February 10

Events

 * 1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
 * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriar's Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence
 * 1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
 * 1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
 * 1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
 * 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
 * 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
 * 1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in final battle of the war
 * 1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
 * 1870 – The YWCA is founded in New York City.
 * 1906 – HMS Dreadnought (1906), the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
 * 1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
 * 1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
 * 1930 – Yên Bái mutiny in French Indochina
 * 1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
 * 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
 * 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
 * 1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
 * 1942 – The first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
 * 1942  – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin, capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies.
 * 1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
 * 1947 – Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.
 * 1947  – Crowds gathered at shop windows in Paris to see Christian Dior's New Look fashion - longer skirts, nipped-in waists and padded shoulders.
 * 1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 17 relating to Greek is adopted.
 * 1949 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 68 is adopted.
 * 1954 – United States President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
 * 1962 – Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
 * 1962  – Roy Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
 * 1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager (D04) off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
 * 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
 * 1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel–casino kills eight and injures 198.
 * 1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
 * 1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
 * 2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
 * 2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
 * 2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.

Births

 * 1499 – Thomas Platter, Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
 * 1606 – Christine Marie of France (d. 1663)
 * 1609 – John Suckling, English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
 * 1685 – Aaron Hill, English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
 * 1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
 * 1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
 * 1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton, American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
 * 1775 – Charles Lamb, English author (d. 1834)
 * 1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
 * 1795 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
 * 1821 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
 * 1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
 * 1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
 * 1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
 * 1846  – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
 * 1847 – Nabinchandra Sen, Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
 * 1859 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
 * 1867 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
 * 1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
 * 1868  – William Allen White, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
 * 1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932)
 * 1881 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
 * 1883 – Edith Clarke, American electrical engineer (d. 1959)
 * 1888 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (d. 1970)
 * 1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
 * 1890 – Fanny Kaplan, Ukrainian-Russian activist and rebel (d. 1918)
 * 1890  – Boris Pasternak, Russian author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
 * 1892 – Alan Hale, Sr., American actor and director (d. 1950)
 * 1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
 * 1893  – Bill Tilden, American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
 * 1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
 * 1897 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
 * 1897  – John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
 * 1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
 * 1898  – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (d. 1979)
 * 1901 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (d. 1992)
 * 1902 – Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
 * 1903 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
 * 1903  – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
 * 1904 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
 * 1905 – Walter A. Brown, American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
 * 1905  – Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
 * 1906 – Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
 * 1906  – Erik Rhodes, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
 * 1909 – Min Thu Wun, Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
 * 1910 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
 * 1910  – Sofia Vembo, Greek singer and actress (d. 1978)
 * 1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
 * 1915 – Vladimir Zeldin, Russian actor (d. 2016)
 * 1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
 * 1920 – Alex Comfort, English physician and author (d. 2000)
 * 1920  – Neva Patterson, American actress (d. 2010)
 * 1920  – José Manuel Castañón, Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
 * 1922 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
 * 1923 – Allie Sherman, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
 * 1924 – Max Ferguson, Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
 * 1924  – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
 * 1925 – Pierre Mondy, French actor and director (d. 2012)
 * 1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013)
 * 1926  – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
 * 1927 – Leontyne Price, American operatic soprano
 * 1929 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
 * 1929  – Jim Whittaker, American mountaineer
 * 1929  – Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer
 * 1930 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
 * 1930  – Robert Wagner, American actor and producer
 * 1932 – Barrie Ingham, English-American actor (d. 2015)
 * 1933 – Richard Schickel, American journalist, author, and critic
 * 1933  – Faramarz Payvar, Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
 * 1935 – Theodore Antoniou, Greek composer and conductor
 * 1937 – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
 * 1937  – Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1939 – Adrienne Clarkson, Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
 * 1940 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh, Saudi Arabian scholar and academic, 4th Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia
 * 1940  – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper
 * 1940  – Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
 * 1941 – Michael Apted, English director and producer
 * 1942 – Lawrence Weiner, American artist
 * 1944 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
 * 1944  – Frank Keating, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
 * 1944  – Frances Moore Lappé, American author and activist
 * 1944  – Rufus Reid, American bassist and composer (The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra)
 * 1947 – Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer and jurist
 * 1947  – Butch Morris, American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
 * 1947  – Nicholas Owen, English journalist
 * 1948 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
 * 1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer
 * 1951 – Bob Iger, American media executive
 * 1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
 * 1955 – Chris Adams, English-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2001)
 * 1955  – Jim Cramer, American financier and author, co-founded TheStreet.com
 * 1955  – Greg Norman, Australian golfer and sportscaster
 * 1956 – Enele Sopoaga, Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
 * 1959 – John Calipari, American basketball player and coach
 * 1960 – Jim Kent, American biologist, computer programmer, academic
 * 1961 – Alexander Payne, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1961  – George Stephanopoulos, American journalist
 * 1962 – Cliff Burton, American bass player and songwriter (d. 1986)
 * 1962  – Bobby Czyz, American boxer and sportscaster
 * 1962  – Randy Velischek, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1963 – Lenny Dykstra, American baseball player
 * 1964 – Glenn Beck, American journalist, producer, and author
 * 1964  – Victor Davis, Canadian swimmer (d. 1989)
 * 1964  – Francesca Neri, Italian actress and producer
 * 1966 – Natalie Bennett, Australian-English journalist and politician
 * 1966  – Daryl Johnston, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1967 – Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer
 * 1967  – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster
 * 1967  – Vince Gilligan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1968 – Peter Popovic, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
 * 1968  – Garrett Reisman, American engineer and astronaut
 * 1969 – Joe Mangrum, American painter and sculptor
 * 1970 – Melissa Doyle, Australian journalist and author
 * 1970  – Noureddine Naybet, Moroccan footballer and manager
 * 1970  – Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist and author
 * 1971 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
 * 1972 – Michael Kasprowicz, Australian cricketer
 * 1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, English businesswoman and politician, co-founded Lastminute.com
 * 1974 – Elizabeth Banks, American actress
 * 1974  – Ty Law, American football player
 * 1974  – Ivri Lider, Israeli singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1974  – Henry Paul, New Zealand rugby player and coach
 * 1976 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player and coach
 * 1978 – Don Omar, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1979 – Joey Hand, American race car driver
 * 1979  – Jumaine Jones, American basketball player
 * 1979  – Daryl Palumbo, American singer-songwriter
 * 1980 – César Izturis, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1980  – Enzo Maresca, Italian footballer
 * 1980  – Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1981 – Uzo Aduba, American actress
 * 1981  – Andrew Johnson, English footballer
 * 1981  – Natasha St-Pier, Canadian singer-songwriter
 * 1981  – Holly Willoughby, English model and television host
 * 1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter
 * 1982  – Tarmo Neemelo, Estonian footballer
 * 1982  – Iafeta Paleaaesina, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1983 – Ricardo Clark, American soccer player
 * 1983  – Daiane dos Santos, Brazilian gymnast
 * 1983  – Vic Fuentes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1983  – Taiji Ishimori, Japanese wrestler
 * 1984 – Alex Gordon, American baseball player
 * 1984  – Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress
 * 1985 – Selçuk İnan, Turkish footballer
 * 1986 – Jeff Adrien, American basketball player
 * 1986  – Josh Akognon, American basketball player
 * 1986  – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer
 * 1986  – Roberto Jiménez Gago, Spanish footballer
 * 1986  – Viktor Troicki, Serbian tennis player
 * 1987 – Jakub Kindl, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1987  – Facundo Roncaglia, Argentinian footballer
 * 1989 – Liam Hendriks, Australian baseball player
 * 1990 – Barbara Guarischi, Italian cyclist
 * 1990  – Choi Soo-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
 * 1991 – Emma Roberts, American actress
 * 1992 – Haruka Nakagawa, Japanese singer and actress
 * 1992  – Reinhold Yabo, German footballer
 * 1993 – Chaochih Liu, Taiwanese-American figure skater
 * 1993  – Max Kepler, German baseball player
 * 1993  – Filip Twardzik, Czech footballer
 * 1993  – Luis Madrigal, Mexican footballer
 * 1994 – Na-eun, South Korean singer and actress (Apink)
 * 1994  – Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer
 * 1996 – Christina Parie, Australian singer-songwriter
 * 1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
 * 1997  – Nadia Podoroska, Argentinian tennis player
 * 2000 – Yara Shahidi, an Iranian-American actress

Deaths

 * 1126 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
 * 1162 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
 * 1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
 * 1278 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
 * 1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
 * 1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
 * 1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg, German noble (b. 1460)
 * 1576 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)
 * 1645 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1587)
 * 1686 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
 * 1722 – Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (b. 1682)
 * 1755 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
 * 1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and author (b. 1702)
 * 1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
 * 1837 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
 * 1857 – David Thompson, English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
 * 1865 – Heinrich Lenz, Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
 * 1879 – Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
 * 1887 – Ellen Wood, English author (b. 1814)
 * 1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)
 * 1904 – John A. Roche, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
 * 1906 – Ezra Butler Eddy, American-Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
 * 1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (b. 1827)
 * 1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek long jumper (b. 1888)
 * 1917 – John William Waterhouse, Italian-English soldier and painter (b. 1849)
 * 1918 – Abdul Hamid II Ottoman sultan (b. 1842)
 * 1918  – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
 * 1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
 * 1928 – José Sánchez del Río Mexican martyr and saint (b. 1913)
 * 1932 – Edgar Wallace, English author and screenwriter (b. 1875)
 * 1939 – Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
 * 1944 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and chess player (b. 1870)
 * 1945 – Anacleto Díaz, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1878)
 * 1950 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (b. 1872)
 * 1956 – Leonora Speyer, American poet and violinist (b. 1872)
 * 1956  – Emmanouil Tsouderos, Greek banker and politician, 132nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1882)
 * 1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
 * 1960 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
 * 1964 – Eugen Sänger, Austrian engineer (b. 1905)
 * 1966 – Billy Rose, American composer and songwriter (b. 1899)
 * 1967 – Dionysios Kokkinos, Greek historian and author (b. 1884)
 * 1975 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek sailor and poet (b. 1910)
 * 1979 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910)
 * 1987 – Sadequain, Pakistani painter and calligrapher (b. 1930)
 * 1992 – Alex Haley, American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
 * 1993 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1929)
 * 1995 – Paul Monette, American author, poet, and activist (b. 1945)
 * 2000 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian and writer (b. 1949)
 * 2001 – Abraham Beame, American academic and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
 * 2001  – Buddy Tate, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1913)
 * 2002 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
 * 2003 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (b. 1910)
 * 2003  – Albert J. Ruffo, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of San Jose (b. 1908)
 * 2003  – Ron Ziegler, American politician, 14th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
 * 2005 – Arthur Miller, American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1915)
 * 2006 – J Dilla, American rapper and producer (b. 1974)
 * 2008 – Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
 * 2008  – Steve Gerber, American author (b. 1947)
 * 2009 – Jeremy Lusk, American motocross racer (b. 1984)
 * 2010 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
 * 2010  – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933)
 * 2011 – Trevor Bailey, English cricketer and journalist (b. 1923)
 * 2012 – Lloyd Morrison, New Zealand banker and businessman, founded H. R. L. Morrison & Co (b. 1957)
 * 2012  – Jeffrey Zaslow, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
 * 2013 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (b. 1927)
 * 2013  – David Hartman, American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, founded the Shalom Hartman Institute (b. 1931)
 * 2013  – Eugenio Trías Sagnier, Spanish philosopher and academic (b. 1942)
 * 2014 – Stuart Hall, Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (b. 1932)
 * 2014  – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (b. 1928)
 * 2015 – Naseer Aruri, Palestinian scholar and activist (b. 1934)
 * 2015  – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (b. 1928)
 * 2015  – Deng Liqun, Chinese theorist and politician (b. 1915)
 * 2016 – Fatima Surayya Bajia, Indian-Pakistani author and playwright (b. 1930)
 * 2016  – Abdel-Bari Zamzami, Moroccan cleric (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Austrebertha
 * Charalambos
 * Scholastica
 * February 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (Public holiday in Malta)
 * Fenkil Day (Eritrea)
 * National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (Italy) commemorates Italian Istrian and Dalmatian exiles and Foibe massacres (Italy, especially in Trieste)