Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 16
This is a list of selected February 16 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Spencer Compton -
Félix Faure -
USS Philadelphia -
Mask of Tutankhamun
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1249 – Louis IX of France dispatched André de Longjumeau as his ambassador to the Mongol Empire. | Tagged with {{more footnotes}} |
| 1742 – Spencer Compton became British Prime Minister, but ended up being a figurehead for the true leader of the British Government: Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. | more footnotes |
| 1849 – The French Government passed a law to set the A above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch and combat pitch inflation. | Tagged with {{unreferenced section}} |
| 1857 – Gallaudet University, the world's only university for hearing-impaired students, was established in Washington, D.C.. | Need to verify date, {{unbalanced}} |
| 1899 – French President Félix Faure suddenly died from apoplexy while having sexual activities with Marguerite Steinheil in his office. | refimprove |
| 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ended with the military of the First Austrian Republic defeating the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund, leaving at least several hundred people dead in the five-day conflict. | more footnotes |
| 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton set sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. | both featured on April 25 |
| 1968 – The first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system for the North American Numbering Plan went into service in Haleyville, Alabama. | {{sync}} |
| 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was established by Ward Christensen during a blizzard in Chicago. | refimprove, short |
Eligible
- 1270 – Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
- 1804 – United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the captured USS Philadelphia (pictured) in Tripoli, denying her use to the Barbary States in the First Barbary War.
- 1923 – English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun, an Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
- 1943 – Second World War: Norwegian commandos trained by the British Special Operations Executive destroyed a factory to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water.
- 1946 – The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for civilian instead of military use, made its first flight.
- 1961 – The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered.
- 1977 – Archbishop Janani Luwum of the Church of Uganda, a leading voice against the regime of Idi Amin, was arrested for treason and murdered the next day.
- 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires burned 513,979 acres (2,080 km2) in South Australia and 518,921 acres (2,100 km2) in Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others.
February 16: Family Day in various regions of Canada (2015); Statehood Day in Lithuania (1918); Washington's Birthday (Presidents' Day) in the United States (2015)
- 1862 – American Civil War: Union victory in the Battle of Fort Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.
- 1918 – The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania (facsimile pictured), proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania governed by democratic principles, despite the presence of German troops in the country during World War I.
- 1940 – Second World War: The British Royal Navy boarded and captured the German tanker Altmark and freed 299 captured British sailors.
- 1985 – "The Hizballah Program" was released, describing the ideology and goals of the Shia Islamic political and paramilitary organization Hizballah.
- 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, entered into force.