Today in History - Historical Events - February 16th

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Notable Historical Events on February 16th

1972Wilt Chamberlain hit 30,000 point mark during a game with Phoenix Suns

1968Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wifes fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

1992LA Lakers retire Magic Johnson's #32 uniform

1979George Harrison releases "Blow Away"

1952Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires; Pirates retire his #33

1958Betsy Rawls wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1862Ft Donelson captured by General Ulysses S. Grant (1,400 confederates surrender)

1943Sign on Munich facade: "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22

1959Fidel Castro names himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista

1989Roger Clemens, Red Sox pitcher signs $7.5M-3 year contract

1832HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reaches St-Pauls (1°N, 29°W)

1923Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb and finds the sarcophagus

1953Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet, later awarded the Air medal

1968Elvis Presley receives gold record for "How Great Thou Art"

1963North Carolina forward Billy Cunningham grabs a record 27 rebounds in a game vs Clemson

2013Lionel Messi scores his 14th consecutive goal in La Liga and his 300th goal in 365 appearances for Barcelona

1970Joe Frazier TKOs Jimmy Ellis in 5 for heavyweight boxing title

2013Angelina Jolie undergoes a preventive double mastectomy after learning she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer due to a defective BRCA1 gene

1641English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act

1741Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (2nd US Mag) begins publishing

1913President Taft agrees not to intervene in Mexico

201467th British Academy Film Awards: 12 Years a Slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, & Cate Blanchett win

2005The UK version of "The Apprentice" with British business magnate Alan Sugar premieres on the BBC

1943British premier Winston Churchill gets pneumonia

February 16th Historical Events
Date Event
374
9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet 
600
Pope Gregory the Great decree saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze 
1249
Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols. 
1486
Diet of Frankfort 
1512
Battle at Valeggio: French troops beat Venetianen 
1559
Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy 
1641
English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act 
1646
Battle of Great Torrington, Devon - the last major battle of the first English Civil War. 
1659
1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey) 
1666
Netherlands & Brandenburg sign treaty 
1677
Earl of Shaftesbury arrested and confined in the Tower of London 
1741
Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (2nd US Mag) begins publishing 
1742
Earl of Wilmington becomes British premier (First Lord of the Treasury) 
1751
1st publication of Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" 
1760
Native American hostages killed in Fort Prince George, SC 
1771
Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy 
1777
Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice) 
1804
Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate "Philadelphia" after pirates seized it 
1824
Athenaeum club founded in London 
1832
HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reaches St-Pauls (1°N, 29°W) 
1838
Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions 
1838
Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus. 
1840
American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica 
1846
Battle of Sobraon ends 1st Sikh War in India 
1852
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established. 
1854
Franz Liszts symphony "Orpheus," premieres 
1857
Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms in Washington DC 
1859
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch. 
1860
Dutch Rochussen/Van Bosse government resigns 
1862
Ft Donelson captured by General Ulysses S. Grant (1,400 confederates surrender) 
1864
Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army 
1866
Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War. 
1868
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks forms (NY) 
1878
Silver dollar became US legal tender 
1880
American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC) 
1883
"Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing 
1887
1st newspaper convention (Rochester NY) 
1887
Eduard Douwes Dekker writes his last text (Lf8-c5) 
1892
Opera "Werther," premieres in Vienna 
1894
British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast 
1899
Pelham Warner scores 132 on Test Cricket debut (Eng v SA Johannesburg) 
1899
President Félix Faure of France dies in office. 
1899
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur Iceland's first football club is founded. 
1900
1st Chinese daily newspaper in US publishes (Chung Sai Yat Po-SF) 
1900
Stanley Cup: Montreal Shamrocks beat Winnipeg Victorias, 3 games to 1 
1903
-59°F (-51°C), Pokegama Dam, Minnesota (state record) 
1905
1st US Esperanto club organizes in Boston 
1909
1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC) 
1909
Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary 
1912
VSV soccer team forms in Ijmuiden 
1913
President Taft agrees not to intervene in Mexico 
1914
1st airplane flight from LA to SF 
1915
Frank Home Run Baker, 28, announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He sits out 1915 season 
1916
Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI 
1916
The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships 
1916
The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania 
1917
1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid 
1918
Lithuania declares independence from Russia & Germany (National Day) 
1923
Allies accept Latvia's occupation of Memel territory 
1923
Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb and finds the sarcophagus 
1923
US female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard 
1923
US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger 
1926
Suzanne Lenglen defeats Helen Wills in Tennis at Cannes France 
1927
Noel Coward's "Marquise," premieres in London 
1927
US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey 
1929
KID-AM in Idaho Falls ID begins radio transmissions 
1931
Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud becomes president of Finland 
1932
1st patent issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree 
1933
Catholic newspaper Germania warns against nazis/communists 
1933
England regains the Ashes, thanks to bodyline tactics 
1934
Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund. 
1934
Commission of Government is sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland. 
1936
4th Winter Olympic games close at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 
1936
Spanish Frente Popular (People's Front) wins elections 
1937
DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers 
1937
Jean Anouilh's "Le Voyageur Sans Baggage," premieres in Paris 
1938
US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized 
1940
British search plane finds German Altmark off Norway 
1942
German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery 
1943
-32°F (-36°C), Falls Village, Connecticut (state record) 
1943
British premier Winston Churchill gets pneumonia 
1943
Red army conquers Kharkov 
1943
Withdrawing Afrika Korps reaches Mareth-line in North-Africa 
1943
Sign on Munich facade: "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22 
1943
World War II: The USSR reconquers Kharkov. 
1945
US forces land on Corregidor, complete conquest on March 3 
1945
Venezuela declares war on Nazi Germany 
1946
"Duchess Misbehaves" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 5 perfs 
1946
1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport Ct 
1947
Morton Gould's 3rd Symphony, premieres 
1948
1st newsreel telecast, "20th Century Fox-Movietone News" shown on NBC 
1948
Miranda, famous moon of Uranus, photographed for 1st time 
1950
Longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line" begins on CBS 
1950
Writers fail to elect anyone to Baseball's Hall of Fame 
1951
NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing 
1951
SF City Hall dome fire 
1952
Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires; Pirates retire his #33 
1952
Ian Craig makes NSW cricket debut aged 16 years 249 days (NSW record) 
1953
Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet, later awarded the Air medal 
1954
WNEM TV channel 5 in Bay City, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting 
1957
The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00pm and 7.00pm was abolished in the United Kingdom. 
1958
Betsy Rawls wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open 
1959
Fidel Castro names himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista 
1959
Leonard Spigelgass' "Majority of One," premieres in NYC 
1960
US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip 
1961
1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Va 
1961
China uses its 1st nuclear reactor 
1961
US satellite Explorer 9 is launched 
1962
Darius Milhaud's 12th Symphony, premieres 
1962
US Open Tennis: Jimmy Bostwick defeats brother Pete to win 
1963
1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US) 
1963
Beatles top British rock charts with "Please, Please Me" 
1963
C & A Building in Amsterdam burns down 
1963
North Carolina forward Billy Cunningham grabs a record 27 rebounds in a game vs Clemson 
1964
"Foxy" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 72 performances 
1964
Beatles' 2nd appearance on "Ed Sullivan Show" 
1965
"Baker Street" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 313 performances 
1965
Pegasus 1 launched to detect micro-meteors 
1966
Bob Cowper makes 307 v England at the MCG, 727 mins, 20 fours 
1966
End of Wally Grout's Test Cricket career, 187 dismissals as Aust WK 
1966
France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria 
1967
Red Ruffing selected to Hall of Fame 
1968
US 1st 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Ala 
1968
Elvis Presley receives gold record for "How Great Thou Art" 
1968
Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wifes fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 
1970
Joe Frazier TKOs Jimmy Ellis in 5 for heavyweight boxing title 
1972
German mass murderers "Three of Breda" freed 
1972
Test Cricket debut of Lawrence Rowe WI v NZ Kingston, 214 & 100 
1972
Wilt Chamberlain hit 30,000 point mark during a game with Phoenix Suns 
1973
WI v Australia at Kingston, 1st time since 1955 without Sobers 
1975
Washington Capitals 1st NHL shutout, beating KC Scouts 3-0 
1977
USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan 
1978
1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago) 
1979
George Harrison releases "Blow Away" 
1979
USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk 
1980
Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France 
1980
Eric Heiden skates 5k in 7:02.29 (Olympic Record) 
1982
Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female president of Malta 
1982
Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vandenberg AFB to launch pad 
1983
The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people in Australia's worst ever fires. 
1984
Bill Johnson becomes 1st American to win Olympic downhill skiing gold 
1984
NJ Devils 1st OT goal, Jan Ludvig beats Hartford Whalers 6-5 
1985
Largest NBA crowd to date, 43,816, sees Phila at Detroit 
1985
Livingston Bramble defeats Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini to win WBA champ 
1985
NJ Devils score their fastest hat trick in 42 seconds 
1985
The founding of Hezbollah. 
1986
"Uptown... It's Hot!" closes at Lunt-Fontanne NYC after 24 perfs 
1986
French air force bombs Ouadi Doum airport in Chad 
1986
Hein Vergeer becomes world champion skater 
1986
Karlstad skates world record 10 km (14:12.14) 
1986
Mario Soares (Socialist) elected Portugal's 1st civilian pres 
1987
John Demjanjuk, accused of being "Ivan the Terrible" trial begins 
1988
1st documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador 
1989
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan & North Yemen form common market 
1989
Orel Hershiser, Dodger pitcher signs $7.9M-3 year contract 
1989
Roger Clemens, Red Sox pitcher signs $7.5M-3 year contract 
1989
William Hayden becomes governor-general of Australia 
1991
Dutch PPR, Political Party Radicals, disbands 
1991
US female Figure Skating championship won by Tonya Harding 
1992
Former silver Goodyear blimps are now painted yellow & blue 
1992
LA Lakers retire Magic Johnson's #32 uniform 
1993
Sandra Völker swims world record 50m backstroke (28.33 sec) 
1993
Western Australia's and Australia's first woman Premier, Carmen Lawrence, is voted out of office. 
1994
6.5 earthquake strikes SE Sumatra, kills 200 
1994
Johann Olav Koss skates world record 1500m (1:51.29) 
1994
Premier Alfonso Bustamente ends government in Peru 
1996
Gary Kirsten scores 188* for South Africa v UAE at Rawalpindi 
1997
At age 25, Jeff Gordon is youngest winner in Daytona 500 history 
1997
GTE Suncoast Senior Golf Classic 
1997
Paul Stankowski wins Hawaiian Golf Open 
1997
Terry-Jo Myers wins LPGA Los Angeles Women's Championship 
1998
Tellabs Inc acquires Coherent Communications Systems for $670 million 
1999
O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend 
1999
Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan. 
2003
Michael Waltrip wins motor racing's Daytona 500 after rain stops the race for a second time at lap 109 
2004
The Pittsburgh Penguins lose their 12th consecutive home game, a NHL record 
2005
2004-05 NHL season is canceled by league commissioner Gary Bettman. This was the first time that a North American professional sports league had to cancel a season due to a labor dispute 
2005
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia. 
2005
The UK version of "The Apprentice" with British business magnate Alan Sugar premieres on the BBC 
2006
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army. 
2013
Angelina Jolie undergoes a preventive double mastectomy after learning she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer due to a defective BRCA1 gene 
2013
84 people are killed and 190 are injured after a market bombing in Hazara Town, Pakistan 
2013
Anthony Carmona is elected President of Trinidad and Tobago 
2013
Lionel Messi scores his 14th consecutive goal in La Liga and his 300th goal in 365 appearances for Barcelona 
2014
67th British Academy Film Awards: 12 Years a Slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, & Cate Blanchett win 
2017
Businesses across US close for 'Day Without Immigrants' 
2017
Trump meets Netanyahu, avoids pledge to two-state solution 
2017
Puzder Withdraws Nomination to Be Trump's Labor Secretary 
2017
Malaysia Arrests Second Woman in Killing of Kim Jong-un's Half Brother 
2018
Survivors of Florida high school shooting call for action on gun control 
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