On this day: February 2

Events on February 2

• 506 Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, promulgated a collection of Roman law known as the Breviary of Alaric. Wikipedia
• 962 Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years. Wikipedia
• 1033 An assembly at the Abbey of Payerne crowned Conrad II king of Burgundy. Wikipedia
• 1207 Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, was established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1438 Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt were executed in Torda. Wikipedia
• 1594 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina dies at the age of 68. Wikipedia
• 1659 Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine. Wikipedia
• 1709 Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued by English captain Woodes Rogers and his crew after spending four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the Pacific, providing the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe. Wikipedia
• 1725 J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis. Wikipedia
• 1848 Mexican–American War: During the American occupation of Mexico City, diplomats signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war and had Mexico cede 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000 sq mi) of territory and the United States pay US$15 million. Wikipedia
• 1901 Funeral of Queen Victoria. Wikipedia
• 1913 New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia. Wikipedia
• 1922 Ulysses by James Joyce is published. Wikipedia
• 1934 The Export–Import Bank of the United States, the country's official export credit agency, was established. Wikipedia
• 1942 The first act of the Norwegian resistance movement took place with the bombing of Oslo East Station by the Osvald Group to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city. Wikipedia
• 1959 Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances. Wikipedia
• 1963 Cold War in Asia: 113 alleged communists were arrested and detained without trial by Singapore's security agencies. Wikipedia
• 1971 The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran. Wikipedia
• 1972 The Troubles: Protestors burned the British Embassy in Ireland following the massacre of 14 civilians in Derry by British forces. Wikipedia
• 1974 The F-16 Fighting Falcon, the most numerous fixed-wing aircraft currently in military service, made its first flight. Wikipedia
• 2004 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the top-ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Wikipedia
• 2007 Following a Derby di Sicilia match in Catania, football violence caused the death of police officer Filippo Raciti, leading to new safety regulations at Italian sporting events. Wikipedia
• 2009 Omid, Iran's first domestically made satellite, was launched from Semnan Space Center. Wikipedia
• 2012 The passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen capsized and sank in rough conditions in the Solomon Sea, resulting in at least 88 deaths. Wikipedia
• 2021 The Burmese military establishes the State Administration Council, the military junta, after deposing the democratically elected government in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. Wikipedia

Born on February 2

• 1208 James I of Aragon (died 1276) Wikipedia
• 1455 John, King of Denmark (died 1513) Wikipedia
• 1650 Pope Benedict XIII (died 1730) Wikipedia
• 1754 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1838) Wikipedia
• 1873 Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1882 James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1885 Mikhail Frunze, Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theorist (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1901 Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-American violinist and educator (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1905 Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1926 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1927 Stan Getz, American saxophonist (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1933 Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma Wikipedia
• 1946 Blake Clark, American comedian and actor Wikipedia
• 1947 Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1952 Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea Wikipedia
• 1963 Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia Wikipedia
• 1969 Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1970 Erik ten Hag, Dutch footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1977 Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1986 Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer Wikipedia
• 1987 Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Paul Mescal, Irish actor Wikipedia

Died on February 2

• 1529 Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (born 1478) Wikipedia
• 1594 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (born 1525) Wikipedia
• 1704 Guillaume de l'Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (born 1661) Wikipedia
• 1769 Pope Clement XIII (born 1693) Wikipedia
• 1907 Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (born 1834) Wikipedia
• 1969 Boris Karloff, English actor (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1970 Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1974 Imre Lakatos, Hungarian-English mathematician and philosopher (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 1979 Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (born 1957) Wikipedia
• 1980 William Howard Stein, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1994 Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 1995 Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 1996 Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2014 Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (born 1967) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Groundhog Day Wikipedia
• Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia) Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Adalbard Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Catherine de' Ricci Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Jeanne de Lestonnac Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Martyrs of Ebsdorf Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: Presentation of Jesus Wikipedia
• Christian Feast Day: February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: A quarter day in the Christian liturgical calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: Chandeleur (France) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: Liichtmëssdag (Luxembourg) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics) Wikipedia
• Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances: Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain) Wikipedia
• Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia) Wikipedia
• World Wetlands Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “February 2” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/February 2” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 2” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for February 2 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 27 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. The 1943 entry stays as well, and comes first in the one-line summary: we keep a short list, checked by hand, of widely known events that Wikipedia's editors leave out of their selection, usually because the article carries a maintenance notice. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.