Home   On This Day   On this day in history - February 5

On this day in history - February 5

What Happened On This Day – February 5

  • 1924 The Greenwich Time Signal is broadcast for the first time

    The “BBC pips” are 5 short and 1 long tones that are broadcast by many BBC radio stations to mark the precise start of the hour.

  • 1919 United Artists is founded

    Charlie Chaplin was one of the film studio's founders.

  • 1909 The world's first synthetic plastic is developed

    Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite at a meeting of the American Chemical Society that day.

  • 1869 The biggest gold nugget in history is found

    The “Welcome Stranger” was found at Moliagul in Australia and had a calculated refined weight of 71.081 kg.

  • 1852 The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg opens to the public

    It is one of the world's largest and oldest museums and was originally founded in 1764.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
February 5

  • 1985 Cristiano Ronaldo

    Portuguese footballer

  • 1969 Michael Sheen

    Welsh actor

  • 1900 Adlai Stevenson

    American politician, 31st Governor of Illinois

  • 1878 André Citroën

    French engineer, businessman, founded Citroën

  • 1840 John Boyd Dunlop

    Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
February 5

  • 2010 Harry Schwarz

    German/South African lawyer, politician, diplomat, 13th South African Ambassador to the United States

  • 2008 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

    Indian guru

  • 1993 Joseph L. Mankiewicz

    American director, screenwriter, producer

  • 1938 Hans Litten

    German jurist

  • 1881 Thomas Carlyle

    Scottish historian