22 February
February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 312 days remaining, 313 in leap years.
Events
- 1290s BC - The coronation of Ramses II, on whose face the sun's rays fall each year in Abu Simbel temple.
- 1281 - Martin IV becomes Pope.
- 1288 - Nicholas IV becomes Pope.
- 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
- 1630 - Native American Quadequine introduces Popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.
- 1632 - Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
- 1819 - Spain cedes Florida to the United States.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista - 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexican.
- 1865 - Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery.
- 1876 - Johns Hopkins University founded in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1879 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
- 1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1920 - In Emeryville, California, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
- 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
- 1942 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense collapses.
- 1943 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1956 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".
- 1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1967 - Suharto takes power from Sukarno in Indonesia.
- 1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first woman to do so.
- 1973 - Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1979 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
- 1980 - The United States ice hockey team defeats the Soviet Union team at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, in an upset dubbed the "Miracle on Ice".
- 1994 - Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1997 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
- 2002 - A MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashes into the ocean near the Philippines killing all 10 aboard.
Births
- 1732 - George Washington, first President of the United States (d. 1799) (Note: February 11 in the Julian Calendar that was then still in use)
- 1778 - Rembrandt Peale, artist
- 1788 - Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (d. 1860)
- 1796 - Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, mathematician (d. 1874)
- 1810 - Frédéric Chopin, Polish composer (d. 1849)
- 1817 - Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, mathematician
- 1819 - James Russell Lowell, poet and essayist (d. 1891)
- 1839 - Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)
- 1840 - August Bebel, politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 - Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d 1915)
- 1857 - Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement (d. 1941)
- 1857 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
- 1878 - Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
- 1880 - Frigyes Riesz, mathematician
- 1889 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell GBE (nee Soames) Chief Girl Guide (d. 1977)
- 1892 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, writer (d. 1950)
- 1899 - Dechko Uzunov, painter (d. 1986)
- 1900 - Luis Buñuel, film director (d. 1983)
- 1903 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
- 1903 - Frank Plumpton Ramsey, mathematician (d. 1903)
- 1907 - Sheldon Leonard, actor, writer, director, producer
- 1907 - Robert Young, actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 - John Mills, actor
- 1926 - Kenneth Williams, actor (d. 1988)
- 1932 - Edward Kennedy, politician and brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy
- 1934 - Sparky Anderson, Baseball Hall of Fame manager
- 1941 - Hipólito Mejía, former President of the Dominican Republic (2000-2004)
- 1944 - Jonathan Demme, director, Robert Kardashian, Lawyer for O. J. Simpson
- 1949 - Niki Lauda, Formula One driver
- 1950 - Julius Erving, Basketball Hall of Famer
- 1950 - Miou-Miou, actress
- 1950 - Julie Walters, actress
- 1959 - Kyle MacLachlan, actor
- 1962 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist and TV personality (The Crocodile Hunter)
- 1963 - Vijay Singh, golfer
- 1966 - Brian Andrew Greig, statesman
- 1968 - Jeri Ryan, actress (Star Trek: Voyager, Boston Public)
- 1975 - Drew Barrymore, actress
- 1990 - Stephen Husband, person
Deaths
- 965 - Odo of Paris, Duke of Burgundy
- 1512 - Amerigo Vespucci, explorer (b. 1454)
- 1875 - Sir Charles Lyell, geologist (b. 1797)
- 1901 - George Francis FitzGerald, mathematician
- 1903 - Hugo Wolf, composer (b. 1860)
- 1943 - Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, founders of the German resistance group White Rose
- 1961 - Nick LaRocca, jazz musician (b. 1889)
- 1965 - Felix Frankfurter, justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1882)
- 1968 - Peter Arno, cartoonist
- 1976 - Florence Ballard, singer with The Supremes (b. 1943)
- 1984 - Jessamyn West, writer (b. 1902)
- 1987 - Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer (b. 1928)
- 1994 - Papa John Creech, musician
- 2000 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (b. 1946)
- 2002 - Chuck Jones, animator (b. 1912)
- 2002 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
- 2003 - Kurt Gscheidle, politician
Holidays and observances
February 21 - February 23 - January 22 - March 22 -- listing of all days
