February 13 facts for kids

February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 321 days remain until the end of the year (322 in leap years).

February 13th is a day filled with interesting moments from history! From ancient agreements to modern space launches, many important things have happened on this date. Let's explore some of the key events, famous people born, and notable figures who passed away on February 13th.

Events Through History

Early History (Before 1600)

• 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII signed an important document called the Diploma Ottonianum. This paper officially recognized John as the ruler of Rome.
• 1258 – During the Siege of Baghdad, a prince from the Mongol Empire named Hulegu Khan ordered his army to take over and plunder the city of Baghdad.
• 1322 – The main tower of Ely Cathedral in England collapsed during the night.
• 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster was finalized between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles. This was an agreement between two powerful leaders.
• 1503 – The Challenge of Barletta took place, which was a tournament between 13 Italian knights and 13 French knights near Barletta.
• 1542 – Catherine Howard, who was the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, was executed.

Later History (1601–1900)

• 1633 – The famous scientist Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
• 1642 – The Clergy Act became law. This law stopped bishops of the Church of England from being part of the House of Lords in Parliament.
• 1660 – When the young Charles XI of Sweden became king, his regents (people who ruled for him because he was too young) started talks to end the Second Northern War.
• 1689 – William and Mary were declared co-rulers of England.
• 1692 – The Massacre of Glencoe happened in Scotland. Almost 80 members of the Macdonald clan were killed early in the morning because they had not quickly promised loyalty to the new king, William of Orange.
• 1726 – The Parliament of Negrete was held between the Mapuche people and Spanish authorities in Chile. This meeting ended the Mapuche uprising that had lasted from 1723 to 1726.
• 1755 – The Treaty of Giyanti was signed by the VOC, Pakubuwono III, and Prince Mangkubumi. This treaty split the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into two parts: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
• 1849 – A group led by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna presented the General Petition of Romanian leaders to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. This petition asked for the Romanian nation to be recognized in Transylvania, Banat, and Bukovina.
• 1861 – The Italian unification movement saw the end of the Siege of Gaeta. The defending fortress surrendered, which effectively ended the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• 1867 – Work began on the covering of the Senne, which involved burying Brussels's main river to create the modern central boulevards.
• 1880 – Thomas Edison observed Thermionic emission, which is how electrons are released from a heated surface.

Modern Era (1901–Present)

• 1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama announced that Tibet was independent. This followed a time when the Manchu Qing dynasty had control, and it started a period of almost four decades of independence for Tibet.
• 1914 – In New York City, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was created. Its purpose was to protect the copyrighted musical works of its members.
• 1920 – The Negro National League, a professional baseball league for African American players, was formed.
• 1931 – The British Raj (British rule in India) officially moved its capital from Calcutta to New Delhi.
• 1945 – During World War II, the siege of Budapest ended. German and Hungarian forces surrendered to the Red Army.
• 1945 – Also during World War II, Royal Air Force bombers were sent to Dresden, Germany, to carry out a large aerial bombardment on the city.
• 1951 – In the Korean War, the Battle of Chipyong-ni began. This battle was a significant moment for the Chinese forces in South Korea.
• 1954 – Frank Selvy became the only NCAA Division I basketball player to ever score 100 points in a single game.
• 1955 – Israel acquired four of the seven ancient texts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• 1960 – France became the fourth country to have nuclear weapons after successfully completing a nuclear test called "Gerboise Bleue".
• 1960 – Black college students started the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. These protests were part of the Civil Rights Movement.
• 1961 – A rock, believed to be 500,000 years old, was found near Olancha, California, US. It appeared to contain a spark plug, which was very unusual for its age.
• 1967 – American researchers discovered the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain. These are important notebooks filled with his drawings and writings.
• 1975 – A fire broke out at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.
• 1979 – An intense windstorm hit western Washington, causing a half-mile long section of the Hood Canal Bridge to sink.
• 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroyed more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
• 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, resulted in the deaths of 64 people.
• 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko took over from the late Yuri Andropov as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• 1990 – German reunification: An agreement was reached on a two-step plan to reunite East and West Germany.
• 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War began in the Kingdom of Nepal, started by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).
• 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale struck El Salvador, causing many deaths.
• 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond. This was a white dwarf star named BPM 37093, which astronomers nicknamed "Lucy" after a famous song.
• 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou stepped down as chairman of the Kuomintang party after being accused of misusing funds. He also announced he would run for president in 2008.
• 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
• 2011 – For the first time in over 100 years, the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, were able to hunt and harvest a bison near Yellowstone National Park. This brought back a tradition from 1855.
• 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) launched its first European Vega rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.
• 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
• 2021 – A major winter storm caused widespread power outages and resulted in many deaths in Texas and northern Mexico.

Famous Birthdays

Born Before 1900

• 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, a powerful duchess who ruled Burgundy.
• 1599 – Pope Alexander VII, who became a leader of the Catholic Church.
• 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, an English economist and scholar.
• 1769 – Ivan Krylov, a Russian author, poet, and playwright.
• 1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, a German mathematician.
• 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, an English politician and father of Winston Churchill.
• 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, a famous Russian opera singer.
• 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, an Indian poet and activist.
• 1885 – Bess Truman, the 35th First Lady of the United States.
• 1888 – Georgios Papandreou, a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister.
• 1891 – Grant Wood, an American painter known for his work American Gothic.
• 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, an American lawyer and judge who served as a Supreme Court Justice.

Born After 1900

• 1903 – Georges Simenon, a Belgian-Swiss author known for his detective novels.
• 1910 – William Shockley, an English-American physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on transistors.
• 1915 – Aung San, a Burmese general and politician, considered the father of modern Myanmar.
• 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, an American singer and actor.
• 1923 – Chuck Yeager, a famous American general and pilot who was the first to break the sound barrier.
• 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, an Austrian painter and sculptor.
• 1933 – Paul Biya, the current President of Cameroon.
• 1933 – Kim Novak, an American actress.
• 1934 – George Segal, an American actor.
• 1938 – Oliver Reed, an English actor.
• 1942 – Peter Tork, an American singer-songwriter and actor, known for The Monkees.
• 1944 – Stockard Channing, an American actress.
• 1944 – Jerry Springer, an English-American television host and politician.
• 1950 – Peter Gabriel, an English singer-songwriter and musician, known for his work with Genesis and as a solo artist.
• 1956 – Peter Hook, an English musician, known for the bands Joy Division and New Order.
• 1958 – Pernilla August, a Swedish actress.
• 1961 – Henry Rollins, an American singer, songwriter, and actor.
• 1966 – Neal McDonough, an American actor.
• 1968 – Kelly Hu, an American actress.
• 1971 – Mats Sundin, a Swedish ice hockey player.
• 1974 – Robbie Williams, an English singer-songwriter.
• 1976 – Feist, a Canadian singer-songwriter.
• 1977 – Randy Moss, an American football player.
• 1979 – Rafael Márquez, a Mexican footballer.
• 1979 – Mena Suvari, an American actress.
• 1981 – Luisão, a Brazilian footballer.
• 1994 – Memphis Depay, a Dutch footballer.
• 2002 – Sophia Lillis, an American actress.

Notable Deaths

Passed Away Before 1900

• 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi), an emperor of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty.
• 721 – Chilperic II, a Frankish king.
• 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, a Scottish king.
• 1130 – Honorius II, a pope of the Catholic Church.
• 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England.
• 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, a famous Italian painter and sculptor.
• 1660 – Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden.
• 1728 – Cotton Mather, an American minister and author.
• 1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, a Croatian physicist, astronomer, and mathematician.
• 1818 – George Rogers Clark, an American general.
• 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, a Spanish journalist and author.
• 1883 – Richard Wagner, a famous German composer.

Passed Away After 1900

• 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as President of Brazil.
• 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, an Italian-English novelist.
• 1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, an English activist who helped start the Women's Social and Political Union for women's voting rights.
• 1958 – Georges Rouault, a French painter.
• 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, a Nigerian general and politician who served as President of Nigeria.
• 1980 – David Janssen, an American actor.
• 1996 – Martin Balsam, an American actor.
• 2002 – Waylon Jennings, an American country singer-songwriter.
• 2016 – Antonin Scalia, an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, a North Korean politician.
• 2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, a French-born Danish royal.

Holidays and Observances

• Children's Day (Myanmar)
• Christian feast day:

* Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA)) * Jordan of Saxony * Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)

• World Radio Day

See also

In Spanish: 13 de febrero para niños