On this day in history

February 13

29 births · 12 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

1988 Winter Olympics

38 years ago

Born this day

1766

Thomas Robert Malthus

Died aged 68

Photo (modified): John Linnell · CC BY 4.0

Oldest record

694th

Andronikos II Palaiologos

death anniversary

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Famous births29

1457 · 569 yrs

Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy (French: Marie de Bourgogne; Dutch: Maria van Bourgondië; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy, and ruler in her own right (suo jure) over much of the Valois-Burgundian lands, from 1477 to 1482.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsDied aged 25

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown Unknown , French School · Public domain

1599 · 427 yrs

Alexander VII

Pope Alexander VII (Italian: Alessandro VII; 13 February 1599 – 22 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death, in May 1667. He began his career as a vice-papal legate, and he held various diplomatic positions in the Holy See.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Giovanni Battista Gaulli · Public domain

1766 · 260 yrs

Thomas Robert Malthus

Thomas Robert Malthus (13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, Christian priest, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): John Linnell · CC BY 4.0

1805 · 221 yrs

Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet

Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (German:; 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's Last Theorem and created analytic number theory.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1835 · 191 yrs

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Markazan-e-Tasaweer · Public domain

1855 · 171 yrs

Paul Deschanel

Paul Eugène Louis Deschanel (French:; 13 February 1855 – 28 April 1922) was a French politician who served as President of France from 18 February to 21 September 1920. Seven months into his presidency, he was ousted due to mental illness and was succeeded by his prime minister, Alexandre Millerand.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 67

View profile Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1871 · 155 yrs

Lesya Ukrainka

Lesya Ukrainka (Ukrainian: Леся Українка, romanized: Lesia Ukrainka, pronounced; born Larysa Petrivna Kosach, Ukrainian: Лариса Петрівна Косач; 25 February 1871 – 1 August 1913) was one of Ukrainian literature's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 42

View profile Photo (modified): Johann Krzanowski · Public domain

1879 · 147 yrs

Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay; Bengali pronunciation:; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of United Provinces, after India's independence. She played an important role in the Indian independence movement against the British Raj.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 147

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1881 · 145 yrs

Alexei Rykov

Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (25 February 1881 – 15 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 145

View profile Photo (modified): Agence de presse Meurisse. Agence photographique (commanditaire) · Public domain

1885 · 141 yrs

Bess Truman

Elizabeth Virginia Truman (née Wallace; February 13, 1885 – October 18, 1982) was First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953 as the wife of President Harry S. Truman. She had previously served as Second Lady of the United States from January to April 1945.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): Harris & Ewing · Public domain

1891 · 135 yrs

Grant Wood

Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 – February 12, 1942) was an American artist and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic (1930), which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century American art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 135

View profile Photo (modified): Grant Wood · Public domain

1903 · 123 yrs

Georges Simenon

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (French:; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): Studio Harcourt. · Public domain

Showing 12 of 29

Famous deaths12

1332 · 694 yrs

Andronikos II Palaiologos

Andronikos II Palaiologos (Byzantine Greek: Ἀνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, romanized: Andrónikos Doúkās Ángelos Komnēnós Palaiológos; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 72

View profile Photo (modified): PHGCOM · CC BY-SA 4.0

1571 · 455 yrs

Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini (Italian:; 3 November 1500 – 13 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Creator:Carlone Giovanni · Public domain

1660 · 366 yrs

Charles X Gustav of Sweden

Charles X Gustav, also Carl X Gustav (Swedish: Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death in 1660. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine (Pfalzgraf) of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, and Catherine of Sweden (daughter of King Charles IX of Sweden).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 37

View profile Photo (modified): Sébastien Bourdon · Public domain

1662 · 364 yrs

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. The couple's selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the political and religious turmoil that set off the Thirty Years' War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Unidentified painter · Public domain

1787 · 239 yrs

Ruđer Josip Bošković

Roger Joseph Boscovich (18 May 1711 – 13 February 1787) was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa. He studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1883 · 143 yrs

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( VAHG-nər; German:; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas, although his mature works are often referred to as music dramas.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Franz Hanfstaengl · Public domain

1967 · 59 yrs

Forugh Farrokhzad

Forugh Farrokhzad (Persian: فروغ فرخزاد; 29 December 1934 – 14 February 1967) was an influential Iranian poet and film director. She was a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclastic, feminist author.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 91

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown photographer · Public domain

2016 · 10 yrs

Antonin Scalia

Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual anchor for the originalist and textualist position in the Court's conservative wing.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LawWould be 90

View profile Photo (modified): Steve Petteway, photographer, Supreme Court of the United States [1] (See [2] ) · Public domain

2017 · 9 yrs

Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-nam (Korean: 김정남, Korean:; 10 May 1971 – 13 February 2017) was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 55

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2018 · 8 yrs

Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark

Prince Henrik of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (Danish:; born Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat; 11 June 1934 – 13 February 2018) was the husband of Margrethe II of Denmark. He served as her royal consort from Margrethe's accession on 14 January 1972 until his death in 2018.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 92

View profile Photo (modified): Holger Motzkau · CC BY-SA 3.0

2020 · 6 yrs

Rajendra K. Pachauri

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (20 August 1940 – 13 February 2020) was the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2002 to 2015, during the fourth and fifth assessment cycles.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 86

View profile Photo (modified): Evstafiev · Public domain

2020 · 6 yrs

Karel Neffe

Karel Neffe (6 July 1948 – 13 February 2020) was a Czech rower who competed for Czechoslovakia in the 1972 Summer Olympics, in the 1976 Summer Olympics, and in the 1980 Summer Olympics. He was born in Prague in 1948 and is the father of Karel Neffe Jr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleWould be 78

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Events5

1925 · 101 yrs

Sheikh Said rebellion

The Sheikh Said rebellion (Kurdish: Serhildana Şêx Seîd; Turkish: Şeyh Said İsyanı) was a Kurdish nationalist and Islamist rebellion in Southeast Anatolia from February to March 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî movement and local religious and feudal leaders against the newly-founded secular…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1942 · 84 yrs

Channel Dash

The Channel Dash (German: Unternehmen Zerberus, Operation Cerberus) was a German naval operation during the Second World War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1945 · 81 yrs

Bombing of Dresden

In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the German city of Dresden.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1988 · 38 yrs

1988 Winter Olympics

The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (French: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Canada, as the main host city.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

1996 · 30 yrs

Nepalese Civil War

The Nepalese Civil War (1996–2006) was a protracted and countrywide armed conflict in the then Kingdom of Nepal between the Kingdom's rulers and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the latter making significant use of guerrilla warfare.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

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