399BC – Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety
590 – Khosrau II, the last great Sasanian king is crowned King of Persia
1763 – Austria, Prussia & Saxony sign the Treaty of Hubertusburg, marking the end of the French and Indian War and of the Seven Years’ War
1933 – President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survives assassination attempt but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak is mortally wounded, he would die on March 29
1936 – Adolf Hitler announces construction of the Volkswagen Beetle (the People’s Car, aka the Käfer/Beetle)
1943 – Wartime propaganda poster “We Can Do It!” produced by J. Howard Miller and posted on the walls of Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company’s plants in the Midwest
1950 – Walt Disney’s animated film “Cinderella” premieres in Boston
1965 – John Lennon passes his driving test
1978 – Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola, Florida
1984 – 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq
1986 – Ferdinand Marcos wins rigged presidential election in the Philippines
1995 – Population of People’s Republic of China hits 1.2 billion
2001 – First draft of the complete human genome is published in the journal “Nature”
2003 – An estimated 6-11 million people around the world take to the streets to protest against war with Iraq
2005 – YouTube, Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States
2011 – Libyan protests begin opposing Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s rule
2011 – US President Barack Obama awards writer and activist Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom
2012 – United Kingdom unemployment rate reaches 17 year high of 8.4%
2018 – Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in as South African President, replacing Jacob Zuma
2019 – US President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall, after signing bipartisan spending agreement to avoid another government shutdown
2020 – Beijing orders people returning to the city after Lunar New Year holiday to self-quarantine for 14 days to prevent spread of Covid-19
Film & TV:
2005 – YouTube, Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States
Music:
1941 – Duke Ellington first records “Take the A Train”
Sport:
1932 – As a member of gold medal winning US 4-man bobsleigh team at Lake Placid, Eddie Eagan (boxing gold Antwerp 1920) becomes only Olympian to win gold medals at both summer & winter Games in different sports
