EVENTS:
- 1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania).
- 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
- 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
- 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
- 1979 – Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
- 2011 – New Zealand‘s second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
- 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
- 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
- 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.
- 2022 – Twosday, the name given to Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 2:22:22, occurs
BIRTHS:
- 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
- 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
- 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1983 – Clint McKay, Australian cricketer
- 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
- 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
