7 February
February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 327 days remaining, 328 in leap years.
Events
- 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first Prince of Wales.
- 1550 - Julius III becomes Pope.
- 1613 - Mikhail Romanov becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.
- 1812 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
- 1882 - In Mississippi City, the last heavyweight boxing championship bare-knuckle fight takes place.
- 1898 - Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse.
- 1900 - The British Labour Party is formed.
- 1904 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
- 1943 - World War II: In the United States it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in two days.
- 1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy Nazi forces launch a counteroffensive.
- 1962 - The United States Government bans all US-related Cuban imports and exports.
- 1964 - The Beatles arrived on their first visit to the United States.
- 1971 - Women gain the right to vote in Switzerland.
- 1974 - Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1977 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24.
- 1984 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.
- 1985 - "New York, New York" becomes the official city anthem of New York City.
- 1986 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
- 1990 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly of power.
- 1991 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
- 1992 - The European Union is formed.
- 1998 - The 1998 Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan.
- 1999 - Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the ruler of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
- 2003 - Last contact to Pioneer 10 was replied.
Births
- 1478 - Sir Thomas More, statesman and humanist, author of Utopia (d. 1535)
- 1812 - Charles Dickens, novelist (d. 1870)
- 1834 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, chemist and inventor of the Periodic table of the chemical elements (d. 1907)
- 1867 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie (d. 1957)
- 1883 - Eubie Blake, musician, composer (d. 1983)
- 1885 - Sinclair Lewis, author (d. 1951)
- 1904 - Ernst Ginsberg, actor and film director (d. 1964)
- 1905 - Paul Nizan, author (d. 1940)
- 1908 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor (d. 1983)
- 1910 - Max Bense, philosopher (d. 1990)
- 1914 - Ramón Mercader, assassin of Leon Trotsky (d. 1978)
- 1920 - An Wang, computer pioneer (d. 1990)
- 1922 - Hattie Jacques, actress (d. 1980)
- 1926 - Konstantin Feoktistov, cosmonaut
- 1927 - Juliette Greco, singer and actor
- 1927 - Vladimir Kuts, Soviet long-distance runner
- 1932 - Gay Talese, author
- 1943 - Gareth Hunt. actor
- 1945 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor
- 1953 - Lige Curry, musician (P Funk)
- 1953 - Dan Quisenberry, baseball pitcher (d. 1998)
- 1954 - Dieter Bohlen German Composer and Performer (Modern Talking)
- 1960 - James Spader, actor (Pretty in Pink, Stargate)
- 1962 - Garth Brooks, country music star
- 1962 - Eddie Izzard, actor, comic
- 1967 - Chris Rock, comedian, actor
- 1968 - Peter Bondra, hockey player
- 1974 - Steve Nash, Canadian NBA star
- 1978 - Ashton Kutcher, actor
Deaths
- 780 - Nicetas, Patriarch of Constantinople
- 1837 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (b. 1778)
- 1873 - Sheridan Le Fanu, writer (b. 1814)
- 1878 - Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
- 1920 - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander (b. 1874)
- 1938 - Harvey Firestone, manufacturer (b. 1868)
- 1979 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (b. 1911)
- 1980 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (b. 1904)
- 1985 - Matt Monro, singer (b. 1932)
- 1993 - Lillian Gish, actress (b. 1893)
- 1998 - Lawrence Sanders, author
- 1999 - King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- 1999 - Bobby Troup, musician, actor
- 2000 - Doug Henning, magician (b. 1947)
- 2000 - Big Pun, singer (b. 1971)
- 2001 - Dale Evans, actress, singer
- 2001 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author, aviator (b. 1906)
- 2003 - Augusto Monterroso, author
- 2004 - John Hench, Artistic designer for Walt Disney
- 2004 - Rebeca Martinez, girl born with two heads, died of complications from surgery to remove extra head (b. 2003)
Holidays and observances
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Mulk (Dominion) - First day of the 18th month of the Bahá'í Calendar
February 6 - February 8 - January 7 - March 7 -- listing of all days
