27 Bahman 1397

Events

• 1899 (127 years ago) Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
• 1918 (108 years ago) The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
• 1945 (81 years ago) World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
• 1959 (67 years ago) Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1962 (64 years ago) The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged.
• 1984 (42 years ago) Iran launches Operation Dawn 5, a major offensive during the Iran–Iraq War targeting the Basra–Baghdad highway, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.
• 1986 (40 years ago) China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.
• 1998 (28 years ago) China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground.

Births

• 1497 (529 years ago) Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (died 1560)
• 1822 (204 years ago) Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (died 1911)
• 1834 (192 years ago) Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (died 1919)
• 1848 (178 years ago) Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (died 1917)
• 1941 (85 years ago) Kim Jong Il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 2011)
• 1959 (67 years ago) John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster
• 1986 (40 years ago) Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer
• 1989 (37 years ago) Elizabeth Olsen, American actress

Deaths

• 1899 (127 years ago) Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (born 1841)
• 1907 (119 years ago) Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835)
• 1917 (109 years ago) Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (born 1848)
• 1990 (36 years ago) Keith Haring, American painter and activist (born 1958)
• 1997 (29 years ago) Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic (born 1912)
• 2016 (10 years ago) Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1922)
• 2019 (7 years ago) Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (born 1941)
• 2024 (2 years ago) Alexei Navalny, Russian activist (born 1976)

All 328 events, births and deaths of February 16