February 21

February 21 in recent years

2024 (Wednesday)

2023 (Tuesday)

2022 (Monday)

2021 (Sunday)

2020 (Friday)

2019 (Thursday)

2018 (Wednesday)

2017 (Tuesday)

2016 (Sunday)

2015 (Saturday)

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 313 days remain until the end of the year (314 in leap years).

In addition, it's the first day of the astronomical winter.

Events

• 362 – Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
• 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
• 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 – Battle of Wayna Daga – A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeats a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 – Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
• 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
• 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
• 1878 – The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
• 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 – The last Carolina Parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German socialist, is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
• 1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.
• 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 – Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile.
• 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1945 – World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damage the Saratoga.
• 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
• 1952 – "ভাষা আন্দোলন", "Bengali Language Movement" occurred in East Pakistan(now Bangladesh).
• 1958 – The Peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
• 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
• 1970 – Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 – President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.
• 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2004 – The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.

Births

• 1484 – Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• 1621 – Rebecca Nurse, English colonist executed during Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
• 1675 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
• 1703 – Shah Waliullah, Islamic Scholar and Reformer (d. 1762)
• 1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
• 1721 – John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
• 1723 – Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
• 1728 – Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. 1762)
• 1783 – Princess Catharina of Württemberg, Queen consort of Westphalia (d. 1835)
• 1791 – Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d. 1876)
• 1801 – John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 – Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d. 1893)
• 1821 – Charles Scribner I, American publisher (d. 1871)
• 1836 – Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 – Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 – Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
• 1860 – Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor (d. 1952)
• 1865 – John Haden Badley, English school founder (d. 1967)
• 1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d. 1934)
• 1875 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d. 1997)
• 1876 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Mirra Alfassa, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
• 1880 – Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1885 – Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Clemence Dane, British novelist and playwright (d. 1965)
• 1893 – Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1895 – Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
• 1903 – Anaïs Nin, French diarist (d. 1977)
• 1903 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
• 1907 – W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
• 1909 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter
• 1910 – Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 – Carmine Galante, American gangster (d. 1979)
• 1910 – Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d. 1986)
• 1913 – Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish fighter pilot (d. 1999)
• 1915 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1917 – Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1921 – John Rawls, American philosopher (d. 2002)
• 1924 – Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe 1980-1987; President of Zimbabwe 1987-present
• 1925 – Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
• 1927 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• 1927 – Pierre Mercure, French-Canadian musician and composer (d. 1966)
• 1929 – James Beck, English actor (d. 1973)
• 1929 – Roberto "Chespirito" Gómez Bolaños, Mexican actor
• 1933 – Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1935 – Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
• 1936 – Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 – King Harald V of Norway
• 1937 – Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1940 – Peter Gethin, British racing driver
• 1940 – John Lewis, American politician and civil rights activist
• 1940 – Wong Jim, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
• 1942 – Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
• 1943 – David Geffen, American record producer
• 1945 – D'Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
• 1945 – Walter Momper, German politician
• 1945 – Paul Newton, British musician
• 1946 – Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 – Anthony Daniels, British actor
• 1946 – Alan Rickman, English actor
• 1946 – Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
• 1946 – Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged Mafia boss
• 1947 – Johnny Echols, American musician
• 1947 – Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 – Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1949 – Jerry Harrison, American musician
• 1949 – Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
• 1951 – Wolfgang Frank, German footballer
• 1951 – Vince Welnick, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 2006)
• 1952 – Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician
• 1952 – Jeffrey Shaara, American novelist
• 1953 – Christine Ebersole, American actress
• 1953 – William Petersen, American actor
• 1954 – Mike Pickering, English disc jockey and musician
• 1954 – Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (d. 1976)
• 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• 1958 – Jake Burns, Irish singer
• 1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• 1958 – Jack Coleman, American actor
• 1958 – Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
• 1959 – José María Cano, Spanish musician
• 1959 – Emmett McAuliffe, American radio show host and lawyer
• 1960 – Laurent Petitguillaume, French radio and television host
• 1960 – Steve Wynn, American singer
• 1961 – Christopher Atkins, American actor
• 1961 – Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1961 – Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1962 – Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 1962 – Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
• 1962 – David Foster Wallace, American writer (d. 2008)
• 1963 – William Baldwin, American actor
• 1964 – Huw Higginson, British actor
• 1964 – Mark and Scott Kelly, American astronauts and identical twin brothers
• 1964 – Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d. 2007)
• 1967 – Leroy Burrell, American runner
• 1969 – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician
• 1969 – Aunjanue Ellis, American actress
• 1969 – Corey Harris, American musician
• 1969 – Tony Meola, American footballer
• 1969 – Eric Wilson, American musician
• 1970 – Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
• 1970 – Fat Pat, American rapper (Screwed Up Click) (d. 1998)
• 1971 – Randy Blythe, American musician
• 1972 – Seo Taiji, Korean musician
• 1973 – Jacob M. Appel, American bioethicist
• 1973 – Heri Joensen, Faroese musician
• 1973 – Justin Sane, American punk musician
• 1973 – Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer and TV host
• 1974 – Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 – Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1975 – Wish Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
• 1975 – Troy Slaten, American actor
• 1976 – Michael McIntyre English Comedian
• 1976 – Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 – Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 – Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
• 1977 – Owen King, American writer and journalist
• 1977 – Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
• 1978 – Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 – Nicole Parker, American actress
• 1979 – Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
• 1979 – Carly "Carlito" Colón, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
• 1979 – Lonnie Ford, American football player
• 1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
• 1980 – Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
• 1980 – Parthiva Sureshwaren, Indian racing driver
• 1980 – Jim Vandermeer, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 5th king of Bhutan
• 1981 – Jun Kaname, Japanese actor
• 1982 – Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
• 1982 – Andre Barrett, American basketball player
• 1982 – Chantal Claret, American musician
• 1983 – Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 – Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1983 – Mélanie Laurent, French actress and director
• 1984 – Andrew Ellis, New Zealand All Black rugby union player
• 1984 – David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1984 – Marco Paoloni, Italian footballer
• 1984 – Karina, Japanese model and actress
• 1985 – Jarrod Atkinson, Australian rules footballer
• 1985 – Bob Burton, American speedcuber
• 1985 – Simon Cusden, English cricketer
• 1985 – Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1985 – Jamaal Westerman, Canadian football player
• 1986 – Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
• 1986 – Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1987 – Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 – Ashley Greene, American model and actress
• 1987 – Enrique David Mateo, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 – Matthias de Zordo, German javelin thrower
• 1989 – Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
• 1989 – Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 – Jem Karacan, English-born Turkish footballer
• 1989 – Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
• 1989 – Josh Walker, English footballer
• 1990 – Mattias Tedenby, Swedish ice hockey player
• 2001 – Isabella Acres, American actress

Deaths

• 1437 – King James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
• 1471 – John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
• 1513 – Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
• 1543 – Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
• 1554 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b. 1498)
• 1595 – Robert Southwell, English Jesuit priest and poet
• 1668 – John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b. 1616)
• 1677 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
• 1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637)
• 1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• 1788 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
• 1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (b. 1756)
• 1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Napoleon's wife, Josephine (b. 1781)
• 1846 – Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
• 1862 – Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
• 1900 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African Gunmaker (b. 1853)
• 1901 – George Francis Fitzgerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
• 1919 – Kurt Eisner, German socialist (assassinated), leader of socialist revolution of 1918 in Bavaria (b. 1867)
• 1920 – Jacinta Marto, witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (b. 1910)
• 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
• 1934 – Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, Nicaraguan revolutionary (b. 1895)
• 1938 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
• 1941 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
• 1944 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
• 1945 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
• 1946 – José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b. 1911)
• 1949 – Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b. 1894)
• 1958 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
• 1960 – Jacques Becker, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1965 – Malcolm X, Black American civil rights leader (b. 1925)
• 1966 – Paul Comtois, French Canadian politician (b. 1895)
• 1967 – Charles Beaumont, American writer (b. 1929)
• 1968 – Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
• 1972 – Zhang Guohua, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
• 1972 – Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (b. 1891)
• 1972 – Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant|Eugène Tisserant]], French Catholic Cardinal (b. 1884)
• 1974 – Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
• 1977 – Nolan Strong, a Detroit doo-wop singer with The Diablos (b. 1934)
• 1978 – Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
• 1980 – Alfred Andersch, German writer (b. 1914)
• 1981 – Erika Köth, German coloratura soprano (b. 1927)
• 1982 – Murray the K, American impresario and disc jockey (b. 1922)
• 1982 – Gershom Scholem, German-born Israeli Jewish philosopher and historian (b. 1897)
• 1984 – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• 1985 – Louis Hayward, British actor (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
• 1987 – Noel Odell, English mountaineer, last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive (b. 1890)
• 1989 – Alex Thépot, French footballer (b. 1906)
• 1991 – Dorothy Auchterlonie, Australian academic, literary critic and poet (b. 1915)
• 1991 – Nutan Behl, Indian actress (b. 1936)
• 1991 – Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
• 1994 – Johannes Steinhoff, German fighter pilot & NATO commander (b. 1913)
• 1995 – Jorge José Emiliano dos Santos, Brazilian Football Referee (b. 1954)
• 1996 – Morton Gould, American composer (b. 1913)
• 1999 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish fighter pilot (b. 1914)
• 1999 – Wilmer David Mizell, baseball player (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b. 1933)
• 2002 – Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939)
• 2002 – John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
• 2003 – Eddie Thomson, Scottish football player and coach (b. 1947)
• 2004 – John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Gérard Bessette, French-Canadian novelist and poet (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Ben Chapman, American actor (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Sunny Lowry, first British woman to swim the English Channel (b. 1911)
• 2011 – Bernard Nathanson, American abortionist turned pro-life activist (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Pepin of Landen
  • Peter Damian
  • Randoald
  • February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO)
• Language Movement Day, celebrated by Bengali speaking people for gaining right of mother tongue. (Bangladesh)
• The first day of Musikahan Festival, celebrated until February 27. (Tagum City)x

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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