February 21
February 21 this yearin various calendars Akan Monomemene Armenian 6 Areg 1475 Aztec Tecuilhuitontli 2, 4 Itzcuintli Babylonian 3 Shabatu, 2336 SE Balinese pawukon Luang, Pepet, Kajeng, Laba, Wage, Maulu, Saniscara of Parangbakat, Brahma, Gigis, Duka Bengali 8 Falgun , BS 1432 Chinese Yang Fire Tiger ・Stomach Mansion Fire Horse Year, Month 1 , Day 5Yushui , 12 days until Jingzhe )Common Era 21 February 2026 CE Coptic 14 Meshir , AM 1742Egyptian 11 Epiphi , 2774 NE Ethiopian 14 Yakātit, 2018 Amätä Məhrät French Republican Décade I, Tridi de Ventôse de l'Année 234 de la République Gregorian 21 February , AD 2026 Hebrew 4 Adar , AM 5786 Hindu Revatī ・Śubha Phālguna , 1947 SE Caturthī , Śukla pakṣa of Phālguna , 2082 VE Rāudra ・5126 KY ・1,872,627 Icelandic Laugardagur, 30 Þorri 2025 Islamic 4 Ramadan , AH 1447tabular method ) ISO week date 2026-W08-6 Japanese 5 Mutsuki , Reiwa 8Usui , 12 days until Keichitsu ) Julian 8 February , AD 2026 (AM 7534)Julian day 2461093 Korean 5 Horangidal , 4359 DE Maya 13.0.13.6.10 8 Kayab , 4 Oc Roman ante diem VI Idus Februarias , MMDCCLXXIX AUC Solar Hijri 2 Esfand , SH 1404 Tibetan 4 mchu, me pho rta
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Day of the year
February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar ; 313 days remain until the end of the year (314 in leap years ).
Events
1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly , beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia .1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invade Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen . They were defeated by 500 British reservists.1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War , in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah .1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine .1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto 1861 – Mariehamn , the capital city of Åland , is founded.1862 – American Civil War : Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory .1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune 1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut .1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons , fights an Irishman, Peter Maher , in an American promoted event which technically takes place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing .1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars .1916 – World War I : In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo .1919 – German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated . His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich , Germany.1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.1921 – Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup .
1925 – The New Yorker 1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers " in the Spanish Civil War .1945 – World War II : During the Battle of Iwo Jima , Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga .1945 – World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front .
1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera ", the Polaroid Land Camera , to a meeting of the Optical Society of America .1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill , abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".1952 – The Bengali language movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ).
1958 – The CND symbol, aka peace symbol , commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment , is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom .1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna .1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations .1972 – The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
1973 – Over the Sinai Desert , Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt .1975 – Watergate scandal : Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.1994 – Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia .1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan , Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon .2013 – At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad .2022 – In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine , and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations .Births
1609 – Raimondo Montecuccoli , Italian military commander (died 1680)1621 – Rebecca Nurse , Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (died 1692)1705 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke , English admiral and politician (died 1781)1728 – Peter III of Russia (died 1762)1783 – Catharina of Württemberg (died 1835)1788 – Francis Ronalds , British scientist, inventor and engineer who was knighted for developing the first working electric telegraph (died 1873)1791 – Carl Czerny , Austrian pianist and composer (died 1857)1794 – Antonio López de Santa Anna , Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (died 1876)1801 – John Henry Newman , English cardinal (died 1890)1817 – José Zorrilla , Spanish poet and playwright (died 1893)1821 – Charles Scribner I , American publisher, founded Charles Scribner's Sons (died 1871)1836 – Léo Delibes , French pianist and composer (died 1891)1844 – Charles-Marie Widor , French organist and composer (died 1937)1860 – Goscombe John , Welsh-English sculptor and academic (died 1952)1865 – John Haden Badley , English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (died 1967)1867 – Otto Hermann Kahn , German banker and philanthropist (died 1934)1875 – Jeanne Calment , French super-centenarian, oldest verified person ever (died 1997)1878 – Mirra Alfassa , French-Indian spiritual leader (died 1973)1881 – Kenneth J. Alford , English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (died 1945)1885 – Sacha Guitry , Russian-French actor, director, and playwright (died 1957)1887 – Korechika Anami , Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of War (died 1945)1888 – Clemence Dane , English author and playwright (died 1965)1892 – Harry Stack Sullivan , American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (died 1949)1893 – Celia Lovsky , Austrian-American actress (died 1979)1893 – Andrés Segovia , Spanish guitarist (died 1987)
1894 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar , Indian chemist and academic (died 1955)1895 – Henrik Dam , Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976)1896 – Nirala , Indian poet and author (died 1961)1900 – Jeanne Aubert , French singer and actress (died 1988)1902 – Arthur Nock , English theologian and academic (died 1963)1903 – Anaïs Nin , French-American essayist and memoirist (died 1977)1903 – Raymond Queneau , French poet and author (died 1976)
1907 – W. H. Auden , English-American poet, playwright, and composer (died 1973)1909 – Hans Erni , Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (died 2015)1910 – Douglas Bader , English fighter pilot in World War II (died 1982)1912 – Arline Judge , American actress and singer (died 1974)1914 – Ilmari Juutilainen , Finnish soldier and pilot (died 1999)1914 – Zachary Scott , American actor (died 1965)
1914 – Jean Tatlock , American psychiatrist and physician (died 1944)
1915 – Claudia Jones , Trinidad-British journalist and activist (died 1964)1915 – Ann Sheridan , American actress and singer (died 1967)
1915 – Anton Vratuša , Prime Minister of Slovenia (died 2017)
1917 – Lucille Bremer , American actress and dancer (died 1996)1917 – Tadd Dameron , American pianist and composer (died 1965)
1921 – Zdeněk Miler , Czech animator (died 2011)1921 – John Rawls , American philosopher and academic (died 2002)
1921 – Richard T. Whitcomb , American aeronautical engineer (died 2009)
1924 – Dorothy Blum , American computer scientist and cryptanalyst (died 1980)1924 – Thelma Estrin , American computer scientist and engineer (died 2014)
1924 – Robert Mugabe , Zimbabwean educator and politician, 2nd President of Zimbabwe (died 2019)
1925 – Sam Peckinpah , American director and screenwriter (died 1984)1925 – Jack Ramsay , American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2014)
1927 – Erma Bombeck , American journalist and author (died 1996)1929 – Chespirito , Mexican actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2014)1933 – Bob Rafelson , American film director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2022)1933 – Nina Simone , American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2003)
1934 – Rue McClanahan , American actress (died 2010)1935 – Richard A. Lupoff , American author (died 2020)1935 – Mark McManus , Scottish actor (died 1994)
1936 – Barbara Jordan , American lawyer and politician (died 1996)1937 – Ron Clarke , Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (died 2015)1937 – Harald V of Norway , King of Norway (died 2026)
1937 – Gary Lockwood , American actor
1938 – Bobby Charles , American singer-songwriter (died 2010)1938 – Anja Hatakka , Finnish actress and beauty pageant competitor (died 2026)
1940 – Peter Gethin , English racing driver (died 2011)1940 – John Lewis , American activist and politician (died 2020)
1942 – Tony Martin , Trinidadian-American historian and academic (died 2013)1942 – Margarethe von Trotta , German actress, director, and screenwriter
1943 – David Geffen , American businessman, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records 1945 – Maurice Bembridge , English golfer (died 2024)1946 – Tyne Daly , American actress and singer1946 – Anthony Daniels , English actor and producer
1946 – Alan Rickman , English actor and director (died 2016)
1946 – Bob Ryan , American journalist and author
1947 – Johnny Echols , American singer-songwriter and guitarist1947 – Olympia Snowe , American politician
1949 – Frank Brunner , American illustrator1949 – Jerry Harrison , American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1949 – Ronnie Hellström , Swedish footballer (died 2022)
1950 – Sahle-Work Zewde , Ethiopian politician and diplomat, 5th President of Ethiopia 1951 – Vince Welnick , American keyboard player (died 2006)1952 – Jean-Jacques Burnel , English bass player, songwriter, and producer1952 – Vitaly Churkin , Russian diplomat, former Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations (died 2017)
1953 – Christine Ebersole , American actress and singer1953 – William Petersen , American actor and producer
1954 – Christina Rees , British politician1955 – Kelsey Grammer , American actor, singer, and producer1958 – Jake Burns , Northern Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Kim Coates , Canadian-American actor
1958 – Jack Coleman , American actor
1958 – Alan Trammell , American baseball player, coach, and manager
1959 – José María Cano , Spanish singer-songwriter and painter1960 – Plamen Oresharski , Bulgarian economist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1961 – Christopher Atkins , American actor and businessman1961 – Elliot Hirshman , American psychologist and academic
1962 – Chuck Palahniuk , American novelist and journalist1962 – David Foster Wallace , American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 2008)
1963 – William Baldwin , American actor1963 – Ranking Roger , English singer-songwriter and musician (died 2019)
1963 – Greg Turner , New Zealand golfer
1964 – Mark Kelly , American astronaut and politician1964 – Scott Kelly , American astronaut
1965 – Mark Ferguson , Australian journalist1967 – Leroy Burrell , American runner and coach1967 – Sari Essayah , Finnish athlete and politician
1969 – James Dean Bradfield , Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist1969 – Aunjanue Ellis , American actress and producer
1969 – Petra Kronberger , Austrian skier
1969 – Tony Meola , American soccer player and manager
1969 – Cathy Richardson , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Michael Slater , Australian cricketer and sportscaster1971 – Pierre Fulke , Swedish golfer1973 – Heri Joensen , Faroese singer-songwriter and guitarist1973 – Brian Rolston , American ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Iván Campo , Spanish footballer1975 – Scott Miller , Australian swimmer1976 – Michael McIntyre , English comedian, actor and television presenter1976 – Ryan Smyth , Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Steve Francis , American basketball player1977 – Rhiannon Giddens , American musician
1978 – Erick Barkley , American basketball player1979 – Tituss Burgess , American actor and singer1979 – Carlito , Puerto Rican wrestler
1979 – Pascal Chimbonda , Guadeloupean-French footballer
1979 – Jennifer Love Hewitt , American actress and producer
1979 – Jordan Peele , American actor, comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter
1980 – Brad Fast , Canadian ice hockey player1980 – Tiziano Ferro , Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1980 – Brendan Sexton III , American actor
1980 – Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck , 5th King of Bhutan
1981 – Tsuyoshi Wada , Japanese baseball player1982 – Andre Barrett , American basketball player1982 – Chantal Claret , American singer-songwriter
1982 – Tebogo Jacko Magubane , South African DJ and producer
1983 – Braylon Edwards , American football player1983 – Franklin Gutiérrez , Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Mélanie Laurent , French actress
1984 – Andrew Ellis , New Zealand rugby player1984 – David Odonkor , German footballer
1984 – Marco Paoloni , Italian footballer
1984 – James Wisniewski , American ice hockey player
1985 – Georgios Samaras , Greek footballer1986 – Charlotte Church , Welsh singer-songwriter and actress1987 – Eniola Aluko , English footballer1987 – Ashley Greene , American actress
1987 – Elliot Page , Canadian actor
1988 – Donté Greene , American basketball player1989 – Corbin Bleu , American actor, model, dancer, film producer and singer-songwriter1989 – Ian Cole , American ice hockey player
1989 – Federico Fernández , Argentine footballer
1989 – Jake Muzzin , Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Mattias Tedenby , Swedish ice hockey player1991 – Joe Alwyn , English actor1991 – Riyad Mahrez , Algerian footballer
1991 – Ji So-yun , South Korean footballer
1991 – Solar , South Korean singer, songwriter and actress
1991 – Devon Travis , American baseball player
1992 – Phil Jones , English footballer1993 – Steve Leo Beleck , Cameroonian footballer1993 – Davy Klaassen , Dutch footballer
1994 – Tang Haochen , Chinese tennis player1994 – Hayley Orrantia , American actress and singer-songwriter
1994 – Wendy , South Korean singer
1996 – Noah Rubin , American tennis player1996 – Sophie Turner , English actress
1999 – Metawin Opas-iamkajorn , Thai actor and singer2007 – Leeseo , South Korean singerDeaths
Pre-1600
4 AD – Gaius Caesar , Roman consul and grandson of Augustus (born 20 BC)675 – Randoald of Grandval , prior of the Benedictine monastery of Grandval 1184 – Minamoto no Yoshinaka , Japanese shōgun (born 1154)1211 – Aymon de Briançon , archbishop of Tarentaise and crusader1267 – Baldwin of Ibelin, Seneschal of Cyprus 1437 – James I of Scotland (born 1394; assassinated)1471 – Jan Rokycana , Czech bishop and theologian (born 1396)1513 – Pope Julius II (born 1443)1543 – Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi , Somali general (born 1507)1554 – Hieronymus Bock , German botanist and physician (born 1498)1572 – Cho Sik , Korean poet and scholar (born 1501)1590 – Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick , English nobleman and general (born 1528)1595 – Robert Southwell , English priest and poet (born 1561)1677 – Baruch Spinoza , Dutch philosopher and scholar (born 1632)1715 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore , English politician (born 1637)1730 – Pope Benedict XIII (born 1649)1821 – Georg Friedrich von Martens , German jurist and diplomat (born 1756)1824 – Eugène de Beauharnais , French general (born 1781)1829 – Kittur Chennamma , Indian queen and freedom fighter (born 1778)1846 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (born 1800)1862 – Justinus Kerner , German poet and physician (born 1786)1888 – William Weston , English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Tasmania (born 1804)1891 – James Timberlake , American lieutenant and police officer (born 1846)1918 – Incas , last known Carolina parakeet (hatched fl. 18851919 – Kurt Eisner , German journalist and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (born 1867)1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes , Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853)1934 – Augusto César Sandino , Nicaraguan rebel leader (born 1895)1938 – George Ellery Hale , American astronomer and academic (born 1868)1941 – Frederick Banting , Canadian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891)1944 – Ferenc Szisz , Hungarian-French racing driver (born 1873)1945 – Eric Liddell , Scottish rugby player and runner (born 1902)1946 – José Streel , Belgian journalist (born 1911)1947 – Fannie Charles Dillon , American composer (born 1881)1958 – Duncan Edwards , English footballer (born 1936)1965 – Malcolm X , American minister and activist (born 1925)1967 – Charles Beaumont , American author and screenwriter (born 1929)1968 – Howard Florey , Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898)1972 – Zhang Guohua , Chinese general and politician (born 1914)1972 – Bronislava Nijinska , Russian-American dancer and choreographer (born 1891)
1972 – Eugène Tisserant , French cardinal (born 1884)
1974 – Tim Horton , Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, co-founded Tim Hortons (born 1930)1980 – Alfred Andersch , German-Swiss author (born 1914)1982 – Gershom Scholem , German-Israeli historian and philosopher (born 1897)1984 – Mikhail Sholokhov , Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905)1985 – Louis Hayward , South African-American actor (born 1909)1986 – Helen Hooven Santmyer , American novelist (born 1895)1991 – Dorothy Auchterlonie Green , Australian poet, critic, and academic (born 1915)1991 – Nutan , Indian actress (born 1936)
1993 – Inge Lehmann , Danish seismologist and geophysicist (born 1888)1994 – Johannes Steinhoff , German general and pilot (born 1913)1995 – Robert Bolt , English dramatist (born 1924)1996 – Morton Gould , American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1913)1999 – Gertrude B. Elion , American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)1999 – Ilmari Juutilainen , Finnish soldier and pilot (born 1914)
1999 – Wilmer Mizell , American baseball player and politician (born 1930)
2002 – John Thaw , English actor and producer (born 1942)2004 – John Charles , Welsh footballer and manager (born 1931)2005 – Guillermo Cabrera Infante , Cuban author, screenwriter, and critic (born 1929)2005 – Zdzisław Beksiński , Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor (born 1929)
2008 – Ben Chapman , American actor (born 1928)2011 – Dwayne McDuffie , American author and screenwriter, co-founded Milestone Media (born 1962)2011 – Bernard Nathanson , American physician and activist (born 1926)
2012 – H. M. Darmstandler , American general (born 1922)2013 – Hasse Jeppson , Swedish footballer (born 1925)2014 – Héctor Maestri , Cuban-American baseball player (born 1935)2014 – Matthew Robinson , Australian snowboarder (born 1985)
2014 – Cornelius Schnauber , German–American historian, playwright, and academic (born 1939)
2015 – Aleksei Gubarev , Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (born 1931)2015 – Sadeq Tabatabaei , Iranian journalist and politician (born 1943)
2015 – Clark Terry , American trumpet player, composer, and educator (born 1920)
2016 – Eric Brown , Scottish-English captain and pilot (born 1919)2017 – Jeanne Martin Cissé , Guinean teacher and politician (born 1926)2018 – Billy Graham , American evangelist (born 1918)2019 – Stanley Donen , American film director (born 1924)2019 – Peter Tork , American musician and actor (born 1942)
2021 – Mireya Arboleda , Colombian classical pianist (born 1928)2021 – Kevin Dann , Australian rugby league player (born 1958)
2024 – John Bahnsen , United States Army brigadier general and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War (born 1934)2025 – Clint Hill , American Secret Service agent (born 1932)2025 – Lynne Marie Stewart , American actress (born 1946)
2026 – Rondale Moore , American football player (born 2000)