What happened on February 13? There are more than 325 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About February 13
February 13 is the 44th day of the year 2024. There are 322 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday. This day falls under the 7th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Thousand Oaks, California 91360 sunrise occured at 06:41 AM and sunset occured at 05:38 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aquarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Amethyst while the mystical birthstone is Bloodstone.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 351 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For February 13
- 1503Disfida di Barletta – famous challenge between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
- 1542Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
- 1575Henry III of France is crowned at Rheims, marrying Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on the same day.
- 1633Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
- 1660With the death of Swedish King Charles X Gustav, the Swedish government can start to seek peace with Sweden’s enemies in the Second Northern War – something that Charles X Gustav had refused. As his son and successor on the throne, Charles XI, is only four years old, a regency takes over the ruling of Sweden until 1672.
- 1668Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.
- 1689William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
- 1692Massacre of Glencoe: About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
- 1739Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
- 1867Work begins on the covering of the Zenne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
- 1880Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.
- 1881The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert.
- 1894Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinematographe, a combination movie camera and projector.
- 1914Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- 1920The Negro National League is formed.
- 1926New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Fire Tiger in Chinese astrology.
- 1931New Delhi becomes the capital of India.
- 1934The Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean.
- 1935A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
- 1945World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
- 1945World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
- 1951Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the “high-water mark” of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
- 1954Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game
- 1955Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
- 1960Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 1960With the success of a nuclear test codenamed “Gerboise Bleue”, France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
- 1961A 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
- 1967American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
- 1970Black Sabbath, arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.
- 1971Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- 1978Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
- 1979An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
- 1981A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
- 1982Río Negro massacre in Guatemala.
- 1984Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1990German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
- 1991Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
- 2000The last original “Peanuts” comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.
- 2001An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
- 2004The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe‘s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
- 2007Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
- 2008Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
- 2009At 23:31:30 UTC the Unix system time (time_t) number reaches 1234567890 seconds.
- 2010A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
- 2011For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, were able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
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Who Were Born On February 13?
- 711 BCJimmu, Japanese emperor (d. 585 DC)
- 1457Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
- 1480Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1542)
- 1599Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
- 1672Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (d. 1731)
- 1683Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
- 1719George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, British naval officer (d. 1792)
- 1721John Reid, British army general and composer (d. 1807)
- 1728John Hunter, Scottish surgeon (d. 1793)
- 1768Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d. 1835)
- 1769Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (d. 1844)
- 1805Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)
- 1811François Achille Bazaine, French marshal (d. 1888)
- 1831John Aaron Rawlins, American soldier, civil servant, and 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
- 1834Heinrich Caro, German Chemist (d. 1910)
- 1835Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (d. 1908)
- 1849Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt German impostor who became famous as The Captain of Köpenick (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick) (d. 1922)
- 1849Lord Randolph Churchill, British statesman (d. 1895)
- 1855Paul Deschanel, French President (d. 1922)
- 1866Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
- 1870Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist, composer (d. 1938)
- 1873Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (d. 1938)
- 1876Fritz Buelow, German-born American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1879Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1949)
- 1881Eleanor Farjeon, English author (d. 1965)
- 1883Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian director (d. 1922)
- 1884Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (d. 1961)
- 1885Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, wife of President Harry S. Truman (d. 1982)
- 1887Géza Csáth, Hungarian writer (d. 1919)
- 1888George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
- 1889Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and theatre director (d. 1974)
- 1891Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
- 1891Kate Roberts, Welsh nationalist and writer (d. 1985)
- 1892Robert H. Jackson, American jurist, 57th United States Attorney General and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1954)
- 1897William S. Bowdern, American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest (d. 1983)
- 1900Roy Harrod, English economist (d. 1978)
- 1901Paul Lazarsfeld, American Sociologist (d. 1976)
- 1902Harold Lasswell, American political scientist (d. 1978)
- 1903Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (d. 1989)
- 1903Georgy Beriev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1979)
- 1906Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1994)
- 1906Patsy Callighen, Canadian Hockey Player (d. 1964)
- 1907Katy de la Cruz, Filipino singer (d. 2004)
- 1910William Shockley, British-American physicist and eugenicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1989)
- 1911Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani Urdu poet, Lenin Peace Prize winner (d. 1984)
- 1911Jean Muir, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1913Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
- 1915Aung San, Burmese general and politician (d. 1947)
- 1915Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1916John Reed, British actor and singer (d. 2010)
- 1918Patty Berg, American golfer (d. 2006)
- 1919Eddie Robinson, American football coach (d. 2007)
- 1919Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)
- 1920Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
- 1920Eileen Farrell, American opera soprano (d. 2002)
- 1921Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
- 1921Jeanne Demessieux, French organist, pianist, composer (d. 1968)
- 1922Francis Pym, British Foreign Secretary 1982-83 (d. 2008)
- 1922Gordon Tullock, American economist
- 1923Chuck Yeager, American fighter and test pilot
- 1923Michael Anthony Bilandic, American politician (d. 2002)
- 1923Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese violinist (d. 2003)
- 1924Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist (d. 2006)
- 1928Dorothy McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)
- 1929Omar Torrijos, Panamanian ruler (d. 1981)
- 1930Ernst Fuchs, Austrian artist
- 1930Israel Kirzner, American economist
- 1932Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1933Caroline Blakiston, British actress
- 1933Costa Gavras, Greek-French filmmaker
- 1933Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer
- 1933Kim Novak, American actress
- 1933Patrick Godfrey, British actor
- 1933Paul Biya, Cameroon politician
- 1933Peter L. Pond, American activist and philanthropist (d. 2000)
- 1934George Segal, American actor
- 1935Dr. Don Panoz, American entrepreneur and motorsports impresario (ALMS)
- 1937Ali El-Maak, Sudanese writer (d. 1992)
- 1938Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- 1939Beate Klarsfeld, German Nazi hunter
- 1940Arne Sølvberg, Norwegian computer scientist
- 1941Andrea Conte, First Lady of Tennessee
- 1941Sigmar Polke, German painter
- 1942Carol Lynley, American actress
- 1942Donald E. Williams, NASA astronaut
- 1942Peter Tork, American musician and actor (The Monkees)
- 1943Elaine Pagels, American theologian
- 1944Bo Svenson, Swedish-born actor
- 1944Jerry Springer, American television host
- 1944Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Indian actor (d. 2006)
- 1944Rebop Kwaku Baah, Nigerian percussionist (d. 1983)
- 1944Stockard Channing, American actress
- 1945David Tremlett, English artist
- 1945King Floyd, American musician (d. 2006)
- 1945Simon Schama, British historian
- 1945William Sleator, American science fiction author
- 1946Colin Matthews, British composer
- 1946Louis Kondos, Greek actor
- 1946Richard Blumenthal, American Senator
- 1947Dick Kaysø, Danish actor
- 1947Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian Comic Singer
- 1947Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
- 1947Stephen Hadley, U.S. National Security Adviser
- 1949Judy Dyble, British singer/songwriter (Fairport Convention)
- 1950Bob Daisley, Australian musician, bassist (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne)
- 1950Donna Hanover, American journalist, radio and television personality
- 1950Ewa Aulin, Swedish actress
- 1950Peter Gabriel, English musician (Genesis), composer and humanitarian
- 1951David Naughton, American actor and singer
- 1951Ellen Bry, American actress
- 1951Greg Fulginiti, American mastering engineer
- 1952Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
- 1953Rico J. Puno, Filipino pop singer
- 1954Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1955Joe Birkett, American lawyer
- 1956Liam Brady, Irish footballer
- 1956Peter Hook, English bassist (Joy Division and New Order)
- 1956Princess Alia bint Al Hussein, Jordanian Royal Family member
- 1956Richard Tyson, American actor
- 1956Yiannis Kouros, Greek-Australian runner
- 1957Denise Austin, American fitness expert
- 1958Derek Riggs, British artist
- 1958Marc Emery, Canadian cannabis activist
- 1958Pernilla August, Swedish actress
- 1958Tip Tipping, British actor and stuntman (d. 1993)
- 1959Gaston Gingras, National Hockey League defenceman
- 1959Gord Hampson, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1959Richard Eden, American actor
- 1960Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player
- 1960Gary Patterson, American football coach
- 1960Matt Salinger, American actor
- 1960Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
- 1961Cevin Key, Canadian musician (Skinny Puppy, Subconscious Communications)
- 1961Henry Rollins, American musician, comedian, and actor (Black Flag)
- 1961Kyi Hla Han, Burmese golfer
- 1961Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1962Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, American politician and 8th Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
- 1962Hugh Dennis, English actor and comedian
- 1962May Sweet, Burmese singer
- 1963Thomas Miller, German footballer
- 1964Mark Patton, American actor
- 1964Stephen G. Bowen, NASA astronaut
- 1964Yamantaka Eye, Japanese musician (Boredoms)
- 1964Ylva Johansson, Swedish politician
- 1966Jeff Waters, Canadian musician (Annihilator)
- 1967Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
- 1968Kelly Hu, American actress
- 1968Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer
- 1969Ahlam, Bahraini singer
- 1969Andrew Bryniarski, American film actor
- 1970Diane Youdale, British television personality
- 1970Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer
- 1971Galen Gering, American actor
- 1971Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1971Sonia, British singer
- 1971Todd Williams, American baseball player
- 1972Charlie Garner, American football player
- 1973Jorg Bergmeister German race car driver
- 1974Fonzworth Bentley, American hip-hop artist
- 1974Gus Hansen, Danish professional poker player
- 1974Jeff Duran, American radio personality
- 1974Robbie Williams, English singer
- 1975Ben Collins, British racing driver
- 1975Iván González, Puerto Rican writer and musician
- 1975Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler, German politician
- 1975Tony Dalton, Mexican (American born) actor and screenwriter
- 1976Dave Padden, Canadian musician (Annihilator)
- 1976Feist, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1976Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist
- 1977Hamish Glencross, Scottish guitarist (My Dying Bride)
- 1978Philippe Jaroussky, French sopranist countertenor
- 1978Randy Moss, American football player
- 1979Lucy Brown, British actress
- 1979Mena Suvari, American actress
- 1979Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
- 1980Mark Watson, British comedian
- 1980Sebastian Kehl, German footballer
- 1981Liam Miller, Irish footballer
- 1981Luisão, Brazilian footballer
- 1981Luke Ridnour, American basketball player
- 1981Matías Agüero, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
- 1981Sam Burley, American middle-distance track athlete
- 1982Lanisha Cole, American model
- 1983Mike Nickeas, American baseball player
- 1985Alexandros Tziolis, Greek footballer
- 1985Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
- 1985Matthieu Franke, French-born German rugby player
- 1986Jamie Murray, Scottish tennis player
- 1986Luke Moore, English footballer
- 1986Stephen Colletti, American TV star
- 1987Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
- 1988Aston Merrygold, English singer
- 1988Fuat Kalkan, Turkish footballer
- 1989Carly McKillip, Canadian actress
- 1989Rhys Palmer, Australian footballer
- 1989Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian Footballer
- 1990Gyaincain Norbu, 11th Panchen Lama
- 1990Olivia Allison, British synchronized swimmer
- 1993Sophie Evans, Welsh musician
- 1995Ayame Koike, Japanese actress
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Who Died On February 13?
- 858Kenneth I of Scotland
- 1130Pope Honorius II
- 1141Béla II of Hungary (b. 1110)
- 1199Stefan Nemanja, Serbian Grand Prince (b. 1113)
- 1219Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)
- 1332Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1259)
- 1539Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)
- 1542Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed) (b.c. 1521)
- 1542Jane Boleyn, Dowager Viscountess of Rochford, lady-in-waiting of the above (b.c. 1505)
- 1571Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (b. 1500)
- 1585Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (b. 1515)
- 1592Jacopo Bassano, Italian painter
- 1600Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
- 1602Alexander Nowell, English clergyman
- 1608Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian prince (b. 1526)
- 1624Stephen Gosson, English satirist (b. 1554)
- 1657Miles Sindercombe, attempted assassin of Oliver Cromwell
- 1660King Charles X of Sweden (b. 1622)
- 1662Elizabeth Stuart (b. 1596)
- 1727William Wotton, English scholar (b. 1666)
- 1728Cotton Mather, American Puritan minister (b. 1663)
- 1732Charles-René d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1640)
- 1787Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1717)
- 1787Ruđer Josip Bošković, Croatian scientist and diplomat (b. 1711)
- 1813Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
- 1818George Rogers Clark, American military leader (b. 1752)
- 1826Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (b. 1745)
- 1831Edward Berry Royal Navy admiral (b.1768)
- 1837Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and writer (b. 1809)
- 1845Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher (b. 1773)
- 1883Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
- 1888Jean Baptiste Lamy, 1st Archbishop of Santa Fe (b. 1814)
- 1889João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (b. 1815)
- 1905Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
- 1906Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
- 1934József Pusztai, Slovene writer, poet, journalist in Hungary (b. 1864)
- 1942Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian president (b. 1865)
- 1950Rafael Sabatini, Italian author (b. 1875)
- 1951Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (b. 1877)
- 1952Josephine Tey, English author (b. 1896)
- 1956Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician (b. 1878)
- 1958Dame Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1880)
- 1958Georges Rouault, French painter (b. 1871)
- 1964Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (b. 1902)
- 1968Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1974Ustad Amir Khan, Indian classical singer (b. 1912)
- 1975André Beaufre, French General (b. 1902)
- 1976Lily Pons, French-born soprano (b. 1904)
- 1976Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian military leader (b. 1938)
- 1980David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1982Zeng Jinlian, tallest woman ever, at 8 ft. 1.75 in. (b. 1964)
- 1984Andre Stander, South African police captain and bank robber (b. 1946)
- 1989Dave Tarras, klezmer clarinetist (b. 1897)
- 1989Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)
- 1991Arno Breker, German sculptor (b. 1900)
- 1991Ron Pickering, athletics coach and BBC sports commentator and presenter (b. 1930)
- 1992Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
- 1996Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1997Mark Krasnosel’skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician (b. 1920)
- 1997Robert Klark Graham, American businessman and eugenecist (b. 1906)
- 2000Anders Aalborg, Canadian politician (b. 1914)
- 2000James Cooke Brown, American author and inventor (b. 1921)
- 2002Waylon Jennings, American musician (b. 1937)
- 2003Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (b. 1932)
- 2003Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)
- 2003Walt Rostow, U.S. government official (b. 1916)
- 2004Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen leader (b. 1952)
- 2005Dick Weber, American professional bowler (b. 1929)
- 2005Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist (b. 1965)
- 2005Lúcia Santos, Carmelite nun and Fatima visionary (b. 1907)
- 2005Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (b. 1917)
- 2005Nelson Briles, baseball player (b. 1943)
- 2006Andreas Katsulas, Greek-American actor (b. 1946)
- 2006Peter Frederick Strawson, British philosopher (b. 1919)
- 2007Charlie Norwood, American politician (b. 1941)
- 2007Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer (b. 1923)
- 2007Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (b. 1974)
- 2007Richard Gordon Wakeford, Air Marshal, Royal Air Force (b. 1922)
- 2008Roger Voisin, Trumpet player, Boston Symphony (b. 1918)
- 2009Edward Upward, British novelist and short-story writer (b. 1903)
- 2010John Reed, British singer of Gilbert & Sullivan (b. 1916)
- 2010Lucille Clifton, American poet (b. 1936)
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