6 February
February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 328 days remaining, 329 in leap years.
Events
- 1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
- 1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1815 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.
- 1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
- 1820 - 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freeport, Sierra Leone.
- 1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.
- 1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee.
- 1899 - Spanish-American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
- 1900 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
- 1922 - Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI.
- 1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
- 1936 - 1936 Winter Olympic Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
- 1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI.
- 1958 - Munich Air Disaster occurs.
- 1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- 1968 - 1968 Winter Olympic Games open in Grenoble, France.
- 1978 - The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
- 1985 - Steve Wozniak leaves Apple Computer.
- 1996 - A Turkish Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast off Dominican Republic killing 189
- 1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
- 2004 - In Russia, a suicide-attack in a Moscow metro kills 40 commuters, and injures a hundred and twenty-nine. The blast is blamed on Chechen separatist groups.
Births
- 1564 - Christopher Marlowe, playwright (d. 1593)
- 1665 - Queen Anne I of the United Kingdom (d. 1714)
- 1748 - Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati (d. 1811)
- 1756 - Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1833 - JEB Stuart, Confederate general (d. 1864)
- 1834 - Ema Puksec AKA Ilma de Murska Croatian opera singer (d. 1889)
- 1887 - Josef Frings, archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
- 1889 - Elmo Lincoln, actor (d. 1952)
- 1894 - Eric Partridge, lexicographer (d. 1979)
- 1895 - Babe Ruth, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1948)
- 1899 - Ramon Novarro, actor (d. 1968)
- 1902 - George Brunies, jazz musician (d. 1974)
- 1903 - Claudio Arrau, pianist (d. 1991)
- 1910 - Irmgard Keun, author (d. 1982)
- 1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
- 1912 - Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress (d. 1945)
- 1913 - Mary Leakey, anthropologist (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Thurl Ravenscroft, voice-over actor ("Tony the Tiger")
- 1917 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress
- 1918 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, author of Das Boot
- 1922 - Patrick Macnee, actor
- 1926 - Haskell Wexler, cinematographer
- 1929 - Pierre Brice, actor
- 1931 - Rip Torn, actor, director
- 1932 - François Truffaut, film director (d. 1984)
- 1939 - Mike Farrell, actor
- 1940 - Tom Brokaw, news anchorman
- 1943 - Fabian Forte, singer
- 1945 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician, (d. 1981)
- 1950 - Natalie Cole, singer
- 1951 - Princess Daphné of Belgium
- 1954 - Argusto Emfazie, occultist, author
- 1957 - Kathy Najimy, actress, comedian
- 1957 - Robert Townsend, comedian, actor, director, producer
- 1962 - Axl Rose, musician ("Guns N'Roses")
- 1974 - Layne Roland hockey player, Portland Winter Hawks and Corpus Christi Icerays.
- 1975 - Svend-Allan Sørensen, danish conceptual artist
- 1976 - Kim Zmeskal, U.S. gymnast
Deaths
- 1617 - Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b. 1553)
- 1685 - King Charles II of England (b. 1630)
- 1740 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
- 1793 - Carlo Goldoni, playwright (b. 1707)
- 1855 - Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1791)
- 1916 - Rubén Darío, writer
- 1918 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862)
- 1952 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
- 1976 - Vince Guaraldi, musician (b. 1928)
- 1986 - Minoru Yamasaki, architect (b. 1912)
- 1989 - Roy Eldridge, jazz musician (b. 1911)
- 1989 - Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the GDR border
- 1989 - Barbara Tuchman, historian (b. 1912)
- 1991 - Danny Thomas, singer, comedia, actor (b. 1914)
- 1993 - Arthur Ashe, tennis star (b. 1943)
- 1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
- 1993 - Joseph Mankiewicz, director, producer, writer
- 1994 - Joseph Cotten, actor (b. 1905)
- 1994 - Jack Kirby, comic book writer (b. 1917)
- 1995 - James Merrill, poet (b. 1926)
- 1996 - Guy Madison, actor
- 1998 - Falco, singer (b. 1957)
- 1998 - Carl Wilson, musician ("The Beach Boys")
- 2002 - Max Perutz, scientist (b. 1914)
- 2002 - Guy Stockwell, actor
Holidays and observances
February 5 - February 7 - January 6 - March 6 -- listing of all days
