February 14

<<February 2008 >>Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 MMVIII

February 14 in recent years 2008 (Thursday)2007 (Wednesday)2006 (Tuesday)2005 (Monday)2004 (Saturday)2003 (Friday)2002 (Thursday)2001 (Wednesday)2000 (Monday)

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).

February 14 is internationally known as Valentine's Day, named after Saint Valentinus of Terni, in Italy, executed in 270.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

Events

842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
1009 - First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
1014 - Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.
1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
1349 - Approximately 2,000 Jews are burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg.
1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
1743 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.
1778 - The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
1779 - James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
1797 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void.
1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
1835 - The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1855 - Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Department of Commerce and Department of Labor).
1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (on 1 February according to the Julian calendar).
1919 - The Polish-Soviet War begins.
1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1924 - The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is founded.
1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
1942 - Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
1943 - World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
1943 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.
1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
1945 - World War II: On the second day of the bombing of Dresden , the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.
1945 - World War II: Prague is bombed probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship.
1945 - World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans.
1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.
1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) convenes for the first time.
1949 - The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
1956 - The XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union begins in Moscow. On the last night of the meeting, Premier Nikita Khrushchev condemns Joseph Stalin's crimes in a secret speech.
1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
1966 - Australian currency is decimalised.
1979 - In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
1981 - Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people
1983 - United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher is later convicted of fraud.
1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.
1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.
1990 - 92 people are killed aboard Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.
1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian serial killer is executed by shooting.
1996 - China launches a Long March 3 rocket, carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. The rocket flies off course 3 seconds after liftoff and crashes into a rural village.
1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
2002 - The Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.
2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
2005 - Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the country to fall into chaos.
2005 - Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.
2005 - YouTube founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.
2008 - Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 24 casualties; 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injured.

Births

1404 - Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter and philosopher (d. 1472)
1468 - Johann Werner, German mathematician (d. 1522)
1483 - Babur, Moghul emperor of India (d. 1530)
1602 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
1680 - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)
1692 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)
1701 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)
1763 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
1788 - Fernando Sor, Spanish composer (d. 1839)
1800 - Emory Washburn, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
1812 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)
1819 - Joshua A. Norton, American eccentric (d. 1880)
1819 - Christopher Sholes, American inventor (d. 1890)
1824 - Winfield Scott Hancock, American Civil War Union general (d. 1886)
1828 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (d. 1885)
1838 - Margaret Knight, American inventor, famous as female Thomas Edison, (d. 1914)
1846 - Julian Scott, American artist and Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. (d. 1901)
1847 - Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette (d. 1919)
1847 - Maria Pia of Italy, queen of Portugal (d. 1911)
1848 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
1856 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
1859 - George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., engineer and inventor (d. 1896)
1869 - Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1959)
1871 - Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (d. 1959)
1884 - Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor, film director (d. 1947)
1884 - Joe Jagersberger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1952)
1884 - Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet (d. 1974)
1884 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
1885 - Syed Zafarul Hasan, Prominent Muslim Indian/Pakistani philosopher (d. 1949)
1890 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
1892 - Radola Gajda, Czech military commander (d. 1948)
1894 - Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
1895 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
1898 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
1902 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)
1903 - Stu Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
1904 - Charles Oatley, Professor of electrical engineering, (scanning electron microscope), (d. 1996)
1904 - Hertta Kuusinen, Finnish communist (d. 1974)
1912 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)
1913 - Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)
1913 - Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)
1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (disappeared 1975)
1914 - Margarete Mewes, Nazi overseer at concentration camp
1914 - Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (d. 2007)
1916 - Marcel Bigeard, French general
1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director (d. 1996)
1916 - Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, Nobel Prize Laureate
1921 - Hugh Downs, American television host
1922 - Murray the K, American impresario and disk jockey (d. 1982)
1927 - Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress (d. 2007)
1929 - Vic Morrow, American actor (d. 1982)
1931 - Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian hockey player (d. 2006)
1931 - Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)
1931 - Phyllis McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)
1932 - Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director
1933 - Madhubala, Indian actress (d. 1969)
1934 - Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor
1934 - Florence Henderson, American actress
1936 - Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer and focus of a 1974 scandal involving Congressman Wilbur Mills.
1936 - Andrew Prine, American actor
1941 - Donna Shalala, American educator
1941 - Paul Tsongas, United States Senator from Massachusetts (d. 1997)
1942 - Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
1942 - Andrew Robinson, American actor
1942 - Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican racing driver (d. 1962)
1943 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
1943 - Aaron Russo, American movie producer (d. 2007)
1944 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist
1944 - Alan Parker, British film director and writer
1944 - Ronnie Peterson, Swedish racing driver (d. 1978)
1945 - Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
1946 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
1946 - Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)
1947 - Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1975)
1947 - Judd Gregg, American politician, senior senator from New Hampshire
1948 - Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host
1948 - Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)
1950 - Roger Fisher, American musician (Heart)
1951 - Kevin Keegan, English footballer
1951 - JoJo Starbuck, American ice skater
1952 - Nancy Keenan, current NARAL president
1955 - James Eckhouse, American actor
1955 - Rip Rogers, American professional wrestler
1957 - Alan Hunter, one of the original MTV VJs
1957 - Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano
1958 - Enrique Mansilla, Argentine racing driver
1958 - Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
1959 - Renée Fleming, American soprano
1960 - Jim Kelly, American football player
1960 - Meg Tilly, Canadian actress
1961 - Phillip Hamilton, American author
1961 - Latifa, Tunisian singer
1962 - Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist (d. 2002)
1962 - Michael Higgs, English actor
1962 - Philippe Sella, French rugby player
1962 - Sakina Jaffrey, Indian actress
1963 - Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor
1964 - Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist
1964 - Zach Galligan, American actor
1966 - Petr Svoboda, National Hockey League player
1967 - Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1967 - Stelios Haji-Ioannou, British entrepreneur
1968 - Jules Asner, American television personality
1969 - Adriana Behar, Brazilian beach volleyball player
1969 - Harry Colon, American football player
1970 - Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
1970 - Simon Pegg, British comedian and actor
1971 - Kris Aquino, Filipino Actress and TV Host
1971 - Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer
1971 - Tommy Dreamer, American professional wrestler
1972 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player
1972 - Big Daddy V, American professional wrestler
1972 - Hiroshi, Japanese comedian
1972 - Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress
1972 - Rob Thomas, American musician (Matchbox Twenty)
1973 - Steve McNair, American football player
1974 - Filippa Giordano, Italian singer
1974 - Philippe Léonard, Belgian footballer
1975 - Scott Owen, Australian musician (The Living End)
1975 - Yul Kwon, American Survivor contestant
1976 - Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer (Leaves' Eyes)
1977 - Darren Bennett, a Professional Latin Ballroom Dancer
1977 - Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist
1977 - Darren Purse, English footballer
1977 - Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)
1978 - Dean Gaffney, British actor
1978 - Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
1978 - Darius Songaila, basketball player
1978 - Dwele, American R&B/Soul singer
1979 - Pablo Pallante, Uruguayan footballer
1980 - Fátima Leyva, Mexican footballer
1980 - Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress
1980 - Josh Senter, American screenwriter
1982 - Marián Gáborík, Slovak hockey player
1983 - Bacary Sagna, French footballer
1983 - Rhydian Roberts, Welsh Singer, X factor Runner Up
1984 - Hamed Namouchi, Tunisian footballer
1985 - Karima Adebibe, Moroccan-English actress and model
1985 - Tyler Clippard, American baseball player
1985 - Heart Evangelista, Filipina singer, TV and movie actress
1985 - Natsume Sano, Japanese gravure idol
1985 - Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer
1985 - Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
1986 - Michael Ammermüller, German racing driver
1986 - Roxanne Guinoo, Filipina actress
1986 - Aschwin Wildeboer, Spanish swimmer
1987 - Joseph Pichler, American actor
1987 - Julia Savicheva, Russian singer
1987 - David Wheater, English footballer
1988 - Ángel Di María, Argentine footballer
1988 - Asia Nitollano, American dancer, Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll winner
1988 - Eliska Sursova, American actress
1992 - Freddie Highmore, English actor Adheesh Parelkar, Web Designer
1994 - Paul Butcher, American actor