Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 2:
1918 – John L. (Lawrence) Sullivan, U.S. professional boxer, died; he won the world heavyweight boxing title as a bare-knuckle fighter in 1882 and lost it in 1892 under Queensberry Rules.
1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
1996 – Hollywood song and dance legend Gene Kelly, star of such classic movies as “Singing in the Rain” and “An American in Paris”, died.
2002 – Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands wed Maxima Zorreguieta, an Argentine whose father’s military junta past revived a tradition of controversial Dutch royal matches.
2004 – Roger Federer becomes No.1 Ranked Men’s Singles Tennis Player.
2005 – Biggest collection of Jazz memorabilia goes under hammer in New York.
2005 – Germany’s former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling, who fought two bouts with American Joe Louis in the 1930s and fell out of favour with the Nazis after resisting Hitler’s embrace, died aged 99.
2008 – Joshua Lederberg, a geneticist and microbiologist, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1958 at the age of 33 for his work in bacterial genetics. died. His work helped prepare the ground for genetic engineering and biotechnology.
2009 – A volcano near Tokyo erupts, spewing hot rocks, ash and smoke up to 2 km into the air and covering parts of the capital in a light dusting of ash.
2012 – MV Rabaul Queen ferry sinks off Papua New Guinea.
2017 – American Airlines opens Havana sales office.
(Reuters)
