February 2

February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining, (333 in leap years).

Jan - February - Mar
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30
2004 day arrangement
All days

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances

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 Sovietss 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

1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
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
1924 - Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American producer and musician
1925 - Elaine Stritch, actress
1926 - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, politician
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 (, Independence Day)
1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress
1954 - Christie Brinkley, model
1977 - Shakira, singer
1983 - Jordin Tootoo, NHL hockey player

Deaths

1648 - George Abbot, english writer (b. ca. 1603)
1769 - Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
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