February 4: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 330 days remaining, (331 in leap years).

Events

• 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
• 1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederacy sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
• 1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
• 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America.
• 1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
• 1792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
• 1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
• 1801 - John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1810 - British Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
• 1859 - Codex Sinaiticus discovered in Egypt.
• 1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.
• 1862 - Bacardi, one of the world's largest spirits company, is founded as a small distillery in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba.
• 1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.
• 1915 - Germany establishes a submarine blockade around the UK and declares any vessel in it a legitimate target.
• 1927 - The first talkie is released - The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson.
• 1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
• 1932 - 1932 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
• 1932 - Asteroid 1239 Queteleta discovered by Eugène Joseph Delporte.
• 1934 - Asteroid 2824 Franke discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth.
• 1936 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
• 1938 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
• 1938 - Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938.
• 1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
• 1943 - Battle of Stalingrad ends.
• 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference.
• 1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
• 1957 - USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, logs her 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
• 1960 - Lorraine, Quebec is founded.
• 1962 - Ian Fleming's The Living Daylights first published
• 1966 - All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133
• 1968 - Bowie Kuhn becomes the fifth commissioner of Major League Baseball, replacing William Eckert
• 1969 - Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
• 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
• 1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
• 1976 - 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria.
• 1977 - Fleetwood Mac releases one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Rumours.
• 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
• 1984 - The Youth of the Left Socialists (VSU) founded in Denmark.
• 1991 - The Baseball Hall of Fame votes to ban Pete Rose.
• 1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F. (-32°C)
• 1997 - O. J. Simpson is found to be civilly liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
• 1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
• 1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
• 1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
• 1999 - Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.
• 1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, enflaming race-relations in the city.
• 2000 - USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) launched.
• 2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
• 2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.

• 1575 - Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1629)
• 1620 - Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)
• 1646 - Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d. 1699)
• 1677 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)
• 1688 - Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d. 1763)
• 1725 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
• 1778 - Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
• 1840 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American weapons inventor (d. 1916)
• 1841 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (d. 1926)
• 1842 - Arrigo Boito, Italian poet and composer (d. 1918)
• 1846 - Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)
• 1849 - Jean Richepin, French poet
• 1871 - Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor and President of Germany (d. 1925)
• 1873 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
• 1875 - Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
• 1881 - Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
• 1892 - Prince George I, Duke of Westrogothia (d. 1971)
• 1892 - Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)
• 1897 - Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1977)
• 1902 - Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (d. 1974)
• 1902 - Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
• 1904 - MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d. 1977)
• 1906 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)
• 1906 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
• 1908 - Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)
• 1912 - Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
• 1912 - Byron Nelson, American golfer
• 1913 - Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
• 1914 - Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)
• 1915 - William Talman, American actor (1968)
• 1915 - Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian
• 1917 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
• 1918 - Janet Waldo, American actress
• 1921 - Betty Friedan, American feminist
• 1921 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
• 1923 - Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor
• 1925 - Russell Hoban, American writer
• 1931 - Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón
• 1935 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
• 1936 - David Brenner, American comedian
• 1936 - Gary Conway, American actor
• 1940 - George Romero, American screenwriter, producer, and director
• 1940 - John Schuck, American actor
• 1943 - Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
• 1947 - Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States
• 1948 - Alice Cooper, American musician
• 1949 - Michael Beck, American actor
• 1950 - Pamela Franklin, British actress
• 1951 - Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
• 1953 - Kitaro, Japanese composer
• 1957 - Don Davis, American composer
• 1958 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
• 1959 - Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
• 1959 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player
• 1960 - Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)
• 1961 - Stewart O'Nan, American author
• 1962 - Clint Black, American musician
• 1963 - Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
• 1964 - Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
• 1967 - Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
• 1968 - Marko Matvere, Estonian actor
• 1969 - Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (Our Lady Peace)
• 1970 - Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
• 1971 - Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian
• 1972 - Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 - Oscar De La Hoya, Mexican-born boxer
• 1975 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress
• 1987 - Lucie Safarová, Czech tennis player
• 1988 - Carly Patterson, American gymnast

• 211 - Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (b. 146)
• 708 - Pope Sisinnius
• 784 - Hrabanus Maurus, German poet
• 856 - Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz
• 869 - Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)
• 1590 - Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (b. 1517)
• 1615 - Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
• 1694 - Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)
• 1713 - Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politican and philosopher (b. 1671)
• 1774 - Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
• 1781 - Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)
• 1894 - Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker (b. 1814)
• 1905 - Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)
• 1928 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
• 1933 - Archibald Sayce, English educator (b. 1846)
• 1936 - Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
• 1944 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)
• 1944 - Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (b. 1872)
• 1958 - Henry Kuttner, American author (b. 1915)
• 1968 - Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
• 1968 - Gilbert H. Grosvenor, American president of the National Geographic Society (b. 1875)
• 1969 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1974 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)
• 1975 - Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
• 1977 - Brett Halliday, American writer (b. 1904)
• 1983 - Karen Carpenter, American singer and musician (Carpenters) (anorexia) (b. 1950)
• 1984 - Anna Anderson, claimant to the throne of Russia
• 1987 - Liberace, American musician (b. 1919)
• 1987 - Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b. 1902)
• 1992 - Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)
• 1995 - Godfrey Brown, British athlete and teacher (b. 1915)
• 1995 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (b. 1921)
• 2000 - Carl Albert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
• 2000 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (b. 1941)
• 2001 - J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b. 1924)
• 2001 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek-born composer (b. 1922)
• 2005 - Ossie Davis, American actor (b. 1917)

• Ancient Latvia - Biezputras Diena observed
• Saint Paul of Tarsus
• Independence Day in Sri Lanka (1948)

• Angolan Anniversary of the Outbreak of Armed Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism

February 3 - February 5 - January 4 - March 4 -- listing of all days