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Common Year Starting On Saturday

Common year starting on Saturday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) e.g. 2005. (A common year is a year with 365 days -- in other words, not a leap year.)

Millennium	Century	Year
2nd Millennium:	19th century:	1803	1814	1825	1831	1842	1853	1859	1870	1881	1887	1898
2nd Millennium:	20th century:	1910	1921	1927	1938	1949	1955	1966	1977	1983	1994
3rd Millennium:	21st century:	2005	2011	2022	2033	2039	2050	2061	2067	2078	2089	2095
3rd Millennium:	22nd century:	2101	2107	2118	2129	2135	2146	2157	2163	2174	2185	2191

Other years

Category:Saturday Category:Weeks ko:토요일로 시작하는 평년 th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันเสาร์

Dominical letter

The days of the year are sometimes designated letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G in a cycle of 7 as an aid for finding the day of week of a given calendar date and in calculating Easter. These letters are known as dominical letters. A common year has a dominical letter, which is simply the dominical letter of its first Sunday. For example 2003 has 5 January as its first Sunday so has Dominical letter E. In leap years, the leap day has no dominical letter. This ensures that each date has the same dominical letter every year, but causes the days of the weeks of the dominical letters to change within a leap year. Hence leap years have two dominical letters: the first for January and February and the second for March to December. The second dominical letter is the dominical letter of the first Sunday of October (which is the same as for January in a common year). The year 2004 has Dominical letters DC. Examples include:
- 1996 GF
- 1997 E
- 1998 D
- 1999 C
- 2000 BA
- 2001 G
- 2002 F
- 2003 E
- 2004 DC
- 2005 B
- 2006 A
- 2007 G
- 2008 FE The dominical letter of a year determines the days of week in its calendar:
- A common year starting on Sunday
- B common year starting on Saturday
- C common year starting on Friday
- D common year starting on Thursday
- E common year starting on Wednesday
- F common year starting on Tuesday
- G common year starting on Monday
- AG leap year starting on Sunday
- BA leap year starting on Saturday
- CB leap year starting on Friday
- DC leap year starting on Thursday
- ED leap year starting on Wednesday
- FE leap year starting on Tuesday
- GF leap year starting on Monday

History

A device adopted from the Romans by the old chronologers to aid them in finding the day of the week corresponding to any given date, and indirectly to facilitate the adjustment of the "Proprium de Tempore" to the "Proprium Sanctorum" when constructing the ecclesiastical calendar for any year. The Church, on account of her complicated system of movable and immovable feasts (see Christian calendar), has from an early period taken upon herself as a special charge to regulate the measurement of time. To secure uniformity in the observance of feasts and fasts, she began, even in the patristic age, to supply a computus, or system of reckoning, by which the relation of the solar and lunar years might be accommodated and the celebration of Easter determined. Naturally she adopted the astronomical methods then available, and these methods and the methodology belonging to them, having become traditional, are perpetuated in a measure to this day, even the reform of the calendar, in the prolegomena to the Breviary and Missal. The Romans were accustomed to divide the year into nundinæ, periods of eight days; and in their marble fasti, or calendars, of which numerous specimens remain, they used the first eight letters of the alphabet to mark the days of which each period was composed. When the Oriental seven-day period, or week, was introduced in the time of Cæsar Augustus, the first seven letters of the alphabet were employed in the same way to indicate the days of this new division of time. In fact, fragmentary calendars on marble still survive in which both a cycle of eight letters — A to H — indicating nundinæ, and a cycle of seven letters — A to G — indicating weeks, are used side by side (see "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum", 2nd ed., I, 220; the same peculiarity occurs in the Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 356, ibid., p. 256). This device was imitated by the Christians, and in their calendars the days of the year from 1 January to 31 December were marked with a continuous recurring cycle of seven letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. A was always set against 1 January, B against 2 January, C against 3 January, and so on. Thus F fell to 6 January, G to 7 January; A again recurred on 8 January, and also, consequently, on 15 January, 22 January, and 29 January. Continuing in this way, 30 January was marked with a B, 31 January with a C, and 1 February with a D. Supposing this to be carried on through all the days of an ordinary year (i. e. not a leap year), it will be found that a D corresponds to 1 March, G to 1 April, B to 1 May, E to 1 June, G to 1 July, C to 1 August, F to 1 September, A to 1 October, D to 1 November, and F to 1 December — a result which Durandus recalled by the following distich: :Alta Domat Dominus, Gratis Beat Equa Gerentes :Contemnit Fictos, Augebit Dona Fideli. Now, as a moment's reflection shows, if 1 January is a Sunday, all the days marked by A will also be Sundays; If 1 January is a Saturday, Sunday will fall on 2 January which is a B, and all the other days marked B will be Sundays; if 1 January is a Monday, then Sunday will not come until 7 January, a G, and all the days marked G will be Sundays. This being explained, the Dominical Letter of any year is defined to be that letter of the cycle A, B, C, D, E, F, G, which corresponds to the day upon which the first Sunday (and every subsequent Sunday) falls. It is plain, however, that when a leap year occurs, a complication is introduced. February has then twenty-nine days. Traditionally, the Anglican and civil calendars added this extra day to the end of the month, while the Catholic ecclesiastical calendar counted 24 February twice. But in either case, 1 March is then one day later in the week than 1 February, or, in other words, for the rest of the year the Sundays come a day earlier than they would in a common year. This is expressed by saying that a leap year has two Dominical Letters, the second being the letter which precedes that with which the year started. For example, 1 January 1907, was a Tuesday; the first Sunday fell on 6 January, or an F. F was, therefore, the Dominical Letter for 1907. The first of January, 1908, was a Wednesday, the first Sunday fell on 5 January, and E was the Dominical Letter, but as 1908 was a leap year, its Sundays after February came a day sooner than in a normal year and were Ds. The year 1908, therefore, had a double Dominical Letter, ED. In 1909, 1 January was a Friday and the Dominical Letter was C. In 1910 and 1911, 1 January fell respectively on Saturday and Sunday and the Dominical Letters are B and A.

Calculation

This, of course, is all very simple, but the advantage of tile device lies, like that of an algebraical expression, in its being a mere symbol adaptable to any year. By constructing a table of letters and days of the year, A always being set against 1 January, we can at once see the relation between the days of the week and the day of any month, if only we know the Dominical Letter. This may always be found by the following rule of De Morgan's, which gives the Dominical Letter for any year, or the second Dominical Letter if it be leap year: #Add 1 to the given year. #Take the quotient found by dividing the given year by 4 (neglecting the remainder). #Take 16 from the centurial figures of the given year if that can be done. #Take the quotient of III divided by 4 (neglecting the remainder). #From the sum of I, II and IV, subtract III. #Find the remainder of V divided by 7: this is the number of the Dominical Letter, supposing A, B, C, D, E, F, G to be equivalent respectively to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. For example, to find the Dominical Letter of the year 1913: :(Steps 1, 2, & 4) 1914 + 478 + 0 = 2392 :(3) 19 - 16 = 3 :(5) 2392 - 3 = 2389 :(6) 2389 / 7 = 341, remainder 2. Therefore, the Dominical Letter is E.

Practical use for the clergy

But the Dominical Letter had another very practical use in the days before the Ordo divini officii recitandi was printed annually, and when, consequently, a priest had often to determine the Ordo for himself. As can be seen in the article Epact, Easter Sunday may be as early as 22 March or as late as 25 April, and there are consequently thirty-five possible days on which it may fall. It is also evident that each Dominical Letter allows five possible dates for Easter Sunday. Thus, in a year whose Dominical Letter is A (i. e. when 1 January is a Sunday), Easter must be either on 26 March, 2 April, 9 April, 16 April, or 23 April, for these are all the Sundays within the defined limits. But according as Easter falls on one or another of these Sundays we shall get a different calendar, and hence there are five, and only five, possible calendars for years whose Dominical Letter is A. Similarly, there are five possible calendars for years whose Dominical Letter is B, five for C, and so on, thirty-five possible combinations in all. Now, advantage was taken of this principle in the arrangement of the old Pye or directorium which preceded the present "Ordo". The thirty-five possible calendars were all included therein and numbered, respectively, primum A, secundum A, tertium A, etc.; primum B, secundum B, etc. Hence for anyone wishing to use the Pye the first thing to determine was the Dominical Letter of the year, and then by means of the Golden Number or the Epact, and by the aid of a simple table, to find which of the five possible calendars assigned to that Dominical Letter belonged to the year in question. Such a table as that just referred to, but adapted to the reformed calendar and in more convenient shape, will be found at the beginning of every Breviary and Missal under the heading, "Tabula Paschalis nova reformata". The Dominical Letter does not seem to have been familiar to Bede in his "De Temporum Ratione," but in its place he adopts a similar device of seven numbers which he calls concurrentes (De Temp. Rat., cap. liii), of Greek origin. The Concurrents are numbers denoting the days of the week on which 24 March falls in the successive years of the solar cycle, 1 standing for Sunday, 2 (feria secunda) for Monday, 3 for Tuesday, and so on. It is sufficient here to state that the relation between the Concurrents and the Dominical Letter is the following: :Concurrents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 :Concurrent 1 = F (Dominical Letter) :Concurrent 2 = E :Concurrent 3 = D :Concurrent 4 = C :Concurrent 5 = B :Concurrent 6 = A :Concurrent 7 = G

Use for mental calculation

There exist patterns in the dominical letters, which are very useful for mental calculation. Patterns for years: To use these patterns, choose and remember a year to use as a starting point, such as 2000=BA. Note that because of the complicated Gregorian leap-year rules, these patterns break near some century changes. Note the reverse alphabetical order. 1992 3 4 5 96 7 8 9 2000 1 2 3 04 5 6 7 2008 ED C B A GF E D C BA G F E DC B A G FE and (note the reversed order of the years as well as of the letters) 2040 2030 2020 2010 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 AG F ED C BA G FE D CB A | | | | | | | | | | G FE D CB A GF E DC B AG 2046 2036 2026 2016 2006 1996 1986 1976 1966 1956 Patterns for days of the month: The dominical letters for the first day of each month form the nonsense mnemonic phrase "Add G, beg C, fad F". The following dates, given in month/day form, all have dominical letter C: 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12, 5/9, 9/5, 7/11, 11/7. This was stolen from the Doomsday algorithm.

References

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External links

- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05109a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article on Dominical letter] Category:Weeks

Common year

A common year is a calendar year of exactly 365 days and so is not a leap year. More generally it is a calendar year without intercalation. A common year of 365 days has exactly 52 weeks and one day, so consequently the next new year is one day of the week later.
- 2001 began on Monday.
- 2002 began on Tuesday.
- 2003 began on Wednesday.
- 2004, a leap year, began on Thursday.
- 2005 began on Saturday. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time simple:Common year th:ปีปกติสุรทิน

January

January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. January begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Capricorn and ends in the sign of Aquarius. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Sagittarius and ends in the constellation of Capricornus. January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. The original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months (304 days). The Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. Circa 700 BCE Romulus' successor, King Numa Pompilius, added the months of January and February allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (364 days). A Roman superstition against even numbers resulted in the addition of one day thus equalling 365 days. Although March was originally the first month, January usurped that position because that was when consuls were usually chosen. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month) and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month). In old Japanese calendar, the month is called Mutsuki (睦月). The second day of the month is known as Hatsuyume (初夢) and the 7th day as Nanakusa (七草). In Finnish, the month is called tammikuu, meaning "month of the oak". Finnish The first Monday in January is known as Handsel Monday in Scotland and northern England. In England, the agricultural year began with Plough Sunday on the Sunday after Epiphany. The Coming of age day in Japan is the second Monday of January, for those becoming 20 years old in the new calendar year. It is a national holiday. The day has existed since 1948, but fell on January 15 until 1999, when it was moved by the Japanese government in an attempt to lift the economy by making more holidays consecutive. In the pagan wheel of the year, January ends at or near to Imbolc in the northern hemisphere and Lughnasadh in the southern hemisphere.

March

---- March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. March begins (astrologically, non-sidereal) with the sun in the sign of Pisces and ends in the sign of Aries. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Aquarius and ends in the constellation of Pisces. In ancient Rome, March was called Martius, so named after the Roman god of war and was considered a lucky time to begin a war. March was originally the first month of the Roman calendar because the winter months of January and February were unsuited for warfare, the essence of any Italic state. Julius Caesar's calendar reform in 45 BCE began the year on January 1. The tradition of starting the year in March continued in some countries for a long time. January 1 was only instituted as New Year's Day in France in 1564. Great Britain and her colonies continued to use March 25 until 1752, the same year they finally adopted the Gregorian calendar. In ancient Hellenic civilization, March was called Anthesterion. In old Japanese calendar, the month is called Yayoi (弥生). In Finnish, the month is called maaliskuu, of obscure origin. Historical names for March include the Saxon term Lenctmonat, named for the equinox and eventual lengthening of days and the eventual namesake of Lent. The Saxons also called March Rhed-monat (for their goddess Rhedam); ancient Britons called it hyld-monath (meaning loud or stormy). Britons

Events in March

- The equinox named the vernal or spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 19 March to 21 March (in UTC).

External links

- [http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/seizoenen.html Astronomy Answers article on the seasons] Category:Months ko:3월 ms:Mac ja:3月 simple:March th:มีนาคม

Monday

Monday is considered either the first or the second day of the week, between Sunday and Tuesday. It gets its name from Mani (Old EnglishMona), the Germanic Moon god. Monday is often held to be the first day of the week. This is the case in most of Europe, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America. In Asia, many languages refer to Monday as the "day of the beginning". For example, Monday is xingqi yi (星期一) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard ISO 8601 also defines Monday as the first day of the week. In other areas of the world, Monday is the second day. This is the traditional view in Canada and the United States. The name for the day in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew and Portuguese is "second day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "Second Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the English name "Monday". Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. This however is with exception; in Middle Eastern countries the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday Night and Saturday are the Sabbath. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In 2002 the professional services firm PwC sold off its management consulting division. For a brief period the newly independent firm was to be called "Monday". According to the advertising campaign that supported the launch this name was associated with "crisp, white shirts", and "fresh coffee"; a clean, fresh, ready-to-work image. The proposed name was greeted with derision in the media; fortunately for the employees, computer giant IBM stepped in with a winning offer one week later, and the firm became IBM's own consulting division. Mondays are also attributed to the colloquial "illness" Mondayitis. (Also known as having a case of "The Mondays") A possible reason for Mondayitis is that human circadian rhythms are incompatible with the normal 35 to 40-hour working week.

Monday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Monday's Child is fair of face". Mondays are considered "enemies" of the comic strip cat, Garfield.

Astrology

Monday is associated with the moon (in french Lundi means "moon day"), this links monday to emotions, worries and intuition. It is a day to be treated with care to generate the greatest results.

Named days

- Black Monday
- Blue Monday
- Easter Monday
- First Monday
- Handsel Monday
- Manic Monday
- Miracle Monday
- Plough Monday
- Wet Monday
- Whit Monday

Wednesday

:The article refers to the weekday. See also Wednesday (disambiguation)Wednesday (disambiguation) Wednesday is considered either the third or the fourth day of the week, between Tuesday and Thursday. The name comes from the Old EnglishWodnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th C. AD. When Sunday is taken as the first of the week, the day in the middle of each week is Wednesday. Arising from this, the German name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since the 10th Century, having displaced the former name: Wodanstag. According to the Bible, Wednesday is the day when the Sun and Moon were created. Wednesday is also in the middle of the common 5-day working week from Monday through Friday. However, see also Thursday and ISO 8601. In Spanish, miércoles is used to mean Wednesday, but also as a semi-rude euphemism for never ever. An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day", a reference to making it through the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump". It is also unofficially (and with some irony) referred to as "the peak of the week". Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day", eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name "Wednesday". Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason. Faithful Orthodox Christians observe a vegetarian / fish-only fast on Wednesdays (and Fridays) in some countries.

Wednesday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Wednesday's Child is full of woe". The film Angel Heart includes a scene where Harry Angel refers to Wednesday as "Anything Can Happen Day," in reference to the original Mickey Mouse Club television program. The term "hump day" was first used by the media on a Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station in 1965. It was thought to have been originated by an employee of Pako Corporation.

Astrological sign

The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday -- Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Mercredi and the Spanish Miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe.

Named days

- Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, occurs forty days before Easter not counting Sundays.
- Spy Wednesday is an old name given to the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter, in allusion to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. Category:Days of the week als:Mittwoch ko:수요일 ms:Rabu ja:水曜日 th:วันพุธ

Thursday

Thursday, by international standard, is the fourth day of the week, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention, it is commonly considered the fifth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.) The name Thursday comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, meaning the day of Þunor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Thor replaced the Roman god of thunder, Jupiter, as the namesake of the fourth day of the week after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Roman Britain. By some conventions (see ISO 8601), the Thursdays of a year determine the week numbering: week 1 is defined as the week that contains the first Thursday of the year, and so on.

Astrology

In French, Thursday is "Jeudi", a surviving connection between the day and the astrological energies of Jupiter. This connection links Thursday to business but also to jollity and humour.

Thursday in religion

In the Hindu religion, Thursday is guruvar or the Guru's day. Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name "Thursday". In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter - the day on which the Last Supper occurred. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.

Thursday in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law – which only states that an election may be held on any day "except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning". An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages – with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organize itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election. The Thursday before Easter is also known as Maundy Thursday or Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.

Thursday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Thursday's Child has far to go". In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says "This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books.

Named days

Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares - a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression. Category:Days of the week als:Donnerstag ko:목요일 ms:Khamis ja:木曜日 th:วันพฤหัสบดี

Saturday

::For Ian McEwan's 2005 novel, see Saturday (novel). Saturday is the sixth (seventh in some countries) day of the week, between Friday and Sunday. It is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of time Saturn. Many of the other days of the week adopted names of Saxon gods in Northern Europe. By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States, but in modern Europe many people now consider Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. The modern European convention has been formalized by ISO 8601. On the other hand, in many Islamic countries, Saturdays are the first day of the week, with Fridays as holidays. In many countries where Sundays are holidays, Saturday is part of the weekend, and is traditionally a day of relaxation. Many parties are held on Saturdays, because it precedes Sunday, another day of rest. It is common for clubs, bars and restaurants to open later on Saturday night than on other nights. Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand on which elections can be held. In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath. Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as "Seventh Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name. In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr, meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. The modern Maori name for it, Rahoroi, means "washing-day".

Saturday in popular culture

- In the popular rhyme, "Saturday's Child works hard for a living".
- Saturday was also the preferred day to hunt vampires as that was the day they had to remain in their coffins. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was invisible. Category:Days of the week ko:토요일 ms:Sabtu ja:土曜日 simple:Saturday th:วันเสาร์

February 1

February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 333 days remaining, (334 in leap years).

Events

- 1662 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
- 1713 - The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
- 1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat.
- 1790 - In New York City the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time.
- 1793 - France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
- 1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
- 1814 - Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people; most devastating eruption of Mayon Volcano.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
- 1862 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.
- 1880 - The first edition of theatrical newspaperThe Stage is published.
- 1884 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio (West Orange, New Jersey).
- 1896 - The opera La bohème premieres (Turin).
- 1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
- 1913 - New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station.
- 1918 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
- 1919 - The first Miss America is crowned in New York City.
- 1920 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
- 1924 - United Kingdom recognizes USSR.
- 1929 - Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.
- 1943 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.
- 1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General.
- 1958 - Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.
- 1960 - Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war. Official unification of the three former military services of Canada, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force became the united Canadian Armed Forces. Merger of the historic New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad to form ill-fated Penn Central Transportation.
- 1974 - In São Paulo, Brazil, a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293.
- 1974 - Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory.
- 1978 - Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
- 1979 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
- 1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
- 1982 - Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.
- 1992 - The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case.
- 1994 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
- 1995 - Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK.
- 1996 - Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress
- 1999 - North Dakota Public Radio is launched.
- 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.
- 2004 - At least 244 people trampled to death in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
- 2004 - Janet Jackson exposes her breast on American television

Births

- 1261 - Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (d. 1326)
- 1462 - Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (d. 1516)
- 1552 - Edward Coke, English colonial entrepreneur and jurist (d. 1634)
- 1635 - Marquard Gude, German archaeologist (d. 1689)
- 1690 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (d. 1768)
- 1761 - Christian Hendrik Persoon, South African mycologist (d. 1836)
- 1844 - G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist (d. 1844)
- 1859 - Victor Herbert, Irish composer (d. 1924)
- 1874 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (d. 1929)
- 1882 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent, twelfth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
- 1884 - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer (d. 1937)
- 1887 - Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d. 1947)
- 1894 - John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
- 1894 - James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
- 1901 - Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1902 - Langston Hughes American writer (d. 1967)
- 1904 - S. J. Perelman, American humorist and author (d. 1979)
- 1905 - Emilio G. Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1906 - Hildegarde, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
- 1907 - Günter Eich, German lyricist (d. 1972)
- 1908 - George Pál, Hungarian-born director and producer (d. 1980)
- 1909 - George Beverly Shea, Canadian singer
- 1915 - Stanley Matthews, English football player
- 1918 - Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish author
- 1922 - Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004)
- 1931 - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia
- 1936 - Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (d. 2003)
- 1937 - Don Everly, American musician (Everly Brothers)
- 1937 - Garrett Morris, American comedian
- 1938 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor
- 1940 - Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1941 - Karl Dall, German television moderator.
- 1942 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
- 1947 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
- 1948 - Rick James, American musician and composer (d. 2004)
- 1948 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
- 1954 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
- 1956 - Exene Cervenka, American musician (X)
- 1961 - Volker Fried, German field hockey player
- 1962 - José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer =)
- 1962 - Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese guitarist
- 1965 - Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
- 1965 - Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1965 - Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
- 1966 - Michelle Akers, American soccer player
- 1968 - Lisa Marie Presley, American singer and actress
- 1968 - Pauly Shore, American comedian
- 1969 - Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer
- 1969 - Joshua Redman, American musician
- 1971 - Yoshi DeHerrera, American television personality
- 1971 - Jill Kelly, American actress
- 1971 - Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer
- 1975 - Big Boi, American musician (Outkast)
- 1977 - Kevin Kilbane, Irish footballer
- 1984 - Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer

Deaths

- 1248 - Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
- 1328 - King Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
- 1542 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1480)
- 1563 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia (died of fever)
- 1590 - Lawrence Humphrey, English clergyman and educator
- 1691 - Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
- 1718 - Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician (b. 1660)
- 1733 - King Augustus II of Poland (b. 1670)
- 1734 - John Floyer, English physician and writer (b. 1649)
- 1743 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657)
- 1761 - Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (b. 1682)
- 1768 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (b. 1685)
- 1793 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (b. 1717)
- 1851 - Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797)
- 1893 - George Henry Sanderson, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
- 1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
- 1928 - Hughie Jennings, baseball player (b. 1869)
- 1944 - Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
- 1957 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1966 - Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (b. 1885)
- 1966 - Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
- 1976 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1976 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
- 1981 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1892)
- 1981 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
- 1986 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
- 1988 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
- 1989 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1819)
- 1997 - Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916)
- 1999 - Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b. 1907)
- 2002 - Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer, and writer (b. 1925)
- 2003 - The crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, astronauts:
- Michael P. Anderson (b. 1959)
- David Brown (b. 1956)
- Kalpana Chawla (b. 1961)
- Laurel Clark (b. 1961)
- Rick D. Husband (b. 1957)
- Willie McCool (b. 1961)
- Ilan Ramon (b. 1954)
- 2003 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban percussionist and band leader (b. 1922)
- 2005 - John Vernon, Canadian actor (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

- St. Brigid of Kildare -one of the three patron saints of Ireland, the others being St. Patrick and St. Columcille.
- Imbolc - the first day of Spring in Ireland (Irish Calendar), one of the eight solar holidays in the Wheel of the Year.
- 2003 - Chinese New Year - Year of the Ram.

Fiction

- In Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the fictional character Willy Wonka gives an unprecedented tour of his chocolate factory on February 1 (year unspecified).

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050201.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- January 31 - February 2 - January 1 - March 1 -- listing of all days February 01 ko:2월 1일 ms:1 Februari ja:2月1日 simple:February 1 th:1 กุมภาพันธ์

February 2

February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years).

Events

- 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
- 1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
- 1119 - Callixtus II becomes Pope.
- 1509 - Battle of Diu takes place near Diu, India, between Portugal and Turkey.
- 1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.
- 1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
- 1812 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, along the California coast.
- 1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending the war.
- 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
- 1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
- 1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
- 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
- 1880 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.
- 1882 - The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.
- 1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
- 1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
- 1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital (Canberra) between Sydney and Melbourne.
- 1920 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia.
- 1920 - France occupies Memel.
- 1925 - Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
- 1933 - Adolf Hitler dissolves the German Parliament.
- 1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducts the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
- 1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
- 1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.
- 1945 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
- 1952 - A tropical storm forms north of Cuba and moves northeast making landfall in Florida. It is the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
- 1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
- 1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
- 1971 - After a coup in Uganda, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
- 1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday
- 1976 - Groundhog Day gale of 1976 hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.
- 1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
- 1980 - Founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey.
- 1982 - Hama Massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama and kills thousands of people.
- 1986 - Nurse Anita Cobby is found dead in a paddock in Prospect, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. She had been robbed, raped, and murdered. Five men (Micheal Murphy, Gary Murphy, Les Murphy, Micheal Murdoch, and John Travers) are later sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in June of 1987 for Anita Cobby's murder.
- 1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation.
- 1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
- 1998 - A Cebu Pacific Air DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104.

Births

- 1208 - James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
- 1455 - King John of Denmark (d. 1513)
- 1494 - Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
- 1502 - Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1574)
- 1506 - René de Birague, French cardinal and chancellor (d. 1583)
- 1522 - Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician (d. 1565)
- 1600 - Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
- 1613 - Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
- 1621 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (d. 1679)
- 1649 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
- 1650 - Nell Gwynne, English actress and royal mistress (d. 1687)
- 1669 - Louis Marchand, French organist and harpsichordist (d. 1732)
- 1695 - William Borlase, English naturalist (d. 1772)
- 1700 - Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (d. 1766)
- 1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
- 1714 - Gottfried August Homilius, German composer (d. 1785)
- 1717 - Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
- 1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician (d. 1838)
- 1802 - Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist (d. 1887)
- 1803 - Albert Sidney Johnston, Amer