February 6 - Definition and Overview

February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 328 days remaining, 329 in leap years.

Events

300-1899

• 337 - Julius I is elected pope.
• 1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
• 1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1806 - Royal Navy victory off Santo Domingo - Action of 6 February 1806.
• 1815 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.
• 1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
• 1820 - The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society established a settlement in present-day Liberia
• 1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.
• 1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
• 1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee.
• 1899 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris (1898), a peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.

1900-1999

• 1900 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• 1922 - Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI.
• 1922 - The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
• 1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
• 1936 - 1936 Winter Olympic Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• 1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse in a tree-top hotel in Kenya.
• 1958 - Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster in Germany, which killed eight of his teammates with Manchester United F.C.
• 1959 - Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.
• 1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
• 1968 - 1968 Winter Olympic Games open in Grenoble, France.
• 1978 - The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
• 1985 - Steve Wozniak leaves Apple Computer.
• 1996 - A Turkish Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Dominican Republic killing 189
• 1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

2000-2099

• 2004 - In Russia, a suicide-attack in a Moscow metro kills 40 commuters, and injures a hundred and twenty-nine. The blast is blamed on Chechen separatist groups.
• 2005 - Super Bowl XXXIX: The New England Patriots win their third title in four years by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.

Births

1500-1899

• 1564 - Christopher Marlowe, playwright (d. 1593)
• 1665 - Queen Anne I of the United Kingdom (d. 1714)
• 1748 - Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati (d. 1811)
• 1756 - Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
• 1833 - JEB Stuart, Confederate general (d. 1864)
• 1834 - Ema Puksec AKA Ilma de Murska Croat opera singer (d. 1889)
• 1853 - Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovene physicist (+ 1901)
• 1887 - Josef Frings, archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
• 1889 - Elmo Lincoln, actor (d. 1952)
• 1894 - Eric Partridge, lexicographer (d. 1979)
• 1895 - Babe Ruth, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1948)
• 1899 - Ramon Novarro, actor (d. 1968)

1900-1949

• 1902 - George Brunies, jazz musician (d. 1974)
• 1903 - Claudio Arrau, pianist (d. 1991)
• 1910 - Irmgard Keun, author (d. 1982)
• 1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
• 1912 - Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress (d. 1945)
• 1913 - Mary Leakey, anthropologist (d. 1996)
• 1914 - Thurl Ravenscroft, voice-over actor ("Tony the Tiger")
• 1917 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress
• 1918 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, author
• 1922 - Patrick Macnee, actor
• 1926 - Haskell Wexler, cinematographer
• 1929 - Pierre Brice, actor
• 1931 - Rip Torn, actor, director
• 1932 - François Truffaut, film director (d. 1984)
• 1939 - Mike Farrell, actor
• 1940 - Tom Brokaw, news anchorman
• 1943 - Fabian Forte, singer
• 1945 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician, (d. 1981)
• 1946 - Jim Turner, American politician

1950-1999

• 1950 - Natalie Cole, singer
• 1951 - Princess Daphné of Belgium
• 1954 - Argusto Emfazie, occultist, author
• 1957 - Kathy Najimy, actress, comedian
• 1957 - Robert Townsend, comedian, actor, director, producer
• 1962 - Axl Rose, musician ("Guns N'Roses")
• 1975 - Svend-Allan Sørensen, Danish conceptual artist
• 1976 - Kim Zmeskal, U.S. gymnast

Deaths

1600-1899

• 1617 - Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b. 1553)
• 1685 - King Charles II of England (b. 1630)
• 1740 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
• 1793 - Carlo Goldoni, playwright (b. 1707)
• 1855 - Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1791)

1900-1999

• 1916 - Rubén Darío, writer
• 1918 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862)
• 1952 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
• 1976 - Vince Guaraldi, musician (b. 1928)
• 1986 - Minoru Yamasaki, architect (b. 1912)
• 1989 - Roy Eldridge, jazz musician (b. 1911)
• 1989 - Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the GDR border
• 1989 - Barbara Tuchman, historian (b. 1912)
• 1991 - Danny Thomas, singer, comedia, actor (b. 1914)
• 1993 - Arthur Ashe, tennis star (b. 1943)
• 1993 - Joseph Mankiewicz, director, producer, writer
• 1994 - Joseph Cotten, actor (b. 1905)
• 1994 - Jack Kirby, comic book writer (b. 1917)
• 1995 - James Merrill, poet (b. 1926)
• 1996 - Guy Madison, actor
• 1998 - Falco, singer (b. 1957)
• 1998 - Carl Wilson, musician ("The Beach Boys")

2000-2099

• 2002 - Max Perutz, scientist (b. 1914)
• 2002 - Guy Stockwell, actor

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of Saint Paul Miki and companions
• National holiday for the Sami people
• Waitangi day - New Zealand

February 5 - February 7 - January 6 - March 6 -- listing of all days