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This day in history

This day in history: 4 February

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day160 · 82

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Key facts

287 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 February.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Andrew Corsini

Christian feast day: Blessed Rabanus Maurus

Christian feast day: Eduardo Francisco Pironio

Christian feast day: February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Gilbert of Sempringham

Christian feast day: Goldrofe of Arganil

Christian feast day: John de Brito

Christian feast day: Rimbert

Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola)

Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Western Christianity)

Independence Day (Sri Lanka)

International Day of Human Fraternity

Events

2025Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.

2020The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.

2015TransAsia Airways Flight 235, with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after takeoff, killing 43 people.

2008Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.

2004Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

2003The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.

2000The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 eve

1999Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 19 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

1998The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.

1997En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73.

1997The Bojnurd earthquake measuring Mw 6.5 strikes Iran. With a Mercalli intensity of VIII, it kills at least 88 and damages 173 villages.

1992A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

1977A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.

1976In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

1975Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

1974M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.

1974The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1967Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

1966All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.

1961The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.

1948Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.

1945World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.

1945World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.

1945World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

1941The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

1938Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.

1932Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.

1899The Philippine–American War begins when four Filipino soldiers enter the "American Zone" in Manila, igniting the Battle of Manila.

1861American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states meet and initiate the process that would form the Confederate States of America on February 8.

1859The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

1846The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

1825The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.

1820The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships.

1810Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.

1801John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

1797The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.

1794The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.

1789George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

1758The city of Macapá in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral.

1703In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.

Born on this day

2003Kyla Kenedy, American actress

2003Rasmus Højlund, Danish footballer

1999MJ Lenderman, American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

1998Malik Monk, American basketball player

1998Maximilian Wöber, Austrian footballer

1996Mohamed Sherif, Egyptian footballer

1990Haruka Tomatsu, Japanese voice actress and singer

1989Lavoy Allen, American basketball player

1988Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer

1988Charlie Barnett, American actor

1987Darren O'Dea, Irish footballer

1987Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player

1986Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer

1986Maximilian Götz, German racing driver

1984Doug Fister, American baseball player

1984Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer

1983Hannibal Buress, American comedian and actor

1983Rebecca White, Australian politician

1982Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player

1981Jason Kapono, American basketball player

1981Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist

1980Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player

1979Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing driver

1977Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter

1976Cam'ron, American rapper and actor

1975Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress

1973Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer

1972Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host

1972Giovanni, Brazilian footballer and manager

1971Michael A. Goorjian, American actor, director, and writer

1971Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

1970Gabrielle Anwar, English-American actress

1970Hunter Biden, American attorney and lobbyist

1967Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (died 1995)

1966Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist

1965Jerome Brown, American football player (died 1992)

1964Elke Philipp, German Paralympic equestrian

1963Noodles, American musician and songwriter

1963Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier

1962Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Died on this day

2025Aga Khan IV, 49th Imam of the Nizari Isma'ili community (born 1936)

2024Barry John, Welsh rugby player (born 1945)

2023Sherif Ismail, 53rd Prime Minister of Egypt (born 1955)

2023Vani Jairam, Indian playback singer (born 1945)

2022Kim In-hyeok, South Korean volleyball player (born 1995)

2021Millie Hughes-Fulford, American astronaut, molecular biologist and NASA payload specialist (born 1945)

2020Daniel arap Moi, Former President of Kenya (born 1924)

2019Matti Nykänen, Finnish Olympic-winning ski jumper and singer (born 1963)

2018John Mahoney, English-American actor, voice artist, and comedian (born 1940)

2017Bano Qudsia, Pakistani writer (born 1928)

2017Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (born 1949)

2016Edgar Mitchell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (born 1930)

2015Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American colonel and pilot (born 1925)

2014Dennis Lota, Zambian footballer (born 1973)

2014Eugenio Corti, Italian soldier, author, and playwright (born 1921)

2014Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (born 1923)

2013Donald Byrd, American trumpet player (born 1932)

2013Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (born 1941)

2012Florence Green, English soldier (born 1901)

2012István Csurka, Hungarian journalist and politician (born 1934)

2012Mike deGruy, American director, producer, and cinematographer (born 1951)

2012Robert Daniel, American farmer, soldier, and politician (born 1936)

2012Susanne Suba, Hungarian-born watercolorist and illustrator, active in the United States (born 1913)

2011Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, first Prime Minister of Haiti (born 1913)

2010Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer (born 1919)

2010Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (born 1924)

2008Augusta Dabney, American actress (born 1918)

2008Stefan Meller, Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (born 1942)

2007Alfred Worm, Austrian journalist, author, and academic (born 1945)

2007Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (born 1934)

Quote of the day

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”

Seneca

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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