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On this day in history - February 13

What Happened On This Day – February 13

  • 2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologizes to Indigenous Australians for the “stolen generations”

    Between 10 and 30 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children were removed from their families until the 1960s.

  • 2004 The universe's largest known diamond is discovered

    BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star about 50 light-years from Earth and was nicknamed “Lucy” after The Beatles' song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.

  • 2000 The last “Peanuts” comic strip is published

    The 17,897th-and-last installment was published in newspapers around the world on the day following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.

  • 1991 Two “smart bombs” kill at least 408 civilians in Baghdad

    The Amiriyah shelter bombing was one of the worst cases of civilian killings during “Operation Desert Storm”.

  • 1945 The German city of Dresden is destroyed by a bombing raid

    According to estimates, up to 25,000 people were killed in the raids that lasted 3 days.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
February 13

  • 1974 Robbie Williams

    English singer-songwriter, producer, actor

  • 1950 Peter Gabriel

    English singer-songwriter, producer

  • 1946 Richard Blumenthal

    American politician

  • 1849 Lord Randolph Churchill

    English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer

  • 1835 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

    Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
February 13

  • 2002 Waylon Jennings

    American singer-songwriter, musician

  • 1883 Richard Wagner

    German composer, director

  • 1787 Ruđer Bošković

    Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician

  • 1728 Cotton Mather

    American minister

  • 1662 Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia