On This Day — 11 February

2024

2024 Finnish presidential election: Alexander Stubb is elected as the 13th president of Finland.

2024 Finnish presidential election

2020

COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 pandemic

2018

Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors.

Saratov Airlines Flight 703

2017

North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.

North Korea

2016

A man shoots seven people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.

2016 Ad Dair shooting

2015

A university student is murdered as she resists an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.

Murder of Özgecan Aslan

2015

The European Space Agency's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is launched on a Vega rocket.

European Space Agency

2014

A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.

2014 Algerian Air Force C-130 crash

2013

The Vatican confirms that Pope Benedict XVI will resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age.

Pope Benedict XVI

2013

Militants claiming to be from the Sultanate of Sulu invade Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia, beginning the Lahad Datu standoff.

Sultanate of Sulu

2011

Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.

Arab Spring

2008

Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.

Timor-Leste

2001

A Dutch programmer launches the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.

Anna Kournikova (computer virus)

2000

Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-99 to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.

Space Shuttle Endeavour

1999

Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231.

Pluto

1997

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle Discovery

1990

Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.

Nelson Mandela

1990

Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title.

Buster Douglas

1979

The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iranian Revolution

1978

Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors.

Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314

1971

Cold War: The Seabed Arms Control Treaty opens for signature, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.

Seabed Arms Control Treaty

1970

Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.

Ohsumi (satellite)

1963

The Beatles record their first album, Please Please Me.

The Beatles

1959

The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.

Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia

1953

Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Cold War

1953

Israeli-Soviet relations are severed.

Israel–Russia relations

1946

The New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first significant challenge to the Authorized King James Version, is published.

New Testament

1942

World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.

World War II

1938

BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R. that coined the term "robot".

BBC One

1937

The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.

Flint sit-down strike

1933

LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show in the U.S. results in the destruction of a dozen political artworks.

LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show

1929

The Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

Kingdom of Italy

1919

Friedrich Ebert (SPD) is elected President of Germany.

Friedrich Ebert

1906

Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.

Pope Pius X

1903

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

Anton Bruckner

1889

The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.

Meiji Constitution

1873

King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates, triggering the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic.

Amadeo I of Spain

1861

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

American Civil War

1858

Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France.

Bernadette Soubirous

1856

The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed.

Awadh

1855

Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.

Tewodros II

1843

Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.

Giuseppe Verdi

1840

Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.

Gaetano Donizetti

1826

University College London is founded as University of London.

University College London

1823

Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.

Carnival tragedy of 1823

1812

Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time.

Massachusetts

1808

Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.

Jesse Fell

1794

First session of United States Senate opens to the public.

United States Senate

1659

The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.

Assault on Copenhagen (1659)

1586

Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias for two months, obtaining a ransom and booty.

Francis Drake

1584

A naval expedition led by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founds Nombre de Jesús, the first of two short-lived Spanish settlements in the Strait of Magellan.

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

1534

At the Convocation of Canterbury, the Catholic bishops comprising the Upper House of the Province of Canterbury agree to style Henry VIII supreme head of the English church and clergy "so far as the law of Christ allows".

Convocations of Canterbury and York

1144

Robert of Chester completes his translation from Arabic to Latin of the Liber de compositione alchemiae, marking the birth of Western alchemy.

Robert of Chester

951

Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.

Guo Wei

55

The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.

AD 55

-660

Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.

Emperor Jimmu