Did you know
He presided over the League of Education from 1902 to 1906 and over the Human Rights League (LDH) from 1914 to 1926
Notable Deaths on February 16
85 people
549 – 2026
February 16 has seen 85 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 549 – 2026. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1932 — Ferdinand Buisson
French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1841)
Did you know
In 1927, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him jointly with Ludwig Quidde
Did you know
In 1905, he chaired the parliamentary committee to implement the separation of church and state
Did you know
Ferdinand Édouard Buisson was a French educational public servant, pacifist, and Radical-Socialist politician
Did you know
A philosopher and educator, he was Director of Primary Education
549
Byzantine saint (born 875)
Saint Mary the Younger was a Byzantine saint of Armenian origin, the daughter of an Armenian noble. Some details of her life, including her following after the mid-10th century, are not known for certain; the text…
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902
Archbishop of Canterbury
Richard was a medieval Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Canterbury. Employed by Thomas Becket immediately before Becket's death, Richard arranged for Becket to be buried in Canterbury Cathedral and eventually…
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1184
Landgrave of Thuringia (born 1204)
Henry Raspe was the Landgrave of Thuringia from 1231 until 1239 and again from 1241 until his death. In 1246, with the support of the Papacy, he was elected King of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV, but his contested…
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1247
Afonso III, called the Boulonnais, was King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249. He was the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal and Urraca of Castile; he succeeded…
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1279
queen consort of Germany (born c. 1225)
Gertrude Anne of Hohenberg was German queen from 1273 until her death, by her marriage with King Rudolf I of Germany. As queen consort, she became progenitor of the Austrian House of Habsburg.
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1281
1390
Byzantine emperor (born 1332)
John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. His long reign was marked by constant civil war, the spread of the Black Death and several military defeats to the Ottoman…
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1391
German mathematician and astronomer (born 1452)
Johannes Stöffler was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, priest, maker of astronomical instruments and professor at the University of Tübingen.
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1531
French cardinal and diplomat (born 1493)
Jean du Bellay was a French diplomat and cardinal, a younger brother of Guillaume du Bellay, and cousin and patron of the poet Joachim du Bellay. He was bishop of Bayonne by 1526, a member of the Conseil privé of King…
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1560
Spanish explorer (born 1509)
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory named by…
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1579
Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (born 1585)
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona-Anglesola was one of the main Spanish military leaders during the Eighty Years' War, Thirty Years' War, and the War of the Mantuan Succession.
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1645
French bishop and author (born 1632)
Esprit Fléchier was a French preacher and author, Bishop of Nîmes from 1687 to 1710.
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1710
English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (born 1686)
James Craggs the Younger, was an English politician.
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1721
English physician (born 1673)
Richard Mead, FRS, FRCP was an English physician. His work, A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it (1720), was of historic importance in advancing the understanding…
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1754
Swedish general (born 1758)
Georg Carl von Döbeln was a Swedish friherre (baron), Lieutenant general and above all known for his efforts on the Swedish side during the Finnish War.
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1820
American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1796)
William Pennington was an American politician and lawyer. He was the 13th governor of New Jersey from 1837 to 1843. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives, during which he served as the first…
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1862
Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician (born 1843)
Thomas Bracken was an Irish-born New Zealand poet, journalist and politician. He wrote "God Defend New Zealand", one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, and was the first person to publish the phrase "God's Own…
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1898
French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (born 1841)
Félix François Faure was President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-Inférieure in…
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1899
Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835)
Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, he became the first…
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1907
Russian-Japanese monk and saint (born 1836)
Nicholas of Japan, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Archbishop of Japan, born Ivan Dmitrovich Kasatkin was a Russian Orthodox priest, monk, and bishop. He introduced the Eastern Orthodox Church to Japan. The Orthodox cathedral of…
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1912
French journalist, novelist, and playwright (born 1848)
Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the…
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1917
Ukrainian actress (born 1893)
Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya was a Russian cinema actress. She was the first star of Imperial Russian silent cinema. Only five of her films still exist, and the total number she acted in is unknown, with speculation…
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1919
American actor and dancer (born 1856)
Edwin Fitzgerald, known professionally as Eddie Foy and Eddie Foy Sr., was an American actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.
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1928
American-English financier and philanthropist (born 1862)
Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of the Speyer family's international finance…
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1932
German opera singer and actress (born 1872)
Frida Felser was a German soprano opera singer and actress.
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1941
Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1870)
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was an Indian producer, director and screenwriter, widely regarded as "the Father of Indian cinema".
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1944
Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1876)
Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.
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1957
American baseball player (born 1891)
Charles Arthur "Dazzy" Vance was an American professional baseball player. He played as a pitcher for five different franchises in Major League Baseball (MLB) in a career that spanned 16 seasons over 21 years. A late…
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1961
American educator, school administrator, and businessperson (born 1865)
James Munroe Canty was an American educator, school administrator, and businessperson. Canty was an acting principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1898 and is considered by West Virginia State as an acting…
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1964
American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1911)
Lester Alvin Burnett, better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie…
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1967
Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle (born 1888)
Jean Cantius Garand, also known as John C. Garand, was a Canadian-American designer of firearms who created the M1 Garand, a semi-automatic rifle that was widely used by the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps during World…
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1974
American hurdler and coach (born 1903)
Frederick Morgan Taylor was an American hurdler and the first athlete to win three Olympic medals in the 400 m hurdles. He was the flag bearer for the United States at his last Olympics in 1932.
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1975
bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr (born c.1922)
Janani Jakaliya Luwum was a Ugandan Anglican bishop. He was the archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1977 and one of the most influential leaders of the modern church in Africa. He was arrested in February…
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1977
Hungarian mathematician (born 1905)
Rózsa Péter, until January 1934 Rózsa Politzer, was a Hungarian mathematician and logician. She is best known as the "founding mother of recursion theory".
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1977
German physicist and chemist (born 1895)
Erich Armand Arthur Joseph Hückel was a German physicist and physical chemist. He is mainly known for the Debye–Hückel theory of electrolytic solutions and the Hückel method of approximate molecular orbital (MO)…
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1980
Bangladeshi general (born 1918)
Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani was a Bangladeshi military officer, revolutionary and politician. His military career spanned three decades, beginning with his service in the British Indian Army in 1939. He fought in the…
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1984
Chinese writer, educator, and politician (born 1894)
Ye Shengtao also known as Ye Shaojun, was a Chinese writer, journalist, educator, publisher and politician. He was a founder of the Association for Literary Studies (文學研究會), the first literature association during the…
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1988
American painter and activist (born 1958)
Keith Allen Haring was an American artist and activist. His bold, graphic imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language." Emerging from New York City's downtown art and graffiti scenes in the early 1980s, he…
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1990
Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer (born 1932)
Enrique Bermúdez Varela, known as Comandante 380, was a Nicaraguan soldier and rebel who founded and commanded the Nicaraguan Contras. In this capacity, he became a central global figure in one of the most prominent…
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1991
English novelist, short story writer (born 1940)
Angela Olive Pearce, who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realist, and picaresque works. She is mainly known for…
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1992
Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil (born 1917)
Jânio da Silva Quadros was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from 31 January to 25 August 1961, when he resigned from office. He also served as the 24th and 36th mayor of São…
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1992
Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician (born 1908)
Herman Ole Andreas Wold was a Norwegian-born econometrician and statistician who had a long career in Sweden. Wold was known for his work in mathematical economics, in time series analysis, and in econometric statistics.
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1992
Argentinian painter and sculptor (born 1922)
Roberto Aizenberg, nicknamed "Bobby", was an Argentine painter and sculptor. He was considered the best-known orthodox surrealist painter in Argentina.
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1996
American actor and author (born 1932)
Roger Wendell Bowen was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film M*A*S*H.
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1996
American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (born 1905)
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he was later…
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1996
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1915)
Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.
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1996
Chinese-American physicist and academic (born 1912)
Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop…
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1997
American toxicologist and public health researcher (born 1908)
Mary Ochsenhirt Amdur was an American toxicologist and public health researcher who worked primarily on pollution. She was charged with studying the effects of the 1948 Donora smog, specifically looking into the effects…
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1998
Taiwanese politician (born 1927)
Sheu Yuan-dong was a Taiwanese politician who was the 15th governor of Taiwan's central bank from 1995 until his death in 1998. Born in then-Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Sheu attended Taipei City Success High School and…
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1998
American actress (born 1908)
Marceline Day was an American motion picture actress whose career began as a child in the 1910s and ended in the 1930s.
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2000
Russian-French actress and singer
Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova, known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-French actress of the screen and stage. For her portrayal of Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek (1964), she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting…
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2000
Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING (born 1911)
Karsten Solheim was a golf club designer and businessman. He founded Karsten Manufacturing, a golf club maker better known by the name of PING, and the Solheim Cup, the premier international team competition in women's…
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2000
American director and producer (born 1916)
Howard Winchel Koch was an American film producer and director. He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as head of film production at Paramount Pictures, and directed and produced…
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2001
American gynecologist and sexologist (born 1915)
William Howell Masters was an American gynecologist and the senior member of the Masters and Johnson human sexuality research team. Along with his partner Virginia E. Johnson, he pioneered research into the nature of…
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2001
English footballer and manager (born 1913)
Sir Walter Winterbottom was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association. He resigned from the FA in 1962…
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2002
American actor and composer (born 1955)
Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee was an American comedian, actor and composer/lyricist for theatre, television, film and commercials.
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2003
American singer-songwriter (born 1937)
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer and songwriter, known to her fans as "Mama Soul". Her biggest hit was "Just One Look", a top 10 hit in 1963.
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2004
American wrestler (born 1966)
Michael Lynn Durham was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Johnny Grunge. He is known for his appearances with Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and the…
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2006
German-American football player and coach (born 1925)
Ernest Alfred Stautner was a German-American professional football player and coach. He played as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also served as a coach for the…
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2006
South Korean cardinal (born 1921)
Stephen Kim Sou-hwan was a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church and the Korea's first elevated to the rank of cardinal. He is a former archbishop of Seoul, South Korea. Having been an iconic figure in South Korea's…
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2009
American actor (born 1922)
Leonard King Lesser was an American character actor and comedian, best known for his recurring role as Uncle Leo on Seinfeld. He was also known for his role as Garvin on Everybody Loves Raymond.
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2011
Lithuanian poet and playwright (born 1930)
Justinas Marcinkevičius was a Lithuanian poet and playwright.
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2011
American baseball player and coach (born 1954)
Gary Edmund Carter was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "The Kid" for his youthful…
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2012
American model, actress, and fashion designer (born 1917)
Elyse Knox was an American actress, model, and fashion designer. She is the mother of actor Mark Harmon.
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2012
American swimmer and lieutenant (born 1916)
John Joseph Macionis was an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
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2012
American journalist (born 1968)
Anthony Shadid was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Baghdad and Beirut who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting twice, in 2004 and 2010.
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2012
Guyanese footballer (born 1991)
Colin Edwards was a Guyanese international football player. He played in three friendly games for the Guyana national football team.
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2013
Russian philosopher and author (born 1918)
Grigory Solomonovich Pomerants was a Russian philosopher and cultural theorist. He is the author of numerous philosophical works that circulated in samizdat and made an impact on the liberal intelligentsia in the 1960s…
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2013
English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940)
Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of the Beatles,…
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2013
American football player (born 1928)
Kenneth David Farragut Jr. was an American professional football player who was a center for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels.
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2014
German guitarist (born 1947)
Gert "Kralle" Krawinkel was a German musician, best known as the guitarist of the 1980s pop group Trio.
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2014
American author (born 1946)
Michael Shea was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author. His novel Nifft the Lean won the World Fantasy Award, as did his novella Growlimb.
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2014
Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1936)
Lasse Braun was an Italian pornographer, film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and researcher.
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2015
American singer-songwriter (born 1946)
Lesley Gore was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song "It's My Party", a U.S. number one in 1963. She followed it up with ten further U.S. Billboard top 40 hits…
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2015
Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (born 1957)
Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, better known as R. R. Patil, was an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was an MLA for Tasgaon vidhan sabha constituency from 1991 to 2015. He was an important leader of modern…
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2015
Mexican actress and singer (born 1971)
Lorena Rojas was a Mexican actress and singer, best known for her leading roles in popular telenovelas.
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2015
Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1922)
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth secretary-general of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali was the…
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2016
Swiss actor (born 1941)
Bruno Ganz was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Francis Ford…
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2019
Ecuadorian politician, 42nd President of Ecuador (born 1937)
Gustavo José Joaquín Noboa Bejarano was an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 42nd president of Ecuador from 22 January 2000 to 15 January 2003. Previously he served as the 42nd vice president under President Jamil…
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2021
Russian activist (born 1976)
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in 2011. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a…
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2024
Bulgarian artist (born 1972)
Viktor Antonov was a Bulgarian artist, video game designer, writer, and worldbuilder who worked on numerous first-person shooter (FPS) games. In 2017, Blake Hester wrote for Vice that Antonov "has created disturbing,…
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2025
American songwriter (born 1950)
William Endfield Steinberg was an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly, together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits "Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984),…
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2026
American filmmaker (born 1930)
Frederick Wiseman was an American filmmaker, documentarian, theater director, editor, and actor. His work primarily explored American institutions. His most notable documentaries include Titicut Follies (1967), Hospital…
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2026
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Notable deaths
Who died on February 16?
Ferdinand Buisson — French educational bureaucrat, pacifist and politician
FeaturedFerdinand Buisson
Death year1932
Known forHe presided over the League of Education from 1902 to 1906 and over the Human Rights League (LDH) from 1914 to 1926
Deaths on this date85 (549 – 2026)
Explore February 16
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on February 16 in History
2021
Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria. Wikipedia →
2013
A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others. Wikipedia →
2006
See all events on February 16
The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army. Wikipedia →
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