February 11

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.
385 - Oldest Pope elected; Siricius, bishop of Tarragona.
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.
1720 - Sweden & Prussia sign peace (2nd Treaty of Stockholm).
1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, the 1st hospital in the United States, opens.
1790 - Society of Friends petitions United States 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 - Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.
1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry invents gerrymandering.
1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union
1826 - London University is founded.
1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts.
1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Regiment premieres in Paris.
1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi premieres in Milan.
1858 - Virgin Mary is said to appear to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.
1861 - American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
1873 - Spanish Cortes fires king Amadeus I.
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 premieres 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.
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 follows Eamon de Valera as Premier of Ireland.
1953 -
- President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
- The Soviet Union breaks 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.
- Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
- Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France.
1968 -
- Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.
- 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 - Vietname 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.
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.
- 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.

Births:

1380 - Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist
1465 - Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England
1535 - Pope Gregory XIV
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 (1827-31)
1780 - Karoline von Günderode, poet (+ 1806)
1790 - Ignaz Assmayer, composer
1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographic pioneer
1802 - Lydia Child
1810 - Loisa Puget, composer
1812 -
- Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America
- Benjamin Franklin Sands, Commander (Union Navy)
1813 - Otto Ludwig, German novelist, playwright, critic
1819 - Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer
1821 -
- Auguste Edouard Mariette, French Egyptologist
- Hermann Allmers, writer
1830 -
- Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, composer
- Peter Arnold Heise, composer
1833 - Melville Weston Fuller 8th Cchief Justice of the United States
1839 - Josiah Willard Gibbs theoretical physicist, chemist.
1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, inventor (+ 1931)
1860 - Rachilde [Marguerite Vallette-Eymery], French author
1867 - August W Messer, German philosopher, educator, psychologist
1869 -
- Helene Kroller-Muller Dutch museum founder and patron of the arts
- Else Lasker-Schüler, lyricist, dramatist and narrator (+ 1945)
1873 - Feodor Chaliapine, Russian author
1874 -
- Elsa Beskow (Maartman), Swedish children's book and fairy tales author
- 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 -
- Ernst Hanfstängl pianist, politician
- John van Melle South African writer
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 - Alfonso Leng, composer
1894 - Isaac Kolthoff chemist
1895 - Viktor Nikolayevich Trambitsky, composer
1896 - Else Lasker-Schüler, writer
1897 - Yves de La Casiniere, composer
1898 - Leo Szilard, physicist, peace activist
1900 -
- Thomas Hitchcock Jr, polo player
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher
1902 - Arne Jacobsen Danish architect/designer
1903 - Hans Redlich, composer
1904 -
- Henry LaBouisse, head of UNICEF
- Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand]]
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
- Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist, explorer
- Josh White
1909 -
- Joseph Mankiewicz, director
- Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), boxer, actor
1911 - Alec Cairncross chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
1912 -
- Roy Fuller English poet/novelist
- Rudolf Firkusny Napajedla, pianist
1913 - Lucio Diestro, composer
1914 -
- Matt Dennis, singer
- French Duynstee, Dutch constitutional lawyer
- Menelaos Pallantios, composer
- Winand Borgerhoff Mulder court judge of Amsterdam
1915 -
- Haakon Stotijn, Dutch oboist
- Mervyn Levy, artist, critic
- Patrick Leigh Fermor, author
1916 -
- Bernice Levin Neugarten, social scientist, gerontologist
- Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco, California
1917 -
- Richard Jock Kinneir, graphic designer
- Sidney Sheldon, author
1919 -
- Gretchen Fraser, slalom skier
- Eddie Robinson, college football coach.
1920 -
- Billy Halop, actor
- Daniel Galouye, American science fiction author
- King Farouk I of Egypt (+ 1965)
- Paul Peter Piech, artist
1921 -
- Eva Gabor, actress
- Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
1922 -
- Leslie Nielsen, actor
- Tudor Jarda, composer
1923 - Ronald Arculus, British diplomat
1924 - Mary Tregear, Oriental art historian
1925 -

- Peter Berger, British Vice-Admiral
- Kim Stanley, actress
- Virginia Johnson, doctor, sexologist
1926 -
- Paul Bocuse French chef
- Alexander Gibson British conductor/founder of the Scottish Opera
1928 -
- Conrad Janis, actor
- Archibald Forster, CEO (Esso UK)
- Gerry AlexanderWest Indies cricket player
- Raoul Cita, rocker
- Gotthilf Fischer, choirmaste
1929 - Leonard Gregory Kastle, composer
1930 -
- Alevtina Koltschina Soviet skier
- C H Dearnley, organist
1931 - Larry Merchant, author, boxing commentator
1932 - Jerome Lowenthal, pianist, professor
1934 -
- Francesco Pennisi, composer
- John Surtees, British race car driver
- Mary Quant, fashion designer
- Tina Louise, actress
1935 -
- (disputed) Sergio Mendes, musician, songwriter
- Gerry Goffin, songwriter
- Bent Lorentzen, composer
- (disputed) - Gene Vincent, rock music guitarist, vocalist
1936 - Burt Reynolds, actor
1937 -
- Bill Lawry, Australian cricket player.
- Lodewijk Boer, Dutch violinist, playwright
- Marilyn Butler, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford
- Peter Lashley, West Indies cricket player.
1938 -
- Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricket player
- Willy Correa de Oliveira, composer
- Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
1939 -
- Gerry Goffin, lyricist
- Jane Yolen, science fiction author
1940 - Bobby Picket, musician
1942 - Otis Clay, gospel qand R&B singer
1943 - Iain Cameron British brigadier
1944 -
- Bert Greene golfer
- Buddhadev Dasgupta, film director
1953 - Philip Anglim, actor
1961 -
- Mary Docter, speed skater
- Carey Lowell, actress
1962 - Sheryl Crow, musician
1969 - Jennifer Aniston, actress
1970 - Alistair Brown, English cricket player.
1974 - D'Angelo, singer.
1979 - Brandy Norwood, singer.
1980 -
- Matthew Lawrence, actor.
- Natasha Bobo, actress.

Deaths:

641 - Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium (610-641).
731 - Pope Gregory II
821 - Saint Benedict of Aniane
824 - Pope Paschal I
1141 - Hugo of St. Victor, philosopher, theologian, mystic
1503 - Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England
1543 - Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal
1622 - Alfonso Fontanelli, composer
1650 - René Descartes, philosopher
1685 - David Teniers III, Flemish painter
1762 - Johann Tobias Krebs, composer
1797 - Antoine Dauvergne, composer
1806 - Vicente Martin y Soler, composer
1841 - J H Ferdinand Olivier, German painter
1868 - Léon Foucault, astronomer
1870 - Leopold Eugen Mechura, composer.
1879 -
- Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter.
- Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch author.
1882 - Gustav Schmidt, composer.
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
1945 -
- Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter
- J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter
1948 - Sergei Eisenstein, film director
1961 - Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor, director
1963 - Sylvia Plath, poet, novelist
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
1976 - Lee J Cobb, actor
1977 - Louis J M Beel, Premier of the Netherlands
1978 - James B Conant, headmaster of Harvard University
1982 - Eleanor Powell, actress, dancer
1982 - Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor
1985 -
- Heinz Eric Roemheld, composer
- Henry Hathaway actor, director
- Ulysses Simpson Kay, composer
1986 - Frank Herbert, science fiction author
1989 - George O'Hanlon, actor, director
1991 - Oscar Nitzchke, German architect
1993 - George A Stephen, inventor
1994 -
- Sorrell Brooke, actor
- William Conrad, actor
1996 -
- Amelia Rosselli, poet
- Bob Shaw, science fiction author
- Cyril Poole, English cricket player
- Kebby Musokotwane, prime minister of Zambia
2000 - Roger Vadim, French director

Holidays and observances

Catholicism - Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.
World Day of the Sick.

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

February 10 - February 12 - January 11 - March 11 - more historical anniversaries