History of Today in India – 11 February

Explore the history of today 11 February in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 11 February 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 11 February in World History

11 Feb 2024: 2024 Finnish presidential election: Alexander Stubb is elected as the 13th president of Finland. Read more
11 Feb 2020: COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2. Read more
11 Feb 2018: Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors. Read more
11 Feb 2017: North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan. Read more
11 Feb 2016: A man shoots seven people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia. Read more
11 Feb 2015: A university student is murdered as she resists an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women. Read more
11 Feb 2014: A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people. Read more
11 Feb 2013: The Vatican confirms that Pope Benedict XVI will resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age. Read more
11 Feb 2013: Militants claiming to be from the Sultanate of Sulu invade Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia, beginning the Lahad Datu standoff. Read more
11 Feb 2011: Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests. Read more
11 Feb 2008: Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack. Read more
11 Feb 2001: A Dutch programmer launches the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star. Read more
11 Feb 2000: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-99 to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Read more
11 Feb 1999: Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Read more
11 Feb 1990: Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner. Read more
11 Feb 1990: Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title. Read more
11 Feb 1979: The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Read more
11 Feb 1978: Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors. Read more
11 Feb 1971: Cold War: The Seabed Arms Control Treaty opens for signature, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters. Read more
11 Feb 1970: Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster. Read more
11 Feb 1963: The Beatles record their first album, Please Please Me. Read more
11 Feb 1959: The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Read more
11 Feb 1953: Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Read more
11 Feb 1953: Israeli-Soviet relations are severed. Read more
11 Feb 1946: The New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first significant challenge to the Authorized King James Version, is published. Read more
11 Feb 1942: World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore. Read more
11 Feb 1938: BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R. that coined the term "robot". Read more
11 Feb 1937: The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union. Read more
11 Feb 1933: LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show in the U.S. results in the destruction of a dozen political artworks. Read more
11 Feb 1929: The Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty. Read more
11 Feb 1919: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) is elected President of Germany. Read more
11 Feb 1906: Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos. Read more
11 Feb 1903: Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria. Read more
11 Feb 1889: The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted. Read more
11 Feb 1873: King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates, triggering the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic. Read more
11 Feb 1861: American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. Read more
11 Feb 1858: Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France. Read more
11 Feb 1856: The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed. Read more
11 Feb 1855: Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia. Read more
11 Feb 1843: Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy. Read more
11 Feb 1840: Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France. Read more
11 Feb 1826: University College London is founded as University of London. Read more
11 Feb 1823: Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta. Read more
11 Feb 1812: Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time. Read more
11 Feb 1808: Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 11 February in World History

11 Feb 2002: Liam Lawson, New Zealand racing driver Liam Jared Lawson is a New Zealand racing driver who competes in Formula One for Racing Bulls. Read more
11 Feb 2001: Bryan Gil, Spanish footballer Bryan Gil Salvatierra is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger or wide midfielder for La Liga club Girona FC and the Spain national team. Read more
11 Feb 2000: Nassir Little, American basketball player Nassir Shamai Little is an American professional basketball player for the Chiba Jets of the Japanese B.League. Little finished his high school career as one of the top-ranked players in his class, having led Orlando Christian Prep to consecutive Florida state championships. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels and was selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Read more
11 Feb 1998: Trent Frederic, American ice hockey player Trent Frederic is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Boston Bruins of the NHL. The Bruins selected Frederic in the first round, 29th overall, of the 2016 NHL entry draft. Read more
11 Feb 1998: Josh Jacobs, American football player Joshua Cordell Jacobs is an American professional football running back for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft. Jacobs rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, while being named to NFL All-Rookie Team in 2019 and to his first Pro Bowl in 2020. In 2022, he led the league in rushing yards with 1,653 and became the first Raider since 1985 to surpass 2,000 scrimmage yards. After five years with the Raiders, Jacobs signed with the Packers in 2024. Read more
11 Feb 1998: Khalid, American singer and songwriter Khalid Donnel Robinson, known mononymously as Khalid, is an American singer and songwriter from El Paso, Texas. He signed with Courtney Stewart's Right Hand Music Group, an imprint of RCA Records to release his 2016 debut single, "Location" and its 2017 follow-up, "Young Dumb & Broke". Both songs peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, received diamond certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and preceded the release of his debut studio album, American Teen (2017). A critical and commercial success, it received quadruple platinum certification by the RIAA and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Damien Harris, American football player Damien Harris is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was a two-time national champion. He was selected by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft, and played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Patriots and Buffalo Bills. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Mike Hughes, American football player Mike Hughes is an American professional football cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels before transferring to Garden City Community College and later to UCF. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Hubert Hurkacz, Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz is a Polish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the ATP, making him the highest-ranked Polish man in singles history. He has won eight ATP Tour singles titles, including two Masters 1000 titles at the 2021 Miami Open and the 2023 Shanghai Masters, becoming the first Pole to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. Hurkacz also has a career-high ranking of world No. 30 in doubles, which he attained in June 2022. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Rosé, New Zealand-South Korean singer and dancer Roseanne Park, known mononymously as Rosé (Korean: 로제), is a New Zealand and South Korean singer and songwriter. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Rosé moved to South Korea and signed with label YG Entertainment following a successful audition in 2012. She rose to prominence as a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, which debuted in August 2016 and became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Read more
11 Feb 1997: Zavier Simpson, American basketball player Zavier Marquis Simpson is an American professional basketball player for the Ningbo Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. Read more
11 Feb 1996: Daniil Medvedev, Russian tennis player Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Medvedev has won 22 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including the 2021 US Open and 2020 ATP Finals. Read more
11 Feb 1996: Jonathan Tah, German footballer Jonathan Glao Tah is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Read more
11 Feb 1996: Lucas Torreira, Uruguayan footballer Lucas Sebastián Torreira Di Pascua is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Galatasaray and the Uruguay national team. Read more
11 Feb 1995: Milan Škriniar, Slovak footballer Milan Škriniar is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and captains the Slovakia national team. Read more
11 Feb 1995: Rick Karsdorp, Dutch footballer Rick Karsdorp is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a right-back. Read more
11 Feb 1994: Dansby Swanson, American baseball player James Dansby Swanson is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Atlanta Braves. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected him first overall in the 2015 MLB draft. Read more
11 Feb 1993: Ben McLemore, American basketball player Ben Edward McLemore III is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks and was selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. McLemore played for five teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) across a nine-year career. Read more
11 Feb 1992: Lasse Norman Hansen, Danish track and road cyclist Lasse Norman Leth; né Norman Hansen; is a Danish professional road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for Danish club team Team CO:PLAY–Giant Store. During his track cycling career, he has won five medals at the Summer Olympic Games, ten medals at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and six medals at the UEC European Track Championships. Read more
11 Feb 1992: Taylor Lautner, American actor Taylor Daniel Lautner is an American actor. He is best known for playing werewolf Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–2012). His accolades include a Scream Award, seven Teen Choice Awards, two People's Choice Award, and an MTV Movie Award. Read more
11 Feb 1992: Jake Matthews, American football player Jacob Thomas Matthews is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies and was drafted by the Falcons sixth overall in the 2014 NFL draft. Matthews is a member of the Matthews family of football players. Read more
11 Feb 1991: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Canadian football player and medical doctor Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is a Canadian physician and former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL). He played university football and attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal before being selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL draft and playing six years on the team. Duvernay-Tardif is one of a small number of NFL players to graduate from medical school. He was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2019 and enrolled at Harvard University to get a Master of Public Health degree the following year. In December of 2024, he was appointed as a Member to the Order of Canada. Read more
11 Feb 1991: Nikola Mirotic, Spanish basketball player Nikola Mirotić Stajović is a Montenegrin–born naturalized Spanish professional basketball player for AS Monaco of the French LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. The power forward is a five-time All-EuroLeague Team member, and previously played for Real Madrid of the Liga ACB. Mirotić was drafted with the 23rd pick in the 2011 NBA draft, and played in the NBA from 2014 for the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, and Milwaukee Bucks, before returning to Spain in the 2019 offseason. Read more
11 Feb 1990: Javier Aquino, Mexican footballer Javier Ignacio Aquino Carmona is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Juárez in Liga MX. He is an Olympic gold medalist. Read more
11 Feb 1990: Q'orianka Kilcher, German-American actress Q'orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher is an American actress. Her best known film roles are Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's 2005 film The New World, and Kaʻiulani in Princess Kaiulani (2009). In 2020, she starred in a recurring role on the Paramount Network show Yellowstone. Read more
11 Feb 1990: Hwang Chan-sung, South Korean singer and actor Hwang Chan-sung, also known mononymously as Chansung, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper and actor. He is a member of the Korean boy band 2PM. He made his debut as an actor in the 2006 comedy series Unstoppable High Kick, and has since starred in television series such as What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018), So I Married the Anti-fan (2021), Show Window: The Queen's House (2021–2022), and True to Love (2023). As a solo artist, Hwang has released one studio album and one extended play in Japan. Read more
11 Feb 1988: Vlad Moldoveanu, Romanian basketball player Vlad-Sorin Moldoveanu is a Romanian former professional basketball player who last played for Dinamo Bucharest. He also represents the Romanian national basketball team in international competition. Standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he played at the power forward position. After finishing his career with Dinamo, Vlad became a FIBA licensed agent and started his own company, VM Hoops Agency. Read more
11 Feb 1987: Luca Antonelli, Italian footballer Luca Antonelli is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Read more
11 Feb 1987: Juanmi Callejón, Spanish footballer Juan Miguel "Juanmi" Callejón Bueno is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Segunda Federación club Extremadura. Read more
11 Feb 1987: Brian Matusz, American baseball player (died 2025) Brian Robert Matusz was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago Cubs from 2009 to 2016. Read more
11 Feb 1987: Jan Smeekens, Dutch speed skater Jan Smeekens is a Dutch former speed skater. He is a 500 m specialist. Read more
11 Feb 1987: Ellen van Dijk, Dutch cyclist Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. Besides road cycling she was also a track cyclist until 2012. Van Dijk is known as a time trial specialist and is five times world champion. She won her first world title on the track in the scratch race in 2008. She became Road World Champion in 2012, 2013 and 2016 with her respective trade teams in the team time trial and in 2013 also in the individual time trial. In 2015, she won the time trial at the first European Games and the silver medal in the team time trial at the world championships. Read more
11 Feb 1986: Gabriel Boric, Chilean politician, 36th President of Chile Gabriel Boric Font is a Chilean politician who has served as the 37th president of Chile since 2022. A socialist, he was previously a member of the Chamber of Deputies for two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2022. Read more
11 Feb 1985: Mike Richards, Canadian ice hockey player Michael Richards is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Richards played 11 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons, spending time with the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, and Washington Capitals. Read more
11 Feb 1985: Šárka Strachová, Czech skier Šárka Strachová is a retired Czech World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Benecko, she specializes in the slalom event. Strachová is the first alpine racer representing the Czech Republic to medal at the Winter Olympics and at the World Championships and just the second Czech alpine skier ever to medal in the Olympics. Read more
11 Feb 1984: Maarten Heisen, Dutch sprinter Maarten Heisen is a Dutch sprinter. Read more
11 Feb 1984: Marco Marcato, Italian cyclist Marco Marcato is an Italian former racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. Read more
11 Feb 1984: Aubrey O'Day, American singer and reality television personality Aubrey Morgan O'Day is an American singer and reality television personality who has been a member of the girl group Danity Kane. Following discord among Danity Kane and with her mentor at the time, P. Diddy, O'Day was fired from the group in 2008, but reunited with them in 2013 before a second disbandment. Danity Kane reunited in 2018 as a trio. She also performed in the duo Dumblonde with former Danity Kane bandmate Shannon Bex from 2015 to 2019. Read more
11 Feb 1984: Maxime Talbot, Canadian ice hockey player Maxime Talbot is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins. He was drafted into the NHL out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 234th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He led the Hull/Gatineau Olympiques to back-to-back President's Cups while earning the Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP both years. Read more
11 Feb 1984: Alando Tucker, American basketball player and coach Alando Forest Tucker is an American former professional basketball player who played for the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before joining the NBA, he played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers, where he became its all-time leading scorer with a total of 2,217 points. Read more
11 Feb 1983: Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch footballer Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Read more
11 Feb 1982: Daryn Colledge, American football player Daryn Wayne Colledge is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Boise State Broncos. Colledge was selected in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers and won Super Bowl XLV with them over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He then played for the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins. Read more
11 Feb 1982: Natalie Dormer, English actress Natalie Dormer is a British actress. She is known for her roles in period films, blockbusters, independent films, as well as her work on prominent television series. Her accolades include winning an Empire Award, and receiving nominations for a Critics' Choice Award, two Gemini Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Read more
11 Feb 1982: Ľubomíra Kalinová, Slovak biathlete Ľubomíra Kalinová is a Slovak biathlete. Read more
11 Feb 1982: Neil Robertson, Australian snooker player Neil Alexander Robertson is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former world champion and former world number one. He is the only non-UK born player to have completed snooker's Triple Crown, having won the World Championship in 2010, the Masters in 2012 and 2022, and the UK Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2020. He has claimed 26 career ranking titles and won at least one professional tournament each year between 2006 and 2022. Read more
11 Feb 1981: Kelly Rowland, American singer and actress Kelendria Trene “Kelly” Rowland is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. During the group's three-year hiatus, Rowland released her debut solo studio album, Simply Deep (2002), which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 5 million copies worldwide. It included the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Dilemma", as well as the UK top-five hits "Stole" and "Can't Nobody". Rowland also ventured into acting with starring roles in Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and The Seat Filler (2005). Read more
11 Feb 1980: Matthew Lawrence, American actor and singer Matthew Lawrence is an American actor, podcaster, and singer who is widely known for his roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Boy Meets World, The Hot Chick, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, and Kiki's Delivery Service. Lawrence also starred in the series Brotherly Love with his real-life brothers Joey and Andrew. Read more
11 Feb 1979: Brandy Norwood, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Brandy Rayana Norwood is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her intricate vocal riffs, and is regarded as an influential figure in contemporary R&B. Read more
11 Feb 1978: Roc Marciano, American rapper and record producer Rahkeim Calief Meyer, better known by his stage name Roc Marciano, is an American rapper and record producer. He is known for his intricate internal rhymes and wordplay detailing mafioso and pimp themes over sample based production. He has been called the "Godfather of the Underground" for pioneering the resurgence of gritty, lyrical rap and use of drumless sample loops in the early 2010s with his highly influential debut album Marcberg (2010). Read more
11 Feb 1977: Mike Shinoda, American musician and artist Michael Kenji Shinoda is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 as the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, primary songwriter and producer. He also created the hip-hop-driven side project, Fort Minor, in 2004. He has also served as a producer for tracks and albums by artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Styles of Beyond, and the X-Ecutioners. Read more
11 Feb 1976: Tony Battie, American basketball player and sportscaster Demetrius Antonio Battie is an American former professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He works as an analyst for the Orlando Magic. He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Read more
11 Feb 1976: Bryce Salvador, Canadian ice hockey player Bryce Chadwick Salvador is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Salvador was drafted in the sixth round, 138th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. During his professional career, he played for the St. Louis Blues and the New Jersey Devils. Read more
11 Feb 1975: Andy Lally, American race car driver Andrew Joseph Lally is an American former professional auto racing driver who currently serves as the president for the Trans Am Series. Read more
11 Feb 1975: Callum Thorp, Australian cricketer Callum David Thorp is a former professional Australian cricketer who played for Durham County Cricket Club as a right-arm medium bowler. As both of his parents are British, he was able to play for Durham as a non-overseas player. He began his career playing for Western Australia. Read more
11 Feb 1975: Jacque Vaughn, American basketball player and coach Jacque Trevan Vaughn is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference. Vaughn played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets, and San Antonio Spurs from 1997 to 2009. Read more
11 Feb 1974: Nick Barmby, English footballer and manager Nicholas Jon Barmby is an English football coach and former professional player. Read more
11 Feb 1974: D'Angelo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2025) Michael Eugene Archer, better known by his stage name D'Angelo, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Widely regarded as a pioneer of the neo-soul movement, Billboard named him one of the greatest R&B artists, while Rolling Stone magazine ranked him as one of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2025, he was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Feb 1974: Alex Jones, American radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alexander Emerick Jones is an American far-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts The Alex Jones Show from Austin, Texas. The Alex Jones Show is the longest-running online news and politics talk show; it was previously broadcast by the Genesis Communications Network across the United States via syndicated and internet radio. He is the founder of Infowars and Banned.Video, websites that promote conspiracy theories and fake news. Read more
11 Feb 1974: Isaiah Mustafa, American actor and football player Isaiah Amir Mustafa is an American actor and former American football wide receiver. Mustafa is widely known as the main character in a series of Old Spice television commercials, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". He is also known for portraying Luke Garroway on Freeform's fantasy series Shadowhunters and adult Mike Hanlon in It Chapter Two. Read more
11 Feb 1974: Jaroslav Špaček, Czech ice hockey player and coach Jaroslav Spacek is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for over 13 seasons with the Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes. Read more
11 Feb 1973: Varg Vikernes, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter Louis Cachet, better known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian musician, author and game designer best known for his early black metal albums and later for his crimes. His first five records, released under the name Burzum from 1992 to 1996, made him one of the most influential figures in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was convicted of murder and arson in 1994 and sentenced to 21 years in prison, being released after serving 15 years. Read more
11 Feb 1972: Steve McManaman, English footballer Steven McManaman is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is one of the most decorated English footballers to have played for a club abroad, with the UEFA website stating in 2012 that "of all England's footballing exports in the modern era, none was as successful as McManaman". Read more
11 Feb 1972: Kelly Slater, American surfer Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer who has been crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. He is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. Slater won the Laureus World Sports Awards category of Action Sportsperson of the Year four times. and Lifetime Achievement Award (2025). He is also the oldest surfer still active in the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49. Read more
11 Feb 1971: Damian Lewis, English actor Damian Watcyn Lewis is a British actor and musician. He rose to prominence portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Lewis won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland, and received nominations for his performance as Henry VIII of England in Wolf Hall. He portrayed Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions in six out of seven seasons, and appeared in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) as actor Steve McQueen. Read more
11 Feb 1969: Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress. Her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Aniston has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses, as of 2023. Read more
11 Feb 1969: Andreas Hilfiker, Swiss footballer Andreas Hilfiker is a Swiss former international footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the head goalkeeping coach for Grasshopper Club Zürich's academy. Read more
11 Feb 1969: John Salako, Nigerian-English footballer, manager, and sportscaster John Akin Salako is an English former professional football player, coach, and sports television pundit. Read more
11 Feb 1968: Mo Willems, American author and illustrator Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network, working on Sesame Street and The Off-Beats, and creating the children's book Knuffle Bunny and the children's book series Elephant and Piggie. Read more
11 Feb 1967: Ciro Ferrara, Italian footballer and manager Ciro Ferrara is an Italian former footballer and manager. Ferrara spent his playing career as a defender, initially at Napoli and later on at Juventus, winning seven total Serie A titles as well as other domestic and international trophies. Read more
11 Feb 1965: Vicki Wilson, Australian netball player Vicki Wilson,, is an Australian netball coach and retired international player. She is the current head coach of Fiji side. Vicki Wilson is also an executive with the Brisbane Broncos. Read more
11 Feb 1964: Sarah Palin, American politician, 9th Governor of Alaska Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee under U.S. senator John McCain. Read more
11 Feb 1964: Ken Shamrock, American martial artist and wrestler Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), WWE and other combat sports. An inaugural inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame, Shamrock is widely regarded as an icon and pioneer of the sport. He has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the UFC and Pride FC and set numerous MMA pay-per-view records. In the early part of his UFC career, Shamrock was named "The World's Most Dangerous Man" by ABC News in a special called "The World's Most Dangerous Things". The moniker has stuck as his nickname. Read more
11 Feb 1962: Tammy Baldwin, American lawyer and politician Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, she has also served as the secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017. Baldwin has been the dean of the United States congressional delegation from Wisconsin since 2023, when Representative Ron Kind retired. Read more
11 Feb 1962: Sheryl Crow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her idealistic and optimistic subject matter, and incorporation of various genres into her rock-oriented sound, including blues, country, folk, and pop. Read more
11 Feb 1961: Carey Lowell, American actress Carey Lowell is an American actress and former model, best known as New York Assistant DA Jamie Ross on Law & Order and as Bond girl Pam Bouvier in the James Bond film Licence to Kill (1989). Read more
11 Feb 1960: Richard Mastracchio, American engineer and astronaut Richard Alan Mastracchio is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has flown on three NASA Space Shuttle missions as a mission specialist in addition to serving as a flight engineer on the Soyuz TMA-11M long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. He is currently the senior director of operations for commercial resupply services at Orbital ATK. Read more
11 Feb 1959: Roberto Moreno, Brazilian race car driver Roberto Pupo Moreno, usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved one podium, and scored a total of fifteen championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion before joining Formula One full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996, where he enjoyed an Indian summer in 2000 and 2001, and managed to extend his career in the series until 2008. He also raced in endurance events and GT's in Brazil, but now works as a driver coach and consultant, and although this takes up a lot of his time, he is not officially retired yet, as he appears in historic events. Away from the sport, he enjoys building light aeroplanes. Read more
11 Feb 1957: Tina Ambani, Indian actress and chairperson Tina Ambani is an Indian former actress. She is married to Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group. Read more
11 Feb 1956: Catherine Hickland, American actress Catherine Hickland is an American film, stage, and television actress, as well as a singer, author and cosmetics-company CEO and hypnotist. She began her career in television in 1978, appearing in guest roles on several series before being cast in a recurring role on Texas from 1980 to 1981. She also had supporting roles in the comedy film The Last Married Couple in America (1980), and the horror films Ghost Town (1988) and Witchery (1988). Read more
11 Feb 1956: Didier Lockwood, French violinist (died 2018) Didier Lockwood was a French violinist. He played in the French rock band Magma in the 1970s, and was known for his use of electric amplification and his experimentation with different sounds on the electric violin. Read more
11 Feb 1954: Wesley Strick, American director and screenwriter Wesley Strick is an American screenwriter who has written such films as Arachnophobia, Wolf and Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear. Strick also worked as a writer/executive producer on The Man in the High Castle. Read more
11 Feb 1953: Philip Anglim, American actor Philip Anglim is an American actor best known for his performances as John Merrick in the stage and television versions of The Elephant Man, a role for which he received a Best Actor nomination in the 1979 Tony Awards. Other roles include the title role in Macbeth on Broadway and Dane O'Neill in the television mini-series The Thorn Birds. He also had a recurring role as Vedek Bareil on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Read more
11 Feb 1953: Jeb Bush, American banker and politician, 43rd Governor of Florida John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He was the second son of former president George H. W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, and a younger brother of former president George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, he was an unsuccessful candidate for president of the United States in the 2016 Republican primaries. Read more
11 Feb 1953: Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (died 2014) Thomas Martin Veryzer was an American baseball shortstop. He played 12 years in Major League Baseball, appearing in 979 games for the Detroit Tigers (1973–1977), Cleveland Indians (1978–1981), New York Mets (1982), and Chicago Cubs (1983–1984). He ranked third in the American League in 1977 with a range factor of 5.16 per nine innings at shortstop. His career range factor of 4.841 per nine innings at shortstop ranks as the 25th best in Major League history. Read more
11 Feb 1951: Mike Leavitt, American politician, 14th Governor of Utah Michael Okerlund Leavitt is an American politician who served as the 20th United States secretary of health and human services from 2005 to 2009 and the 10th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2003 to 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 14th governor of Utah from 1993 to 2003. Read more
11 Feb 1949: James Silas, American basketball player James Edward Silas is an American former professional basketball player, who played the point guard position. Born in Tallulah, Louisiana, Silas played the majority of his career with the Dallas Chaparrals/San Antonio Spurs of the ABA/NBA. His nicknames include "the Snake", "Captain Late" and "the Late Mr. Silas", the latter two referring to the fact that Silas seemed to play his best late in games. Read more
11 Feb 1947: Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese engineer and politician and Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama is a retired Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and Leader of the Democratic Party of Japan from 2009 to 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the party. Read more
11 Feb 1947: Derek Shulman, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer Derek Victor Shulman is a Scottish musician and singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record executive. From 1970 to 1980, he was lead vocalist for the band Gentle Giant. Read more
11 Feb 1946: Ian Porterfield, Scottish footballer and manager (died 2007) John Ian Porterfield was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coach of the Armenia national football team. Read more
11 Feb 1945: Michael Scott, first CEO of Apple Inc. Michael "Scotty" Scott is an American entrepreneur, who was the first CEO of Apple Computer from February 1977 to March 1981. Formerly director of manufacturing at National Semiconductor, Scott was persuaded by Mike Markkula to take the CEO position at Apple, as the co-founders — Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak — were both seen as insufficiently experienced for the job at the time. Read more
11 Feb 1944: Mike Oxley, American lawyer and politician (died 2016) Michael Garver Oxley was an American Republican politician and attorney who served as a U.S. representative from the 4th congressional district of Ohio. Read more
11 Feb 1944: Joy Williams, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist Joy Williams is an American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Best-known for her short fiction, she is also the author of novels including State of Grace, The Quick and the Dead, and Harrow. Williams has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, a Rea Award for the Short Story, a Kirkus Award for Fiction, and a Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Read more
11 Feb 1943: Joselito, Spanish singer and actor José Jiménez Fernández, commonly known as Joselito, is a former child singer and film star in Spain, primarily active during the 1950s and 1960s. Read more
11 Feb 1943: Alan Rubin, American trumpet player (died 2011) Alan Rubin was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet. Read more
11 Feb 1942: Otis Clay, American singer-songwriter (died 2016) Otis Lee Clay was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Feb 1941: Sérgio Mendes, Brazilian pianist and composer (died 2024) Sérgio Santos Mendes was a Brazilian musician. Read more
11 Feb 1940: Calvin Fowler, American basketball player (died 2013) Calvin B. Fowler was the captain of the United States gold medal basketball team at the 1967 Pan American Games. He also was co-captain of the U.S. gold medal team at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Born near Pittsburgh, he graduated from David B. Oliver High School in Pittsburgh in June 1957 and Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, in 1962. Calvin Fowler at David B. Oliver High School scored 61 points in a 101–35 win over Allegheny Vocational. Oliver only led 27–20 at the half on Fowler's 22 points, but Fowler poured in 39 in the final two quarters. Read more
11 Feb 1939: Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (died 2014) Gerald Goffin was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No. 1 hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "The Loco-Motion", and "Go Away Little Girl". It was later said of Goffin that his gift was "to find words that expressed what many young people were feeling but were unable to articulate." Read more
11 Feb 1938: Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer (died 2018) Bevan Ernest Congdon was a New Zealand cricket all-rounder who played 61 Test matches and 11 One Day Internationals from 1965 to 1978, which included a two-year spell as captain. Read more
11 Feb 1937: Ian Gow, British politician (died 1990) Ian Reginald Edward Gow was a British politician and solicitor. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 1974, until he was assassinated in 1990 by a car bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his home in East Sussex. Read more
11 Feb 1937: Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer and sportscaster William Morris Lawry is an Australian former cricketer and commentator who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Test matches, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971. Following his retirement, Lawry spent over 40 years as a commentator on Channel 9, and is considered as one of the game’s most iconic voices. Read more
11 Feb 1937: Eddie Shack, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2020) Edward Steven Phillip Shack, also known by his nicknames "the Entertainer" and "the Nose", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player of Ukrainian descent who played for six National Hockey League (NHL) teams from 1959 to 1975. He spent eight and a half seasons of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967. Read more
11 Feb 1937: Phillip Walker, American singer and guitarist (died 2010) Phillip Walker was an American electric blues guitarist, most noted for his 1959 hit single, "Hello My Darling", produced by J. R. Fulbright. Although Walker continued playing throughout his life, he recorded more sparsely. Read more
11 Feb 1936: Burt Reynolds, American actor and director (died 2018) Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and '80s. He became well known in television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966) and Dan August (1970–1971). He had leading roles in films such as Navajo Joe (1966), and 100 Rifles (1969), and his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Read more
11 Feb 1935: Gene Vincent, American singer and guitarist (died 1971) Vincent Eugene Craddock, known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. His chart career was brief, especially in his home country of the US, where he notched three top 40 hits in 1956 and 1957, and never charted in the top 100 again. In the UK, he was a somewhat bigger star, racking up eight top 40 hits from 1956 to 1961. Read more
11 Feb 1934: Mel Carnahan, American lawyer and politician, 51st Governor of Missouri (died 2000) Melvin Eugene Carnahan was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in 2000. Carnahan was a Democrat and held various positions in government. Read more
11 Feb 1934: Tina Louise, American actress and singer Tina Louise is an American actress widely known for her career on stage, film and television, including her role as movie star Ginger Grant in the popular television situation comedy Gilligan's Island. Read more
11 Feb 1934: Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military leader of Panama (died 2017) Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno was a Panamanian military officer and politician who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially served as president of Panama, instead ruling as an unelected military dictator through puppet presidents. Amassing a personal fortune through drug trafficking operations by the Panamanian military, Noriega had longstanding ties with American intelligence agencies before the United States invasion of Panama removed him from power. Read more
11 Feb 1934: David Taylor, English veterinarian and television host (died 2013) David Conrad Taylor, BVMS, FRCVS, FZS, was a British veterinary surgeon. He was the first veterinary surgeon to specialise in zoo and wildlife medicine.
Taylor worked with zoo and wild animals from 1957, acting as a consultant on the treatment of some of the rarest species on Earth. He was an expert in marine mammal medicine. From 1968, he was the vet in charge of Cuddles, the first captive orca to be kept in the UK, at Flamingo Park, North Yorkshire. Read more
11 Feb 1932: Dennis Skinner, English miner and politician Dennis Edward Skinner is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, he is known for his left-wing views and republican sentiments. Before entering Parliament, he worked for more than 20 years as a coal miner. Read more
11 Feb 1930: Roy De Forest, American painter and academic (died 2007). Roy De Forest was an American painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was involved in both the Funk art and Nut art movements in the Bay Area of California. De Forest's art is known for its quirky and comical fantasy lands filled with bright colors and creatures, most commonly dogs. Read more
11 Feb 1930: Mary Quant, British fashion designer (died 2023)[notes 1] Dame Barbara Mary Quant was a British fashion designer and icon. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements, and played a prominent role in London's Swinging Sixties culture. She was one of the designers who took credit for the miniskirt and hotpants. Ernestine Carter wrote: "It is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel, Dior, and Mary Quant." Read more
11 Feb 1926: Paul Bocuse, French chef (died 2018) Paul François Pierre Bocuse was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nicknamed Monsieur Paul. The Bocuse d'Or, a biennial world chef championship, bears his name. Read more
11 Feb 1926: Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (died 2010) Leslie William Nielsen was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. Read more
11 Feb 1925: Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and academic (died 2013) Virginia E. Johnson was an American sexologist and a member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team. Along with her collaborator, William H. Masters, she pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders from 1957 until the 1990s. Read more
11 Feb 1925: Kim Stanley, American actress (died 2001) Kim Stanley was an American actress who was primarily active in television and theatre but also had occasional film performances. Read more
11 Feb 1924: Budge Patty, American tennis player (died 2021) Edward John Patty, better known as Budge Patty, was an American world no. 1 tennis player whose career spanned a period of 15 years after World War II. He won two Grand Slam singles titles in 1950. He was the second American male player to win the Channel Slam and one of only four as of 2024. Read more
11 Feb 1923: Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (died 2010) Antony Garrard Newton Flew was an English philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught philosophy at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele, and Reading in the United Kingdom, and at York University in Toronto, Canada. Read more
11 Feb 1921: Lloyd Bentsen, American politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 2006) Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. was an American politician who served as the 69th United States secretary of the treasury under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. He served as a United States senator from Texas from 1971 to 1993 and was the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. Read more
11 Feb 1921: Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (died 2013) Ottavio Missoni was an Italian businessman, founder of the Italian fashion label Missoni and an Olympic hurdler who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Along with his wife Rosita, he was part of the group of designers who launched Italian ready-to-wear in the 1950s, thereby ensuring the global success of Italian fashion. Read more
11 Feb 1920: Farouk of Egypt (died 1965) Farouk I was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952. Read more
11 Feb 1920: Daniel F. Galouye, American author (died 1976) Daniel Francis Galouye was an American science fiction writer. During the 1950s and 1960s, he contributed novelettes and short stories to various digest size science fiction magazines, sometimes writing under the pseudonym Louis G. Daniels. Read more
11 Feb 1920: Billy Halop, American actor (died 1976) William Halop was an American actor. Read more
11 Feb 1920: Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (died 1978) Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force who, in 1975, became the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general in the United States Armed Forces. Three years later, James was forced to retire prematurely due to heart issues, just weeks before dying of a heart attack. Read more
11 Feb 1919: Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (died 1995) Eva Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite. She gained fame for her role on the 1965–1971 television sitcom Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character Oliver Wendell Douglas, and also was known for her voice roles for animated Disney films in the 1970s, including Duchess in The Aristocats (1970) and Miss Bianca in The Rescuers (1977) and its sequel The Rescuers Down Under (1990). In addition to acting, she was also a businesswoman who marketed wigs, clothing, and beauty products. Her elder sisters, Zsa Zsa and Magda Gabor, were also actresses and socialites. Read more
11 Feb 1917: Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (died 2007) Sidney Sheldon was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1940s and 50s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), which earned him an Oscar in 1948. He went on to work in television, where over 20 years he created The Patty Duke Show (1963–66), I Dream of Jeannie (1965–70), and Hart to Hart (1979–84). After turning 50, he began writing best-selling romantic suspense novels, such as The Other Side of Midnight (1973), Master of the Game (1982), and Rage of Angels (1980). Read more
11 Feb 1915: Patrick Leigh Fermor, English soldier, author, and scholar (died 2011) Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greatest living travel writer, on the basis of books such as A Time of Gifts (1977). A BBC journalist once termed him "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene". Read more
11 Feb 1915: Richard Hamming, American mathematician and academic (died 1998) Richard Wesley Hamming was an American mathematician whose work had many implications for computer engineering and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code, the Hamming window, Hamming numbers, sphere-packing, Hamming graph concepts, and the Hamming distance. Read more
11 Feb 1914: Matt Dennis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2002) Matthew Loveland Dennis was an American singer, pianist, band leader, arranger, and writer of music for popular songs. Read more
11 Feb 1914: Josh White, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1969) Joshua Daniel White was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names Pinewood Tom and Tippy Barton in the 1930s. Read more
11 Feb 1912: Rudolf Firkušný, Czech-American pianist and educator (died 1994) Rudolf Firkušný was a Czech-American classical pianist. Read more
11 Feb 1909: Max Baer, American boxer and actor (died 1959) Maximilian Adelbert Baer Sr. was an American professional boxer and the world heavyweight champion from June 14, 1934, to June 13, 1935. He was known in his time as the Livermore Larupper and Madcap Maxie. Two of his fights were rated Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Baer was also a boxing referee, and had occasional roles in film and television. He was the brother of heavyweight boxing contender Buddy Baer and father of actor Max Baer Jr. Baer is rated #22 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Read more
11 Feb 1909: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1993) Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American filmmaker. A four-time Academy Award winner, he is best known for his witty and literate dialogue and his preference for voice-over narration and narrative flashbacks. Also known as an actor's director, Mankiewicz directed several prominent actors, including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor, to several of their memorable onscreen performances. Read more
11 Feb 1908: Philip Dunne, American screenwriter (died 1992) Philip Ives Dunne was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at 20th Century Fox. He crafted well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leading Screen Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940s–1950s. He is best known for the films How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Robe (1953) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). Read more
11 Feb 1908: Vivian Fuchs, English explorer (died 1999) Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs was an English scientist-explorer and expedition organizer. He led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition which reached the South Pole overland in 1958. Read more
11 Feb 1904: Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1983) Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake was a New Zealand politician who served as the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also as the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 to 1980. He is the only New Zealand politician to have held both positions. Read more
11 Feb 1904: Lucile Randon, French supercentenarian (died 2023) Lucile Randon, also known as Sister André, was a French supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 118 years, 340 days, was the world's oldest verified living person following the death of Kane Tanaka on 19 April 2022. She is the fourth-oldest verified person ever, the oldest nun ever, and the oldest confirmed survivor of the COVID-19 pandemic, having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 a month before her 117th birthday. Read more
11 Feb 1902: Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (died 1971) Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple well-designed chairs. Read more
11 Feb 1900: Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (died 1994) Ellen Johanne Broe was a Danish nurse who spent several decades working and seeking education abroad before returning to Denmark and helping to establish educational and training initiatives in Denmark. She helped draft minimum curriculum requirements for nursing students, as well as continuing education guidelines. She was active in the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and sought to find ways to bring nursing education to developing areas most in need of trained nursing staff. She received the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1961 for her contributions to nursing excellence. Read more
11 Feb 1900: Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (died 2002) Hans-Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 magnum opus on hermeneutics Truth and Method. Read more
11 Feb 1900: Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (died 1958) Jōsei Toda was a teacher, peace activist and second president of Soka Gakkai from 1951 to 1958. Imprisoned for two years during World War II under violating the Peace Preservation Law and the charge of lèse-majesté from against the war, he emerged from prison intent on rebuilding the Soka Gakkai. He has been described as the architect of the Soka Gakkai, the person chiefly responsible for its existence today. Read more
11 Feb 1898: Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 1964) Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born American physicist, biologist and inventor who made numerous important discoveries in nuclear physics and the biological sciences. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, and patented the idea in 1936. In late 1939 he wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, and then in 1945 wrote the Szilard petition asking president Harry S. Truman to demonstrate the bomb without dropping it on civilians. According to György Marx, he was one of the Hungarian scientists known as The Martians. Read more
11 Feb 1897: Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (died 1954) Emil Leon Post was an American mathematician and logician. He is best known for his work in the field that eventually became known as computability theory. Read more
11 Feb 1896: Claire Myers Owens, American author (died 1983) Claire Myers Owens (1896–1983) was an American novelist, essayist, and poet. She wrote a novel and several autobiographical books about spirituality and her experiences with Zen Buddhism. Her 1935 novel The Unpredictable Adventure was an allegory for how society treats women and was banned by the New York Public Library for being "too risque". Following a spiritual awakening she wrote the 1958 book Awakening to the Good, which praised by figures within the Human Potential Movement. Later in her life she studied Zen Buddhism and was involved with the Rochester Zen Center in New York. A native of Texas, she attended the College of Industrial Arts, graduating in 1913. Read more
11 Feb 1888: John Warren Davis, American educator, college administrator, and civil rights leader (died 1980) John Warren Davis was an American educator, college administrator, and civil rights leader. He was the fifth and longest-serving president of West Virginia State University in Institute, West Virginia, a position he held from 1919 to 1953. Born in Milledgeville, Georgia, Davis relocated to Atlanta in 1903 to attend high school at Atlanta Baptist College. He worked his way through high school and college at Morehouse and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911. At Morehouse, Davis formed associations with John Hope, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Samuel Archer, Benjamin Griffith Brawley, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois. He completed graduate studies in chemistry and physics at the University of Chicago from 1911 to 1913 and served on the faculty of Morehouse as the registrar and as a professor in chemistry and physics. While in Atlanta, Davis helped to found one of the city's first chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Read more
11 Feb 1881: Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (died 1966) Carlo Carrà was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number of books concerning art. He taught for many years in the city of Milan. Read more
11 Feb 1877: Aasa Helgesen, Norwegian midwife (died 1968) Aasa Helgesen born Aasa Røinesdal was a Norwegian midwife and politician. She served as mayor of Utsira from 1926 to 1928, and was the first female mayor in Norway. She worked as a midwife in Utsira from 1903 to 1942. Read more
11 Feb 1874: Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (died 1953) Elsa Beskow was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are Tale of the Little Little Old Woman and Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender. Read more
11 Feb 1869: Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (died 1939) Helene Emma Laura Juliane Kröller-Müller was a German art collector. She was one of the first European women to put together a major art collection. She is credited with being one of the first collectors to recognise the genius of Vincent van Gogh. Her entire collection was eventually sold to the Dutch government, along with her and her husband, Anton Kröller's, large forested country estate. Today it is the Kröller-Müller Museum and sculpture garden and Hoge Veluwe National Park, one of the largest national parks in the Netherlands. Read more
11 Feb 1869: Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (died 1945) Else Lasker-Schüler was a German poet and playwright. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist movement. Lasker-Schüler, who was Jewish, fled Nazi Germany and lived out the rest of her life in Jerusalem. Read more
11 Feb 1864: Louis Bouveault, French chemist (died 1909) Louis Bouveault was a French scientist who became professor of organic chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris.
He is known for the Bouveault aldehyde synthesis and the Bouveault–Blanc reduction. Read more
11 Feb 1863: John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (died 1950) John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. Fitzgerald served as mayor of Boston and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United States Senate in 1916 and 1942 and governor of Massachusetts in 1922. Fitzgerald maintained a high profile in the city whether in or out of office, and his theatrical style of campaigning and charisma earned him the nickname "Honey Fitz". Read more
11 Feb 1860: Rachilde, French author and playwright (died 1953) Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery. Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on to become a Symbolist author and one of the most prominent women in literature associated with the Decadent movement of fin de siècle France. Read more
11 Feb 1855: Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (died 1940) Ellen Day Hale was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker from Boston. She studied art in Paris and during her adult life lived in Paris, London and Boston. She exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts. Hale wrote the book History of Art: A Study of the Lives of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Albrecht Dürer and mentored the next generation of New England female artists, paving the way for widespread acceptance of female artists. Read more
11 Feb 1847: Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (died 1931) Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory. Read more
11 Feb 1845: Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (died 1936) Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, later Ahmet Tevfik Okday after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was an Ottoman diplomat and statesman of Crimean Tatar origin. He was the last grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Read more
11 Feb 1839: Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (died 1903) Josiah Willard Gibbs was an American mechanical engineer and scientist who made fundamental theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in transforming physical chemistry into a rigorous deductive science. Together with James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, he created statistical mechanics, explaining the laws of thermodynamics as consequences of the statistical properties of ensembles of the possible states of a physical system composed of many particles. Gibbs also worked on the application of Maxwell's equations to problems in physical optics. As a mathematician, he created modern vector calculus and described the Gibbs phenomenon in the theory of Fourier analysis. Read more
11 Feb 1833: Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1910) Melville Weston Fuller was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence. Read more
11 Feb 1830: Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (died 1913) Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf was a classical musician and composer who studied under Franz Liszt. Read more
11 Feb 1821: Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (died 1881) François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Read more
11 Feb 1813: Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (died 1865) Otto Ludwig was a German dramatist, novelist and critic born in Eisfeld in Thuringia. He was one of Germany's first modern realists and one of the most notable dramatists of the period. Read more
11 Feb 1812: Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (died 1883) Alexander Hamilton Stephens was an American politician who served as the only vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives before and after the Civil War. Read more
11 Feb 1805: Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Native American-French Canadian explorer (died 1866) Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, sometimes known in childhood as Pompey or Little Pomp, was an American explorer, guide, fur trapper, trader, military scout during the Mexican–American War, alcalde (mayor) of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and a gold digger and hotel operator in Northern California. His mother was Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone who worked as a guide and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jean Baptiste's father was also a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a French Canadian explorer and trader named Toussaint Charbonneau. Read more
11 Feb 1802: Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (died 1880) Lydia Maria Child was an American abolitionist, feminist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and domestic manuals, reached wide audiences from the 1820s through the 1850s. At times she shocked her audience as she tried to take on issues of both male dominance and white supremacy in some of her stories. Read more
11 Feb 1800: Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (died 1877) William Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. His work in the 1840s on photomechanical reproduction led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process, the precursor to photogravure. He was the holder of a controversial patent that affected the early development of commercial photography in Britain. He was also a noted photographer who contributed to the development of photography as an artistic medium. He published The Pencil of Nature (1844–1846), which was illustrated with original salted paper prints from his calotype negatives and made some important early photographs of Oxford, Paris, Reading, and York. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 11 February in World History

11 Feb 2025: Betsy Arakawa, American classical pianist (born 1959) Betsy Machiko Arakawa Hackman was an American classical pianist and businesswoman. Born in Hawaii, she performed with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra at the age of eleven and later worked for the television game show Card Sharks as a production assistant. She met Gene Hackman in the 1980s, marrying him in 1991 and assisting with his novels. In 2001, she co-founded a linens and home furnishings store in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she and Hackman lived; the couple were also business partners in a local Asian restaurant. Read more
11 Feb 2025: Moses Lim, Singaporean actor (born 1949) Moses Lim Aik Ming was a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian, and food critic, best known for playing Tan Ah Teck in the Singaporean sitcom Under One Roof (1995–2003). Together with his comedy partner, Jack Neo, they were often compared to Wang Sa and Ye Fong, a popular Singapore comedy duo in the 60s and 70s. Read more
11 Feb 2024: Allen J. Bard, American chemist (born 1933) Allen Joseph Bard was an American chemist. He was the Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair Professor and director of the Center for Electrochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Bard developed innovations such as the scanning electrochemical microscope, his co-discovery of electrochemiluminescence, his key contributions to photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor electrodes, and co-authoring a seminal textbook. Read more
11 Feb 2023: Donald Spoto, American biographer (born 1941) Donald Spoto was an American biographer and theologian. He was known for his biographies of people in the worlds of film and theater, and for his books on theology and spirituality. Read more
11 Feb 2018: Vic Damone, American singer, songwriter and actor (born 1928) Vic Damone was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and other hits such as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Have But One Heart". Read more
11 Feb 2018: Asma Jahangir, Pakistani human-rights lawyer and social activist (born 1952) Asma Jilani Jahangir was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and AGHS Legal Aid Cell. Jahangir was known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and as a trustee at the International Crisis Group. Read more
11 Feb 2018: Jan Maxwell, American stage and television actress (born 1956) Janice Elaine Maxwell was an American stage and television actress. She was a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner. In a career spanning over thirty years, Maxwell was one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed stage actresses of her time. Read more
11 Feb 2018: Qazi Wajid, Pakistani drama actor, writer and artist (born 1930) Qazi Wajid was a Pakistani actor. Read more
11 Feb 2017: Fab Melo, Brazilian basketball player (born 1990) Fabricio Paulino de Melo was a Brazilian professional basketball player. He played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics before returning to his home country and playing for Liga Sorocabana and Brasília of the Brazilian Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB). Prior to entering the NBA in 2012, he played two years of college basketball for Syracuse, where he was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. Read more
11 Feb 2017: Jaap Rijks, Dutch Olympian (born 1919) Jacob "Jaap" Rijks was a Dutch equestrian who competed for his home nation in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He was born in Nijmegen. Read more
11 Feb 2017: Trish Doan, Korean-Canadian musician (born 1985) Trisha Jaimee Doan was a Korean-Canadian musician, photographer and television producer, best known for her tenure as the bass guitarist for the Canadian heavy metal band Kittie. Read more
11 Feb 2016: Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler (born 1971) Kevin Christopher Randleman was an American mixed martial artist, amateur and professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he became a two-time NCAA Division I and a three-time Big Ten wrestling champion out of Ohio State University. Randleman competed in the heavyweight and light heavyweight classes in MMA. In addition to competing in the UFC, Randleman also fought for other organizations such as PRIDE, WVR, and Strikeforce. He was previously associated with Mark Coleman's Team Hammer House, before training at Randy Couture's gym in Las Vegas, Nevada. On May 16, 2020, the UFC announced that Randleman would be inducted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame. Randleman is the first fighter to be posthumously inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Feb 2016: Zeng Xuelin, Thai-Chinese footballer and manager (born 1929) Zeng Xuelin was a Chinese football manager and player. Read more
11 Feb 2015: Roger Hanin, French actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1925) Roger Hanin was a French actor and film director, best known for playing the title role in the TV police drama, Navarro. Read more
11 Feb 2015: Bob Simon, American journalist (born 1941) Robert David Simon was an American television correspondent for CBS News. He covered crises, war, and unrest in 67 countries during his career. Simon reported the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, the Israeli–Lebanese Conflict in 1982, and the student protests in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989. During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, he and four of his TV crew were captured and imprisoned by Iraq for 40 days. He published a book about the experience titled Forty Days. Read more
11 Feb 2015: Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (born 1930) Jerry Tarkanian was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, winning the national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his college coaching career, only twice failing to win 20 games, while never having a losing season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Read more
11 Feb 2014: Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (born 1924) Hildur Alice Nilson, known by her stage name Alice Babs, was a Swedish singer. She worked in a wide number of genres – Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera. While she was best known internationally as a jazz singer, Babs also competed as Sweden's first annual competition entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958. In 1972 she was named Sweden's Royal Court Singer, the first non-opera singer as such. Read more
11 Feb 2014: Tito Canepa, Dominican-American painter (born 1916) Tito Enrique Canepa Jiménez was a leading Dominican painter of the generation that came of age in the 1930s and 1940s. Canepa's artistic identity was shaped in New York City, where he lived from the age of 21, never returning to stay in his native country. Despite this distance, or perhaps because of it, as León David has pointed out, his works always evince a certain dominicanidad without his setting out to achieve it as a goal — a dominicanidad that is never folkloric. Of the three modernist Dominican painters of the 1930s and 40s singled out by Rafael Díaz Niese as most significant — Canepa, Colson and Suro — Canepa is the one whose artistic activity developed in the most continuous absence from his native country, and the one longest resident in New York. Cánepa is accented in Spanish but not in the original Ligurian. Read more
11 Feb 2014: Fernando González Pacheco, Colombian journalist and actor (born 1932) Fernando González-Pacheco Castro, also known as Pacheco, was a Colombian television host, announcer, journalist and occasional actor with a career spanning over six decades. Pacheco was born in Spain and received the Colombian citizenship as he had been residing in Colombia since he was 4 years old. Read more
11 Feb 2013: Rick Huxley, English bass player (born 1940) The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over". Their other UK top-ten hits include "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Catch Us If You Can", "Everybody Knows", "The Red Balloon", "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll", and a version of Chet Powers' "Get Together". Read more
11 Feb 2012: Siri Bjerke, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of the Environment (born 1958) Siri Bjerke was a Norwegian politician. She was substitute member of the Norwegian legislature between 1997 and 2005, state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1993 and 1997 and Minister of the Environment between 2000 and 2001 during Stoltenberg's first cabinet. After leaving politics she worked as a director for the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (2002–2005) and for Innovation Norway (2005–). She studied psychology at the University of Oslo. Read more
11 Feb 2012: Aharon Davidi, Israeli general (born 1927) Aharon Davidi was an Israeli general and founder of the Sar-El volunteer program of the IDF. Read more
11 Feb 2012: Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (born 1963) Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer, actress, film producer, and model. Commonly referred to as "the Voice", she is one of the most awarded performers of all time. A cultural icon, she influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers through her artistic achievements and music videos. Her emergence in the mid-1980s as a vocalist in popular music had a significant impact on the era of powerhouse vocals, power ballads, and contemporary R&B, spanning roughly from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. Known for her vocal delivery, gospel singing style, genre-crossing appeal, and live performances, Houston was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023. Read more
11 Feb 2011: Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (born 1928) Charles William Tanner was an American professional baseball player and manager. A left fielder and pinch hitter who appeared in 396 games in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1955 and 1962, he was known for his unwavering confidence and infectious optimism. As a manager for all or parts of 19 seasons, he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a World Series championship in 1979. In his last baseball job, he served as a senior advisor to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington. Read more
11 Feb 2010: Heward Grafftey, Canadian businessman and politician (born 1928) William Heward Grafftey was a Canadian politician and businessman. Read more
11 Feb 2010: Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founder of his eponymous brand (born 1969) Lee Alexander McQueen was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards, as well as the Council of Fashion Designers of America International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen died by suicide in 2010 at the age of 40, at his home in Mayfair, London, shortly after the death of his mother. Read more
11 Feb 2009: Estelle Bennett, American singer (born 1941) Estelle Bennett was an American singer. She was a member of the girl group the Ronettes, along with her sister Ronnie and cousin Nedra Talley. Read more
11 Feb 2009: Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch-American physician and academic (born 1911) Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch patrician family. He made his major discoveries in the field of dialysis for kidney failure during the Second World War. He emigrated in 1950 to the United States, where he obtained US citizenship in 1955, and received a number of awards and widespread recognition for his work. Read more
11 Feb 2008: Tom Lantos, American lawyer and politician (born 1928) Thomas Peter Lantos was a Hungarian-born American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 11th congressional district until 1993. After redistricting, he served from the 12th congressional district, which included both the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of the southwestern part of San Francisco. Read more
11 Feb 2008: Frank Piasecki, American engineer (born 1919) Frank Piasecki was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using a ducted propeller. Read more
11 Feb 2006: Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (born 1940) Peter Bradford Benchley was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both cinema and television, including The Deep, The Island, Beast, and White Shark. Read more
11 Feb 2006: Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (born 1940) Kenneth Norman Fletcher was an Australian tennis player who won numerous doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. Read more
11 Feb 2006: Jackie Pallo, English wrestler and actor (born 1926) Jackie "Mr TV" Pallo was an English professional wrestler, a star of British televised wrestling in its 1960s and 1970s heyday, when the sport had a regular 40-minute slot before the Saturday afternoon football results on ITV. Read more
11 Feb 2006: Matilda, American chicken and stage magician, oldest known chicken (h. 1990) Matilda was a fourteen-ounce (400 g) hen, and the first chicken to receive the title of World's Oldest Living Chicken from Guinness World Records. She is thought to have been descended from the Red Pyle color variation of the Old English Game breed. She was a pet of Keith and Donna Barton of Bessemer, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Read more
11 Feb 2005: Jack L. Chalker, American author (born 1944) Jack Laurence Chalker was an American science fiction author. Chalker was also a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for 12 years, retiring during 1978 to write full-time. He also was a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Read more
11 Feb 2004: Tony Pope, American voice actor (born 1947) Anthony J. Pope was an American voice actor. He appeared in over 100 titles during his three-decade career, including as the voice of Goofy from 1979 to 1988. His anime roles include Colonel Shikishima in the Streamline Pictures dub of Akira (1988) and Shunsaku Ban in Metropolis (2001). Pope also provided the voice for the Tiger Electronics toy Furby. Read more
11 Feb 2004: Shirley Strickland, Australian runner (born 1925) Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE, known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports. Read more
11 Feb 2002: Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player and coach (born 1910) Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti, nicknamed "The Crow", was an American baseball player. From 1932 to 1948, he spent his entire seventeen-year Major League Baseball playing career with the New York Yankees at shortstop. After his retirement as a player, he became third base coach with the franchise for an additional twenty seasons. From 1932 to 1968, Crosetti won a combined total of 17 World Series Championships, 8 as a player, and 9 as a coach, the most by any individual. Crosetti is tied with NHL legend Jean Béliveau for the most combined championships in sports. Read more
11 Feb 2002: Barry Foster, English actor (born 1931) John Barry Foster was an English actor who had an extensive career in film, radio, stage and television over almost 50 years. He was best known for portraying the title character in the British crime series Van der Valk (1972–1992) and Bob Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972). Read more
11 Feb 2000: Lord Kitchner, Trinidadian singer (born 1922) Aldwyn Roberts HBM DA, better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener, was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He has been described as "the grand master of calypso" and "the greatest calypsonian of the post-war age". Read more
11 Feb 2000: Roger Vadim, French director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1928) Roger Vadim Plemiannikov was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Blood and Roses (1960), The Game Is Over (1966), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971). Read more
11 Feb 1996: Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet and author (born 1930) Amelia Rosselli was an Italian poet, musician, and musicologist close to John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Read more
11 Feb 1994: Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (born 1946) Lawrence Neil Bonnett was an American NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. Bonnett was a member of the Alabama Gang, and started his career with the help of Bobby and Donnie Allison. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s with his performances in cars owned by Jim Stacy and Wood Brothers Racing, becoming one of the top competitors in the 1980s. The Alabama native currently ranks 47th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories. He appeared in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and the 1990 film Days of Thunder. Bonnett hosted the TV show Winners for TNN from 1991 to 1994, and was a color commentator for CBS, TBS, and TNN in the years until his death. Bonnett's racing career was interrupted in 1990 when he suffered a severe brain injury in a crash that left him with amnesia and chronic dizziness. While working towards a much-anticipated comeback to the NASCAR circuit, Bonnett died as a result of injuries he sustained in a crash during a practice run for the 1994 Daytona 500. He lost control of his vehicle and collided with the outside wall in turn four, resulting in massive head injuries that proved fatal. Read more
11 Feb 1994: Sorrell Booke, American actor and director (born 1930) Sorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He acted in more than 100 plays and 150 television shows, and is best known for his role as corrupt politician Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard. Read more
11 Feb 1994: William Conrad, American actor, director, and producer (born 1920) William Conrad was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television. Read more
11 Feb 1994: Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (born 1924) Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian philosopher best known for his work in the philosophy of science. He started his academic career as lecturer in the philosophy of science at the University of Bristol (1955–1958); afterward, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for three decades (1958–1989). At various points in his life, he held joint appointments at the University College London (1967–1970), the London School of Economics (1967), the FU Berlin (1968), Yale University (1969), the University of Auckland, the University of Sussex (1974), and the ETH Zurich (1980–1990). He gave lectures and lecture series at the University of Minnesota (1958–1962), Stanford University (1967), the University of Kassel (1977), and the University of Trento (1992). Read more
11 Feb 1993: Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1922) Robert William Holley was an American biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 for describing the structure of alanine transfer RNA, linking DNA and protein synthesis. Read more
11 Feb 1991: Dude Martin, American country singer, bandleader, radio and television host (born 1915) John Stephen McSwain, better known by his stage name Dude Martin, was an American country singer and bandleader, radio and early television personality. Read more
11 Feb 1989: George O'Hanlon, American actor and voice artist (born 1912) George O'Hanlon was an American actor, comedian and writer. He was best known for his role as Joe McDoakes in the Warner Bros.' live-action Joe McDoakes short subjects from 1942 to 1956 and as the voice of George Jetson in Hanna-Barbera's 1962 prime-time animated television series The Jetsons and its 1985 revival. Read more
11 Feb 1986: Frank Herbert, American journalist and author (born 1920) Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. was an American science-fiction author, best known for his 1965 novel Dune and five sequels to it. He also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer. Read more
11 Feb 1986: Evelio Javier, Filipino politician (born 1942) Evelio Bellaflor Javier was a Filipino lawyer and politician. He served as governor of the province of Antique and was an opponent of the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. His assassination on February 11, 1986, was one of the causes of the People Power Revolution that overthrew Marcos.
Evelio Javier's brother, Exequiel Javier, served as congressman from 1987 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010 and governor from 1998 to 2001, and 2010 to 2015. In 2018, Javier was identified as a Motu Proprio human rights violations victim of the Martial Law Era by the Human Rights Victims Claims Board. Read more
11 Feb 1985: Henry Hathaway, American actor, director, and producer (born 1898) Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer, whose career spanned from the 1930s through the 1970s. He was best known as a director of Western, adventure, and noir films, especially starring John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, and Gregory Peck. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), starring Cooper. Read more
11 Feb 1982: Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (born 1912) Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). She retired from films in the mid-1940s but resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as Thousands Cheer. In the 1950s she hosted a Christian children's TV show and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and athletic female dancers of the Hollywood studio era. Read more
11 Feb 1978: James Bryant Conant, American chemist and academic (born 1893) James Bryant Conant was an American chemist, a President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. Read more
11 Feb 1978: Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Harry Martinson was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos". The choice was controversial, as both Martinson and Johnson were members of the academy. Read more
11 Feb 1977: Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th President of India (born 1905) Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1974 to 1977. Read more
11 Feb 1977: Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1902) Louis Joseph Maria Beel was a Dutch politician of the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 3 July 1946 until 7 August 1948 and from 22 December 1958 until 19 May 1959. Read more
11 Feb 1976: Lee J. Cobb, American actor (born 1911) Lee J. Cobb was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his starring role on the television series The Virginian. He often played arrogant, intimidating, and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectable figures such as judges and police officers. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, all in the Best Supporting Actor category. Read more
11 Feb 1976: Alexander Lippisch, German pilot and engineer (born 1894) Alexander Martin Lippisch was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and also worked in the U.S. Within the Opel-RAK program, he was the designer of the world's first rocket-powered glider. Read more
11 Feb 1975: Richard Ratsimandrava, Malagasy colonel and politician, President of Madagascar (born 1931) Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava was a Malagasy politician and soldier who served as the head of state of Madagascar for six days in February 1975 before his assassination in office. Read more
11 Feb 1973: J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907) Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen was a German theoretical physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, known as the Uranium Club, where he contributed to the separation of uranium isotopes. After the war, Jensen was a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Institute for Advanced Study, University of California, Berkeley, Indiana University, and the California Institute of Technology. Read more
11 Feb 1968: Howard Lindsay, American playwright (born 1889) Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, was an American playwright, librettist, director, actor and theatrical producer. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse, and for his performance, with his wife Dorothy Stickney, in the long-running play Life with Father. Read more
11 Feb 1967: A. J. Muste, Dutch-American minister and activist (born 1885) Abraham Johannes Muste was a Dutch-born American clergyman and political activist. He is best remembered for his work in the labor movement, the pacifist movement, the anti-war movement, and the civil rights movement in the United States. Read more
11 Feb 1963: John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1872) John Olof Dahlgren was an American corporal serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Boxer Rebellion who received the Medal of Honor for bravery. Read more
11 Feb 1963: Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (born 1932) Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for The Colossus and Other Poems (1960), Ariel (1965), and The Bell Jar (1963), a semi-autobiographical novel published one month before her suicide. The Collected Poems was published in 1981, which included previously unpublished works. For this collection Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth person to receive this honor posthumously. Read more
11 Feb 1958: Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (born 1879) Alfred Ernest Jones was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world. As President of both the International Psychoanalytical Association and the British Psycho-Analytical Society in the 1920s and 1930s, Jones exercised a formative influence in the establishment of their organisations, institutions and publications. Read more
11 Feb 1949: Axel Munthe, Swedish doctor (born 1857) Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe was a Swedish-born physician and psychiatrist, best known as the author of The Story of San Michele, an autobiographical account of his life and work. He spoke several languages, grew up in Sweden, attended medical school there, then studied medicine in Paris and opened his first practice in France. He was married to a wealthy Englishwoman and spent most of his adult life in Italy. Read more
11 Feb 1948: Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (born 1898) Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1945/1958). In its decennial poll, the magazine Sight and Sound named his Battleship Potemkin the 54th-greatest film of all time. Read more
11 Feb 1947: Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler and coach (born 1884) Martin Klein was an Estonian wrestler who competed for the Russian Empire at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He won the silver medal in the middleweight class, becoming the first Olympic medalist born in the territory of modern Estonia. In the semi-final against the reigning world champion Alfred Asikainen, the two grappled for 11 hours and 40 minutes on a sunny day outdoors, until Klein managed to pin Asikainen. Klein was so exhausted from the bout – the longest wrestling match ever recorded – that he was unable to wrestle for the gold the next day, leaving Swedish wrestler Claes Johansson with the gold medal. Read more
11 Feb 1942: Jamnalal Bajaj, Indian businessman and philanthropist (born 1884) Jamnalal Kaniram Bajaj was an Indian businessman and politician. He founded the Bajaj Group of companies in the 1920s, and the group now has 24 companies, including six that are listed on the bourses. He was also a close and beloved associate of Mahatma Gandhi, who is known to have often declared that Jamnalal was his fifth son. Read more
11 Feb 1940: John Buchan, Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, Governor General of Canada (born 1875) John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. Read more
11 Feb 1940: Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (born 1855) Ellen Day Hale was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker from Boston. She studied art in Paris and during her adult life lived in Paris, London and Boston. She exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts. Hale wrote the book History of Art: A Study of the Lives of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Albrecht Dürer and mentored the next generation of New England female artists, paving the way for widespread acceptance of female artists. Read more
11 Feb 1938: Kalle Korhonen, Finnish politician (born 1878) Kaarlo (Kalle) Eeronpoika Korhonen was a Finnish farmer, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Oulu Province South between April 1917 and September 1918. Korhonen went to Soviet Russia during the Finnish Civil War and was executed there in 1938 during Stalin's Great Purge. Read more
11 Feb 1931: Charles Algernon Parsons, English-Irish engineer, invented the steam turbine (born 1854) Sir Charles Algernon Parsons was an Anglo-Irish mechanical engineer and inventor who designed the modern steam turbine in 1884. His invention revolutionised marine propulsion, and he was also the founder of C. A. Parsons and Company, developing and building Turbinia (1894), the first steam-powered steamship. Read more
11 Feb 1918: Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (born 1861) Alexey Maksimovich Kaledin was a Don Cossack Cavalry General who commanded the 12th Cavalry Division and Russian Eight Army during World War I. He also led the Don Cossack White movement in the opening stages of the Russian Civil War. Read more
11 Feb 1917: Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician and epidemiologist (born 1872) Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, was a Brazilian physician, pioneer bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute. Read more
11 Feb 1905: Mary Pitman Ailau, high chiefess of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi Mary Ann Kinoʻole Kaʻaumokulani Pitman, later Mary Pitman Ailau, was a high chiefess of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi of part Native Hawaiian and American descent. She was raised and educated in Hilo and Honolulu and served as a maid of honor and lady-in-waiting of Queen Emma, the wife of Kamehameha IV. In 1861, she left for the United States with her family, and she lived for the next twenty years in New England. She visited her distant cousin King Kalākaua during his state visit to the United States in 1875. She returned in 1881 to Hawaiʻi where she married musician John Keakaokalani Ailau, better known as Jack Ailau. In later life, she invested in Hawaiian curio shops selling artifacts of Hawaiiana; many of her collections are preserved in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Read more
11 Feb 1901: Milan I of Serbia (born 1855) Milan Obrenović IV reigned as the Prince of Serbia from 10 June 1868 until 1882, and then King of Serbia, a title he held until his abdication on 6 March 1889. Most important events during Milan's reign was the First and Second Serbian–Ottoman War and the Serbo-Bulgarian War. At the beginning of his reign, the Principality of Serbia was still de jure part of the Ottoman Empire, but became fully independent in 1878 with the Treaty of Berlin (1878). In 1882, the Principality was elevated to the status of a kingdom, and Milan became a king. Read more
11 Feb 1898: Félix María Zuloaga, Mexican general and unconstitutional interim president (born 1813) Félix María Zuloaga Trillo was a Mexican conservative general and politician who played a key role in the outbreak of the Reform War in early 1860, a war which would see him elevated to the presidency of the nation. President Zuloaga was unrecognized by, and fought against, the liberal supporters of President Benito Juárez. Read more
11 Feb 1868: Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (born 1819) Jean Bernard Léon Foucault was a French physicist who invented the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of Earth's rotation. He also made an early measurement of the speed of light, discovered eddy currents, and is credited with naming the gyroscope. Read more
11 Feb 1862: Elizabeth Siddal, English poet and artist's model (born 1829) Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, better known as Elizabeth Siddal, was an English artist, art model, and poet. Siddal was perhaps the most significant of the female models who posed for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their ideas of female beauty were fundamentally influenced and personified by her. Walter Deverell and William Holman Hunt painted Siddal, and she was the model for John Everett Millais's famous painting Ophelia (1852). Early in her relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Siddal became his muse and exclusive model, and he portrayed her in almost all his early artwork depicting women. Read more
11 Feb 1854: Magdalene Osenbroch, Norwegian actress (born 1830) Magdalene Henrikke Dedichen Osenbroch was a Norwegian actress who mainly performed at the Det norske Theater in Bergen. Read more
11 Feb 1829: Alexander Griboyedov, Russian poet, playwright, and composer (born 1795) Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His one notable work is the 1823 verse comedy Woe from Wit. He was Russia's ambassador to Qajar Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob in the aftermath of the ratification of the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), which confirmed the cession to Russia of Persia's northern territories comprising Transcaucasia and parts of the North Caucasus. Griboyedov played a pivotal role in the ratification of the treaty. The immediate cause for the incident was Griboyedov giving refuge to Armenians who had escaped from the harems of the Persian shah and his son. Read more
11 Feb 1811: Juan Sánchez Ramírez, leader of the troops that fought against the French rule of Santo Domingo's colony between 1808 and 1809 (born 1762) Juan Sánchez Ramírez was a Dominican general who was the primary leader of the War of Reconquista. He is known for leading the troops in the Battle of Palo Hincado. The decisive Dominican victory resulted in the end of French rule in eastern Hispaniola in 1809. He was the first Dominican to serve as governor of Santo Domingo. Read more

Why is 11 February Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 11 February, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 11 February in World history?

On 11 February, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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