This Day in History

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February 11

World Day of the Sick, a feast day of the Roman Catholic Church, is observed on this date.

Today is Inventors' Day, in the U.S.


Events

660 BC – According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his capital in Yamato.

55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome, clearing the way for Nero to become Emperor.

1790 – The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for the abolition of slavery.

1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.

1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.

1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time.

1840 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.

1843 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.

1858 – Bernadette Soubirous experiences her first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.

1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

1903 – Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.

1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers.

1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term "robot".

1939 – A Lockheed P-38 Lightning flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes.

1943 – World War II: General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

1953 – U.S.President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.

1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1981 – Around 100,000 US gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear power plant in Tennessee, contaminating eight workers.

1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.

1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's World Heavyweight title, and cause the largest upset in sports history.

1992 - Mötley Crüe fired their singer Vince Neil when he turned up for rehearsals, claiming that he had lost his passion for the band and was now more involved with racing cars.

1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

1998 - The hand-written lyrics to Elton John's hit 'Candle in the Wind' written by Bernie Taupin were auctioned off at Christie's in LA for £278,512.

2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.

2012 - Whitney Houston was found dead in suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. Local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent." It was later ruled by the coroner to have been an "accidental drowning".

Births

1466 – Elizabeth of York; 1800 – Henry Fox Talbot; 1812 – Alexander H. Stephens (Vice President of the Confederate States of America); 1847 – Thomas Edison; 1909 – Max Baer; 1914 – Josh White♪ ♫; 1917 – Sidney Sheldon; 1919 – Eva Gabor; 1921 – Lloyd Bentsen ("Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."); 1925 – Virginia E. Johnson (Masters & Johnson); 1925 – Kim Stanley (the narrator of To Kill A Mockingbird, 'Pancho Barnes' in The Right Stuff); 1926 – Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun movies, Airplane! movies, Police Squad!); 1934 – Tina Louise ('Ginger' on Gilligan's Island); 1934 – Manuel Noriega; 1934 – John Surtees; 1935 – Gene Vincent; 1936 – Burt Reynolds; 1937 – Phillip Walker♪ ♫; 1939 – Gerry Goffin♪ ♫(co-wrote "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "The Loco-Motion", "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)", "Saving All My Love for You", et al); 1941 – Sérgio Mendes; 1943 – Stan Szelest(The Band, Ronnie Hawkins, Lonnie Mack); 1953 – Jeb Bush; 1961 – Carey Lowell (Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Licence to Kill ); 1962 – Sheryl Crow♪ ♫; 1964 – Sarah Palin; 1964 – Ken Shamrock; 1969 – Jennifer Aniston; 1971 – Damian Lewis (Life, Homeland, Band of Brothers); 1974 – Isaiah Mustafa (The Man Your Man Could Smell Like); 1976 – Peter Hayes♪ ♫(Black Rebel Motorcycle Club); 1977 – Mike Shinoda♪ ♫(Linkin Park); 1979 – Brandy Norwood♪ ♫(Moesha); 1981 – Kelly Rowland♪ ♫(Destiny's Child); 1982 – Natalie Dormer(Game of Thrones, The Tudors); 1984 – Aubrey O'Day♪ ♫(Danity Kane)

Deaths

55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus; 1503 – Elizabeth of York; 1650 – René Descartes; 1868 – Léon Foucault (Foucault pendulum); 1959 – Marshall Teague; 1963 – Sylvia Plath; 1976 – Lee J. Cobb; 1985 – Henry Hathaway; 1986 – Frank Herbert; 1994 – Neil Bonnett; 1994 – Sorrell Booke ('Boss Hogg' on The Dukes of Hazzard); 1994 – William Conrad; 2006 – Peter Benchley (author Jaws, The Deep, The Island); 2008 – Frank Piasecki (pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs, a la Chinook); 2010 – Alexander McQueen (fashion designer); 2012 – Whitney Houston♪ ♫; 2013 – Rick Huxley(Dave Clark Five); 2015 – Bob Simon; 2015 – Jerry Tarkanian (NCAA basketball coach famous for chewing a towel on the sidelines)