705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
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1632 – Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
It was a 1632 book by Galileo Galilei comparing the Copernican system with the traditional Ptolemaic system. The book was dedicated to Galileo’s patron, Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who received the first printed copy on February 22, 1632. In the Copernican system, the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, while in the Ptolemaic system, everything in the Universe circles around the Earth.
In 1633, Galileo was found to be “vehemently suspect of heresy” based on the book, which was then placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, from which it was not removed until 1835 (after the theories it discussed had been permitted in print in 1822). In an action that was not announced at the time, the publication of anything else he had written or ever might write was also banned in Catholic countries. (wiki)
1651 – St. Peter’s Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people. Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea in what today is mostly a large part of the Netherlands, including modern Friesland, and smaller parts of northern Germany.
1856 – The Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
1924 – Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House.
1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.
1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
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Andy Warhol
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1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
Births
1732 – George Washington, general and politician, first President of the United States (d. 1799)
1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
1956 – Hugh Hewitt, American lawyer, academic, and radio host
Deaths
1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)
1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
2002 – Chuck Jones, animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)