February 21

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February 21 in recent years
2009 (Saturday)
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2005 (Monday)
2004 (Saturday)
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2002 (Thursday)
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2000 (Monday)

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 313 days remaining until the end of the year (314 in leap years).

Events

• 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
• 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
• 1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeats a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 - Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1743 - The premiere of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson" takes place in London.
• 1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren ironworks in Wales.
• 1842 - John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Valverde fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
• 1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• 1874 - The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first newspaper.
• 1878 - The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1893 - Thomas Edison receives two U.S. patents for a "Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps" and for a "Stop Device"
• 1912 - Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.
• 1916 - World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 - The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1919 - Kurt Eisner, German socialist, is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.
• 1921 - Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.
• 1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 - Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile.
• 1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1945 - World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damage the Saratoga.
• 1947 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 - The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
• 1952 - In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students that was demanding the establishment of Bengali as the official language, killing four people and starting a country-wide protest which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.
• 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
• 1958 - The Peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• 1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba.
• 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
• 1970 - Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1971 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 - President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
• 1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2004 - The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.
• 2007 - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

Births

• 1484 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• 1675 - Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
• 1705 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
• 1721 - John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
• 1723 - Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
• 1728 - Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. 1762)
• 1783 - Princess Catharina of Württemberg, Queen consort of Westphalia (d. 1835)
• 1791 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d. 1876)
• 1801 - John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 - Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d. 1893)
• 1821 - Charles Scribner, American publisher (d. 1871)
• 1836 - Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 - Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 - Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
• 1860 - Goscombe John, Welsh sculptor (d. 1952)
• 1865 - John Haden Badley, English school founder (d. 1967)
• 1867 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d. 1934)
• 1875 - Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d. 1997)
• 1876 - Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 - The Mother, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1973)
• 1880 - Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1885 - Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d. 1957)
• 1888 - Clemence Dane, British novelist and playwright (d. 1965)
• 1893 - Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 - Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1895 - Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
• 1900 - Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 - Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
• 1907 - W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
• 1910 - Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 - Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
• 1910 - Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d. 1986)
• 1913 - Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1914 - Ilmari Juutilainen, Finnish fighter pilot (d. 1999)
• 1915 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1917 - Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1921 - John Rawls, American philosopher (d. 2002)
• 1924 - Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe
• 1925 - Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
• 1927 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
• 1927 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• 1927 - Pierre Mercure, French-Canadian musician and composer (d. 1966)
• 1929 - Roberto "Chespirito" Carlos Bolaños, Mexican actor
• 1929 - James Beck, English actor (d. 1973)
• 1933 - Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 - Rue McClanahan, American actress
• 1935 - Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1935 - Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
• 1936 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 - King Harald V of Norway
• 1937 - Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1940 - John Lewis, American politician and 1960s Civil Rights Movement activist
• 1940 - Peter Gethin, British racing driver
• 1941 - James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
• 1942 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
• 1943 - David Geffen, American record producer
• 1945 - Paul Newton, British musician
• 1945 - D'Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
• 1946 - Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 - Anthony Daniels, British actor
• 1946 - Alan Rickman, English actor
• 1946 - Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
• 1946 - Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
• 1947 - Johnny Echols, American musician
• 1947 - Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 - Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1949 - Jerry Harrison, American musician
• 1949 - Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
• 1951 - Vince Welnick, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 2006)
• 1952 - Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician
• 1953 - Christine Ebersole, American actress
• 1953 - William Petersen, American actor
• 1954 - Mike Pickering, English disc jockey and musician
• 1954 - Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (d. 1976)
• 1955 - Sir Steven Fayburgh, British diplomat
• 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• 1958 - Jake Burns, Irish singer
• 1958 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• 1958 - Jack Coleman, American actor
• 1958 - Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
• 1959 - José María Cano, Spanish musician
• 1959 - Emmett McAuliffe, American radio show host and lawyer
• 1960 - Steve Wynn, American singer (
• 1961 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1961 - Christopher Atkins, American actor
• 1961 - Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1961 - Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1962 - Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 1962 - Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
• 1962 - David Foster Wallace, American writer
• 1963 - William Baldwin, American actor
• 1964 - Mark E. Kelly and Scott J. Kelly, American astronauts
• 1964 - Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d. 2007)
• 1964 - Huw Higginson, British actor
• 1967 - Leroy Burrell, American runner
• 1969 - James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician
• 1969 - Tony Meola, American footballer
• 1969 - Eric Wilson, American musician
• 1970 - Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
• 1971 - Randy Blythe, American musician
• 1972 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
• 1973 - Heri Joensen, Faroese musician
• 1973 - Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer and TV host
• 1974 - Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1974 - Wish Bone, American rapper, (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
• 1976 - Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 - Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 - Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
• 1977 - Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
• 1978 - Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Nicole Parker, American actress
• 1979 - Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
• 1979 - Carly "Carlito" Colón, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
• 1979 - Lonnie Ford, American football player
• 1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
• 1980 - Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Jim Vandermeer, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Parthiva Sureshwaren, Indian racing driver
• 1980 - Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
• 1981 - Jun Kaname, Japanese actor
• 1982 - Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
• 1982 - Chantal Claret, American musician
• 1983 - Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 - Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1984 - Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1984 - David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1984 - Karina, Japanese model and actress
• 1985 - Jarrod Atkinson, Australian rules footballer
• 1985 - Bob Burton, American speedcuber
• 1985 - Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1986 - Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
• 1986 - Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1987 - Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 - Burgess Abernethy, Australian Actor
• 1987 - Ashley Greene, American model and actress
• 1989 - Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
• 1989 - Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 - Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
• 1989 - Josh Walker, English footballer