February 10

February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 324 days remain until the end of the year (325 in leap years).

Events

Pre-1600

• 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
• 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
• 1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
• 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
• 1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.

1601–1900

• 1712 – Huilliches in Chiloé rebel against Spanish encomenderos.
• 1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
• 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
• 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
• 1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
• 1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
• 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.

1901–present

• 1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships, is christened.
• 1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
• 1920 – About 75% of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
• 1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas.
• 1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launches the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope of overthrowing French protectorate over Vietnam.
• 1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
• 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launch the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
• 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
• 1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
• 1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
• 1947 – The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
• 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
• 1962 – Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
• 1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
• 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
• 1972 – Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
• 1984 – Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.
• 1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
• 1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
• 2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
• 2004 – Forty-three people are killed and three are injured when a Fokker 50 crashes near Sharjah International Airport.
• 2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
• 2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
• 2016 – South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.
• 2018 – Nineteen people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.
• 2021 – The traditional Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is canceled for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1486 – George of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1529)
• 1499 – Thomas Platter, Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
• 1514 – Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Milan (d. 1579)

1601–1900

• 1606 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1663)
• 1609 – John Suckling, English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
• 1627 – Cornelis de Bie, Flemish poet and jurist (d. 1715)
• 1685 – Aaron Hill, English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
• 1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
• 1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
• 1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton, American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
• 1775 – Charles Lamb, English poet and essayist (d. 1834)
• 1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
• 1795 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
• 1797 – George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall (d. 1883)
• 1821 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
• 1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
• 1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
• 1843 – Adelina Patti, Italian-French opera singer (d. 1919)
• 1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
• 1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
• 1847 – Nabinchandra Sen, Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
• 1859 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
• 1867 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
• 1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
• 1868 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
• 1869 – Royal Cortissoz, American art critic (d. 1948)
• 1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932)
• 1881 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
• 1883 – Edith Clarke, American electrical engineer (d. 1959)
• 1883 – H.V. Hordern, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
• 1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Fanny Kaplan, Ukrainian-Russian activist (d. 1918)
• 1890 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
• 1892 – Alan Hale Sr., American actor and director (d. 1950)
• 1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
• 1893 – Bill Tilden, American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
• 1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
• 1897 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
• 1897 – John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• 1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
• 1898 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (d. 1979)

1901–present

• 1901 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (d. 1992)
• 1902 – Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
• 1903 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
• 1903 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
• 1904 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
• 1905 – Walter A. Brown, American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
• 1905 – Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
• 1906 – Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
• 1907 – Anthony Cottrell, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
• 1908 – Jean Coulthard, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2000)
• 1909 – Min Thu Wun, Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
• 1910 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
• 1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
• 1915 – Vladimir Zeldin, Russian actor (d. 2016)
• 1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
• 1920 – Alex Comfort, English physician and author (d. 2000)
• 1920 – Neva Patterson, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1920 – José Manuel Castañón, Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
• 1922 – José Gabriel da Costa later known as Mestre Gabriel, Brazilian spiritual leader, founder of the União do Vegetal (d. 1971)
• 1923 – Allie Sherman, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
• 1924 – Max Ferguson, Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Pierre Mondy, French actor and director (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
• 1927 – Leontyne Price, American operatic soprano
• 1929 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
• 1929 – Jim Whittaker, American mountaineer
• 1929 – Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer
• 1930 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Robert Wagner, American actor and producer
• 1931 – James Edward Maceo West, American inventor and acoustician
• 1932 – Barrie Ingham, English-American actor (d. 2015)
• 1933 – Richard Schickel, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2017)
• 1933 – Faramarz Payvar, Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
• 1935 – Theodore Antoniou, Greek composer and conductor (d. 2018)
• 1935 – Barbara Maier Gustern, American vocal coach and singer (d. 2022)
• 1937 – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
• 1937 – Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1939 – Adrienne Clarkson, Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
• 1939 – Deolinda Rodríguez de Almeida, Angolan nationalist (d. 1967)
• 1940 – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper
• 1940 – Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
• 1941 – Michael Apted, English director and producer (d. 2021)
• 1944 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
• 1944 – Frank Keating, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
• 1944 – Frances Moore Lappé, American author and activist
• 1944 – Rufus Reid, American bassist and composer
• 1945 – Delma S. Arrigoitia, Puerto Rican historian, author, educator and lawyer
• 1947 – Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer and jurist
• 1947 – Butch Morris, American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
• 1947 – Nicholas Owen, English journalist
• 1949 – Nigel Olsson, English rock drummer and singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
• 1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer
• 1951 – Bob Iger, American media executive
• 1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
• 1955 – Jim Cramer, American television personality, pundit, and author
• 1955 – Greg Norman, Australian golfer and sportscaster
• 1956 – James Martin Graham, American Roman Catholic priest (d. 1997)
• 1956 – Enele Sopoaga, Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
• 1957 – Katherine Freese, American astrophysicist and academic
• 1959 – John Calipari, American basketball player and coach
• 1960 – Jim Kent, American biologist, computer programmer, academic
• 1961 – Alexander Payne, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1961 – George Stephanopoulos, American television journalist
• 1962 – Randy Velischek, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1962 – Cliff Burton, American heavy metal bassist (d. 1986)
• 1962 – Bobby Czyz, American boxer and commentator
• 1963 – Lenny Dykstra, American baseball player
• 1964 – Glenn Beck, American journalist, producer, and author
• 1966 – Natalie Bennett, Australian-English journalist and politician
• 1966 – Daryl Johnston, American football player and sportscaster
• 1967 – Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer
• 1967 – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster
• 1967 – Vince Gilligan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1968 – Peter Popovic, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
• 1968 – Garrett Reisman, American engineer and astronaut
• 1969 – Joe Mangrum, American painter and sculptor
• 1969 – James Small, South African rugby player (d. 2019)
• 1970 – Melissa Doyle, Australian journalist and author
• 1970 – Noureddine Naybet, Moroccan international footballer and manager
• 1970 – Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist and author
• 1971 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
• 1972 – Michael Kasprowicz, Australian cricketer
• 1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, English businesswoman and politician
• 1974 – Elizabeth Banks, American actress
• 1974 – Ty Law, American football player
• 1974 – Ivri Lider, Israeli singer
• 1974 – Henry Paul, New Zealand rugby player and coach
• 1976 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player and coach
• 1976 – Keeley Hawes, English actress
• 1977 – Salif Diao, Senegalese footballer
• 1979 – Joey Hand, American race car driver
• 1980 – César Izturis, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1980 – Enzo Maresca, Italian footballer
• 1980 – Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Uzo Aduba, American actress
• 1981 – Stephanie Beatriz, American actress
• 1981 – Andrew Johnson, English international footballer and club ambassador
• 1981 – Holly Willoughby, English model and television host
• 1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter
• 1982 – Tarmo Neemelo, Estonian footballer
• 1982 – Hamad Al-Tayyar, Kuwaiti footballer
• 1982 – Iafeta Paleaaesina, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1983 – Vic Fuentes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1984 – Greg Bird, Australian rugby league player
• 1984 – Alex Gordon, American baseball player
• 1984 – Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress
• 1985 – Selçuk İnan, Turkish footballer
• 1985 – Paul Millsap, American basketball player
• 1986 – Jeff Adrien, American basketball player
• 1986 – Josh Akognon, American basketball player
• 1986 – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer
• 1986 – Roberto Jiménez Gago, Spanish footballer
• 1986 – Viktor Troicki, Serbian tennis player
• 1987 – Jakub Kindl, Czech ice hockey player
• 1987 – Justin Braun, American ice hockey player
• 1987 – Facundo Roncaglia, Argentinian footballer
• 1988 – Francesco Acerbi, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Liam Hendriks, Australian baseball player
• 1990 – Choi Soo-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
• 1991 – Rebecca Dempster, Scottish footballer
• 1991 – Emma Roberts, American actress
• 1992 – Haruka Nakagawa, Japanese singer and actress
• 1992 – Reinhold Yabo, German footballer
• 1993 – Max Kepler, German baseball player
• 1993 – Filip Twardzik, Czech footballer
• 1993 – Luis Madrigal, Mexican footballer
• 1994 – Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer
• 1995 – Carolane Soucisse, Canadian ice dancer
• 1995 – Lexi Thompson, American professional golfer
• 1996 – Emanuel Mammana, Argentinian footballer
• 1997 – Lilly King, American swimmer
• 1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
• 1997 – Nadia Podoroska, Argentinian tennis player
• 2000 – Yara Shahidi, American actress and model

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 547 – Scholastica, Christian nun
• 1127 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
• 1163 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
• 1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
• 1242 – Saint Verdiana, Italian recluse (b. 1182)
• 1280 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
• 1306 – John "the Red" Comyn, Scottish nobleman
• 1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
• 1346 – Blessed Clare of Rimini (b. 1282)
• 1471 – Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1413)
• 1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
• 1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg, German noble (b. 1460)
• 1567 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1545)
• 1576 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)

1601–1900

• 1660 – Judith Leyster, Dutch painter (b. 1609)
• 1686 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
• 1755 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
• 1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and author (b. 1702)
• 1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
• 1831 – Peter Heywood, British naval officer (b. 1772)
• 1837 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
• 1846 – Maria Aletta Hulshoff, Dutch feminist and pamphleteer (b. 1781)
• 1854 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general (b. 1792)
• 1857 – David Thompson, English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
• 1865 – Heinrich Lenz, Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
• 1879 – Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
• 1887 – Ellen Wood, English author (b. 1814)
• 1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)

1901–present

• 1904 – John A. Roche, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
• 1906 – Ezra Butler Eddy, American-Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
• 1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (b. 1827)
• 1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek long jumper (b. 1888)
• 1917 – John William Waterhouse, English soldier and painter (b. 1849)
• 1918 – Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1842)
• 1918 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
• 1920 – Henry Strangways, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of South Australia (b. 1832)
• 1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
• 1928 – José Sánchez del Río, Mexican martyr and saint (b. 1913)
• 1932 – Edgar Wallace, English author and screenwriter (b. 1875)
• 1939 – Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
• 1944 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and chess player (b. 1870)
• 1945 – Anacleto Díaz, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1878)
• 1950 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (b. 1872)
• 1956 – Leonora Speyer, American poet and violinist (b. 1872)
• 1956 – Emmanouil Tsouderos, Greek banker and politician, 132nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1882)
• 1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
• 1960 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
• 1966 – Billy Rose, American composer and songwriter (b. 1899)
• 1967 – Dionysios Kokkinos, Greek historian and author (b. 1884)
• 1975 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek sailor and poet (b. 1910)
• 1979 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910)
• 1992 – Alex Haley, American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
• 1993 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1929)
• 1995 – Paul Monette, American author, poet, and activist (b. 1945)
• 1997 – Brian Connolly, Scottish musician (b. 1945)
• 2000 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian and writer (b. 1949)
• 2001 – Abraham Beame, American academic and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
• 2001 – Buddy Tate, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1913)
• 2002 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
• 2003 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Albert J. Ruffo, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of San Jose (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Ron Ziegler, American politician, 14th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
• 2005 – Arthur Miller, American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1915)
• 2006 – James Yancey, American record producer and rapper (b. 1974)
• 2008 – Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
• 2010 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
• 2010 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933)
• 2011 – Trevor Bailey, English cricketer and journalist (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Lloyd Morrison, New Zealand banker and businessman, founded H. R. L. Morrison & Co (b. 1957)
• 2012 – Jeffrey Zaslow, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
• 2013 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (b. 1927)
• 2013 – David Hartman, American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, founded the Shalom Hartman Institute (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Stuart Hall, Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Naseer Aruri, Palestinian scholar and activist (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Deng Liqun, Chinese theorist and politician (b. 1915)
• 2016 – Fatima Surayya Bajia, Indian-Pakistani author and playwright (b. 1930)
• 2017 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman (b. 1929)
• 2019 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor (b. 1943)
• 2019 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor (b. 1944)
• 2021 – Larry Flynt, American publisher (b. 1942)
• 2022 – Olsen Filipaina, New Zealand rugby league player (b. 1957)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Austrebertha
  • Charalambos
  • José Sánchez del Río
  • Scholastica
  • February 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (Malta)
• Fenkil Day (Eritrea)
• Kurdish Authors Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
• National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (Italy)