February 16

February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 318 days remain until the end of the year (319 in leap years).

• 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
• 1270 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.

• 1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
• 1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First English Civil War.
• 1699 – First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
• 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.^[1]
• 1796 – Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.^[2]
• 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.
• 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
• 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
• 1899 – Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.^[3]
• 1900 – The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.^[4]

• 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.^[5]
• 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.^[6]
• 1930 – The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
• 1934
  • The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
  • The Commission of Government is officially sworn in; ending 79 years of responsible government in Newfoundland.^[7]
• 1936 – The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.
• 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.^[8]
• 1940 – World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. A total of 299 British prisoners are freed.
• 1942 – World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established^[9]
• 1942 – World War II: Attack on Aruba, first World War II German shots fired on a land based object in the Americas.^[10]
• 1943 – World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
• 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
• 1945 – The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law.^[11]
• 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
• 1961 – Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
• 1962 – The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged.^[12]
• 1962 – Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.
• 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
• 1968 – Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground.^[13]
• 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
• 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.
• 1984 – Iran launches Operation Dawn 5, a major offensive during the Iran–Iraq War targeting the Basra–Baghdad highway, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.^[14]
• 1985 – Hezbollah is founded.
• 1986 – The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 1986 – China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.^[15]
• 1991 – Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
• 1996 – A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.^[16]
• 1998 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground.
• 2000 – Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, killing all three aboard.^[17]
• 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
• 2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs.
• 2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
• 2013 – A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.
• 2021 – Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.^[18]

• 1222 – Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (died 1282)^[19]
• 1304 – Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor (died 1332)
• 1331 – Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader (died 1406)^[20]
• 1419 – John I, Duke of Cleves (died 1481)
• 1470 – Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1540)^[21]
• 1471 – Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (died 1529)
• 1497 – Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (died 1560)^[22]
• 1514 – Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker (died 1574)^[23]
• 1519 – Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (died 1572)
• 1543 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator (died 1590)

• 1620 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1688)
• 1643 – John Sharp, English archbishop (died 1714)
• 1698 – Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1758)
• 1727 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (died 1817)
• 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (died 1813)
• 1761 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (died 1804)^[24]
• 1774 – Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer (died 1830)
• 1786 – Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess (died 1859)
• 1802 – Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher (died 1866)
• 1804 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (died 1885)
• 1812 – Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States (died 1875)
• 1821 – Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar (died 1865)^[25]
• 1822 – Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (died 1911)
• 1824 – Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer (died 1879)
• 1826 – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (died 1886)
• 1830 – Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (died 1902)
• 1831 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (died 1895)
• 1834 – Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (died 1919)
• 1838 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (died 1918)
• 1841 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (died 1927)
• 1843 – Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (died 1932)
• 1845 – George Kennan, American journalist and explorer (died 1924)
• 1848 – Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (died 1935)
• 1848 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (died 1917)
• 1856 – Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (died 1920)
• 1866 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (died 1940)
• 1873 – Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author (died 1908)
• 1876 – G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (died 1962)
• 1877 – Tom Crean, Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer (died 1938)^[26]
• 1878 – Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator (died 1951)
• 1878 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (died 1920)
• 1884 – Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (died 1951)
• 1887 – Kathleen Clifford, American actress (died 1962)
• 1891 – Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic (died 1968)
• 1893 – Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer (died 1974)
• 1896 – Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian (died 2010)

• 1901 – Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor (died 1985)
• 1901 – Chester Morris, American actor (died 1970)^[27]
• 1902 – Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer (died 1968)
• 1903 – Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor (died 1978)
• 1904 – James Baskett, American actor and singer (died 1948)^[28]
• 1904 – George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (died 2005)
• 1905 – Henrietta Barnett, English Women's Royal Air Force officer (died 1985)^[29]
• 1906 – Vera Menchik, Russian-Czechoslovak-British chess player (died 1944)
• 1909 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director (died 1982)^[30]
• 1909 – Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald's (died 1998)
• 1914 – Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor (died 1982)
• 1916 – Bill Doggett, American pianist and composer (died 1996)
• 1919 – Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer (died 1989)
• 1920 – Anna Mae Hays, American general (died 2018)
• 1921 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (died 1959)
• 1921 – John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic (died 2013)
• 1921 – Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer (died 1981)^[28]
• 1922 – Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot (died 1950)
• 1923 – Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (died 2016)
• 1925 – Ed Emshwiller, American illustrator and experiment film maker (died 1990)^[31]
• 1926 – Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (died 1945)
• 1926 – John Schlesinger, English actor and director (died 2003)
• 1927 – June Brown, English actress (died 2022)^[32]
• 1929 – Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect (died 1980)
• 1929 – Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator (died 2010)
• 1931 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2002)
• 1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2006)^[33]
• 1931 – Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer (died 2014)
• 1932 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (died 2014)
• 1932 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2007)
• 1934 – August Coppola, American author and academic (died 2009)
• 1934 – Marlene Hagge, American golfer (died 2023)
• 1935 – Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (died 2016)
• 1934 – Ken Brown, English footballer and manager
• 1935 – Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (died 1998)^[28]
• 1935 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (died 2014)
• 1935 – Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer
• 1935 – Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor (died 2012)
• 1936 – Carl Icahn, American businessman and investor^[28]
• 1937 – Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer
• 1937 – Valentin Bondarenko, Soviet aviator and cosmonaut (died 1961)^[34]
• 1937 – Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic (died 2023)
• 1938 – John Corigliano, American composer and academic
• 1939 – Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge
• 1940 – Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer (died 1979)
• 1941 – Kim Jong Il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 2011)^[28]
• 1942 – Yang Jen-fu, Taiwanese politician (died 2024)^[35]
• 1944 – Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician
• 1944 – Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer^[28]
• 1944 – António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde (died 2016)
• 1947 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (died 2020)^[36]
• 1948 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (died 2014)
• 1950 – Peter Hain, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
• 1951 – William Katt, American actor^[37]
• 1952 – James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2019)
• 1952 – Peter Kitchen, English footballer^[38]
• 1953 – John Bradbury, English musician, songwriter, and producer (died 2015)
• 1953 – Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1953 – Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment
• 1954 – Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright (died 2013)^[39]
• 1954 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (died 1996)^[28]
• 1954 – Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster^[40]
• 1956 – Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter
• 1957 – LeVar Burton, American actor, director, and producer^[37]
• 1958 – Natalie Angier, American author
• 1958 – Ice-T, American rapper and actor^[37]
• 1958 – Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player
• 1958 – Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach
• 1959 – John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster^[28]
• 1959 – Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1960 – Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter
• 1961 – Niko Nirvi, Finnish journalist^[41]
• 1961 – Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer^[37]
• 1962 – John Balance, English singer-songwriter (died 2004)
• 1964 – Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager
• 1964 – Christopher Eccleston, English actor^[28]
• 1965 – Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American musician and songwriter^[37]
• 1967 – Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1968 – Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter
• 1970 – Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager
• 1971 – Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit^[42]
• 1971 – Craig Laundy, Australian politician
• 1972 – Jerome Bettis, American football player^[43]
• 1972 – Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player
• 1972 – Sarah Clarke, American actress
• 1972 – Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress
• 1973 – Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter
• 1974 – Mahershala Ali, American actor^[37]
• 1974 – José Dominguez, Portuguese footballer and manager^[44]
• 1976 – Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1976 – Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
• 1977 – Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Freenet
• 1977 – Ahman Green, American football player
• 1977 – Alexei Morozov, Russian ice hockey player and executive^[45]
• 1978 – Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist
• 1978 – Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer
• 1978 – John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer
• 1979 – Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer^[46]
• 1979 – Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor
• 1979 – Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer
• 1980 – Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American musician and songwriter
• 1981 – Jay Howard, English race car driver
• 1981 – Susanna Kallur, Swedish sprint hurdler^[47]
• 1981 – Jerry Owens, American baseball player
• 1981 – Qyntel Woods, American basketball player
• 1982 – Manny Delcarmen, American baseball player^[48]
• 1982 – Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer
• 1982 – Lupe Fiasco, American rapper^[37]
• 1982 – Rickie Lambert, English footballer
• 1983 – Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer
• 1983 – Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish ice hockey player and coach^[49]
• 1984 – Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player
• 1984 – Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer^[50]
• 1985 – Simon Francis, English footballer^[51]
• 1985 – Stacy Lewis, American golfer^[52]
• 1985 – Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer
• 1986 – Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer
• 1986 – Shawne Williams, American basketball player^[53]
• 1987 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2008)
• 1987 – Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer
• 1987 – Tommy Milone, American baseball player^[54]
• 1987 – Jon Ossoff, American politician and filmmaker^[55]
• 1987 – Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player
• 1988 – Diego Capel, Spanish footballer
• 1988 – Denílson, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 – Korbinian Holzer, German ice hockey player^[56]
• 1988 – Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player
• 1988 – Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer
• 1989 – Elizabeth Olsen, American actress^[37]
• 1990 – The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer^[57]
• 1991 – Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer
• 1992 – Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer
• 1992 – Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player^[58][59]
• 1994 – Annika Beck, German tennis player^[60]
• 1994 – Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer^[61]
• 1994 – Ava Max, American singer and songwriter^[62]
• 1995 – Denzel Curry, American rapper^[63]
• 1995 – Katy Dunne, English tennis player^[64]
• 1995 – Carina Witthöft, German tennis player^[65]
• 1997 – Jordan Greenway, American ice hockey player^[66]
• 1998 – An Hyejin, South Korean volleyball player^[67]
• 1998 – Kim Suji, South Korean diver^[68]
• 1999 – Ignatius Ganago, Cameroonian footballer^[69]
• 1999 – Marie Ulven Ringheim, Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer^[70]
• 2000 – Koffee, Jamaican singer, songwriter and rapper^[71]
• 2000 – Coby White, American basketball player^[72]
• 2001 – Yuki Naito, Japanese tennis player^[73]

• 549 – Zhu Yi, Chinese general (born 483)
• 902 – Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (born 875)
• 1184 – Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1247 – Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (born 1204)
• 1279 – Afonso III of Portugal (born 1210)
• 1281 – Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen consort of Germany (born c. 1225)
• 1390 – Rupert I, Elector Palatine (born 1309)
• 1391 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (born 1332)
• 1531 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (born 1452)
• 1560 – Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (born 1493)
• 1579 – Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer (born 1509)

• 1645 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (born 1585)
• 1710 – Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author (born 1632)
• 1721 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (born 1686)
• 1754 – Richard Mead, English physician (born 1673)
• 1820 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (born 1758)
• 1862 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1796)
• 1898 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician (born 1843)
• 1899 – Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (born 1841)

• 1907 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835)
• 1912 – Nicholas of Japan, Russian-Japanese monk and saint (born 1836)
• 1917 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (born 1848)
• 1919 – Vera Kholodnaya, Ukrainian actress (born 1893)
• 1928 – Eddie Foy Sr., American actor and dancer (born 1856)^[74]
• 1932 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1841)
• 1932 – Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist (born 1862)
• 1941 – Frida Felser, German opera singer and actress (born 1872)^[75]
• 1944 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1870)
• 1957 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1876)
• 1961 – Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (born 1891)
• 1964 – James M. Canty, American educator, school administrator, and businessperson (born 1865)^[76][77]
• 1967 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1911)
• 1974 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle (born 1888)
• 1975 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (born 1903)
• 1977 – Janani Luwum, bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr (born c.1922)
• 1977 – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (born 1905)
• 1980 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist (born 1895)
• 1984 – M. A. G. Osmani, Bangladeshi general (born 1918)
• 1988 – Ye Shengtao, Chinese writer, educator, and politician (born 1894)^[78]
• 1990 – Keith Haring, American painter and activist (born 1958)
• 1991 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer (born 1932)
• 1992 – Angela Carter, English novelist, short story writer (born 1940)
• 1992 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil (born 1917)
• 1992 – Herman Wold, Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician (born 1908)
• 1996 – Roberto Aizenberg, Argentinian painter and sculptor (born 1922)
• 1996 – Roger Bowen, American actor and author (born 1932)
• 1996 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (born 1905)
• 1996 – Brownie McGhee, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1915)
• 1997 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic (born 1912)
• 1998 – Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (born 1908)
• 1998 – Sheu Yuan-dong, Taiwanese politician (born 1927)^[79]
• 2000 – Marceline Day, American actress (born 1908)
• 2000 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-French actress and singer
• 2000 – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING (born 1911)
• 2001 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (born 1916)
• 2001 – William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (born 1915)
• 2002 – Walter Winterbottom, English footballer and manager (born 1913)
• 2003 – Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (born 1955)
• 2004 – Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter (born 1937)
• 2006 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (born 1966)
• 2006 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (born 1925)
• 2009 – Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korean cardinal (born 1921)
• 2011 – Len Lesser, American actor (born 1922)
• 2011 – Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (born 1930)
• 2012 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (born 1954)
• 2012 – Elyse Knox, American model, actress, and fashion designer (born 1917)
• 2012 – John Macionis, American swimmer and lieutenant (born 1916)
• 2012 – Anthony Shadid, American journalist (born 1968)
• 2013 – Colin Edwards, Guyanese footballer (born 1991)
• 2013 – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (born 1918)
• 2013 – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940)
• 2014 – Ken Farragut, American football player (born 1928)
• 2014 – Kralle Krawinkel, German guitarist (born 1947)
• 2014 – Michael Shea, American author (born 1946)
• 2015 – Lasse Braun, Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1936)
• 2015 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (born 1946)
• 2015 – R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (born 1957)
• 2015 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (born 1971)
• 2016 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1922)
• 2019 – Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (born 1941)^[80]
• 2021 – Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian politician, 42nd President of Ecuador (born 1937)^[81]
• 2024 – Alexei Navalny, Russian activist (born 1976)
• 2025 – Viktor Antonov, Bulgarian artist (born 1972)^[82]

• Christian feast day:
  • Abda of Edessa
  • Elias and companions
  • Juliana of Nicomedia (Catholic Church)
  • Onesimus
  • Charles Todd Quintard (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • February 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong Il's birthday) (North Korea)
• Restoration of Lithuania's Statehood Day, celebrate the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918 (Lithuania)
• Elizabeth Peratrovich Day (Alaska)^[11]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to February 16.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on February 16