Today in History for February 2012

Months in 2012: January March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 32 of 32

1st - At least 73 people are killed in the Egyptian football riots in Port Said
2nd - Cold snap across Europe kills more than 100 people (over 400 people by 08-02)
2nd - MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papa New Guinea with 246 people saved and 126 missing (100 of these estimated to be trapped inside)
2nd - NHL player Sam Gagner becomes the first player to scores eight points in one game for the Edmonton Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks since 1989
4th - Tens of thousands of people are stranded by floods in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland
5th - Quarterback Eli Manning wins his second Superbowl Most Valuable Player Award after leading the New York Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots in Superbowl XLVI
6th - 6.9 magnitude quake hits near the central Philipines with 43 confirmed deaths
6th - Queen Elizabeth II marks her 60th anniversary of becoming Britain's Monarch becoming only the second to do so
11th - Israel Air Force conducts four air strikes in Gaza Strip
12th - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is re-elected president of Turkmenistan with 97% of the vote
12th - Zambia defeat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in the Africa Cup of Nations
15th - United Kingdom unemployment rate reaches 17 year high of 8.4%
15th - Fire at Comayagua prison, Honduras, kills 358
17th - The President of Germany, Christian Wulff, resigns over a corruption scandal
17th - Approximately 70 ancient Olympic artifacts are stolen from the Archaeological Museum of Greece
18th - Kateri Tekakwitha canonized as the first native American saint
19th - 44 people killed in prison brawl in Apocada, Mexico, between two rival drug cartels
20th - Scientists successfully regenerate Silene stenophylla from a 31,800 year old piece of fruit, greatly surpassing the previous record of 2,000 years
20th - South Korea angers North Korea as it proceeds with live fire drills in disputed Korean sea borders
Queen Elizabeth II 21st - Yemen voters go to the polls for a presidential election where the only candidate on the ballot paper is vice-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi
22nd - Train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 50 and injures hundreds
23rd - A series of bomb attacks across 12 Iraqi cities kills 60 and injures 200
25th - Syrian Army kills 100 civilians in artillery shelling of Homs and Hama
25th - Al Qaeda suicide bombing kills at least 26 people in Mukalla, Yemen
25th - World Health Organization removes India from the list of polio endemic countries
25th - Louisiana Red, American blues musician, dies from stroke at 79
26th - The film The Artist wins five Academy Awards and becomes the first silent film to win since 1927
26th - Bus plunges off a cliff in Shanxi, China causing 15 deaths
26th - Train derailment kills 3 and injures 45 in Burlington, Ontario
27th - Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private intelligence company Stratfor
28th - Occupy London protesters evicted from St Paul's Cathedral
28th - Discovery of the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku grebneffi, at nearly 5ft tall

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 2 of 2

18th - Activist and contributor for ABC News Elizabeth Smart (24) weds Matthew Gilmour (22) in Hawaii
29th - "Diagnosis Murder" actor Dick Van Dyke (86) weds make-up artist Arlene Silver (40) in Malibu

Famous Divorces

Divorces 1 - 1 of 1

9th - Actress Parminder Nagra files for divorce from photographer James Stenson due to irreconcilable differences after 3 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 59 of 59

1st - Wislawa Szymborska, Polish poet and Nobel Laureate, dies at 88
1st - Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer and cornerman, dies at 90
1st - Gerlando Alberti, Sicilian Mafioso, dies from cancer at 88
1st - Don Cornelius, American television host, commits suicide by gunshot at 75
2nd - Dorothy Gilman, American mystery writer, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 88
3rd - Norton Zinder, American biologist, dies from pneumonia at 83
3rd - Christopher Samuel Youd, British science fiction writer, dies at 89
3rd - Ben Gazzara, American actor, dies from pancreatic cancer at 81
3rd - Zalman King, American actor and director, dies from cancer at 69
4th - Florence Green, last surviving veteran of World War One, dies at 110
4th - Robert Glaser, American educational psychologist, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 91
4th - Istvan Csurka, Hungarian writer and politician, dies at 77
4th - Robert Daniel, five term American congressman for Virginia, dies at 75
5th - Sam Coppola, American actor, dies at 79
6th - Janice Voss, American astronaut, dies from breast cancer at 55
6th - Antoni Tapies, Spanish artist, dies at 88
6th - Peter Breck, American actor, dies at 82
7th - Patricia Stephens Due, African-American civil rights activist, dies from Alzheimer's disease at 72
7th - Phil Bruns, American actor and writer, dies of natural causes at 80
7th - Florence Holway, American rape victim and activist, dies at 96
8th - Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian rock musician, dies from lung cancer at 62
8th - Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi, dies at 99
10th - Geoffrey Cornish, Canadian golf course architect, dies at 97
10th - Jeffrey Zaslow, American author and columnist, dies in a car accident at 53
Singer Whitney Houston (11th) 11th - Whitney Houston, American singer and actress, dies from an accidental drowning at age 48
12th - Zina Bethune, American actress, dies from hit and run at 66
12th - David Kelly, Irish actor, dies at 82
12th - John Severin, America comic book artist, dies at 90
13th - Freddie Solomon, American football wide receiver, dies from colon and liver cancer at 59
13th - Mohamed Lamari, Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army, dies from a heart attack at 72
13th - Lillian Bassman, American photographer and painter, dies at 94
14th - Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter, dies at 86
15th - Charles Anthony, American Tenor dies from kidney failure at 82
15th - Charles Anthony [Caruso], American tenor, dies from kidney failure at 82
16th - Elyse Knox, American actress and model (Hit the Ice, Black Gold) dies at 94
16th - Anthony Shadid, New York Times foreign correspondent and two time Pulitzer winner, dies from asthma at 43
16th - Gary Carter, American Hall of Fame baseball catcher dies from brain tumor at 57
16th - Baddeley Devesi, first Governor-General of the Solomon Islands, dies at 70
16th - Harry McPherson, presidential counsel and lobbyist, dies from cancer at 82
17th - Ulric Neisser, American psychologist, dies at 83
19th - John Hogan, American research chemist, dies at 92
19th - Steve Kordek, American pinball machine designer, dies at 100
20th - Renato Dulbecco, Italian-born American virologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 97
21st - Baron Hooson [Hugh Emlyn], British politician and peer, dies at 86
21st - Colin Ireland, British 'Gay Slayer' serial killer, dies at 57
21st - Pierre Juneau, Canadian film and broadcast executive, dies at 89
21st - John Michuki, Kenyan politician, dies from heart attack at 79
21st - Barney Rosset, American publisher and free speech advocate, dies at 89
21st - Eiko Ishioka, Japanese Costume designer, dies from pancreatic cancer at 74
22nd - Billy Strange, American singer-songwriter, dies at 81
23rd - Bruce Surtees, American cinematographer, dies at 74
24th - Jan Berenstain, American author dies from a stroke at 88
24th - Istvan Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer, dies at 92
24th - Kenneth Price, American ceramic artist and print maker, dies from cancer at 77
24th - Benedict Freedman,American novelist and mathematician, dies at 92
25th - Lynn Compton, American jurist and commissioned officer, dies from heart attack at 90
25th - Red Holloway [James], American jazz tenor saxophonist, dies from stroke and kidney failure at 84
27th - Tina Strobos, Dutch physician and resistor to Nazi occupation, dies from cancer at 91
Singer Davy Jones (29th) 29th - Davy Jones, English musician, dies from heart attack at 66