February 13
Events
- 1503 – Disfida di Barletta – famous challenge between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
- 1575 – Henry III of France is crowned at Rheims, marrying Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on the same day.
- 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
- 1668 – Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.
- 1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
- 1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
- 1815 – The Cambridge Union Society is founded.
- 1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Zenne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
- 1880 – Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.
- 1881 – The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert.
- 1894 – Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector.
- 1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- 1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
- 1934 – The Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean.
- 1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
- 1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
- 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
- 1955 – Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
- 1960 – Nuclear weapons testing: France tests its first atomic bomb.
- 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
- 1970 – Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.
- 1971 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- 1975 – A fire breaks out in the World Trade Center in New York City, New York.
- 1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
- 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
- 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 1982 – Río Negro massacre in Guatemala.
- 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided " smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
- 2000 – The last original " Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.
- 2001 – An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
- 2004 – The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
- 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
- 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
Births
- 711 BC – Jimmu, Japanese emperor (d. 585 DC)
- 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
- 1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1542)
- 1516 – Bayinnaung, King of Burma (d. 1581)
- 1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
- 1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (d. 1731)
- 1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
- 1719 – George Rodney, British naval officer (d. 1792)
- 1721 – John Reid, British army general and composer (d. 1807)
- 1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon (d. 1793)
- 1743 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and naturalist (d. 1820)
- 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English demographer and political economist (d. 1834)
- 1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d. 1835)
- 1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (d. 1844)
- 1805 – Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)
- 1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French marshal (d. 1888)
- 1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, General of the Army (d. 1869)
- 1834 – Heinrich Caro, German Chemist (d. 1910)
- 1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (d. 1908)
- 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, British statesman (d. 1895)
- 1855 – Paul Deschanel, French President (d. 1922)
- 1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
- 1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist, composer (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-born American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1949)
- 1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, English author (d. 1965)
- 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian director (d. 1922)
- 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (d. 1961)
- 1885 – Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Harry S. Truman (d. 1982)
- 1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian writer (d. 1919)
- 1888 – George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
- 1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and theatre director (d. 1974)
- 1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh nationalist and writer (d. 1985)
- 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
- 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
- 1897 – William S. Bowdern, American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest (d. 1983)
- 1900 – Roy Harrod, English economist (d. 1978)
- 1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, American Sociologist (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist (d. 1978)
- 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (d. 1989)
- 1903 – Georgy Beriev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1994)
- 1906 – Patsy Callighen, Canadian Hockey Player (d. 1964)
- 1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino singer (d. 2004)
- 1910 – William Shockley, British-American physicist and eugenicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani Urdu poet, Lenin Peace Prize winner (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Jean Muir, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician (d. 1947)
- 1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1916 – John Reed, British Singer of Gilbert & Sullivan (d. 2010)
- 1918 – Patty Berg, American golfer (d. 2006)
- 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)
- 1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football coach (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
- 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American opera soprano (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French organist, pianist, composer (d. 1968)
- 1922 – Francis Pym, British Foreign Secretary 1982-83 (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist
- 1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American politician (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese violinist (d. 2003)
- 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American fighter and test pilot
- 1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Dorothy McGuire, American singer ( The McGuire Sisters)
- 1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian ruler (d. 1981)
- 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian artist
- 1930 – Israel Kirzner, American economist
- 1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician
- 1933 – Caroline Blakiston, British actress
- 1933 – Costa Gavras, Greek-French filmmaker
- 1933 – Patrick Godfrey, British actor
- 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
- 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer
- 1934 – George Segal, American actor
- 1935 – Dr. Don Panoz, American entrepreneur and motorsports impresario ( ALMS)
- 1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese writer (d. 1992)
- 1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- 1939 – Beate Klarsfeld, German Nazi hunter
- 1940 – Arne Sølvberg, Norwegian computer scientist
- 1941 – Andrea Conte, First Lady of Tennessee
- 1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter
- 1942 – Carol Lynley, American actress
- 1942 – Peter Tork, American musician and actor ( The Monkees)
- 1942 – Donald E. Williams, NASA astronaut
- 1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian
- 1944 – Rebop Kwaku Baah, Nigerian percussionist (d. 1983)
- 1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
- 1944 – Jerry Springer, American television host
- 1944 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-born actor
- 1944 – Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Indian actor (d. 2006)
- 1945 – King Floyd, American musician (d. 2006)
- 1945 – David Tremlett, English artist
- 1946 – Louis Kondos, Greek actor
- 1946 – Colin Matthews, British composer
- 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
- 1947 – Stephen Hadley, U.S. National Security Adviser
- 1947 – Dick Kaysø, Danish actor
- 1949 – Judy Dyble, British singer/songwriter ( Fairport Convention)
- 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English musician ( Genesis), composer and humanitarian
- 1951 – Greg Fulginiti, American mastering engineer
- 1951 – David Naughton, American actor and singer
- 1952 – Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
- 1953 – Rico J. Puno, Filipino pop singer
- 1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer
- 1956 – Peter Hook, English bassist ( Joy Division and New Order)
- 1956 – Yiannis Kouros, Greek-Australian runner
- 1956 – Princess Alia bint Al Hussein, Jordanian Royal Family member
- 1956 – Liam Brady, Irish footballer
- 1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness expert
- 1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
- 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian cannabis activist
- 1958 – Derek Riggs, British artist
- 1958 – Tip Tipping, British actor and stuntman (d. 1993)
- 1959 – Gaston Gingras, National Hockey League defenceman
- 1959 – Richard Eden, American actor
- 1959 – Gord Hampson, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
- 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football coach
- 1960 – Matt Salinger, American actor
- 1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player
- 1961 – Henry Rollins, American musician, comedian, and actor ( Black Flag)
- 1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, American politician
- 1962 – May Sweet, Burmese singer
- 1964 – Stephen G. Bowen, NASA astronaut
- 1964 – Mark Patton, American actor
- 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish politician
- 1964 – Yamantaka Eye, Japanese musician ( Boredoms)
- 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian musician ( Annihilator)
- 1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
- 1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
- 1968 – Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer
- 1969 – Ahlam, Bahraini singer
- 1970 – Diane Youdale, British television personality
- 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer
- 1971 – Sonia, British singer
- 1971 – Galen Gering, American actor
- 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
- 1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
- 1973 – Jorg Bergmeister German race car driver
- 1974 – Gus Hansen, Danish professional poker player
- 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer
- 1974 – Jeff Duran, American radio personality
- 1975 – Iván González, Puerto Rican writer and musician
- 1975 – Tony Dalton, Mexican (American born) actor and screenwriter
- 1976 – Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist
- 1976 – Feist, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1976 – Dave Padden, Canadian musician ( Annihilator)
- 1977 – Randy Moss, American football player
- 1977 – Ben Collins, British racing driver
- 1978 – Mini Anden, Swedish model and actress
- 1978 – Hamish Glencross, Scottish guitarist ( My Dying Bride)
- 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French sopranist countertenor
- 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress
- 1979 – Lucy Brown, British actress
- 1980 – Sebastian Kehl, German footballer
- 1980 – Mark Watson, British comedian
- 1981 – Matías Agüero, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
- 1981 – Sam Burley, American middle-distance track athlete
- 1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Liam Miller, Irish footballer
- 1981 – Luke Ridnour, American basketball player
- 1982 – Lanisha Cole, American model
- 1983 – Mike Nickeas, American baseball player
- 1985 – Matthieu Franke, French-born German rugby player
- 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
- 1985 – Alexandros Tziolis, Greek footballer
- 1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
- 1986 – Jamie Murray, Scottish tennis player
- 1986 – Stephen Colletti, American Tv star
- 1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Aston Merrygold, English singer and actor
- 1989 – Carly McKillip, Canadian actress
- 1989 – Rhys Palmer, Australian footballer
- 1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian Footballer
- 1990 – Olivia Allison, British synchronized swimmer
- 1990 – Gyaincain Norbu, 11th Panchen Lama
Deaths
- 858 – Kenneth I of Scotland
- 1130 – Pope Honorius II
- 1141 – Béla II of Hungary (b. 1110)
- 1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)
- 1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1259)
- 1539 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)
- 1542 – Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed) (b.c. 1521)
- 1542 – Jane Boleyn, Dowager Viscountess of Rochford, lady-in-waiting of the above (b.c. 1505)
- 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (b. 1500)
- 1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (b. 1515)
- 1592 – Jacopo Bassano, Italian painter
- 1600 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
- 1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman
- 1608 – Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)
- 1624 – Stephen Gosson, English satirist (b. 1554)
- 1657 – Miles Sindercombe, attempted assassin of Oliver Cromwell
- 1660 – King Charles X of Sweden (b. 1622)
- 1662 – Elizabeth Stuart (b. 1596)
- 1727 – William Wotton, English scholar (b. 1666)
- 1728 – Cotton Mather, American Puritan minister (b. 1663)
- 1732 – Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1640)
- 1787 – Ruđer Bošković, Croatian scientist and diplomat (b. 1711)
- 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1717)
- 1813 – Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- 1818 – George Rogers Clark, American military leader (b. 1752)
- 1826 – Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (b. 1745)
- 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and writer (b. 1809)
- 1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher (b. 1773)
- 1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
- 1888 – Jean Baptiste Lamy, 1st Archbishop of Santa Fe (b. 1814)
- 1889 – João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (b. 1815)
- 1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
- 1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
- 1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene writer, poet, journalist in Hungary (b. 1864)
- 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian president (b. 1865)
- 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian author (b. 1875)
- 1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (b. 1877)
- 1952 – Josephine Tey, English author (b. 1896)
- 1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician (b. 1878)
- 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter (b. 1871)
- 1958 – Dame Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1880)
- 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (b. 1902)
- 1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Ustad Amir Khan, Indian classical singer (b. 1912)
- 1975 – André Beaufre, French General (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian military leader (b. 1938)
- 1976 – Lily Pons, French-born soprano (b. 1904)
- 1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1984 – Andre Stander, South African police captain and bank robber (b. 1946)
- 1989 – Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor (b. 1900)
- 1991 – Ron Pickering, athletics coach and BBC sports commentator and presenter (b. 1930)
- 1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American businessman and eugenecist (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian politician (b. 1914)
- 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American author and inventor (b. 1921)
- 2002 – Waylon Jennings, American musician (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Walt Rostow, U.S. government official (b. 1916)
- 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen leader (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Nelson Briles, baseball player (b. 1943)
- 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Carmelite nun and Fatima visionary (b. 1907)
- 2005 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Dick Weber, American professional bowler (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist (b. 1965)
- 2006 – Andreas Katsulas, Greek-American actor (b. 1946)
- 2006 – Peter Frederick Strawson, British philosopher (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American politician (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (b. 1974)
- 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, Air Marshal, Royal Air Force (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Roger Voisin, Trumpet player, Boston Symphony (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Edward Upward, British novelist and short-story writer (b. 1903)
- 2010 – John Reed, British singer of Gilbert & Sullivan (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- * Beatrice of Ornacieux
- * Ermenilda of Ely
- * Fulcran
- * Polyeuctus ( Roman Catholic church)
- * Castor of Karden ( Roman Catholic church)
- *See also February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- The first day of Lupercalia ( Roman Empire)