2nd February

Events

• 962 - Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
• 1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope.
• 1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.
• 1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
• 1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.
• 1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.
• 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
• 1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
• 1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
• 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
• 1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.
• 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• 1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
• 1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
• 1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia.
• 1920 - France occupies Memel.
• 1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
• 1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.
• 1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
• 1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
• 1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets following the Battle of Stalingrad.
• 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
• 1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
• 1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
• 1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
• 1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the United States Congress in a sting operation.
• 1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.
• 1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
• 1998 - A Cebu Pacific airlines DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines killing 104

Births

• 1650 - Nell Gwynne, actress, royal mistress, (d. 1687)
• 1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, diplomat, (d. 1794)
• 1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, politician, (d. 1838)
• 1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate general, (d. 1862)
• 1829 - Alfred Brehm, zoologist, (d. 1884)
• 1878 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer, (d. 1955)
• 1882 - James Joyce, author, (d. 1941)
• 1888 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer, (d. 1969)
• 1895 - George Halas, American football player, coach, co-founder of the National Football League, (d. 1983)
• 1901 - Jascha Heifetz, musician, (d. 1987)
• 1905 - Ayn Rand, author, (d. 1982)
• 1906 - Gale Gordon, actor, (d. 1995)
• 1915 - Abba Eban, diplomat, (d. 2002)
• 1923 - James Dickey, poet, author, (d. 1997)
• 1923 - Liz Smith, gossip columnist

• 1925 - Elaine Stritch, actress
• 1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, politican
• 1927 - Stan Getz, musician, (d. 1991)
• 1931 - Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
• 1937 - Tom Smothers, musician, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers
• 1942 - Graham Nash, musician
• 1947 - Farrah Fawcet, actress
• 1947 - Melanie, singer
• 1949 - Brent Spiner, actor
• 1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress
• 1954 - Christie Brinkley, model
• 1977 - Shakira, singer

Deaths

• 1648 - George Abbot, english writer, (b. c. 1603)
• 1922 - William Desmond Taylor, film director
• 1948 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete
• 1969 - Boris Karloff, actor, (b. 1887)
• 1970 - Bertrand Russell, mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1950, (b. 1872)
• 1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols, (b. 1957)
• 1992 - Bert Parks, game show host, Miss America host
• 1995 - Donald Pleasence, actor, (b. 1919)
• 1996 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor, director, (b. 1912)
• 2003 - Lou Harrison, composer, (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - The Presentation of the Lord.
• Catholicism - The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• Catholicism - World Day for Consecrated Life (Feb. 2-3 in the U.S)
• Ancient Latvia - Veja Diena observed
• United States and Canada - Groundhog Day.
• Catholicism Candlemas - day on which Roman Catholics bring beeswax candles to local churches to be blessed for use in church or home.
• Candlemas is one of the Scottish quarter days in the Christian calendar

February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 -- listing of all days

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