On this day: February 11

Events on February 11

• 55 The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor. Wikipedia
• 1144 Robert of Chester completes his translation from Arabic to Latin of the Liber de compositione alchemiae, marking the birth of Western alchemy. Wikipedia
• 1812 Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1823 Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta. Wikipedia
• 1843 Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy. Wikipedia
• 1851 As part of celebrations marking the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia began at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. Wikipedia
• 1903 Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore. Wikipedia
• 1946 The New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first significant challenge to the Authorized King James Version, is published. Wikipedia
• 1953 Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Wikipedia
• 1963 The Beatles record their first album, Please Please Me. Wikipedia
• 1971 Cold War: The Seabed Arms Control Treaty opens for signature, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters. Wikipedia
• 1990 Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, having been a political prisoner for 27 years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa. Wikipedia
• 1990 Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner. Wikipedia
• 1990 Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title. Wikipedia
• 1997 The far-right extremist Hungarian National Front introduces the day of honor, a neo-nazi and neo-fascist annual gathering in Budapest Wikipedia
• 1999 Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231. Wikipedia
• 2001 A Dutch programmer launches the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star. Wikipedia
• 2008 Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack. Wikipedia
• 2013 The Vatican confirms that Pope Benedict XVI will resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age. Wikipedia
• 2014 A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people. Wikipedia
• 2015 A university student is murdered as she resists an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women. Wikipedia
• 2017 North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan. Wikipedia
• 2018 Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors. Wikipedia
• 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2. Wikipedia

Born on February 11

• 1535 Pope Gregory XIV (died 1591) Wikipedia
• 1657 Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (died 1757) Wikipedia
• 1839 Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (died 1903) Wikipedia
• 1847 Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1898 Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1900 Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1909 Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1917 Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1920 Farouk of Egypt (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1926 Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1934 Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military leader of Panama (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1936 Burt Reynolds, American actor and director (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1945 Michael Scott, first CEO of Apple Inc. Wikipedia
• 1947 Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese engineer and politician and Prime Minister of Japan Wikipedia
• 1964 Sarah Palin, American politician, 9th Governor of Alaska Wikipedia
• 1969 Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1973 Varg Vikernes, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1977 Mike Shinoda, American musician and artist Wikipedia
• 1983 Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch footballer Wikipedia
• 1986 Gabriel Boric, Chilean politician, 36th President of Chile Wikipedia
• 1992 Taylor Lautner, American actor Wikipedia
• 1997 Rosé, New Zealand-South Korean singer and dancer Wikipedia

Died on February 11

• 55 Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (born 41) Wikipedia
• 641 Heraclius, Byzantine emperor (born 575) Wikipedia
• 731 Pope Gregory II (born 669) Wikipedia
• 1650 René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (born 1596) Wikipedia
• 1868 Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1948 Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1963 Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 1973 J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 1978 Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1986 Frank Herbert, American journalist and author (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 1993 Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2006 Matilda, American chicken and stage magician, oldest known chicken (h. 1990) Wikipedia
• 2012 Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (born 1963) Wikipedia
• 2018 Asma Jahangir, Pakistani human-rights lawyer and social activist (born 1952) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blaise Eastern Orthodox liturgics Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cædmon, first recorded Christian poet in England, c. 680 CE (Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gobnait Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gregory II Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lazarus of Milan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter of Jesus Maldonado Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Soteris Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• European 112 Day (European Union) Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Day (Liberia) Wikipedia
• Evelio Javier Day (Panay Island, the Philippines) Wikipedia
• Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes (Catholic Church), and its related observance World Day of the Sick (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Inventors' Day (United States) Wikipedia
• National Foundation Day (Japan) Wikipedia
• Youth Day (Cameroon) Wikipedia
• International Day of Women and Girls in Science (UN Women) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 11” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.