February 1st

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he would not run for a new term but rejected protesters' demands he step down immediately.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won their record sixth Super Bowl with a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

Singer Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed during the Super Bowl halftime show.

The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it tried to reenter the Earth's atmosphere after a sixteen-day mission in space. All seven members of the crew were lost.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a vidotaped deposition for senators weighing impeachment charges against President Bill Clinton.

'Late Night with David Letterman' premiered on NBC.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

Saigon police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executes Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém with a pistol shot to head. The execution is captured by photographer Eddie Adams and becomes an anti-war icon.

Four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.

A press conference announced the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, was held at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established.

King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.

Puccini's opera 'La Boheme' premiered in Turin, Italy.

The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary A–Ant, was published.

'The Battle Hymn of the Republic,' a poem by Julia Ward Howe, was published in the Atlantic Monthly.

Texas voted to secede from the Union.

The Supreme Court of the United States convened for the first time, in New York City.

Queen Elizabeth I of England signs death warrant for her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.