February 8

Author Jules Verne born (1828); Boy Scouts of America is founded (1910); Hollywood legend Lana Turner born (1921); Actor James Dean born (1931); Nasdaq Stock Market index opens (1971).

February 7

Charles Dickens born (1812); The US bans all Cuban imports and exports (1962); Garth Brooks born (1962); "Beatlemania" arrives in America (1964); Author and pilot Anne Morrow Lindbergh dies (2001).

February 4

George Washington elected first president of the US (1789); Aviation innovator Charles Lindbergh born (1902); Rosa Parks born (1913); Pianist and entertainer Liberace dies (1987); Facebook is founded (2004).

February 3

Printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg dies (1468); American novelist Gertrude Stein born (1874); Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper are killed in plane crash (1959); Luna 9 becomes first spacecraft to make soft landing on the moon (1966)

February 2

New Amsterdam (present-day New York) becomes a city (1653); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); First Groundhog Day celebrated (1887); Shakira born (1977); Hollywood legend Gene Kelly dies (1996); Philip Seymour Hoffman dies of drug overdose (2014).

February 1

"Oxford English Dictionary" debuts (1884); Film legend Clark Gable born (1901); Harriet Tubman becomes first Black woman on US postage stamp (1978); Harry Styles born (1994); Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on reentry, all seven astronauts killed (2003).

January 31

Guy Fawkes is executed (1606); 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, passes in Congress (1865); Jackie Robinson born (1919); Actress Kerry Washington born (1977); Justin Timberlake born (1981).