On February 4th...

Independence Day (Sri Lanka)

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1617 Printer Louis Elzevir died.

1746 Tadeusz Kosciuszko, general in both the American and Polish revolutions, was born.

1789 The first U.S. Electoral College chose George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President.

1794 The French National Convention proclaimed the abolishment of slavery.

1802 Educator Mark Hopkins was born.

1847 The first telegraph company in the United States was established in Maryland.
1847 Businessman Adolph Coors was born.

1849 The University of Wisconsin opened.

1861 The Confederate States of America was formed by a temporary committee meeting at Montgomery, Alabama.

1887 The Interstate Commerce Commission was established by act of Congress.

1893 Raymond Arthur Dart, anatomist/physical anthropologist, was born.

1897 Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of West Germany, was born.

1899 The Philippine Rebellion against the United States began.

1902 Aviator Charles Lindbergh was born.

1903 The Montreal AAA defeated the Winnipeg Victorias to win the Stanley Cup.

1906 Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto, was born.

1913 The National Institute of Arts and Letters was founded.
1913 Civil rights activist Rosa Parks was born.

1917 Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan, was born.

1918 Actress Ida Lupino was born.

1921 Betty Friedan, founding member of the National Organization for Women, was born.

1922 Television news correspondent Bernard Kalb was born.

1925 Travel Air was incorporated in Wichita, Kansas.

1932 The 3rd Winter Olympic Games opened in Lake Placid, New York.

1938 Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released.

1940 Actor John Schuck was born.

1941 The United Service Organization was founded.

1945 The Yalta Conference began.
1945 Comedian David Brenner was born.

1947 American politician Dan Quayle was born.

1948 Ceylon declared its independence from the United Kingdom, as Sri Lanka.
1948 Rock singer Vincent Damon Furnier, aka Alice Cooper, was born.

1950 Rock musician Phil Ehart was born.

1962 Singer Clint Black was born.

1964 The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, banning poll taxes, was proclaimed.

1966 Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz implanted an artifical ventricle in a patient for the first time.

1970 The film Patton premiered in New York City, New York.

1971 The NASDAQ stock exchange was founded in New York City, New York.

1973 Boxer Oscar De La Hoya was born.

1974 Patricia Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

1976 The 12the Winter Olympic Games opened in Innsbruck, Austria.

1977 An elevated train derailed and fell onto a street in Chicago, Illinois, killing 11 persons and injuring 200.

1980 Studio 54 held its grand closing party.

1983 Singer Karen Carpenter died.

1987 The U. S. Stars & Stripes beat Australia's Kookaburra III to win the America's Cup.
1987 Entertainer Liberace died.

1997 Two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collided over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73 persons.

1998 A magnitude 6.1 earthquake killed more than 5,000 people in northeastern Afghanistan.

2000 Former U. S. Congressman Carl Bert Albert died.

2003 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro.

2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook.

2005 Actor Ossie Davis died.

2006 Betty Friedan, founding member of the National Organization for Women, died.

2007 The Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI.

2013 Twenty persons were killed when an apartment building in Aleppo, Syria,was struck by a rocket.
2013 A suicide bombing killed 22 persons and injured 44 in Taji, Iraq.

2014 Scotland legalized same-sex marriage.

2016 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell died.

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This page was last updated on February 05, 2019.