February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 318 days remaining (319 in leap years).

Events

• 1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
• 1838 - Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal were killed by Zulus.
• 1852 - Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
• 1857 - The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established. in Washington, DC becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1868 - In New York City the Jolly Gorks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).
• 1883 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time.
• 1918 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany.
• 1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
• 1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
• 1943 - World War II: Russia reconquers Kharkov.
• 1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
• 1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.
• 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1961 - Explorer 9 launched. (See Explorer program)
• 1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
• 1970 - Joe Frazier starts a heavyweight world boxing champion winning streak with the knock out of Jimmy Ellis in five rounds.
• 1972 - NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scores 30,000th point.
• 1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
• 1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
• 1986 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 1987 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
• 1989 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
• 1991 - Gulf War: U.S. and U.K. war planes bomb the suburbs of Baghdad, injuring at least 11 civilians and killing three others.
• 1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300-622R crashes on approach to airport, Taipei, Taiwan killing 203 including 6 on the ground
• 1999 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.
• 1999 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
• 1999 - In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime.

Births

• 1222 - Nichiren, monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism
• 1497 - Philipp Melanchthon, humanist and reformer (d. 1560)
• 1620 - Friedrich Wilhelm, called "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Ducal Prussia (d. 1688)
• 1822 - Sir Francis Galton, explorer, biologist (d. 1911)
• 1826 - Joseph Victor von Scheffel, poet (d. 1886)
• 1826 - Julia Grant, First Lady, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant (d. 1902)
• 1834 - Ernst Haeckel, zoologist and philosopher (d. 1919)
• 1838 - Henry Adams, historian and novelist (d. 1918)
• 1876 - George Macaulay Trevelyan, historian (d. 1962)
• 1901 - Wayne King, band leader ("The Waltz King")
• 1903 - Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist (d. 1978)
• 1926 - John Schlesinger, film director (d. 2003)
• 1927 - June Brown, British actress
• 1927 - Tom Kennedy, game show host
• 1931 - Otis Blackwell, songwriter, singer
• 1935 - Sonny Bono, singer, music producer, television producer, Congressman (d. 1998)
• 1942 - Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader
• 1944 - Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
• 1945 - Jeremy Bulloch, actor
• 1948 - Pete Postlethwaite, actor
• 1950 - Peter Hain, British politician
• 1951 - William Katt, American actor
• 1954 - Iain Banks, author
• 1957 - LeVar Burton, actor
• 1957 - James Ingram, singer
• 1958 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor
• 1959 - John McEnroe, tennis player
• 1960 - Pete Willis, ex-Def Leppard guitarist
• 1964 - Christopher Eccleston, actor (Our Friends in the North, Doctor Who)
• 1972 - Jerome Bettis, American football player
• 1973 - Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete
• 1975 - Aikawa Nanase, Japanese Musician
• 1977 - Ian Clarke, creator of Freenet
• 1980 - Ashley Lelie, American football player

Deaths

• 1279 - King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)
• 1898 - Thomas Bracken, NZ poet, author of God's Own Country
• 1912 - St. Nikolai of Japan, monk priest of Eastern Orthodoxy (b. 1836)
• 1928 - Eddie Foy, vaudevillian, singer, dancer
• 1975 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete
• 1978 - E. Roland Harriman, financier (b. 1895)
• 1992 - Angela Carter, writer (b. 1940)
• 1996 - Edmund G. Brown, Governor of California (b. 1905)
• 1996 - Brownie McGhee, blues singer (b. 1915)
• 2002 - Walter Winterbottom, the first England football manager (b. 1913)
• 2003 - Alexander Tišma, author

Holidays and observances

• Lithuania - National Day

February 15 - February 17 - January 16 - March 16 -- listing of all days