February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar . There are 324 days remaining until the end of the year (325 in leap years ). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).
Events
1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols , and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriar's Church in Dumfries , Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence
1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford , England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1567 – Lord Darnley , second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots , is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh , Scotland, a suspected assassination.
1763 – French and Indian War : The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars : The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians .
1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha .
1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War : Battle of Sobraon : British defeat Sikhs in final battle of the war
1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America .
1862 – American Civil War : A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina .
1870 – The YWCA is founded in New York City.
1906 – HMS Dreadnought , the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII .
1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea , celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
1930 – Yên Bái mutiny in French Indochina
1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden , Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf . Schaaf dies four days later.
1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War : Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
1939 – Spanish Civil War : The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
1942 – The first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo ".
1942 – World War II : Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin , capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies .
1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad , the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor .
1947 – Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia .
1947 – Crowds gathered at shop windows in Paris to see Christian Dior 's New Look fashion - longer skirts, nipped-in waists and padded shoulders.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 17 relating to Greek is adopted.
1949 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 68 is adopted.
1954 – United States President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam .
1962 – Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel .
1962 – Roy Lichtenstein 's first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey , which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots , speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision : The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales , Australia, killing 82.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel–casino kills eight and injures 198.
1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party .
1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq .
2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit , destroying both.
2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad , India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
Births
1499 – Thomas Platter , Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
1606 – Christine Marie of France (d. 1663)
1609 – John Suckling , English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
1685 – Aaron Hill , English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
1696 – Johann Melchior Molter , German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
1744 – William Cornwallis , English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton , American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
1775 – Charles Lamb , English author (d. 1834)
1785 – Claude-Louis Navier , French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
1795 – Ary Scheffer , Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
1821 – Roberto Bompiani , Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
1824 – Samuel Plimsoll , English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke , Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
1846 – Lord Charles Beresford , Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
1846 – Ira Remsen , American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
1847 – Nabinchandra Sen , Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
1859 – Alexandre Millerand , French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
1867 – Robert Garran , Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
1868 – William Allen White , American journalist and author (d. 1944)
1879 – Ernst Põdder , Estonian general (d. 1932)
1881 – Pauline Brunius , Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
1888 – Giuseppe Ungaretti , Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (d. 1970)
1889 – Cevdet Sunay , Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
1890 – Fanny Kaplan , Ukrainian-Russian activist and rebel (d. 1918)
1890 – Boris Pasternak , Russian author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
1892 – Alan Hale, Sr. , American actor and director (d. 1950)
1893 – Jimmy Durante , American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
1893 – Bill Tilden , American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
1894 – Harold Macmillan , English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
1897 – Judith Anderson , Australian actress (d. 1992)
1897 – John Franklin Enders , American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1898 – Bertolt Brecht , German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
1898 – Joseph Kessel , French journalist and author (d. 1979)
1901 – Stella Adler , American actress and educator (d. 1992)
1902 – Walter Houser Brattain , Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1903 – Waldemar Hoven , German physician (d. 1948)
1903 – Matthias Sindelar , Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
1904 – John Farrow , Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
1905 – Walter A. Brown , American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
1905 – Chick Webb , American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
1906 – Lon Chaney, Jr. , American actor (d. 1973)
1906 – Erik Rhodes , American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1909 – Min Thu Wun , Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
1910 – Dominique Pire , Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
1910 – Sofia Vembo , Greek singer and actress (d. 1978)
1914 – Larry Adler , American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
1915 – Vladimir Zeldin , Russian actor
1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos , Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
1920 – Alex Comfort , English physician and author (d. 2000)
1920 – Neva Patterson , American actress (d. 2010)
1920 – José Manuel Castañón , Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
1922 – Árpád Göncz , Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
1923 – Allie Sherman , American football player and coach (d. 2015)
1924 – Max Ferguson , Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
1924 – Bud Poile , Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1925 – Pierre Mondy , French actor and director (d. 2012)
1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry , American general (d. 2013)
1926 – Danny Blanchflower , Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
1927 – Leontyne Price , American operatic soprano
1929 – Jerry Goldsmith , American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1929 – Jim Whittaker , American mountaineer
1929 – Lou Whittaker , American mountaineer
1930 – E. L. Konigsburg , American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
1930 – Robert Wagner , American actor and producer
1932 – Barrie Ingham , English-American actor (d. 2015)
1933 – Richard Schickel , American journalist, author, and critic
1933 – Faramarz Payvar , Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
1935 – Theodore Antoniou , Greek composer and conductor
1937 – Anne Anderson , Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
1937 – Roberta Flack , American singer-songwriter and pianist
1939 – Adrienne Clarkson , Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
1940 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh , Saudi Arabian scholar and academic, 4th Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia
1940 – Mary Rand , English sprinter and long jumper
1940 – Kenny Rankin , American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
1941 – Michael Apted , English director and producer
1942 – Lawrence Weiner , American artist
1944 – Peter Allen , Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
1944 – Frank Keating , American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
1944 – Frances Moore Lappé , American author and activist
1944 – Rufus Reid , American bassist and composer (The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra )
1947 – Louise Arbour , Canadian lawyer and jurist
1947 – Butch Morris , American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
1947 – Nicholas Owen , English journalist
1948 – Luis Donaldo Colosio , Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
1949 – Jim Corcoran , Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Maxime Le Forestier , French singer and guitarist
1949 – Nigel Olsson , English drummer, songwriter, and producer
1949 – Harold Sylvester , American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Mark Spitz , American swimmer
1951 – Bob Iger , American media executive
1952 – Lee Hsien Loong , Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
1955 – Chris Adams , English-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2001)
1955 – Jim Cramer , American financier and author, co-founded TheStreet.com
1955 – Greg Norman , Australian golfer and sportscaster
1956 – Enele Sopoaga , Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
1959 – John Calipari , American basketball player and coach
1960 – Jim Kent , American biologist, computer programmer, academic
1961 – Alexander Payne , American director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – George Stephanopoulos , American journalist
1962 – Cliff Burton , American bass player and songwriter (d. 1986)
1962 – Bobby Czyz , American boxer and sportscaster
1962 – Randy Velischek , Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Lenny Dykstra , American baseball player
1964 – Glenn Beck , American journalist, producer, and author
1964 – Victor Davis , Canadian swimmer (d. 1989)
1964 – Francesca Neri , Italian actress and producer
1966 – Natalie Bennett , Australian-English journalist and politician
1966 – Daryl Johnston , American football player and sportscaster
1967 – Laura Dern , American actress, director, and producer
1967 – Jacky Durand , French cyclist and sportscaster
1967 – Vince Gilligan , American director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Peter Popovic , Swedish ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Garrett Reisman , American engineer and astronaut
1969 – Joe Mangrum , American painter and sculptor
1970 – Melissa Doyle , Australian journalist and author
1970 – Noureddine Naybet , Moroccan footballer and manager
1970 – Åsne Seierstad , Norwegian journalist and author
1971 – Lorena Rojas , Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
1972 – Michael Kasprowicz , Australian cricketer
1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho , English businesswoman and politician, co-founded Lastminute.com
1974 – Elizabeth Banks , American actress
1974 – Ty Law , American football player
1974 – Ivri Lider , Israeli singer-songwriter and producer
1974 – Henry Paul , New Zealand rugby player and coach
1976 – Lance Berkman , American baseball player and coach
1978 – Don Omar , Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and actor
1979 – Joey Hand , American race car driver
1979 – Jumaine Jones , American basketball player
1979 – Daryl Palumbo , American singer-songwriter
1980 – César Izturis , Venezuelan baseball player
1980 – Enzo Maresca , Italian footballer
1980 – Mike Ribeiro , Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Uzo Aduba , American actress
1981 – Andrew Johnson , English footballer
1981 – Natasha St-Pier , Canadian singer-songwriter
1981 – Holly Willoughby , English model and television host
1982 – Justin Gatlin , American sprinter
1982 – Tarmo Neemelo , Estonian footballer
1982 – Iafeta Paleaaesina , New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Ricardo Clark , American soccer player
1983 – Daiane dos Santos , Brazilian gymnast
1983 – Vic Fuentes , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1983 – Taiji Ishimori , Japanese wrestler
1984 – Alex Gordon , American baseball player
1984 – Kim Hyo-jin , South Korean actress
1985 – Selçuk İnan , Turkish footballer
1986 – Jeff Adrien , American basketball player
1986 – Josh Akognon , American basketball player
1986 – Radamel Falcao , Colombian footballer
1986 – Roberto Jiménez Gago , Spanish footballer
1986 – Viktor Troicki , Serbian tennis player
1987 – Jakub Kindl , Czech ice hockey player
1987 – Facundo Roncaglia , Argentinian footballer
1987 – Yuja Wang , Chinese pianist
1988 – Jade Ramsey , English actress
1988 – Daniil Ratnikov , Estonian footballer
1989 – Liam Hendriks , Australian baseball player
1990 – Barbara Guarischi , Italian cyclist
1990 – Choi Soo-young , South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
1991 – Emma Roberts , American actress
1992 – Haruka Nakagawa , Japanese singer and actress
1992 – Reinhold Yabo , German footballer
1993 – Chaochih Liu , Taiwanese-American figure skater
1993 – Max Kepler , German baseball player
1993 – Filip Twardzik , Czech footballer
1993 – Luis Madrigal , Mexican footballer
1994 – Na-eun , South Korean singer and actress (Apink )
1996 – Christina Parie , Australian singer-songwriter
1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz , American actress
1997 – Nadia Podoroska , Argentinian tennis player
Deaths
1126 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
1162 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
1278 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg , German noble (b. 1460)
1576 – Wilhelm Xylander , German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)
1645 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1587)
1686 – William Dugdale , English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
1722 – Bartholomew Roberts , Welsh pirate (b. 1682)
1755 – Montesquieu , French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger , German theologian and author (b. 1702)
1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
1837 – Alexander Pushkin , Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
1857 – David Thompson , English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
1865 – Heinrich Lenz , Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
1879 – Honoré Daumier , French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
1887 – Ellen Wood , English author (b. 1814)
1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya , Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)
1904 – John A. Roche , American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
1906 – Ezra Butler Eddy , American-Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister , English surgeon and academic (b. 1827)
1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras , Greek long jumper (b. 1888)
1917 – John William Waterhouse , Italian-English soldier and painter (b. 1849)
1918 – Abdul Hamid II Ottoman sultan (b. 1842)
1918 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta , Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen , German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1928 – José Sánchez del Río Mexican martyr and saint (b. 1913)
1932 – Edgar Wallace , English author and screenwriter (b. 1875)
1939 – Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
1944 – E. M. Antoniadi , Greek-French astronomer and chess player (b. 1870)
1945 – Anacleto Díaz , Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1878)
1950 – Marcel Mauss , French sociologist and anthropologist (b. 1872)
1956 – Leonora Speyer , American poet and violinist (b. 1872)
1956 – Emmanouil Tsouderos , Greek banker and politician, 132nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1882)
1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder , American author (b. 1867)
1960 – Aloysius Stepinac , Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
1964 – Eugen Sänger , Austrian engineer (b. 1905)
1966 – Billy Rose , American composer and songwriter (b. 1899)
1975 – Nikos Kavvadias , Greek sailor and poet (b. 1910)
1979 – Edvard Kardelj , Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910)
1984 – David Von Erich , American wrestler (b. 1958)
1987 – Sadequain , Pakistani painter and calligrapher (b. 1930)
1992 – Alex Haley , American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
1993 – Fred Hollows , New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1929)
1995 – Paul Monette , American author, poet, and activist (b. 1945)
1997 – Brian Connolly , Scottish-English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
2000 – Jim Varney , American actor, comedian and writer (b. 1949)
2001 – Abraham Beame , American academic and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
2001 – Buddy Tate , American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1913)
2002 – Dave Van Ronk , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
2003 – Edgar de Evia , Mexican-American photographer (b. 1910)
2003 – Curt Hennig , American wrestler and manager (b. 1958)
2003 – Albert J. Ruffo , American lawyer and politician, Mayor of San Jose (b. 1908)
2003 – Ron Ziegler , American politician, 14th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
2005 – Arthur Miller , American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1915)
2006 – J Dilla , American rapper and producer (b. 1974)
2008 – Roy Scheider , American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
2008 – Steve Gerber , American author (b. 1947)
2009 – Jeremy Lusk , American motocross racer (b. 1984)
2010 – Fred Schaus , American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
2010 – Charles Wilson , American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933)
2011 – Trevor Bailey , English cricketer and journalist (b. 1923)
2012 – Lloyd Morrison , New Zealand banker and businessman, founded H. R. L. Morrison & Co (b. 1957)
2012 – Jeffrey Zaslow , American journalist and author (b. 1958)
2013 – W. Watts Biggers , American author, screenwriter, and animator (b. 1927)
2013 – David Hartman , American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, founded the Shalom Hartman Institute (b. 1931)
2013 – Eugenio Trías Sagnier , Spanish philosopher and academic (b. 1942)
2014 – Stuart Hall , Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (b. 1932)
2014 – Tomaž Pengov , Slovenian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1949)
2014 – Shirley Temple , American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (b. 1928)
2015 – Naseer Aruri , Palestinian scholar and activist (b. 1934)
2015 – Karl Josef Becker , German cardinal and theologian (b. 1928)
2015 – Deng Liqun , Chinese theorist and politician (b. 1915)
2016 – Fatima Surayya Bajia , Indian-Pakistani author and playwright (b. 1930)
2016 – Abdel-Bari Zamzami , Moroccan cleric (b. 1943)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December