1858 – First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France
1929 – Vatican City (world’s smallest country) made an enclave of Rome
1975 – Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for leadership of the British Conservative Party
1987 – Philippines constitution goes into effect
1990 – Nelson Mandela released after 27 years imprisonment in South Africa
1993 – President Clinton selects Janet Reno to be first female US Attorney General
1999 – Pluto moves further away from the sun than Neptune regaining its status as solar system’s outermost planet, a title it will retain for 228 years
2011 – Egyptian Revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests (Arab Spring)
2012 – Israeli Air Force conducts four air strikes in Gaza Strip
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation from February 28, the first pope to resign since 1415
2014 – Peace talks resume in Geneva as leaders attempt to bring an end to the civil war in Syria
2016 – Discover of gravitational waves (through collision of two black holes) announced by physicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo)
2018 – MOMA opens a major solo exhibition for Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral in New York
2020 – Snow falls in Baghdad, Iraq, for only the second time in a century
Film & TV:
1938 – World’s first science fiction TV program – a broadcast of the play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek
Music:
1949 – “Lovesick Blues” single released by Hank Williams (Cashbox “Best Hillbilly Record of the Year”, Billboard Song of the Year 1949)
1983 – Single “Total Eclipse of the Heart” sung by Bonnie Tyler and composed by Jim Steinman is released
Sport:
1878 – 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms
2020 – Largest wave ever surfed by a woman by Brazilian Maya Ganeira riding a 73.5ft (22.4m) wave at Nazaré, Portugal
