February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 323 days remaining, 324 in leap years.

Events

• 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno.
• 731 - Gregory II ends his reign as Pope.
• 824 - Paschal I ends his reign as Pope.
• 1531 - Henry VIII of England recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - Ethiopian/Portuguese troops beat Muslim army.
• 1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens.
• 1790 - Society of Friends petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.
• 1794 - First session of United States Senate open to the public.
• 1808 - Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally.
• 1809 - Robert Fulton patents the steamboat
• 1810 - Napoléon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.
• 1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.
• 1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union
• 1826 - University College London is founded under the name University of London.
• 1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.
• 1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.
• 1858 - The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.
• 1861 - American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
• 1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.
• 1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890
• 1902 - Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.
• 1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.
• 1905 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• 1908 - Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
• 1916 - Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control.
• 1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany.
• 1928 - 1928 Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland
• 1929 - Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
• 1937 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union.
• 1938 - BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (This play coined the term 'robot.')
• 1941 - First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
• 1943 - General Dwight Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
• 1945 - Yalta Conference ends.
• 1948 - John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland.
• 1953 - President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
• 1953 - The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 1961 - Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
• 1963 - The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me".
• 1964 - At the Washington, DC Coliseum, The Beatles have their 1st live appearance in the United States.
• 1964 - Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
• 1964 - The Republic of China (France.
• 1968 - Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.
• 1968 - Madison Square Garden III closes and Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York City
• 1971 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
• 1978 - Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.
• 1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
• 1981 - 100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaiminating 8 workers
• 1986 - Rights activist Anatoly Scharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country.
• 1987 - Philippines constitution goes into effect.
• 1990 - James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win heavyweight boxing crown.
• 1990 - Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
• 1991 - UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.
• 1999 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979.

Births

• 1380 - Italian humanist (d. 1459)
• 1465 - Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England (d. 1503)
• 1535 - Pope Gregory XIV (d. 1591)
• 1557 - John Uijtenbogaert, Dutch remonstrant theologian.
• 1568 - Honore d'Urfe, French writer
• 1657 - Bernard Le Bovier Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters
• 1755 - Albert Christoph Dies, composer
• 1764 - Marie-Joseph de Chenier, French poet
• 1774 - Hans Jarta, Swedish political activist, administrator, publicist
• 1776 - Joannis Capodistrias, Greek governor of Troezen (1827-1831) (d. 1836)
• 1780 - Karoline von Günderode, poet (d. 1806)
• 1790 - Ignaz Assmayer, composer
• 1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer (d. 1877)
• 1802 - Lydia Child, novelist and abolitionist (d. 1880)
• 1810 - Loisa Puget, composer
• 1812 - Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy)
• 1812 - Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, (d. 1883)
• 1813 - Otto Ludwig, German novelist, playwright, critic
• 1819 - Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer
• 1821 - Hermann Allmers, writer
• 1821 - Auguste Edouard Mariette, French Egyptologist
• 1830 - Peter Arnold Heise, composer
• 1830 - Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, musician (d. 1913)
• 1833 - Melville Weston Fuller, 8th Chief Justice of the United States
• 1839 - Josiah Willard Gibbs, theoretical physicist, chemist (d. 1903)
• 1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor (d. 1931)
• 1860 - Rachilde (Marguérite Vallette-Eymery), French author (d. 1953)
• 1867 - August W Messer, German philosopher, educator, psychologist
• 1869 - Helene Kroller-Muller, Dutch museum founder and patron of the arts
• 1869 - Else Lasker-Schüler, lyricist, dramatist and narrator (d. 1945)
• 1873 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian singer (d. 1938)
• 1874 - Elsa Beskow (Maartman), Swedish children's book and fairy tales author, (d. 1953)
• 1874 - Fritz Bennicke Hart, composer
• 1875 - Sara Wennerberg-Reuter, composer
• 1879 - Jean Gilbert, composer
• 1882 - Gheorghe Cucu, composer
• 1883 - Paul August von Klenau, Danish composer, conductor
• 1887 - John van Melle, South African writer (d. 1953)
• 1889 - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov, composer
• 1890 - John de Vries, fairy tale, writer
• 1891 - J W Hearne, English cricket player
• 1893 - Johan Alberts, Dutch literary figure
• 1894 - Isaac Kolthoff, chemist
• 1894 - Alfonso Leng, composer (d. 1974)
• 1895 - Viktor Nikolayevich Trambitsky, composer
• 1896 - Else Lasker-Schüler, writer
• 1897 - Yves de La Casiniere, composer
• 1898 - Leó Szilárd, physicist, peace activist (d. 1964)
• 1900 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
• 1900 - Thomas Hitchcock Jr, polo player
• 1902 - Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect/designer (d. 1971)
• 1903 - Hans Redlich, composer (d. 1968)
• 1904 - Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
• 1904 - Henry LaBouisse, head of UNICEF
• 1905 - Elizabeth Vuyk, Dutch/Indonesian writer
• 1906 - Denis Barnett, British air chief marshal
• 1907 - E W Swanton, author, sports commentator
• 1908 - Sutan Takdir Alishahbana, Indonesian linguist, author, novelist
• 1908 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist, explorer (d. 1999)
• 1908 - Josh White
• 1909 - Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), boxer, actor
• 1909 - Joseph Mankiewicz, director
• 1911 - Alec Cairncross, chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
• 1912 - Roy Fuller, English poet/novelist
• 1912 - Rudolf Firkusny Napajedla, pianist
• 1913 - Lucio Diestro, composer
• 1914 - Matt Dennis, singer
• 1914 - French Duynstee, Dutch constitutional lawyer
• 1914 - Winand Borgerhoff Mulder, court judge of Amsterdam
• 1914 - Menelaos Pallantios, composer
• 1915 - Patrick Leigh Fermor, author
• 1915 - Mervyn Levy, artist, critic
• 1915 - Haakon Stotijn, Dutch oboist
• 1916 - Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco, California
• 1916 - Bernice Levin Neugarten, social scientist, gerontologist
• 1917 - Richard Jock Kinneir, graphic designer
• 1917 - Sidney Sheldon, author
• 1919 - Gretchen Fraser, slalom skier
• 1919 - Eva Gabor, actress (d. 1995)
• 1919 - Eddie Robinson, college football coach.
• 1920 - King Farouk I of Egypt (d. 1965)
• 1920 - Daniel Galouye, American science fiction author
• 1920 - Billy Halop, actor
• 1920 - Paul Peter Piech, artist (d. 1996)
• 1921 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
• 1922 - Tudor Jarda, composer
• 1922 - Leslie Nielsen, actor
• 1923 - Ronald Arculus, British diplomat
• 1924 - Mary Tregear, Oriental art historian
• 1925 - Peter Berger, British Vice-Admiral
• 1925 - Virginia Johnson, doctor, sexologist
• 1925 - Kim Stanley, actress (d. 2001)
• 1926 - Paul Bocuse, French chef
• 1926 - Alexander Gibson, British conductor/founder of the Scottish Opera
• 1928 - Gerry Alexander, West Indies cricket player
• 1928 - Raoul Cita, rocker
• 1928 - Gotthilf Fischer, choirmaste
• 1928 - Archibald Forster, CEO (Esso UK)
• 1928 - Conrad Janis, actor
• 1929 - Leonard Gregory Kastle, composer
• 1930 - C H Dearnley, organist
• 1930 - Alevtina Koltschina, Soviet skier
• 1931 - Larry Merchant, author, boxing commentator
• 1932 - Jerome Lowenthal, pianist, professor
• 1934 - Tina Louise, actress
• 1934 - Francesco Pennisi, composer
• 1934 - Mary Quant, fashion designer
• 1934 - John Surtees, British race car driver
• 1935 - Bent Lorentzen, composer
• 1935 - (disputed) - Gene Vincent, rock music guitarist, vocalist (d. 1971)
• 1936 - Burt Reynolds, actor
• 1937 - Lodewijk Boer, Dutch violinist, playwright
• 1937 - Marilyn Butler, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford
• 1937 - Peter Lashley, West Indies cricket player
• 1937 - Bill Lawry, Australian cricket player
• 1938 - Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricket player
• 1938 - Willy Correa de Oliveira, composer
• 1938 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
• 1939 - Gerry Goffin, lyricist
• 1939 - Jane Yolen, science fiction author
• 1940 - Bobby Picket, musician
• 1941 - Sergio Mendes, musician, songwriter
• 1942 - Otis Clay, gospel qand R&B singer
• 1943 - Iain Cameron, British brigadier
• 1944 - Buddhadev Dasgupta, film director
• 1944 - Bert Greene, golfer
• 1953 - Philip Anglim, actor
• 1961 - Mary Docter, speed skater
• 1961 - Carey Lowell, actress
• 1962 - Sheryl Crow, musician
• 1969 - Jennifer Aniston, actress
• 1970 - Alistair Brown, English cricket player
• 1974 - D'Angelo, singer
• 1975 - Zsuzsa Hickel, Hungarian spiritualist
• 1975 - Chuck Watanabe, kayaker
• 1979 - Brandy Norwood, singer
• 1980 - Natasha Bobo, actress
• 1980 - Matthew Lawrence, actor
• 1981 - Kelly Rowland, singer (Destiny's Child)

Deaths

• 641 - Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium in 610-641 (b. ca. 575)
• 731 - Pope Gregory II
• 821 - Saint Benedict of Aniane (b. ca. 747)
• 824 - Pope Paschal I
• 1141 - Hugo of St. Victor, philosopher, theologian, mystic
• 1503 - Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England (b. 1466)
• 1543 - Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal
• 1622 - Alfonso Fontanelli, composer
• 1650 - René Descartes, philosopher (b. 1596)
• 1685 - David Teniers III, Flemish painter
• 1762 - Johann Tobias Krebs, composer
• 1763 - William Shenstone, poet (b. 1714)
• 1797 - Antoine Dauvergne, composer
• 1806 - Vicente Martin y Soler, composer
• 1841 - J H Ferdinand Olivier, German painter
• 1862 - Elizabeth Siddal, poet and artist (b. 1829)
• 1868 - Léon Foucault, astronomer (b. 1819)
• 1870 - Leopold Eugen Mechura, composer
• 1871 - Gaspard Théodore Ignace de la Fontaine, Luxemburg politician.
• 1879 - Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter (b. 1808)
• 1879 - Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch author
• 1882 - Gustav Schmidt, composer (b. 1874)
• 1892 - Erik Anthon Valdemar Siboni, composer
• 1894 - Pasqual Juan Emilio Arrieta y Corera, composer
• 1903 - Henryk Szulc, composer
• 1907 - Peter J Savelberg, Dutch monastery founder
• 1911 - Albert von Rothschild, baron, Austrian banker
• 1922 - Gerardus J P Bolland, Dutch philosopher
• 1931 - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor
• 1939 - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer
• 1940 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1875)
• 1945 - Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter
• 1945 - J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter
• 1948 - Sergei Eisenstein, film director (b. 1898)
• 1959 - Marshall Teague, race car driver (b. 1922)
• 1960 - Ernst von Dohnanyi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
• 1961 - Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor, director
• 1963 - Sylvia Plath, poet, novelist (b. 1932)
• 1968 - Howard Lindsay, playwright
• 1970 - Emil Abranyi, composer
• 1971 - Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director
• 1972 - Jan Wils, architect
• 1973 - Hans D Jensen, German physicist
• 1975 - Zsuzsa Hickel, Hungarian spiritualist
• 1976 - Lee J Cobb, actor
• 1976 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894)
• 1977 - Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1946-1948, 1958-1959) (b. 1902)
• 1978 - James B Conant, headmaster of Harvard University
• 1982 - Eleanor Powell, actress, dancer
• 1982 - Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor
• 1985 - Henry Hathaway actor, director
• 1985 - Ulysses Simpson Kay, composer
• 1985 - Heinz Eric Roemheld, composer
• 1986 - Frank Herbert, science fiction author (b. 1920)
• 1989 - George O'Hanlon, actor, director
• 1991 - Oscar Nitzchke, German architect
• 1993 - George A Stephen, inventor
• 1994 - Neil Bonnett, NASCAR driver (b. 1946)
• 1994 - Sorrell Brooke, actor
• 1994 - William Conrad, actor
• 1996 - Kebby Musokotwane, prime minister of Zambia
• 1996 - Cyril Poole, English cricket player
• 1996 - Amelia Rosselli, poet
• 2000 - Roger Vadim, French director (b. 1928)
• 2003 - Arndt Brause, Schlager singer
• 2003 - Daniel Toscan du Plantier, movie producer

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes
• World Day of the Sick
• National Foundation Day in Japan (See Holidays of Japan.)

February 10 - February 12 - January 11 - March 11 -- listing of all days