1766 ~ Birthday of Thomas Malthus, Economist.

1779 ~ James Cook was killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands.

1803 ~ Chief Justice John Marshall declared that any act of U.S. Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void.

1895 ~ First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play “The Importance of Being Earnest” at St James's Theatre in London.

1943 ~ World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps defeat the Americans under General Lloyd Fredendall.

1945 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1946 ~ The Bank of England was nationalized.

1966 ~ Australian currency was decimalized.

1989 ~ Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.

2003 ~ Death of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.


Holidays and observances

Catholicism ~ Feast day of Saint Valentine.

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Eudaimonia