Some things that have happened on this day are collected below. Names in parentheses are the full or real names of famous people who go by another name. If you have more, send me a /msg and I'll add them.
622 start of the Muslim calendar, as Muhammad travels from Mecca to Medina
1486 Andrea del Sarto (Andrea d'Agnolo di Francesco di Luca di Paolo del Migliore), Renaissance painter, is born
1548 La Paz, capital of Bolivia, is founded
1669 a landslide in Salzburg, Austria kills 230 people 1
1723 Sir Joshua Reynolds is born 2
1769 Fathers Junipero Serra, Juan Viscaino, and Fenando Parron found Mission San Diego de Alcala 2
1779 Stony Point, New York is captured from British troops
1790 the District of Columbia is established by the Residence Bill
1796 Jean Corot is born 2
1821 Mary Baker Eddy (Mary Morse Baker), founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is born
1849 the safety pin is invented by Walter Hunt
1862 the rank of Rear Admiral of the United States Navy is created for David G. Farragut
1863 the Battle of Grimball's Landing is fought; the Confederacy loses 1
1872 Roald Amundsen, discoverer of the south pole, is born
1878 Thaddeus Hyatt patents reinforced concrete
1880 Dr. Emily Howard Stowe becomes the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada
1888 Fritz Zernike, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1953, is born in Amsterdam 2
1896 Trygve Lie, first Security General of the United Nations, is born
1907 Barbara Stanwyck (Ruby Katherine Stevens), actress (Titanic, Annie Oakley), is born
1911 Ginger Rogers (Virginia Katherine McMath), actress (Kitty Foyle) and dancer, is born
1915 new American record: N. S. Taber runs the indoor mile in 4:12.5 at Harvard Stadium; record holds until 1923
1918 Nicholas II, last emperor of Russia, and his royal family are executed in the night by the Bolsheviks
1921 Arthur Irwin, creator of the National League, commits suicide 1
1923 Bola Sete, Latin jazz guitarist, is born 1
1925 Nat Pierce, great swing jazz bandleader, is born 1
1925 Cal Tjader, Latin jazz bandleader, is born 1
1942 the Vichy France government has 13,000–20,000 Jews imprisoned in the Winter Velodrome
1945 first "successful" detonation of a nuclear weapon: a plutonium-based bomb is exploded at the Trinity site at 5:29:45 am MWT
1947 Dave Goelz, puppeteer (The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth) and voice actor (Gonzo and Bunsen Honeydew), is born 1
1948 Ruben Blades, Panamanian jazz legend, is born 1
1948 Pinchas Zukerman, violinist, is born in Tel Aviv, Israel 2
1951 The Catcher in the Rye is published. 3
1952 Stewart Copeland, drummer of the Police, is born
1957 new record: United States Marine Major John Glenn (John Herschel Glenn, Jr.) sets transcontinental speed record by flying an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3:23:08
1957 Bobby Previte, avant-garde jazz drummer, is born 1
1963 Norman Cook (Quentin Cook), musician (Fatboy Slim, Freakpower), is born
1963 Phoebe Cates (Phoebe Belle Katz Cates), actress (Gremlins 1 & 2), is born
1964 Miguel Indurain, Spanish bicyclist and first person to win the Tour de France five times in a row (1991–1995), is born
1966 Mao Zedong goes swimming in the Yangtze River to show that he's not too old to rule
1967 Will Ferrell, comedian (Saturday Night Live), is born 1
1968 Barry Sanders, running back Hall-of-Famer, is born 1
1969 Rain Pryor (daughter of Richard), actress (Head of the Class), is born 1
1969 Apollo 11 lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, carrying Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin
1971 Ed Kowalczyk, singer for Live, is born 1
1971 Corey Feldman is born K
1973 new information in the Watergate scandal: former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the investigation committee that Nixon had secretly recorded incriminating conversations
1974 WonkoDSane is born
1979 Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq after Hasan al-Bakr resigns
1979 Alfred Deller, English countertenor, dies in Bologna
1981 Harry Chapin, singer/songwriter and social activist, dies in a car accident
1984 interrobang and redbaker are born
1986 Jaco Pastorius, bass guitar legend, admits himself to a mental hospital
1988 Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan wed
1990 a 7.7-strength earthquake in the Philippines kills over 1,600
1994 pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 begin colliding with Jupiter, creating the largest explosion in our solar system we have ever witnessed
1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr. (the President's son), wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette die when their private plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard
1999 Phish makes first attempt to break the world record for Most People Doing a Dance Simultaneously with the Meatstick Dance in Oswego, Florida
2000 total lunar eclipse over Australia
2001 the FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov after he gives a speech at DEF CON
2003 Celia Cruz (Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso), Cuban salsa singer, dies in New Jersey of a brain tumor
2003 Carol Shields (née Carol Ann Warner), Canadian-American author, dies in British Columbia of cancer
2003 a security flaw in Microsoft's latest Windows packages is discovered, leading to the release of the MSBlast virus
2186 the longest eclipse for 8000 years, a total solar eclipse lasting 7:29 (close to the theoretic maximum duration), will occur 2
? birthday of Jenny (character in Forrest Gump)
N/A festival day of Saint Mary Magdalen Postel and Our Lady of Mount Carmel
N/A public holiday in Botswana (day after President's Day)