16th February anniversaries

• Birth
  • 1834
  • Germany
  • "Birth of Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist and philosopher who promoted Darwins theory of evolution and developed recapitulation theory (an embryos development mirrors the evolutionary development of its species)"
• event
  • 1659
  • Great Britain
  • The first English cheque was written by Nicholas Vanacker
  • 1859
  • France
  • The French Government attempted to standardise the pitch of musical notes by setting the A-note above middle C at a frequency of 435 Hz
  • 1923
  • Egypt
  • Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
  • 1959
  • Cuba
  • Fidel Castro was sworn in as President of Cuba
  • 1968
  • United States
  • "The USA’s first 911 emergency telephone system began operating in Haleyville, Alabama."
  • 1989
  • Great Britain
  • "Investigators revealed that the Pan Am plane that crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988 had been brought down by a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player"
  • 2005
  • Kyoto Protocol on climate change came into force
• Death
  • 1834
  • Great Britain
  • "Death of Lionel Lukin, British inventor of the unsinkable lifeboat"
  • 1957
  • Great Britain
  • "Leslie Hore-Belisha died 1957 (born 1893). Secretary of State for War, 1937-40. As transport minister he introduced the driving test, and the amber globes on striped poles, marking crossing places for pedestrians, that became known as Belisha beacons."
  • 1998
  • Germany
  • "Death of Ernst Jünger, German writer ."