http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Feb 10, 1996: Kasparov loses chess game to computer
On this day in 1996, after three hours, world chess champion Gary Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Man was ultimately victorious over machine, however, as Kasparov bested Deep Blue in the match with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize. An estimated 6 million people worldwide followed the action on the Internet.
Kasparov had previously defeated Deep Thought, the prototype for Deep Blue developed by IBM researchers in 1989, but he and other chess grandmasters had, on occasion, lost to computers in games that lasted an hour or less. The February 1996 contest was significant in that it represented the first time a human and a computer had duked it out in a regulation, six-game match, in which each player had two hours to make 40 moves, two hours to finish the next 20 moves and then another 60 minutes to wrap up the game.
Kasparov, who was born in 1963 in Baku, Azerbaijan, became the Soviet Union's junior chess champion at age 13 and in 1985, at age 22, the youngest world champ ever when he beat legendary Soviet player Anatoly Karpov. Considered by many to be the greatest chess player in the history of the game, Kasparov was known for his swashbuckling style of play and his ability to switch tactics mid-game.
In 1997, a rematch took place between Kasparov and an enhanced Deep Blue. Kasparov won the first game, the computer the second, with the next three games a draw. On May 11, 1997, Deep Blue came out on top with a surprising sixth game win--and the $700,000 match prize.
In 2003, Kasparov battled another computer program, "Deep Junior." The match ended in a tie. Kasparov retired from professional chess in 2005.
Feb 10, 1972: Ziggy Stardust makes his earthly debut
It was one of those events that virtually nobody witnessed, yet almost but many wish they had: the concert at London's Toby Jug pub on February 10, 1972, when the relatively minor rocker named David Bowie became the spaceman Ziggy Stardust. While it might be said of many such historic moments—like John meeting Paul at a backyard birthday party, or Elvis ad-libbing "That's All Right (Mama)" between takes at Sun Studios—that their significance became clear only in hindsight, there was at least one man who knew exactly where Ziggy's earthly debut would lead: David Bowie himself.
"I'm going to be huge," is what David Bowie told Melody Maker less than three weeks earlier and still six months prior to the release of the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. "And it's quite frightening in a way, because I know that when I reach my peak and it's time for me to be brought down it will be with a bump." That last bit may have been a case of Bowie confusing his Ziggy persona with real life, but that was what put the act over in the first place. Any rock musician can put on a costume, but how many could have inhabited the identity of an androgynous Martian rock star come to Earth in its dying days so convincingly, so effortlessly?
Bowie has credited two men with serving as his inspiration for creating Ziggy Stardust. One was the man he met and spoke with after his first Velvet Underground concert and took to be Lou Reed, but who was, in fact, Reed's replacement in the Velvets. "He sat there and talked as though he was Lou and he was talking about how he wrote 'Waiting For The Man' and all these things!" recalled Bowie years later. "And it was at that point that I realised that, at the time, it didn't matter to me if this was the real one or a fake one." The other inspiration was Vince Taylor, an obscure figure to Americans, but a figure well-known in late-60s London as a former pop star very publicly losing his mind. "He fired his band and went on-stage one night in a white sheet. He told the audience to rejoice, that he was Jesus. They put him away."
From this mix, Bowie created the persona and groundbreaking album that offered "a finger up the nose of pop sincerity...a boot in the collective sagging denim behind of hippie singer-songwhiners" and made his career. As one of the roughly sixty young Londoners in the audience that night at the Toby Jug now recalls, "Bowie had brought theatre to a humble pub gig....I couldn't blink for fear of missing something—nothing would ever be the same again."
Feb 10, 1992: Boxing legend convicted of raping beauty queen
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, accused of raping 18-year-old beauty-pageant contestant Desiree Washington, is found guilty by an Indiana jury. The following month, Tyson was given a 10-year prison sentence, with four years suspended.
Mike Tyson rose to fame in 1986 when he beat Trevor Berbick and became, at age 20, the youngest heavyweight champ in boxing history. Born June 30, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, Tyson had a troubled childhood and was sent to reform school in upstate New York. There, his boxing talent was discovered and he flourished under the tutelage of legendary trainer Cus D'Amato. Tyson turned pro in 1985 and the following year became heavyweight champ, a title he retained until 1990, when he was upset by James "Buster" Douglas.
In July 1991, Tyson met Desiree Washington at a rehearsal for the Miss Black America pageant in Indianapolis. Washington accompanied Tyson back to his hotel room, where, in the early hours of July 19, he allegedly raped her. Tyson claimed the sex was consensual. The world-famous fighter was indicted by a grand jury in September of that year and convicted in February 1992. In March, he began serving his term at the Indiana Youth Center near Plainfield, Indiana. While in prison, he reportedly studied Islam and the writings of Mao Zedong and Malcolm X. He was released, after serving three years, in March 1995.
Post-prison, Tyson briefly recaptured the heavyweight title in 1996. However, the notorious pugilist continued to court controversy. In 1997, during a bout against Evander Holyfield, Tyson bit off a piece of the heavyweight champ's ear; as a result, his boxing license was temporarily revoked. Tyson also had run-ins with the law and spent several months in jail for assaulting motorists after a traffic accident. Additionally, he battled drug addiction and faced financial problems after squandering the multi-million dollar fortune he had amassed. Tyson's professional career ended in 2005, when he quit during the middle of a bout against Kevin McBride.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
60 - St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta
1098 - Crusaders defeat Prince Redwan of Aleppo at Antioch
1355 - The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford,
England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1535 - 12 nude anabaptists run through Amsterdam streets
1549 - Tomé de Sousa appointed governor general of Brazil
1635 - Academie Francaise forms in Paris (by Cardinal
Richelieu)
1676 - Wampanoag Indians under King Philip kill all men in
Lancaster Mass
1713 - Netherlands & England sign accord concerning
anti-French Barrier [OS=Jan 31]
1716 - Scottish pretender to the throne James III Edward
returns to France
1720 - Edmund Halley appointed 2nd Astronomer Royal of
England
1746 - English Pelham government resigns
1749 - 10th (final) volume of Fielding's "Tom
Jones" is published
1763 - Treaty of Paris ends French-Indian War, surrendering
Canada to Britain
1774 - Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit
1794 - Joseph Haydn's 99th Symphony in E, premieres
1798 - Louis Alexandre Berthier invaded Rome, on February 15
proclaimed a Roman Republic and then on February 20 take Pope Pius VI as a
prisoner.
1807 - US Coast Survey authorized by Congress
1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Champaubert, the French
beat the Russians
1824 - Simon Bolivar named dictator by the Congress of Peru
Military and Political Leader Simon BolivarMilitary and
Political Leader Simon Bolivar 1846 - Beginning of Mormon march to west US
1846 - British defeat Sikhs in battle of Sobraon, India
1855 - US citizenship laws amended; all children of US
parents born abroad granted US citizenship
1859 - Gen Horsford defeats Begum of Oude & Nana Sahib
in Indian mutiny
1860 - John Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A, premieres
1862 - Dutch 2nd government of Thorbecke forms
1863 - 1st US fire extinguisher patent granted to Alanson
Crane, Virginia
1866 - Dutch government of Frans van der Putte forms
1868 - Conservatives & military seize Convention Hall in
Florida
1870 - City of Anaheim incorporates (1st time)
1870 - YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) forms
(NYC)
1878 - Peace of Zanjón
1878 - Peter Tsjaikovsky's 4th Symphony in F, premieres
1879 - 1st electric arc light used (California Theater)
1879 - Henry Morton Stanley departs for the Congo
1880 - Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Arcanum about
Christian marriage
1881 - Jacques Offenbach's opera "Les Contes
d'Hoffman," premieres in Paris
1882 - Rimski-Korsakovs opera "Snyegurochka,"
premieres in St Petersburg
1883 - Fire at un-insured New Hall Hotel in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, kills 71
1890 - Around 11 million acres ceded to US by Sioux Indians
opens for settlement
1897 - NY Times begins using slogan "All the News
That's Fit to Print"
1899 - -39°F (-39°C), Milligan, Ohio (state lowest record
temperature)
1899 - US-Spain peace treaty signed by Pres McKinley. US
gets PR & Guam
1900 - Peter Ostlund skates world record 500m (45.2 sec)
1904 - Russia declares war on Japan after surprise attack on
Russian fleet at Port Arthur disabled 7 Russian warships
1906 - British battleship HMS Dreadnought launched after
only 100 days, renders all other capital ships obsolete with revolutionary
design
1906 - State of siege proclaimed in Zululand
1908 - Tommy Burns KOs Jack Palmer in 4 for heavyweight
boxing title
1912 - Hobbs & Rhodes make 323 cricket opening stand v
Aust at MCG
1913 - Edward Sheldons "Romance," premieres in NYC
1916 - Military conscription begins in Britain
1917 - Johanna Westerdijk installed as Neth 1st female
professor
1920 - Baseball outlaws all pitches involving tampering with
ball
1920 - Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding
of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
1923 - Ink paste manufactured for 1st time by Standard Ink
Company
1923 - Owen Davis' "Icebound," premieres in NYC
1923 - SDAP speaks out against allied occupation of the Ruhr
1924 - Bucky Harris, 27, becomes youngest baseball manager
(Wash Senators)
1925 - 1st waterless gas storage tank put into service,
Michigan City, Ind
1925 - AL decides to alternate leagues for game 1 of World
Series each year
1926 - Building of Olympic Stadium Amsterdam, begins
30th US President Calvin Coolidge30th US President Calvin
Coolidge 1927 - Pres Calvin Coolidge asks for 2nd disarmament conference
1929 - Bishop Stephen Alencastre, dedicates the beautiful
Romanesque church of Saint Patrick in Honolulu
1930 - Grain Stabilization Corporation authorized by
Congress
1931 - New Delhi becomes capital of India
1931 - Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Harts premieres in NYC
1933 - -54°F (-48°C), Seneca, Oregon (state record)
1933 - Delivery of 1st singing telegram (Postal Telegram Co
NYC)
1933 - Dutch seaplane bombs Dutch ship
1933 - Hitler proclaims end of Marxism
1933 - Mutiny on "7 Provinces" ends (began Feb
4th), 23 killed
1934 - 1st Jewish immigrant ship to break the English
blockade in Palestine
1934 - Byrd souvenir sheet issued, NYC; 1st unperforated
ungummed US stamp
1934 - Howard Hanson's "Merry Mount," premieres in
NYC
1934 - Stalin ends 17th CPSU-congress, says "Life
becomes merrier"
1934 - Thomson/Gertrude Steins opera premieres in NYC
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier
Joseph Stalin 1935 - 1st US streamlined electric RR engine begins service
1935 - Pennsylvania RR begins passenger service on new
electric locomotive
1937 - Ragnhild Hveger swims world free style record 400m
(5:14.2)
1938 - King Carol II of Romania drives out dictator Goga
1940 - "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller hits #1
1940 - Tom & Jerry created by Hanna & Barbera debut
by MGM
1940 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan
Tozzer
1940 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Eugene
Turner
1941 - 1st highway post office makes 1st trip, Wash,
DC-Harrisonburg, VA
1941 - Anti-nazi "Het Parool" begins publishing in
Netherlands
1942 - Glenn Miller awarded 1st ever gold record for selling
1 million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo"
1943 - "Manifesto of Algerian People" calls for
equality & self-determination
1943 - British 8th Army sweeps through North Africa to
Tunisia
1943 - Van der Veen Resistance starts fire in Amsterdam
employment bureau
1944 - Belgian resistance fighter and author Kamiel van
Baelen arrested
1944 - U-666/U-545/U-283 sink off Ireland
1945 - "Rum & Coca Cola" by Andrews Sisters
hits #1
1947 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia
1947 - Netherlands Radio Union forms
1947 - Province of Petsamo returned to Soviet Union by
Finland
1947 - WW II peace treaties signed
1948 - Greek Gen Markos' guerrilla army bombs Saloniki
Playwright Arthur MillerPlaywright Arthur Miller 1949 -
Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" opens at Morosco Theater, NYC
1951 - "John & Marsha" by Stan Freberg peaks
at #21
1953 - Ice Dance Championship at Davos won by Westwood &
Demmy GRB
1953 - Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Jennifer &
John Nicks of GRB
1953 - Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by
Tenley Albright USA
1953 - Men's Figure Skating Champion in Davos won by Hayes
Alan Jenkins USA
1954 - Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam
1954 - Ice Dance Championship at Oslo won by Jean
Westwood/Lawrence Demmy GRB
1954 - Ice Pairs Championship at Oslo won by Frances
Dafoe/Norris Bowden CAN
1954 - Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Oslo won by
Gundi Busch GER
1954 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Oslo won by
Hayes Alan Jenkins US
1956 - "My Friend Flicka" premieres on CBS (later
NBC) TV
1957 - Fay Crocker wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open
1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference forms
1959 - Dutch Princess Wilhelmina publishes "Lonely, but
not alone"
1959 - Tornado in St Louis kills 19 & injures 265
1960 - "Unsinkable Molly Brown" closes at Winter
Garden NYC after 532 perfs
1960 - Charles Ives' "Lincoln, the Great
Commoner," premieres
1961 - AFL's LA Chargers move to San Diego
1961 - Niagara Falls hydroelectric project begins producing
power
1961 - Walter Piston's 7th Symphony, premieres
1962 - Jim Beatty sets American indoor mile record (3:58.9)
in LA
1962 - USSR swaps spy Francis Gary Power to US for Rudolph
Abel
1963 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf
Open
1963 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Lorraine
Hanlon
1963 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Thomas
Litz
1964 - Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager sinks after
colliding with aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, killing 82
1964 - WBGU TV channel 27 in Bowling Green, OH (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1966 - Harmel government in Belgium resigns
1967 - 25th Amendment (Presidential Disability & Succession)
in effect
1968 - "Spooky" by Classics IV hits #3
1968 - Peggy Fleming wins Olympic figure skating gold medal,
Grenoble, France
1969 - LSU Pete Maravich scores 66, despite losing to Tulane
101-94
1970 - 26.4 cm precipitation falls on Mount Washington NH
(state record)
1970 - Dry powder avalanche moving at 120 mph smashes into
youth hostel killing 40 Belgian, French, & German youths (Val d'Isere,
France)
1971 - American Mensa Ltd incorporates in New York
1971 - Bill White becomes 1st black baseball announcer (NY
Yankees)
1971 - John Guares "House of Blue Leaves,"
premieres in NYC
1971 - Royal Albert Hall bans scheduled concert featuring
Frank Zappa
1972 - BBC bans "Give Ireland Back to the Irish"
by Wings
1972 - Ras al Khaima joins United Arab Emirates
1972 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 - 2nd time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
1973 - 83m wide gas tank on Staten Island explodes, 40 die
1973 - Mushtaq Mohammad follows up 201 to take 5-49 v NZ
Dunedin
1974 - "Gigi" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 103
performances
1974 - Gail Denenber wins LPGA Sears Women's Golf Classic
1974 - Iran/Iraqi border fight breaks out
1974 - Judy Ikenberry wins 1st Us women's marathon (2:55:17)
1974 - Silver futures hit record $4.81½ an ounce in London
1975 - William "Judy" Johnson selected to baseball
Hall of Fame
1977 - "Party with Comden & Green" opens at
Morosco Theater NYC for 92 perfs
1977 - Bomb explosion in Moscow metro
1977 - Jonathan Netanyou Lane in the Bronx named in honor of
Bronx-born Israeli prime minister
1977 - Israeli soldier who died freeing hostages in Entebee
Raid (1976)
1978 - Frank C Carlucci succeeds John F Blake as deputy
director of CIA
Singer Rod StewartSinger Rod Stewart 1979 - "Da Ya
Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart peaks at #1
1979 - Border is named 12th man for Australia, only Test
Cricket he missed
1980 - Ianford Wilsons "Talley's Folly," premieres
in NYC
1980 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
1981 - 33rd NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 4-1 at LA
1981 - 8 killed & 198 injured by fire at Las Vegas
Hilton
1981 - Dennis Lillee becomes Australian Cricket's top
wicket-taker with 249
1982 - 28 skiers perform backflips while holding hands,
Bromont, Quebec
1983 - Anglican synod vote 338-100 against unilateral UK
nuclear disarmament
1985 - Andrea Schöne skates ladies world record 5 km
(7:32.82)
1985 - 35th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 140-129 at
Indiana
1985 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS
51-E mission
1985 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
1985 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1986 - "John Lennon: Live in NYC" album is
released
1987 - Philippine troops murder 17 civilians in Lupao
Massacre
1988 - Rocky Malebane-Metsing coup in Bophuthatswana fails
1988 - 3-judge panel of 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in
SF strikes down Army's ban on homosexuals (later overturned by appeal)
1989 - Celtic KC Jones & Cavalier Lenny Wilkens elected
to NBA Hall of Fame
1989 - Miami Vice's 100th episode seen on TV
1989 - Minor League Football System opens organizational
meeting, St Louis
1989 - Ron Brown chosen 1st black chairman of a major US
party (Democrats)
1989 - Test Cricket debut of Aaqib Javed, Pak v NZ age 16
years 189 days
1989 - Tony Robinson of Jamaica becomes Nottingham's 1st
black sheriff
1989 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1989 - To gain deregulation WWF admits pro wrestling is an
exhibition & not a sport, in a NJ court
1990 - 6th Largest wrestling crowd (63,900-Tokyo Dome)
1990 - Pierrer Water pulls product from shelf due to benzine
in water
Anti-apartheid activist and South African President Nelson
MandelaAnti-apartheid activist and South African President Nelson Mandela 1990
- South African President de Klerk announces Nelson Mandela will be freed on
Feb 11th
1990 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Jill
Trenary
1991 - "La Bete" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater
NYC for 24 performances
1991 - 41st NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 116-114 at
Charlotte
1991 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA Phar-Mor at Inverrary Golf
Tournament
1991 - Johann Koss skates world record 10 km (13:43.54)
1991 - Lithuania votes for independence from USSR
1991 - NBA All Star Game at Charlotte NC
1992 - "Dangerous Women" final episode on WWOR-TV
1992 - Bonnie Blair wins 1992 Olympics 1st gold medal for
USA
1992 - Mike Tyson convicted of raping Desiree Washington in
Indiana
1993 - Jani Sievinen swims world record 200m backstroke
(1:55.59)
1993 - US officially backs peace plan in Bosnia
1993 - "Michael Jackson Talks To Oprah Winfrey"
airs on ABC & drew an astounding 39.3 rating/56 share, 90 million people
1995 - Chelsi Smith, 21, (Texas), crowned 44th Miss USA
King of Pop Michael JacksonKing of Pop Michael Jackson 1995
- Sun Cayun pole vaults female indoor world record (4.12m)
1995 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Nicole
Bobek
1996 - IBM computer Deep Blue becomes the first computer to
win a game of chess against a reigning (human) chess champion, Gary Kasparov
1997 - 13th Soap Opera Digest Awards
1997 - 5th annual ESPY Awards presented
1997 - Comet Shoemaker-Holt 2 Closest Approach to Earth
(1.9245 AU)
1997 - O J Simpson jury reaches decision on $25M in punitive
damages
1997 - Soyuz TM-25 launches to the MIR
1997 - Lemrick Nelson found guilty in the fatal stabbing on
Hasidic Jew Yankel Rosenbaum in Crown Heights Brooklyn in 1991
1998 - AOL raises monthly flat rate internet access from
$19.95 to $21.95
1998 - Olympic figure skater Peggy Fleming undergoes breast
cancer surgery
1998 - Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in
1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon that law.
2003 - France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent
approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a
possible war with Iraq.
2007 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 31-28
2008 - The 2008 Namdaemun fire severely damages Namdaemun,
the first National Treasure of South Korea.
Singer Amy WinehouseSinger Amy Winehouse 2008 - 50th Grammy
Awards: Rehab, Amy Winehouse wins
2008 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 42-30
2013 - Nigeria defeat Burkina Faso 1-0 to win the football
2013 Africa Cup of Nations
2013 - 5 people are killed by a falling lifeboat from the
cruise ship Thomson Majesty in the Canary islands
2013 - 66 British Academy Awards: Argo, Ben Affleck, Daniel
Day-Lewis and Emmanuelle Riva win
2013 - 55th Grammy Awards: Somebody That I Used To Know
(Goyte), We are Young (Fun), and Babel (Mumford & Sons) win
2013 - 36 people are killed and 39 are injured in a stampede
at a train station in Allahabad, India
1763 - The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. In the treaty France ceded Canada to England. 1840 - Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. 1846 - Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began their exodus to the west from Illinois. 1863 - In New York City, two of the world’s most famous midgets, General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren were married. 1863 - The fire extinguisher was patented by Alanson Crane. 1870 - The city of Anaheim was incorporated for the first time. 1870 - The YWCA was founded in New York City. 1879 - The electric arc light was used for the first time. 1897 - "The New York Times" began printing "All the news that's fit to print" on their front page. 1920 - Major league baseball representatives outlawed pitches that involve tampering with the ball. 1923 - Ink paste was manufactured for the first time by the Standard Ink Company. 1925 - The first waterless gas storage tank was placed in service in Michigan City, IN. 1933 - The singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegraph Company of New York City. 1933 - Primo Carnera knocked out Ernie Schaaf in round 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Schaaf died as a result of the knockout punch. 1934 - The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of postage stamps were issued by the U.S. Postal Service in New York City. 1935 - The Pennsylvania Railroad began passenger service with its electric locomotive. The engine was 79-1/2 feet long and weighed 230 tons. 1942 - The Normandie, the former French liner, capsized in New York Harbor. The day before the ship had caught fire while it was being fitted for the U.S. Navy. 1949 - "Death of a Salesman" opened at the Morocco Theatre in New York City. 1962 - The Soviet Union exchanged capture American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for the Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel being held by the U.S. 1967 - The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment required the appointment of a vice-president when that office became vacant and instituted new measures in the event of presidential disability. 1981 - The Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino caught fire. Eight people were killed and 198 were injured. 1989 - Ron Brown became the first African American to head a major U.S. political party when he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. 1990 - South African President F.W. de Klerk announced that black activist Nelson Mandela would be released the next day after 27 years in captivity. 1992 - Mike Tyson was convicted in Indianapolis of raping Desiree Washington, Miss Black American contestant. 1997 - The U.S. Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier, Army Sgt. Major Gene McKinney following allegations of sexual misconduct. McKinney was convicted of obstruction of justice and acquitted of 18 counts alleging sexual harassment of six military women. 1998 - A man became the first to be convicted of committing a hate crime in cyberspace. The college dropout had e-mailed threats to Asian students. 1998 - Voters in Maine repealed a 1997 gay rights law. Maine was the first state to abandone such legislation. 1999 - Avalanches killed at least 10 people when they roared down the French Alps 30 miles from Geneva. 2005 - North Korea publicly announced for the first time that it had nuclear arms. The country also rejected attempts to restart disarmament talks in the near future saying that it needed the weapons as protection against an increasingly hostile United States.
2009 - A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia.
1763 Treaty of Paris signed, ending the French and Indian War. France ceded Canada and all its North American territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. 1837 Russian poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin was killed in a duel. 1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. 1942 Glenn Miller received the first ever gold record for selling a million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo." 1962 The Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolph Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States. 1967 The 25th Amendment was ratified, establishing presidential succession. 1996 IBM's computer, Deep Blue, beat the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, in the first game of their match. 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Arthur Miller died.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb10.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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