12 Bahman 1374 | Thursday 1 February 1996

This day in four calendars

1814 (212 years ago) Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, which was the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
1957 (69 years ago) Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashes on Rikers Island in New York City, killing 20 people and injuring 78 others.
1972 (54 years ago) Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
1979 (47 years ago) Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
2004 (22 years ago) Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
2007 (19 years ago) The National Weather Service in the United States switches from the Fujita scale to the new Enhanced Fujita scale to measure the intensity and strength of tornadoes.
2009 (17 years ago) The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government.
2021 (5 years ago) A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.

1874 (152 years ago) Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1929)
1894 (132 years ago) John Ford, American director and producer (died 1973)
1901 (125 years ago) Clark Gable, American actor (died 1960)
1902 (124 years ago) Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (died 1967)
1905 (121 years ago) Emilio Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)
1931 (95 years ago) Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (died 2007)
1972 (54 years ago) Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist
1994 (32 years ago) Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter and actor

1691 (335 years ago) Pope Alexander VIII,
1851 (175 years ago) Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (born 1797)
1944 (82 years ago) Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (born 1872)
1958 (68 years ago) Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
1966 (60 years ago) Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1895)
1976 (50 years ago) Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901)
2012 (14 years ago) Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)
2025 (a year ago) Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany (born 1943)