868)
• 1941 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• 1944 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-French race car driver (b. 1873)
• 1945 – Eric Liddell, Chinese-Scottish rugby player and runner (b. 1902)
• 1946 – José Streel, Belgian journalist (b. 1911)
• 1949 – Tan Malaka, Indonesian educator and activist (b. 1894)
• 1956 – Ray Smith, English cricketer (b. 1914)
• 1958 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
• 1960 – Jacques Becker, French director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1965 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (b. 1925)
• 1966 – Paul Comtois, Canadian politician, 21st Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1895)
• 1967 – Charles Beaumont, American author (b. 1929)
• 1968 – Howard Florey, Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
• 1972 – Zhang Guohua, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
• 1972 – Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
• 1972 – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (b. 1884)
• 1974 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, co-founded Tim Hortons (b. 1930)
• 1977 – Gerald Barry, English Army officer and cricketer (b. 1896)
• 1977 – Nolan Strong, American singer (Nolan Strong & the Diablos) (b. 1934)
• 1980 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author (b. 1914)
• 1982 – Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli historian and philosopher (b. 1897)
• 1982 – Murray the K, American radio host (b. 1922)
• 1984 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• 1985 – Louis Hayward, South African-American actor (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese centenarian (b. 1865)
• 1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American author, poet, and academic (b. 1895)
• 1987 – Noel Odell, English geologist and mountaineer (b. 1890)
• 1991 – Nutan, Indian actress and singer (b. 1936)
• 1991 – Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, Australian poet, critic, and academic (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist (b. 1888)
• 1994 – Johannes Steinhoff, German general and pilot (b. 1913)
• 1996 – Morton Gould, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
• 1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish soldier and pilot (b. 1914)
• 1999 – Wilmer Mizell, American baseball player and politician (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball player and coach (b. 1933)
• 2002 – John Thaw, English actor and producer (b. 1942)
• 2004 – John Charles, Welsh footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Ara Berberian, American actor and singer (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Gérard Bessette, Canadian author and poet (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban author, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Neil Chotem, Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1920)
• 2011 – Abdulredha Buhmaid, Bahraini protester (b. 1982)
• 2011 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media (b. 1962)
• 2011 – Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)
• 2012 – H. M. Darmstandler, American general (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Colin Ireland, English serial killer (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Gladys O'Connor, English-Canadian actress (b. 1903)
• 2012 – Barney Rosset, American publisher (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Hasse Jeppson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Masahiro Kanagawa, Japanese murderer (b. 1983)
• 2013 – Kaoru Kobayashi, Japanese criminal (b. 1968)
• 2013 – Magic Slim, American singer and guitarist (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Héctor Maestri, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1935)
• 2014 – Matthew Robinson, Australian snowboarder (b. 1985)
• 2014 – Cornelius Schnauber, German–American historian, playwright, and academic (b. 1939)
• 2014 – John Strawson, English general (b. 1921)
• 2015 – Aleksei Gubarev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Robert O. Marshall, American businessman (b. 1939)
• 2015 – Sadeq Tabatabaei, Iranian journalist and politician (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Clark Terry, American trumpet player, composer, and educator (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Pepin of Landen
  • Peter Damian
  • Randoald of Grandval
  • February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
• Language Movement Day (Bangladesh)
• The first day of the Birth Anniversary of Fifth Druk Gyalpo, celebrated until February 23 (Bhutan)
• The first day of the Musikahan Festival, celebrated until February 27 (Tagum City, Philippines)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• : On This DayThe New York Times
• On This Day in Canada