Historical Events
- Feb 2 Greece declares war on Turkey
- Feb 10 Pact of Zanjón signed between Cubans rebels and the Spanish bringing the 10 Years War to an end
- Feb 11 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms
- Feb 11 1st weekly weather report published in UK
- Feb 12 Harvard player Frederick Thayer patents baseball catcher's mask (pat # 200,358)
- Feb 17 1st telephone exchange in San Francisco, California opens with 18 phones
- Feb 18 John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
Thomas Edison's Phonograph
Feb 19 Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his cylinder phonograph [1]
Symphony No. 4
Feb 22 Peter Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in F premieres at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow [February 10 O.S.]
Bland-Allison Act
Feb 28 Congress overrides US President Rutherford B. Hayes' veto of the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars
- Feb 28 US congress authorizes large-size silver certificate
Famous Birthdays
- Feb 1 Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (Olympic gold 100/200m 1896), soccer forward (1 cap) and manager (Hungary 1906), born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1955)
- Feb 1 Hattie Wyatt Caraway, American politician (1st woman elected to US Senate, Senator for Arkansas 1931-45), born near Bakerville, Tennessee (d. 1950) [1]
- Feb 1 Milan Hodža, Slovak politician (d. 1944)
- Feb 2 Christian Gauss, American professor and writer (Phi Beta Kappa award namesake), born in Ann Arbor, Michigan (d. 1951)
- Feb 3 Joseph Gordon Coates, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1925-28), born in Ruatuna, New Zealand (d. 1943)
- Feb 5 André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (d. 1935)
- Feb 6 Waclaw Gieburowski, Polish conductor and composer, born in Bydgoszcz, Poland (d. 1943)
- Feb 7 Ossip Gabrilovich, Russian-American pianist, conductor (Detroit Symphony, 1918-36), and composer, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1936)
- Feb 8 Leonard Moon, English cricket batsman (4 Tests, Cambridge University CC, Middlesex CCC), born in London, England (d. 1916)
- Feb 8 Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli dialogue philosopher and theologist (Ich und Du), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1965)
- Feb 12 Clarence "Pants" Rowland, American baseball manager (World Series 1917; Chicago White Sox 1915-18) and MLB umpire (American League 1923-27), born in Platteville, Wisconsin (d. 1969)
- Feb 14 Julius Nieuwland, Belgian-American chemist (inventor of 1st synthetic rubber neoprene), born in Hansbeke, Belgium (d. 1936)
- Feb 16 (Vincenzo) "Big Jim" Colosimo, Italian-American gangster, born in Colosimi, Calabria, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1920)
- Feb 16 Selim Palmgren, Finnish concert pianist, composer (Hakkapeliittojen marssi), conductor, and pedagogue, born in Pori, Finland (d. 1951)
- Feb 21 Fritz Cortolezis, German conductor, opera director, and composer, born in Passau, Bavaria, Germany (d. 1934)
- Feb 21 Mirra Richard [The Mother], French-born Indian spiritual leader (Sri Aurobindo), born in Paris, France (d. 1973)
- Feb 22 Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
- Feb 23 Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and art theorist (d. 1935)
- Feb 27 Alvan T. Fuller, 50th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
Charles Strite (1878-1956)
Feb 27 American inventor who invented the automatic pop-up toaster, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Feb 28 Artur Kapp, Estonian organist, composer (Peace Symphony; Paradise and Peri), and educator, born in Suure-Jaani, Russian Empire (d. 1952)
- Feb 28 Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
Famous Deaths
- Feb 1 George Cruikshank, English caricaturist & illustrator (Grimm), dies at 85
- Feb 2 Josip Runjanin, Croatian Serb composer (Croatian National Anthem) and soldier, dies at 56
- Feb 7 Pius IX, "Pio Nono" [Giovanni Ferretti], Italian Pope (1846-78), held First Vatican Council, lost control of Papal States, dies at 85
- Feb 8 Elias M. Fries, Swedish botanist (System mycologicum), dies at 83
- Feb 10 Claude Bernard, French physiologist involved in the founding of modern physiology (blind experiments), dies at 64
- Feb 11 Gideon Welles, 24th U.S. secretary of the navy under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, dies at 75
- Feb 17 José Amador de los Ríos, Spanish historian and poet, dies at 59
- Feb 18 Peter Laurentius Regout, Dutch industrialist (founded crystal and potter firm P. Regout & Co/Sphinx), dies at 76
- Feb 19 Charles-François Daubigny, French painter of the Barbizon school, dies at 61
- Feb 22 Franz Hunten, composer, dies at 84
- Feb 25 Townsend Harris, American diplomat (1st Western consul to reside in Japan), dies at 73
