Historical Events on February 10

  • 1861: Jefferson Davis receives a telegraph that advises him that he has indeed been chosen as the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
  • 1862: A small naval force of Union ships destroy a large portion of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet at the Battle of Elizabeth City during the American Civil War.
  • 1870: In New York City, the YWCA is opened.
  • 1923: Texas Technological College is Lubbock, Texas is founded. It would eventually become known as Texas Tech University.
  • 1940: Large numbers of Polish citizens are deported from eastern Poland to Siberia by the Soviet Union.
  • 1942: The capital of Borneo in the Dutch East Indies is captured by the Japanese during World War II.
  • 1943: At the Battle of Krasny Bor, the Soviets engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in an attempt to lift the Siege of Leningrad during WWII.
  • 1954:S President Dwight Eisenhower gives a stern warning against the U.S intervening in Vietnam.
  • 1962: Fictionalized by the movie Bridge of Spies, captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet Spy Rudolf Abel.
  • 1967: The 25th Amendment of the U.S Constitution is ratified on this date. This amendment, among other things, established the line of succession in case the President dies or otherwise becomes unable to execute the duties of his office.
  • 1996: Russian chess grand master Garry Kasparov is beaten in a chess game by the IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue.

Famous Birthdays on February 10

  • Russian poet, novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, Boris Pasternak is born in 1890.
  • American actress and educator, Stella Adler is born in 1901.
  • Chinese-American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Walter Houser Brattain is born in 1902.
  • American actress and producer, Laura Dern is born in 1967.
  • American screenwriter and director, Vince Gilligan is born in 1967.
  • American actress Elizabeth Banks is born in 1974.