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Today In History – February 7

There are many events that happened on this date in history. Here are just a few of them!

February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 327 days remain until the end of the year (328 in leap years).

EVENTS

1783 – American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.

1894 – The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.

1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

1964 – The Beatles land in the United States for the first time, at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport.

1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.

1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.

1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.[21]

1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

2001 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-98, carrying the Destiny laboratory module to the International Space Station.

BIRTHS

1478 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1535)

1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)

1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (d. 1870)

1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)

1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)

1887 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (d. 1983)

1895 – Anita Stewart, American actress (d. 1961)

1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)

1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor and director (d. 2017)

1960 – James Spader, American actor and producer

1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1962 – Eddie Izzard, English comedian, actor, and producer

1965 – Chris Rock, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American model, actor, producer, and entrepreneur

DEATHS

1259 – Thomas, Count of Flanders

1317 – Robert, Count of Clermont (b. 1256)

1520 – Alfonsina de' Medici, Regent of Florence (b. 1472)

1871 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (b. 1797)

1968 – Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)

1972 – Walter Lang, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)

1999 – King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)

1999 – Bobby Troup, American actor, pianist, and composer (b. 1918)

2000 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician and politician (b. 1947)

2001 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and pilot (b. 1906)

2019 – Albert Finney, English actor (b. 1936)

2019 – Frank Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1935)

2020 – Li Wenliang, Chinese ophthalmologist who initially warned about COVID-19 (b. 1986)

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