February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 319 days remaining until the end of the year (320 in leap years).
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Family Day can fall, while February 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in February. (parts of Canada)
- Earliest day on which Washington’s Birthday can fall, while February 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in February. (United States)
- Traditionally the feast day for the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia[30]
- International Duties Memorial Day (Russia, regional)
- John Frum Day (Vanuatu)
- Liberation Day (Afghanistan)
- National Flag of Canada Day (Canada)
- Parinirvana Day, also celebrated on February 8. (Mahayana Buddhism)
- Singles Awareness Day
- Statehood Day (Serbia)
- Susan B. Anthony Day (Florida, United States)
- The ENIAC Day (Philadelphia, United States)
- Total Defence Day (Singapore)
History
In 590, Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.
In 706, Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
In 1002, At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles, Arduin of Ivrea is restored to his domains and crowned King of Italy.
In 1113, Pope Paschal II issues a bill sanctioning the establishment of the Order of Hospitallers.
In 1214, During the Anglo-French War (1213–1214), an English invasion force lands at La Rochelle in France.
In 1493, While on board the Niña, Christopher Columbus writes an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World.
In 1621, Michael Praetorius, German organist and composer (b. 1571) dies. He was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to improve the relationship between Protestants and Catholics. He was born Michael Schultze, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor, in Creuzburg, in present-day Thuringia. After attending school in Torgau and Zerbst, he studied divinity and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). He was fluent in a number of languages. After receiving his musical education, from 1587 he served as organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt. From 1592/3 he served at the court in Wolfenbüttel, under the employ of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He served in the duke’s State Orchestra, first as organist and later (from 1604) as Kapellmeister.His first compositions appeared around 1602/3. Their publication primarily reflects the care for music at the court of Gröningen. The motets of this collection were the first in Germany to make use of the new Italian performance practices; as a result, they established him as a proficient composer. Praetorius was the greatest musical academic of his day and the Germanic writer of music best known to other 17th-century musicians.
In 1637, Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1690, Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia and the Holy Roman Empire sign a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1764, The city of St. Louis, Missouri is established.
In 1798, The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier
In 1804, The Serbian revolution begins.
In 1835, The first constitutional law in modern Serbia is adopted.
In 1862, American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
In 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is founded and offers the first Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering.
In 1879, Women’s rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1891, Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) (Swedish Sports Club) is founded.
In 1898, The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing 274. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
In 1901, The association football club Alianza Lima is founded in Lima, Peru, under the name Sport Alianza.
In 1905, Lew Wallace, American general and politician, 11th Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1827) dies at home in Crawfordsville, on February 15, 1905, of atrophic gastritis. He was seventy-seven years old. Wallace is buried in Crawfordsvill’e Oak Hill Cemetery.
He was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is best known for his historical adventure story, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), a bestselling novel that has been called “the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century.”
Wallace’s military career included service in the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. He was appointed Indiana’s adjutant general and commanded the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment. Wallace, who attained the rank of major general, participated in the battle of Fort Donelson, the battle of Shiloh, and the battle of Monocacy. He also served on the military commission for the trials of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, and presided over the military investigation of Henry Wirz, a Confederate commandant of the Andersonville prison camp.
Wallace resigned from the U.S. Army in November 1865 and briefly served as a major general in the Mexican army, before returning to the United States. Wallace was appointed governor of the New Mexico Territory (1878–81) and served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881–85). Wallace retired to his home in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he continued to write until his death in 1905.
In 1909, The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.
In 1921, Kingdom of Romania establishes its legation in Helsinki.
In 1923, Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.
In 1933, Pat Sullivan, Australian animator and producer (b. 1887) dies. He was an Australian cartoonist, pioneer animator and film producer, best known for producing the first Felix the Cat silent cartoons.
In 1925, 1925 serum run to Nome: The serum arrives in Nome, Alaska, with Balto being the lead dog of the last team.
In 1933, In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.
In 1942, World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
In 1944, World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.
In 1944, World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.
In 1945, Helmut Möckel, German politician (b. 1909) He was a German youth leader and politician. was killed in a car accident in Darmstadt on 15 February 1945 whilst recruiting Hitler Youth volunteers for Operation Werwolf. There were rumours that his death was faked and he had fled to Spain, but this has never been substantiated. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and trained as a fighter pilot. However in August 1940 he was recalled to Berlin where he was appointed Stabsführer of the Hitler Youth and deputy to Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach. In October 1940 he was appointed by von Schirach to oversee the day to day operation of Kinderlandverschickung (“relocation of children to the countryside”) from major cities at risk of aerial bombing. In November 1942, Möckel became a member of the Reichstag, nominally representing Wroclaw in occupied Poland. On 11 February 1945 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern (Knight’s Cross of the War Merit Cross with swords).
In 1945, World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden.
In 1946, ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
In 1949, Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
In 1952, King George VI is buried in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
In 1953, Parliamentary elections held in Liechtenstein.
In 1954, Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.
In 1959, Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879) dies. He was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928 for his work on thermionic emission, which led to Richardson’s Law. He began researching the emission of electricity from hot bodies at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, and in 1902 he was made a fellow at Trinity. In 1901, he demonstrated that the current from a heated wire seemed to depend exponentially on the temperature of the wire with a mathematical form similar to the Arrhenius equation. This became known as Richardson’s law: “If then the negative radiation is due to the corpuscles coming out of the metal, the saturation current s should obey the law 
.” He also researched the photoelectric effect, the gyromagnetic effect, the emission of electrons by chemical reactions, soft X-rays, and the spectrum of hydrogen. Richardson became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1913, and was awarded its Hughes Medal in 1920. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928, “for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him”. He was knighted in 1939.
In 1961, Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team, several coaches and family members.
In 1965, A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.
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In 1965, Nat King Cole, American singer and pianist (b. 1919) died of complications due to lung cancer. Born Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965.
His father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister upon moving to Chicago. There Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance was of “Yes! We Have No Bananas” at age four. He began formal lessons at 12, eventually learning not only jazz and gospel music, but also Western classical music, performing, as he said, “from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff“.
The family lived in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Cole would sneak out of the house and hang around outside the clubs, listening to artists such as Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone. He participated in Walter Dyett‘s renowned music program at DuSable High School.
Cole’s first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, “Straighten Up and Fly Right“, based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Johnny Mercer invited him to record it for his fledgling Capitol Records label. It sold over 500,000 copies, proving that folk-based material could appeal to a wide audience. Although Cole would never be considered a rocker, the song can be seen as anticipating the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
In 1946, the Cole trio paid to have their own 15-minute radio program on the air. It was called, “King Cole Trio Time.” It became the first radio program sponsored by a black performing artist. During those years, the trio recorded many “transcription” recordings, which were recordings made in the radio studio for the broadcast. Later they were used for commercial records.
In 1971, The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.
In 1972, Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
In 1972, José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.
In 1973, Wally Cox, American actor (b. 1924) died of a coronary occlusion. Initial reports indicated that he wished to have no funeral and that his ashes would be scattered at sea. A later report indicated his ashes were put in with those of Brando and another close friend Sam Gilman and scattered in Death Valley and Tahiti. He was an American comedian and actor, particularly associated with the early years of television in the United States. He appeared in the U.S. television series Mr. Peepers (1952–1955), plus several other popular shows, and as a character actor in over 20 films. Cox was the voice of the popular animated canine superhero Underdog. Although often cast as a meek milquetoast, he was actually quite athletic as well as a military veteran. He married three times and was a close friend of Marlon Brando.
In 1976, The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by national referendum.
In 1979, Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation.
In 1980, Justices Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, and Stevens dissent from Justice White’s majority opinion in Committee for Public Education v. Regan, which rules constitutionally permissible a New York statute authorizing the use of public funds to reimburse private schools (both religious and secular) for performing various testing and reporting services mandated by state law. The dissenters would have permitted a statute that provided such aid only to secular private schools, but imagined that the inclusion of nondiscriminatory support for state-mandated costs incurred by private religious schools violated the Establishment Clause. Blackmun laments “a long step backwards,” and Stevens calls for “resurrect[ion]” of the mythical “wall” of separation.
In 1982, The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.
In 1989, Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
In 1991, The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
In 1996, At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.
In 1999, Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is arrested in Kenya.
In 2000, Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.
In 2001, First draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.
In 2003, Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.
In 2012, Three hundred sixty people die in a fire at a Honduran prison in the city of Comayagua.
In 2013, A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.
In 2013, A proposal to strengthen sales taxes on internet commerce is emerging as a new litmus test for Washington Republicans, who are divided over a bill known by its sponsors as the Marketplace Fairness Act and by its opponents as the National Internet Tax Mandate.
The bill, first introduced in 2011, has set off a battle between two generations of Republicans and has given anti-tax leader Grover Norquist a new litmus test for judging the fitness of politicians who will soon be up for reelection. The legislation also an opportunity for Rand Paul to beef up his libertarian bona fides just as he tries to edge further into the mainstream.
In 2014, Renaud Lavillenie of France breaks Sergey Bubka‘s world record in pole vault with a mark of 6.16 m.
