February 11 - Events

Events

• 660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
• 55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
• 244 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised atCarchemish in his memory.
• 1531 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
• 1752 – Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States, is opened by Benjamin Franklin.
• 1790 – Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for abolition ofslavery.
• 1794 – First session of United States Senate open to the public.
• 1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
• 1809 – Robert Fulton files a patent for improvements to steamboat navigation
• 1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry "gerrymanders" for the first time.
• 1814 – Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union.
• 1826 – University College London is founded under the name University of London.
• 1826 – Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri, an important test within the Swaminarayan faith.
• 1840 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.
• 1843 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.
• 1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam
• 1861 – American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference withslavery in any state.
• 1873 – King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.
• 1889 – Meiji constitution of Japan is adopted; the first Diet of Japan convenes in 1890.
• 1903 – Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.
• 1905 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• 1916 – Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control.
• 1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
• 1929 – Fascist Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
• 1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers Union.
• 1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek playR.U.R., which coined the term "robot".
• 1939 – A Lockheed XP-38 flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes.
• 1941 – The first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
• 1942 – The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore during World War II.
• 1943 – World War II: General Dwight Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
• 1953 – President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
• 1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 1964 – Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
• 1964 – The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France.
• 1968 – Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.
• 1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the US, UK, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.
• 1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
• 1978 – Censorship: the People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.
• 1979 – Islamic revolution of Iran establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
• 1981 – 100,000 US gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant inTennessee, contaminating 8 workers.
• 1987 – Philippines constitution goes into effect.
• 1990 – Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
• 1990 – James Buster Douglas, a 42 to 1 underdog, deals Mike Tyson his first professional loss with the largest upset in boxing history and becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
• 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.