Anniversaries 8 February

Birth

Proclus18

Greek philosopher 412–485

Robert Burton111

English scholar 1577–1640

Louis Auguste Blanqui6

French socialist and political activist 1805–1881

Eliphas Levi22

French writer 1810–1875

John Ruskin133

English writer and art critic 1819–1900

William T. Sherman44

American General, businessman, educator, and author. 1820–1891

Jules Verne44

French novelist, poet and playwright 1828–1905

Richard Watson Gilder5

editor 1844–1909

Kate Chopin49

American author 1850–1904

Paula Modersohn-Becker55

German artist 1876–1907

Martin Buber58

German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian 1878–1965

Franz Marc35

German painter 1880–1916

Joseph Alois Schumpeter13

Austrian economist 1883–1950

Edith Evans5

British actress 1888–1976

Giuseppe Ungaretti2

poet and writer from Italy 1888–1970

Maurice Samuel1

novelist, translator and lecturer 1895–1972

Zakir Hussain (politician)43

3rd President of India 1897–1969

Tunku Abdul Rahman3

Malaysian politician 1903–1990

Elizabeth Bishop17

American poet 1911–1979

Bill Finger6

American comic strip and comic book writer 1914–1974

Evgeny Lifshitz1

Soviet physicist 1915–1985

Immanuel Jakobovits5

British rabbi 1921–1999

Lana Turner19

American actress 1921–1995

Lisel Mueller1

German poet 1924

Neal Cassady2

American cultural figure of 1950s and 1960s 1926–1968

John Williams4

American composer, conductor and pianist 1932

Bruce Wilshire4

American philosopher 1932–2015

Ted Koppel1

television journalist 1940

Harmony Hammond1

artist 1944

James Franklin Jeffrey1

American diplomat 1946

Paul Hawken2

American environmentalist 1946

John Grisham28

American lawyer, politician, and author 1955

Marina Silva1

Brazilian environmentalist and politician 1958

Benigno Aquino III2

15th President of the Philippines (2010-2016) 1960

Malorie Blackman19

Author 1962

Luigi Zingales1

Professor at University of Chicago 1963

Trinny Woodall18

English fashion advisor and designer, television presenter … 1964

Rachel Cusk3

British writer 1967

Jorge Vargas González6

Chilean politician 1967

Mary Robinette Kowal6

American writer and puppeteer 1969

Yuan Tengfei3

history teacher in Beijing, China 1972

Matkai Burmaster3

Film Director and Co-Founder of the Fearless streaming serv… 1992

Death

Al-Maqrizi1

Egyptian Arab historian 1364–1445

Baldassarre Castiglione4

Italian Renaissance author (1478-1529) 1478–1529

Mary, Queen of Scots4

Scottish monarch and queen consort of France 1542–1587

Aaron Hill (writer)11

British writer 1685–1750

David Strauss1

German theologian 1808–1874

Peter Kropotkin141

Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, scie… 1842–1921

William Bateson16

British geneticist and biologist 1861–1926

Josephine Bakhita3

Italian saint and former slave 1868–1947

Paul Sophus Epstein1

Russian-American mathematician 1883–1966

Zechariah Chafee2

American judicial philosopher and civil libertarian 1885–1957

Hermann Rauschning43

German politician 1887–1982

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi1

Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer a… 1887–1971

Fritz Todt7

German engineer and senior Nazi figure 1891–1942

Fritz Zwicky3

Swiss astronomer 1898–1974

Halldór Laxness216

Icelandic author 1902–1998

Aaron Siskind2

American photographer 1903–1991

John Von Neumann19

Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath 1903–1957

Phyllis A. Whitney3

American writer 1903–2008

J. L. Austin23

English philosopher 1911–1960

Enoch Powell155

British politician 1912–1998

Michael Gilbert2

Author 1912–2006

Akira Ifukube13

Japanese composer 1914–2006

Rousas John Rushdoony99

American theologian 1916–2001

Ian Stevenson2

Canadian parapsychologist, reincarnation researcher 1918–2007

Iris Murdoch61

British writer and philosopher 1919–1999

Robert Jastrow3

American astronomer 1925–2008

Lepa Radić1

Serbian partisan 1925–1943

Harriett Woods1

American politician 1927–2007

Julian Simon3

American economist 1932–1998

Ron McLarty1

American actor and writer 1947–2020

Anna Nicole Smith4

American model, actress, and television personality 1967–2007