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On this day in history - February 1

What Happened On This Day – February 1

  • 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on its way back to Earth

    All 7 astronauts were killed in the disaster.

  • 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exile

    His triumphant return marked the beginning of the Iranian Revolution.

  • 1968 Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War's best-known pictures

    The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.

  • 1960 Four black students start the Greensboro sit-ins

    Their refusal to leave a “whites only” lunch counter was a milestone in the fight against racial segregation in the United States.

  • 1884 The first fascicle of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published

    The book contained entries A to Ant.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
February 1

  • 1946 Elisabeth Sladen

    English actress

  • 1931 Boris Yeltsin

    Russian politician, 1st President of Russia

  • 1901 Clark Gable

    American actor

  • 1894 John Ford

    American director

  • 1552 Edward Coke

    English judge, politician

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
February 1

  • 2002 Hildegard Knef

    German actress

  • 1981 Geirr Tveitt

    Norwegian composer

  • 1976 Werner Heisenberg

    German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1966 Buster Keaton

    American actor, director, producer

  • 1851 Mary Shelley

    English author