February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 333 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about February 1st, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about February 1st in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- National Baked Alaska Day
- Car Insurance Day
- Decorating With Candy Day
- National Serpent Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – February 1
2003: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on its way back to Earth
All 7 astronauts were killed in the disaster.
1979: Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 years in exileHis triumphant return marked the beginning of the Iranian Revolution.
1968: Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War’s best-known pictures
The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.
1960: Four black students start the Greensboro sit-ins
Their refusal to leave a “whites only” lunch counter was a milestone in the fight against racial segregation in the United States.
1884: The first fascicle of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
The book contained entries A to Ant.
1969: Al Fatah fighters in training near Amman, Jordan, 1969.

1960: Gasping for breath, James Bevel and John Lewis are trapped inside a restaurant, a White Tower burger joint, filled with insecticide gas when the manager turns on a fumigating machine to disrupt a sit-in. Nashville, Tennessee, United States. February 1960.

1937: “Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!” – Dorothea Lange’s photo of a Missouri family of five in the vicinity of Tracy, California (20 miles SW of Stockton) February 1937

1936: A street barber in Cairo. Egypt, 1936.

1876: Making the flame of Liberty, 1876

1864: February 1864. Brandy Station, Virginia. Tent of A. Foulke, sutler, 1st Brigade, Horse Artillery

Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, February 1
1946: Elisabeth Sladen, English actress
1931: Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia
1901: Clark Gable, American actor
1894: John Ford, American director
1552: Edward Coke, English judge, politician
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, February 1
2002: Hildegard Knef, German actress
1981: Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer
1976: Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1966: Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer
1851: Mary Shelley, English author