February 10

Events

• 1258 - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing 10,000 citizens
• 1635 - The Académie Française in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite.
• 1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
• 1814 - Battle of Champaubert
• 1840 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
• 1846 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois.
• 1863 - The world-famous dwarfs General Tom Thumb[?] and Lavinia Warren[?] get married in New York City.
• 1863 - Alanson Crane[?] patents the fire extinguisher[?].
• 1870 - Anaheim, California is incorporated.
• 1870 - The YWCA is founded (New York City)
• 1931 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India
• 1933 - The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company[?] introduces the first singing telegram[?].
• 1933 - In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf[?], killing him.
• 1947 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia[?] to Yugoslavia
• 1949 - Death of a Salesman opens (Morocco Theatre in New York City).
• 1954 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
• 1962 - Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel[?]
• 1967 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
• 1981 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
• 1989 - Ron Brown[?] is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
• 1990 - South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day.
• 1992 - In Indianapolis, Indiana boxer Mike Tyson is convicted of raping a Miss Black American[?] contestant named Desiree Washington.
• 1996 - Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time
• 1997 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene McKinney[?], its top-ranking enlisted soldier[?], after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct.
• 1998 - A college dropout becomes the first person to be convicted of a hate crime committed in cyberspace.
• 1998 - Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
• 1999 - Avalanches in the French Alps[?] near Geneva kill at least 10.

Births

• 1890 - Boris Pasternak, poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1958 (+ 1960)
• 1893 - Jimmy Durante, actor, singer, comedian, vaudevillean (+ 1980)
• 1894 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1986)
• 1897 - John F. Enders[?], scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 (+ 1985)
• 1897 - Dame Judith Anderson[?], actress (+ 1992)
• 1898 - Bertolt Brecht, author (+ 1956)
• 1901 - Stella Adler[?], acting teacher (+ 1992)
• 1902 - Walter Houser Brattain, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956
• 1906 - Lon Chaney Jr., actor (+ 1973)
• 1927 - Leontyne Price[?], lyric soprano
• 1930 - Robert Wagner[?], actor
• 1931 - Thomas Bernhard[?], author (+ 1989)
• 1939 - Roberta Flack, singer
• 1941 - Michael Apted[?], director
• 1943 - Frank-Patrick Steckel[?], theater director
• 1944 - Vernor Vinge, novelist
• 1947 - Louise Arbour, Jurist
• 1950 - Mark Spitz, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist
• 1955 - Greg Norman, golfer
• 1961 - George Stephanopoulos[?], political consultant, commentator
• 1962 - Bobby Czyz, boxer
• 1967 - Laura Dern[?], actress

Deaths

• 1923 - Wilhelm Röntgen, discover of X-Rays
• 1939 - Pope Pius XI
• 1957 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author
• 1966 - Billy Rose[?], composer, band leader (+ 1966)
• 1992 - Alex Haley, author

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - World Marriage Day.

February 9 - February 11 - January 10 - March 10 - more historical anniversaries