February 5

Events

• AD 62 - Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
• 756 - An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang Dynasty, declares himself emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
• 789 - Idris I reaches Volubilis and founds the Idrisid dynasty, ceding Morocco from the Abbasid caliphate and founding the first Moroccan state.
• 1576 - Henry of Navarre :wikt:abjure|abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
• 1597 - A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
• 1649 - Charles Stuart, the son of King Charles I, is declared King Charles II of England and Scotland by the Scottish Parliament.
• 1778 - South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
• 1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.
• 1783 - In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.
• 1807 - HMS Blenheim and HMS Java disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.
• 1810 - Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.
• 1818 - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
• 1849 - University of Wisconsin–Madison's first class meets at Madison Female Academy.
• 1852 - The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.
• 1859 - Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.
• 1862 - Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.
• 1869 - The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the "Welcome Stranger", is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.
• 1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
• 1905 - In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.
• 1907 - Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
• 1913 - Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
• 1917 - The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
• 1917 - The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.
• 1918 - Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.
• 1918 - is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
• 1919 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
• 1924 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
• 1933 - Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
• 1939 - Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th "Caudillo de España", or Leader of Spain.
• 1941 - World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
• 1945 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
• 1958 - Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• 1958 - A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
• 1962 - French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
• 1963 - The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.
• 1971 - Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
• 1975 - Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
• 1985 - Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
• 1988 - Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
• 1994 - Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
• 1994 - Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
• 1997 - The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
• 2000 - Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
• 2004 - Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
• 2008 - A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.
• 2020 - United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

  Births

• 976 - Sanjō, emperor of Japan
• 1321 - John II, marquess of Montferrat
• 1438 - Philip II, duke of Savoy
• 1505 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss statesman and historian
• 1519 - René of Châlon, prince of Orange
• 1525 - Juraj Drašković, Croatian Catholic cardinal
• 1533 - Andreas Dudith, Croatian-Hungarian nobleman and diplomat
• 1534 - Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian soldier, composer, and critic
• 1589 - Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet and educator
• 1594 - Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer
• 1605 - Bernard of Corleone, Italian saint
• 1608 - Gaspar Schott, German mathematician and physicist
• 1626 - Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author
• 1650 - Anne Jules de Noailles, French general
• 1703 - Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister
• 1723 - John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic
• 1725 - James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician
• 1748 - Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor
• 1788 - Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1795 - Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist
• 1804 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet and hymn-writer
• 1808 - Carl Spitzweg, German painter and poet
• 1810 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer
• 1827 - Peter Lalor, Irish-Australian activist and politician
• 1837 - Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers
• 1840 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber
• 1840 - Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun
• 1847 - Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver
• 1848 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic
• 1848 - Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean lieutenant
• 1852 - Terauchi Masatake, Japanese field marshal and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1866 - Domhnall Ua Buachalla, Irish politician, 3rd and last Governor-General of the Irish Free State
• 1870 - Charles Edmund Brock, British painter and book illustrator
• 1876 - Ernie McLea, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1878 - André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded Citroën
• 1880 - Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer
• 1889 - Patsy Hendren, English cricketer and footballer
• 1889 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer
• 1889 - Recep Peker, Turkish officer and politician
• 1891 - Renato Petronio, Italian rower
• 1892 - Elizabeth Ryan, American tennis player
• 1897 - Dirk Stikker, Dutch businessman and politician, 3rd Secretary General of NATO
• 1900 - Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1903 - Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations
• 1903 - Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist
• 1906 - John Carradine, American actor
• 1907 - Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician
• 1907 - Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, Prime Minister of France
• 1908 - Marie Baron, Dutch swimmer and diver
• 1908 - Peg Entwistle, Welsh-American actress
• 1908 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twins
• 1908 - Eugen Weidmann, German criminal
• 1909 - Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish violinist and composer
• 1910 - Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic
• 1910 - Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer
• 1911 - Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor
• 1914 - William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
• 1914 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist, biophysicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1915 - Robert Hofstadter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1917 - Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University
• 1917 - Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress
• 1919 - Red Buttons, American actor
• 1919 - Tim Holt, American actor
• 1919 - Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece
• 1921 - Ken Adam, German-born English production designer and art director
• 1923 - Claude King, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1923 - James E. Bowman, American physician and academic
• 1924 - Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal
• 1927 - Robert Allen, American pianist and composer
• 1927 - Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch captain and pilot
• 1928 - Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director
• 1928 - Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author
• 1928 - P. J. Vatikiotis, Israeli-American historian and political scientist
• 1929 - Hal Blaine, American session drummer
• 1929 - Luc Ferrari, French pianist and composer
• 1929 - Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician, 19th Chancellor of Austria
• 1932 - Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager
• 1933 - Jörn Donner, Finnish director and screenwriter
• 1933 - B. S. Johnson, English author, poet, and critic
• 1934 - Hank Aaron, American baseball player
• 1934 - Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1935 - Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1935 - Johannes Geldenhuys, South African military commander
• 1936 - K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic
• 1937 - Stuart Damon, American actor and singer
• 1937 - Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1937 - Gaston Roelants, Belgian runner
• 1937 - Alar Toomre, Estonian-American astronomer and mathematician
• 1937 - Wang Xuan, Chinese computer scientist and academic
• 1938 - Rafael Nieto Navia, Colombian lawyer, jurist, and diplomat
• 1939 - Brian Luckhurst, English cricketer
• 1940 - H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer
• 1940 - Luke Graham, American wrestler
• 1941 - Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1941 - Henson Cargill, American country music singer
• 1941 - David Selby, American actor and playwright
• 1941 - Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1941 - Kaspar Villiger, Swiss engineer and politician, 85th President of the Swiss Confederation
• 1941 - Cory Wells, American pop-rock singer
• 1942 - Roger Staubach, American football player, sportscaster, and businessman
• 1943 - Nolan Bushnell, American engineer and businessman, founded Atari, Inc.
• 1943 - Michael Mann, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1943 - Craig Morton, American football player and sportscaster
• 1943 - Dušan Uhrin, Czech and Slovak footballer and manager
• 1944 - J. R. Cobb, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1944 - Henfil, Brazilian journalist, author, and illustrator
• 1944 - Al Kooper, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1944 - Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 51st Yokozuna
• 1945 - Douglas Hogg, English lawyer and politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
• 1946 - Amnon Dankner, Israeli journalist and author
• 1946 - Charlotte Rampling, English actress
• 1947 - Mary L. Cleave, American engineer and astronaut
• 1947 - Clemente Mastella, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Justice
• 1947 - Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
• 1948 - Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager
• 1948 - Christopher Guest, American actor and director
• 1948 - Barbara Hershey, American actress
• 1948 - Errol Morris, American director and producer
• 1948 - Tom Wilkinson, English actor
• 1949 - Kurt Beck, German politician
• 1949 - Yvon Vallières, Canadian educator and politician
• 1950 - Jonathan Freeman, American actor and singer
• 1950 - Rafael Puente, Mexican footballer
• 1951 - Nikolay Merkushkin, Mordovian engineer and politician, 1st Head of the Republic of Mordovia
• 1952 - Daniel Balavoine, French singer-songwriter and producer
• 1952 - Vladimir Moskovkin, Ukrainian-Russian geographer, economist, and academic
• 1953 - Freddie Aguilar, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1953 - John Beilein, American basketball player and coach
• 1953 - Gustavo Benítez, Paraguayan footballer and manager
• 1954 - Cliff Martinez, American drummer and songwriter
• 1954 - Frank Walker, Australian journalist and author
• 1955 - Mike Heath, American baseball player and manager
• 1956 - Vinnie Colaiuta, American drummer
• 1956 - Héctor Rebaque, Mexican race car driver
• 1956 - David Wiesner, American author and illustrator
• 1956 - Mao Daichi, Japanese actress
• 1957 - Jüri Tamm, Estonian hammer thrower and politician
• 1959 - Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Michigan
• 1960 - Aris Christofellis, Greek soprano and musicologist
• 1960 - Bonnie Crombie, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 6th Mayor of Mississauga
• 1960 - Micky Hazard, English footballer, central midfielder
• 1961 - Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
• 1961 - Tim Meadows, American actor and screenwriter
• 1962 - Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress, screenwriter, producer and director
• 1963 - Steven Shainberg, American film director and producer
• 1964 - Laura Linney, American actress
• 1964 - Ha Seungmoo, Korean Poet, Pastor, Historical theologian
• 1964 - Duff McKagan, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
• 1965 - Tarik Benhabiles, Algerian-French tennis player and coach
• 1965 - Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer and manager
• 1965 - Keith Moseley, American bass player and songwriter
• 1965 - Quique Sánchez Flores, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1966 - José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
• 1966 - Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier
• 1967 - Chris Parnell, American actor and comedian
• 1968 - Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
• 1968 - Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
• 1969 - Bobby Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
• 1969 - Michael Sheen, Welsh actor and director
• 1969 - Derek Stephen Prince, American voice actor
• 1970 - Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
• 1970 - Darren Lehmann, Australian cricketer and coach
• 1971 - Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player
• 1971 - Sara Evans, American country singer
• 1972 - Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
• 1972 - Brad Fittler, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1973 - Richard Matvichuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1973 - Trijntje Oosterhuis, Dutch singer-songwriter
• 1973 - Luke Ricketson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1974 - Michael Maguire, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1975 - Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1976 - John Aloisi, Australian footballer and manager
• 1976 - Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
• 1977 - Ben Ainslie, English sailor
• 1977 - Adam Dykes, Australian rugby league player
• 1977 - Adam Everett, American baseball player and coach
• 1978 - Brian Russell, American football player
• 1978 - Samuel Sánchez, Spanish cyclist
• 1979 - Nate Holzapfel, American entrepreneur and television personality
• 1980 - Brad Fitzpatrick, American programmer, created LiveJournal
• 1980 - Jo Swinson, Scottish politician
• 1981 - Mia Hansen-Løve, French director and screenwriter
• 1981 - Loukas Vyntra, Czech-Greek footballer
• 1982 - Laura del Rio, Spanish footballer
• 1982 - Kevin Everett, American football player
• 1982 - Tomáš Kopecký, Slovak ice hockey player
• 1982 - Rodrigo Palacio, Argentinian footballer
• 1983 - Anja Hammerseng-Edin, Norwegian handball player
• 1984 - Carlos Tevez, Argentinian footballer
• 1985 - Lloyd Johansson, Australian rugby player
• 1985 - Laurence Maroney, American football player
• 1985 - Paul Vandervort, American actor, film producer, and former model
• 1985 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
• 1986 - Vedran Ćorluka, Croatian footballer, centre back
• 1986 - Marcos Díaz, Argentinian footballer
• 1986 - Kevin Gates, American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur
• 1986 - Sekope Kepu, Australian rugby player
• 1986 - Billy Sharp, English footballer
• 1986 - Reed Sorenson, American race car driver
• 1986 - Carlos Villanueva, Chilean footballer
• 1987 - Darren Criss, American actor, singer, and entrepreneur
• 1987 - Curtis Jerrells, American basketball player
• 1987 - Alex Kuznetsov, Ukrainian-American tennis player
• 1987 - Linus Omark, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1987 - Donald Sanford, American-Israeli sprinter
• 1988 - Karin Ontiveros, Mexican model
• 1989 - Marina Melnikova, Russian tennis player
• 1990 - Dmitry Andreikin, Russian chess player
• 1990 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer
• 1990 - Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer
• 1991 - Nabil Bahoui, Swedish footballer
• 1991 - Gerald Tusha, Albanian footballer
• 1992 - Stefan de Vrij, Dutch footballer
• 1992 - Neymar, Brazilian footballer
• 1993 - Leilani Latu, Australian rugby league player
• 1993 - Ty Rattie, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1995 - Adnan Januzaj, Belgian-Albanian footballer
• 1996 - Stina Blackstenius, Swedish footballer
• 1997 - Patrick Roberts, English footballer
• 2016 - Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese prince

  Deaths

• 523 - Avitus of Vienne, Gallo-Roman bishop
• 806 - Kanmu, emperor of Japan
• 994 - William IV, duke of Aquitaine
• 1015 - Adelaide, German abbess and saint
• 1036 - Alfred Aetheling, Anglo-Saxon prince
• 1146 - Zafadola, Arab emir of Zaragoza
• 1578 - Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian painter
• 1661 - Shunzhi, Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty
• 1705 - Philipp Spener, German theologian and author
• 1751 - Henri François d'Aguesseau, French jurist and politician, Chancellor of France
• 1754 - Nicolaas Kruik, Dutch astronomer and cartographer
• 1766 - Count Leopold Joseph von Daun, Austrian field marshal
• 1775 - Eusebius Amort, German theologian and academic
• 1790 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist
• 1807 - Pasquale Paoli, Corsican commander and politician
• 1818 - Charles XIII, king of Sweden
• 1881 - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher, historian, and academic
• 1882 - Adolfo Rivadeneyra, Spanish orientalist and diplomat
• 1892 - Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author
• 1915 - Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager
• 1917 - Jaber II Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler
• 1922 - Christiaan de Wet, South African general and politician, State President of the Orange Free State
• 1922 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian engineer, invented the mechanical pencil
• 1927 - Inayat Khan, Indian mystic and educator
• 1931 - Athanasios Eftaxias, Greek politician, 118th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1933 - Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician
• 1937 - Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author
• 1938 - Hans Litten, German lawyer and jurist
• 1941 - Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet
• 1941 - Otto Strandman, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Estonia
• 1946 - George Arliss, English actor and playwright
• 1948 - Johannes Blaskowitz, German general
• 1952 - Adela Verne, English pianist and composer
• 1954 - Hossein Sami'i, Iranian politician, diplomat, writer and poet
• 1955 - Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and author
• 1957 - Sami Ibrahim Haddad, Lebanese surgeon and author
• 1962 - Jacques Ibert, French-Swiss composer
• 1967 - Leon Leonwood Bean, American businessman, founded L.L.Bean
• 1969 - Thelma Ritter, American actress
• 1970 - Rudy York, American baseball player, coach, and manager
• 1971 - Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer
• 1972 - Marianne Moore, American poet, author, critic, and translator
• 1976 - Rudy Pompilli, American saxophonist
• 1977 - Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist and academic
• 1981 - Ella T. Grasso, American politician, 83rd Governor of Connecticut
• 1982 - Neil Aggett, Kenyan-South African physician and union leader
• 1983 - Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American chemist and academic
• 1987 - William Collier, Jr., American actor and producer
• 1989 - Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer
• 1991 - Dean Jagger, American actor
• 1992 - Miguel Rolando Covian, Argentinian-Brazilian physiologist and academic
• 1993 - Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health
• 1993 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1993 - William Pène du Bois, American author and illustrator
• 1995 - Doug McClure, American actor
• 1997 - Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France
• 1997 - René Huyghe, French historian and author
• 1998 - Tim Kelly, American guitarist
• 1999 - Wassily Leontief, Russian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 2000 - Claude Autant-Lara, French director and screenwriter
• 2004 - John Hench, American animator
• 2005 - Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Togolese general and politician, President of Togo
• 2005 - Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist
• 2006 - Norma Candal, Puerto Rican-American actress
• 2007 - Leo T. McCarthy, New Zealand-American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California
• 2007 - Alfred Worm, Austrian journalist, author, and academic
• 2008 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation
• 2010 - Brendan Burke, Canadian ice hockey player and activist
• 2010 - Harry Schwarz, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid leader, and diplomat, 13th South Africa Ambassador to United States
• 2011 - Brian Jacques, English author and radio host
• 2011 - Peggy Rea, American actress and casting director
• 2012 - Sam Coppola, American actor
• 2012 - Al De Lory, American keyboard player, conductor, and producer
• 2012 - John Turner Sargent, Sr., American publisher
• 2012 - Jo Zwaan, Dutch sprinter
• 2013 - Reinaldo Gargano, Uruguayan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Uruguay
• 2013 - Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer and conductor
• 2013 - Tom McGuigan, New Zealand soldier and politician, 23rd New Zealand Minister of Health
• 2014 - Robert A. Dahl, American political scientist and academic
• 2015 - K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka
• 2015 - Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress and singer
• 2015 - Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 2015 - Herman Rosenblat, Polish-American author
• 2016 - Ciriaco Cañete, Filipino martial artist
• 2020 - Kirk Douglas, American actor

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• * Adelaide of Vilich
• * Agatha of Sicily
• * Avitus of Vienne
• * Bertulf of Renty
• * Ingenuinus
• * Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson
• * Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan
• * February 5
• Constitution Day
• Crown Princess Mary's birthday
• Kashmir Solidarity Day
• Liberation Day
• Runeberg's Birthday
• Unity Day