February 11 birthdays & history

Famous people born on February 11

• 1847Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph
• 1969Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer
• 1992Taylor Lautner, American actor
• 1964Sarah Palin, American politician, 9th Governor of Alaska
• 1997Rosé, New Zealand-South Korean singer and dancer
• 1535Pope Gregory XIV, Head of the Catholic Church from 1590 to 1591
• 1900Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar
• 1926Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer
• 1936Burt Reynolds, American actor and director
• 1839Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist

What happened on February 11

• 1584Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founded the town of Nombre de Jesús, the first of two short-lived colonies at the Strait of Magellan.
• 1808Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
• 1812Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time.
• 1826London University, later University College London, was founded as the first secular university in England.
• 1840La fille du régiment (audio featured), an opéra comique by Gaetano Donizetti, premiered in Paris to highly negative reviews but later became a success.
• 1843Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
• 1851As part of celebrations marking the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia began at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania.
• 1855Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1858Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France.
• 1889The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.
• 1919Friedrich Ebert was elected the provisional president of Germany by the Weimar National Assembly.
• 1938The BBC aired an adaptation of a section of Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. in the first broadcast of science fiction on television.

Also observed on February 11

• European 112 Day (European Union)
• Armed Forces Day (Liberia)
• Evelio Javier Day (Panay Island, the Philippines)
• Inventors' Day (United States)
• National Foundation Day (Japan)
• Youth Day (Cameroon)