Historical Anniversaries this Week

February 16

 Births (200 years ago today): 1826 – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (died 1886)

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (died 1962)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (died 1945)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – John Schlesinger, English actor and director (died 2003)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer

February 17

 Events (350 years ago today): 1676 – Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan.^[7]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Kelly Carlson, American actress and model^[50]

February 18

 Births (400 years ago today): 1626 – Francesco Redi, Italian physician (died 1697)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (died 1976)

February 19

 Events (300 years ago today): 1726 – The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.

 Births (500 years ago today): 1526 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist and academic (died 1609)

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – Constantin Brâncu?i, Romanian-French sculptor, painter, and photographer (died 1957)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – György Kurtág, Hungarian composer and academic

February 20

 Births (300 years ago today): 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (died 1795)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (died 2013)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (died 2018)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (died 2013)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete (died 2023)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (died 1998)

 Deaths (400 years ago today): 1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (born 1563)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1887)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, healing evangelist, known for belief in Holy Spirit (born 1907)

Commemorations:
World Day of Social Justice

February 21

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Michael McIntyre, English comedian, actor and television presenter

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Ryan Smyth, Canadian ice hockey player

 Deaths (100 years ago today): 1926 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853)

Commemorations:
International Mother Language Day

February 22

 Events (950 years ago today): 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14-20 February demanding that he abdicate,^[1] Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.^[2]

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (died 1938)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (died 1988)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (born 1904)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (born 1943)