On This Day: 5 February

5 February in world history

• 2016Cybercriminals initiate the Bangladesh Bank robbery, using the SWIFT network to fraudulently transfer $101 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account of Bangladesh Bank.
• 2009The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal ran aground on a coral reef off the island of Oahu.
• 2008Eighty-seven tornadoes occurred over the course of the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak across multiple U.S. states, causing 56 deaths and over $1 billion in damage.
• 2004At least 21 cockle-gatherers were drowned by an incoming tide in Morecambe Bay, England, prompting the establishment of the British government's Gangmasters Licensing Authority.
• 2004The National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti captured the city of Gonaïves, starting a coup d'état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government.
• 2000Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
• 1997The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
• 1985Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
• 1975Riots break out in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
• 1967Cultural Revolution: The January Storm revolt in Shanghai reached its apogee as Maoist rebels proclaimed the establishment of the Shanghai People's Commune, a move the previously supportive Mao Zedong criticized.
• 1958A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
• 1941World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
• 1923Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford made 429 runs to break the world record for the highest first-class score.
• 1919Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
• 1901J. P. Morgan incorporates U.S. Steel in the state of New Jersey, although the company would not start doing business until February 25 and the assets of Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company, Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company, and William Henry Moore's
• 1869Prospectors in Moliagul, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the Welcome Stranger.
• 1859Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered in the birth of the modern Roman
• 1597As part of enforcing Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ban on Christianity in Japan, twenty-six Catholics, a mix of European missionaries and Japanese converts, were executed (depicted) near Nagasaki by crucifixion and impalement.

Born on 5 February

• 1990Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketerIndia
• 1968Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
• 1936K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic (died 2020)India
• 1924Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (died 2014)India
• 1837Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers (died 1899)
• 1723John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (died 1794)

Died on 5 February

• 2015Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)
• 2008Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation (born 1918)India
• 1983Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American chemist and academic (born 1925)
• 1927Inayat Khan, Indian mystic and educator (born 1882)India

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 5 February in history?

2016: Cybercriminals initiate the Bangladesh Bank robbery, using the SWIFT network to fraudulently transfer $101 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account of Bangladesh Bank. 2009: The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal ran aground on a coral reef off the island of Oahu. 2008: Eighty-seven tornadoes occurred over the course of the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak across multiple U.S. states, causing 56 deaths and over $1 billion in damage. 2004: At least 21 cockle-gatherers were drowned by an incoming tide in Morecambe Bay, England, prompting the establishment of the British government's Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

Which famous people were born on 5 February?

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer (1990); Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver (1968); K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic (died 2020) (1936); Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (died 2014) (1924).

Which day is observed on 5 February?

Kashmir Solidarity Day (Pakistan); Runeberg Day (Finland).