Anniversaries 11 February

Birth

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle13

French writer, satirist and philosopher of enlightenment 1657–1757

William Williams Pantycelyn1

Welsh hymnwriter 1717–1791

Gustav Friedrich Waagen1

German art historian 1794–1868

Lydia Maria Child34

American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist 1802–1880

Alexander H. Stephens29

Vice President of the Confederate States (in office from 18… 1812–1883

Alexander Maclaren75

British minister 1826–1910

Washington Gladden14

American pastor 1836–1918

Josiah Willard Gibbs11

physicist 1839–1903

Thomas Edison57

American inventor and businessman 1847–1931

Eliza Calvert Hall3

American author, women's rights advocate and suffragist 1856–1935

Elizabeth Bisland Whetmore7

American writer and journalist 1861–1929

James P. Cannon7

American politician 1890–1974

Leó Szilárd17

Physicist and biologist 1898–1964

Hans-Georg Gadamer16

German philosopher 1900–2002

Lucile Randon1

French supercentenarian; world's second oldest living person 1904–2023

Joseph L. Mankiewicz3

American film director, screenwriter, and producer 1909–1993

Richard Hamming90

American mathematician and information theorist 1915–1998

Sidney Sheldon35

American writer 1917–2007

Eva Gabor2

Hungarian actress and businesswoman 1919–1995

Daniel James Jr.3

United States general 1920–1978

Lloyd Bentsen3

American politician 1921–2006

Antony Flew8

British analytic and evidentialist philosopher 1923–2010

Dennis Skinner25

British politician 1932

Gene Vincent4

American musician 1935–1971

Burt Reynolds6

American actor, director and producer. 1936–2018

Jane Yolen28

American speculative fiction and children's writer 1939

Yoo Byung-eun1

South Korean religious leader and businessman 1941–2014

Jeffrey Gitomer2

American writer 1946

Roy Moore6

American former judge 1947

Jeb Bush9

American politician, former Governor of Florida 1953

Anneli Jäätteenmäki6

Finnish politician 1955

Robert Lanza3

American medical doctor 1956

Pico Iyer5

British writer 1957

David Coburn (politician)2

British politician 1959

Sheryl Crow2

American musician and actress 1962

Sarah Palin74

American politician 1964

Andrew Gelman2

American mathematician 1965

Mo Willems7

American children's illustrator and writer 1968

Adele Parks1

British writer 1969

Jennifer Aniston12

television and film actress from the United States 1969

Steve McManaman22

English footballer 1972

Alex Jones59

American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmma… 1974

Mike Shinoda7

American musician 1977

Brandy Norwood1

American singer and actress 1979

Kelly Rowland1

singer, songwriter, actress 1981

Mona Chalabi3

British data journalist 1987

Death

René Descartes47

French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist 1596–1650

William Shenstone20

English gardener 1714–1763

William Playfair4

British mathematician, engineer and political economist 1758–1824

Thomas Cole1

American artist 1801–1848

Gideon Welles1

United States Secretary of the Navy 1802–1878

Léon Foucault5

French physicist 1819–1868

Paul Carus8

American philosopher 1852–1919

Axel Munthe15

Swedish physician 1857–1949

John Buchan145

British politician 1875–1940

Victor Klemperer10

Philologist, author of LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii 1881–1960

A. J. Muste12

Christian pacifist and civil rights activist 1885–1967

R. C. Majumdar6

Indian historian 1888–1980

Sergei Eisenstein1

Soviet filmmaker 1898–1948

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed11

the fifth President of India and a politician 1905–1977

Eva Hart1

Titanic survivor 1905–1996

Harold Koontz17

1909–1984

Deendayal Upadhyaya8

RSS thinker and co-founder of the political party Bharatiya… 1916–1968

Leon Festinger1

American psychologist 1919–1989

Frank Herbert158

American writer 1920–1986

Paul Karl Feyerabend81

Austrian-born philosopher of science 1924–1994

Tom Lantos1

American politician 1928–2008

Sylvia Plath342

American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932–1963

Sylvia Plath1

American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932–1963

Peter Benchley4

American author and screenwriter 1940–2006

Whitney Houston7

American singer, actress, model, and record producer 1963–2012

Alexander McQueen1

British fashion designer and couturier 1969–2010