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What happened on February 2
Every February 2 carries a layer of history: wars that began or ended, inventions, premieres, treaties, and people born or lost on this day across the centuries. We gathered 12 of the most striking events recorded on February 2, plus notable births and deaths, each with its year and a link to the Wikipedia article where the story continues. It is a fast way to answer "what happened on February 2" without digging through many sources: the list arrives ranked by relevance and dated.
Notable events
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2012 | The passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen capsized and sank in rough conditions in the Solomon Sea, resulting in at least 88 deaths. MV Rabaul Queen |
| 2009 | Omid, Iran's first domestically made satellite, was launched from Semnan Space Center. Omid |
| 2007 | Following a Derby di Sicilia match in Catania, football violence caused the death of police officer Filippo Raciti, leading to new safety regulations at Italian sporting events. Catania |
| 2004 | Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the top-ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Roger Federer |
| 1974 | The F-16 Fighting Falcon, the most numerous fixed-wing aircraft currently in military service, made its first flight. General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon |
| 1972 | The Troubles: Protestors burned the British Embassy in Ireland following the massacre of 14 civilians in Derry by British forces. The Troubles |
| 1963 | Cold War in Asia: 113 alleged communists were arrested and detained without trial by Singapore's security agencies. Operation Coldstore |
| 1942 | The first act of the Norwegian resistance movement took place with the bombing of Oslo East Station by the Osvald Group to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling. Norwegian resistance movement |
| 1934 | The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the country's official export credit agency, was established. Export-Import Bank of the United States |
| 1913 | New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight. Grand Central Terminal |
| 1848 | Mexican-American War: During the American occupation of Mexico City, diplomats signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war and had Mexico cede 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000 sq mi) of territory and the United States pay US$15 million. Mexican-American War |
| 1725 | J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis. Johann Sebastian Bach |
Births
| Year | Who |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Westcol, Colombian online streamer WestCOL |
| 2000 | Munetaka Murakami, Japanese baseball player Munetaka Murakami |
| 1999 | Jeff Okudah, American football player Jeff Okudah |
| 1998 | Shiho Katō, Japanese singer and model Shiho Katō |
Deaths
| Year | Who |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Brian Murphy, English comic actor (born 1932) Brian Murphy (actor) |
| 2024 | Don Murray, American actor (born 1929) Don Murray (actor) |
| 2024 | Carl Weathers, American football player and actor (born 1948) Carl Weathers |
| 2023 | K. Viswanath, Indian actor, director and screenwriter (born 1930) K. Viswanath |
A single anniversary does not explain on its own why a day matters: one February 2 can hold a scientific milestone, a tragedy and the birth of an artist, centuries apart. That is why we date every row and link the source, so you can follow what interests you. The selection mixes 12 events, 4 births and 4 deaths; the full list, with every reference, lives on Wikipedia.
Source, license and method
This page curates the day's anniversaries for February 2 from Wikipedia, delivered through the Wikimedia "On this day" feed (the encyclopedia's own open dataset). It is not original research: the facts, years and wording come from Wikipedia and are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 4.0), which requires crediting the source and keeping the same license. We pick each day's most relevant items, favouring the editors' own selection and the most prominent articles, and every row links back to the matching entry. For the full list and primary references, see the day's article on Wikipedia (February 2).
Continue in the dates cluster
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Last updated: · Methodology and sources