The video-sharing platform YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, revolutionizing how the world creates, shares, and consumes media online.
📍 San Mateo, California, United States
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft captured the iconic ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image of Earth from 6 billion kilometers away, inspiring a profound reflection on humanity’s place in the cosmos.
📍 Solar System (from Voyager 1)
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie over his novel 'The Satanic Verses', igniting global controversy over freedom of speech and religious sensitivity.
📍 Tehran, Iran
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved musical 'The Sound of Music' premiered on Broadway, eventually becoming one of the most iconic musicals in American theater history.
📍 New York City, United States
IBM introduced the IBM 305 RAMAC system, which included the world’s first hard disk drive, revolutionizing data storage and laying the foundation for modern computing.
📍 San Jose, California, United States
Dr. John Gibbon successfully used the heart-lung machine to support circulation during open-heart surgery, a breakthrough that revolutionized cardiac procedures worldwide.
📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
The ENIAC, the first general-purpose programmable electronic digital computer, was formally presented to the public at the University of Pennsylvania, revolutionizing modern computing.
📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
British doctors used penicillin to successfully treat a patient with a life-threatening bacterial infection, proving its therapeutic potential and sparking a revolution in antibiotics.
📍 Oxford, England
Seven members of Chicago’s North Side Gang were gunned down in a garage by men posing as police, a gangland execution widely attributed to Al Capone, symbolizing the peak of Prohibition-era violence.
📍 Chicago, Illinois, United States
The BBC aired its first daily weather forecast, marking the beginning of routine meteorological services in broadcasting and helping shape the public’s relationship with weather science.
📍 London, United Kingdom
The League of Women Voters was established to help newly enfranchised women exercise their right to vote, advocating nonpartisan political participation and civic education.
📍 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Russia officially adopted the Gregorian calendar to align with Western Europe, skipping 13 days in the process. This reform modernized timekeeping after the Bolshevik Revolution.
📍 Moscow, Russia
Voting machines were used for the first time in a U.S. federal election, marking a step toward electoral modernization and helping reduce vote fraud and human error.
📍 Lockport, New York, United States
Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent for the telephone on this day, leading to the first public demonstration shortly after and forever changing global communication.
📍 Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Oregon was officially admitted to the United States as the 33rd state, expanding U.S. territory in the Pacific Northwest and playing a strategic role in westward expansion.
📍 Oregon, United States
South American liberator Simón Bolívar was granted dictatorial powers in Peru to lead the fight for independence against Spanish colonial forces and stabilize the new republic.
📍 Lima, Peru
Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved man who became a powerful voice for abolition, civil rights, and social justice, was born—his chosen birthday celebrated widely in his honor.
📍 Talbot County, Maryland, United States
The U.S. Congress granted a charter to the First Bank of the United States, establishing a national financial institution to stabilize American currency and support government funding.
📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
British explorer Captain James Cook was killed in a confrontation with Native Hawaiians during his third voyage of exploration in the Pacific, marking a dramatic end to one of history’s great exploration careers.
📍 Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
Pope Gelasius I officially established February 14 as the feast day of Saint Valentine, laying the foundation for the romantic holiday that would evolve centuries later.
📍 Rome, Italy