February 11

Thursday 11, 1999:

Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979.

Monday 11, 1991:

UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.

Sunday 11, 1990:

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Wednesday 11, 1987:

Philippines constitution goes into effect.

Tuesday 11, 1986:

Rights activist Anatoly Sharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country.

Friday 11, 1983:

President Ronald Reagan declares Edisons birthday National Inventors' Day

Wednesday 11, 1981:

100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers

Sunday 11, 1979:

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.

Saturday 11, 1978:

Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.

Sunday 11, 1973:

Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

Friday 11, 1972:

Craig Jones, American Musician (Slipknot)

Thursday 11, 1971:

US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.

Sunday 11, 1968:

Madison Square Garden III closes and Madison Square Garden IV opens in New York City

Tuesday 11, 1964:

The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France.

Monday 11, 1963:

The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me".

Saturday 11, 1961:

Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

Wednesday 11, 1953:

The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.

Wednesday 11, 1948:

John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland.

Sunday 11, 1945:

Yalta Conference ends.

Thursday 11, 1943:

General Dwight Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

Tuesday 11, 1941:

First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".

Friday 11, 1938:

BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (This play coined the term 'robot.')

Thursday 11, 1937:

A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers Union.

Monday 11, 1929:

Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

Saturday 11, 1928:

1928 Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland

Tuesday 11, 1919:

Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany.

Friday 11, 1916:

Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control.

Tuesday 11, 1908:

Australia regain the Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.

Saturday 11, 1905:

Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.

Wednesday 11, 1903:

Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.

Tuesday 11, 1902:

Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.

Monday 11, 1895:

The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire. This record was equalled on 10 January,1982 .

Monday 11, 1889:

Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890

Tuesday 11, 1873:

King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.

Monday 11, 1861:

American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

Thursday 11, 1858:

The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.

Sunday 11, 1855:

Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam.

Saturday 11, 1843:

Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.

Tuesday 11, 1840:

Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.

Saturday 11, 1837:

American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts.

Saturday 11, 1826:

University College London is founded under the name University of London.

Friday 11, 1814:

Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union

Tuesday 11, 1812:

Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.

Sunday 11, 1810:

Napoléon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.

Saturday 11, 1809:

Robert Fulton patents the steamboat

Thursday 11, 1808:

Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally.

Tuesday 11, 1794:

First session of United States Senate open to the public.

Thursday 11, 1790:

Religious Society of Friends petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.

Friday 11, 1752:

Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens.

Wednesday 11, 1531:

Henry VIII of England recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.

Monday 11, 1411:

1411 : Peace of Toru? 1411 signed in Toru?, Poland

Sunday 11, 824:

Paschal I ends his reign as Pope.

Wednesday 11, 731:

Gregory II ends his reign as Pope.

Wednesday 11, -660:

Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.

More on February, 11

• People Born on February, 11
• They left us on February, 11