February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 324 days remaining, 325 in leap years.
Events
- 1258 - Battle of Baghdad (1258) - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing large numbers of citizens (estimates range from 10,000 to 800,000).
- 1542 - Queen Catherine Howard of England is confined in the Tower of London to be executed three days later for treason (adultery).
- 1635 - The Académie française in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite.
- 1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
- 1814 - Battle of Champaubert occurs.
- 1840 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
- 1846 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois.
- 1863 - The world-famous dwarfs General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City.
- 1863 - Alanson Crane patents the fire extinguisher.
- 1870 - Anaheim, California is incorporated.
- 1870 - The YWCA is founded (New York City).
- 1920 - Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic engagement of Poland with the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
- 1931 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.
- 1933 - The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram.
- 1933 - In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf, killing him.
- 1947 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.
- 1949 - Death of a Salesman opens at the Morocco Theatre in New York City.
- 1954 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
- 1962 - Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
- 1964 - The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
- 1967 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
- 1981 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
- 1982 - The German movie Das Boot opens in United States theaters.
- 1989 - Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
- 1990 - South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day.
- 1992 - In Indianapolis, Indiana, boxer Mike Tyson is convicted of raping a Miss Black America contestant named Desiree Washington.
- 1996 - The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time.
- 1996 - The World Trade Centre in London is partially destroyed by an PIRA bomb.
- 1997 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene C. McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct.
- 1998 - A college dropout becomes the first person to be convicted of a hate crime committed in cyberspace.
- 1998 - Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
- 1999 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least 10.
- 2003 - Hockey star Brett Hull scores his 700th NHL goal.
- 2005 - North Korea and weapons of mass destruction: North Korea suspends participation in multi-nation talks to discuss its arms program and officially admits to developing nuclear weapons.
Births
- 1499 - Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist (d. 1582)
- 1524 - Albrecht Giese IV, German politician and diplomat (d. 1580)
- 1609 - Sir John Suckling, English poet (d. 1642)
- 1685 - Aaron Hill, English writer (d. 1750)
- 1785 - Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist (d. 1936)
- 1846 - Charles Beresford, British admiral and politician (d. 1919)
- 1887 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- 1890 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (d. 1960)
- 1892 - Alan Hale Sr., American actor (d. 1950)
- 1893 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (d. 1980)
- 1893 - Bill Tilden, American tennis player (d. 1953)
- 1894 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
- 1897 - Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
- 1897 - John F. Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
- 1898 - Bertolt Brecht, German author (d. 1956)
- 1901 - Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1902 - Walter Houser Brattain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1904 - John Farrow, American film director (d. 1963)
- 1906 - Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
- 1906 - Erik Rhodes, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1910 - Georges Pire, Belgian monk, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1969)
- 1914 - Larry Adler, American musician (d. 2001)
- 1920 - Alex Comfort, physician and writer (d. 2000)
- 1927 - Leontyne Price, American soprano
- 1929 - Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Robert Wagner, American actor
- 1931 - Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author (d. 1989)
- 1932 - Branko Lustig, Croatian film producer
- 1934 - Fleur Adcock, New Zealand poet
- 1939 - Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
- 1939 - Roberta Flack, American singer
- 1941 - Michael Apted, British director
- 1944 - Peter Allen, Australian singer and actor (d. 1992)
- 1944 - Frank Keating, American politician
- 1944 - Vernor Vinge, American novelist
- 1947 - Louise Arbour, Canadian judge
- 1948 - Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (d. 1994)
- 1949 - Maxime Le Forestier, French singer
- 1949 - Harold Sylvester, American actor
- 1950 - Mark Spitz, American swimmer
- 1951 - Roxanne Pulitzer, American model
- 1955 - Christopher Adams, British judoka and professional wrestler (d. 2001)
- 1955 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- 1960 - Robert Addie, British actor (d. 2003)
- 1961 - Alexander Payne, American film director
- 1961 - George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator
- 1962 - Cliff Burton, American musician (d. 1986)
- 1962 - Bobby Czyz, American boxer
- 1963 - Lenny Dykstra, baseball player
- 1967 - Laura Dern, American actress
- 1968 - Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
- 1969 - Tim Clark, golfer
- 1969 - Joe Mangrum, American artist
- 1971 - Lisa Marie Varon, American professional wrestler
- 1976 - Lance Berkman, baseball player
- 1979 - Daryl Palumbo, American musician
- 1979 - Ross Powers, American snowboarder
- 1980 - César Izturis, baseball player
- 1985 - Anette Sagen, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1991 - Emma Roberts, American actress
- 1994 - Makenzie Vega, American actres
Deaths
- 1126 - William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, poet (b. 1071)
- 1162 - King Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
- 1242 - Emperor Shijo of Japan (b. 1231)
- 1278 - Margaret II of Flanders (b. 1202)
- 1576 - Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (b. 1532)
- 1686 - William Dugdale, English antiquarian (b. 1605)
- 1722 - Bartholomew Roberts, English pirate
- 1755 - Montesquieu, French writer (b. 1689)
- 1758 - Thomas Ripley, English architect
- 1782 - Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (b. 1702)
- 1829 - Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
- 1837 - Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian poet and novelist (b. 1799)
- 1865 - Heinrich Lenz, German physicist (b. 1804)
- 1904 - John A. Roche, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
- 1912 - Joseph Lister, British surgeon (b. 1827)
- 1917 - John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
- 1918 - Abdul Hamid II Ottoman Sultan (b. 1842)
- 1918 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
- 1923 - Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1932 - Edgar Wallace, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1875)
- 1939 - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
- 1950 - Marcel Mauss, French sociologist (b. 1872)
- 1957 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
- 1960 - Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
- 1964 - Eugen Sänger, Austrian aerospace engineer (b. 1905)
- 1966 - Billy Rose, American composer and band leader (b. 1899)
- 1984 - David Von Erich, professional wrestler (b. 1958)
- 1985 - Johnny Mokan, baseball player (b. 1895)
- 1992 - Alex Haley, American author (b. 1921)
- 1993 - Fred Hollows, New Zealand ophthalmologist (b. 1929)
- 2000 - Jim Varney, American actor (b. 1949)
- 2001 - Abraham Beame, Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
- 2002 - Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939)
- 2003 - Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
- 2003 - Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
- 2003 - Clark MacGregor, U.S. Congressman (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Al Ruffo, Mayor of San Jose, California (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Ron Ziegler, American press secetary to Richard Nixon (b. 1939)
- 2005 - Arthur Miller, American playwright (b. 1915)
Holidays and observances
- Catholicism - St. Scholastica Day; World Marriage Day.
- Italy - National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe to commemorate Italian Istrian and Dalmatian exiliee and Foiba massacres.
External links
February 9 - February 11 - January 10 - March 10 -- listing of all days