February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 312 days remaining until the end of the year (313 in leap years).
- 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
- 1632 - Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
- 1744 - War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon begins.
- 1797 - Last Invasion of Britain: 1797 The Last Invasion of Britain by the French, begins near Fishguard, Wales.
- 1819 - By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista - 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexicans.
- 1856 - The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1862 - Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
- 1879 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
- 1882 - The Serbian kingdom is refounded.
- 1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1904 - The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina, the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
- 1915 - World War I: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
- 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defenses collapses.
- 1943 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1944 - American aircraft bombard the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer by mistake, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
- 1948 - Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
- 1958 - Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
- 1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1973 - Cold War: Following United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1974 - Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit conference starts in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries are attending. Twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognized Bangladesh.
- 1974 - Samuel Byck tries and fails to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon.
- 1979 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
- 1980 - Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3, in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
- 1983 The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opened and closed on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
- 1986 - Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1994 - Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1997 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
- 2002 - Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
- 2005 - The band Blink-182, due to an "indefinite hiatus", split up.
- 2006 - At least six men stage Britain's biggest robbery ever, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or 78€ million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
- 1040 - Rashi, French rabbi (d. 1105)
- 1403 - Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
- 1440 - Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1457)
- 1500 - Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)
- 1612 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (d. 1677)
- 1705 - Peter Artedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)
- 1714 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (d. 1795)
- 1732 - George Washington, First President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1756 - Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (d. 1821)
- 1778 - Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
- 1788 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- 1796 - Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1837)
- 1796 - Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
- 1806 - Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (d. 1875)
- 1810 - Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer and pianist (d. 1849)
- 1817 - Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)
- 1819 - James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (d. 1891)
- 1824 - Pierre Janssen, French astronomer (d. 1907)
- 1825 - Jean Baptiste Salpointe, second Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1898)
- 1839 - Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)
- 1840 - August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 - Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d. 1915)
- 1857 - Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English founder of the Scout movement (d. 1941)
- 1857 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
- 1864 - Jules Renard, French author (d. 1910)
- 1874 - Bill Klem, American baseball umpire (d. 1951)
- 1878 - Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
- 1879 - Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish physical chemist (d. 1947)
- 1880 - Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
- 1881 - Joseph B. Ely, American politician (d. 1956)
- 1882 - Eric Gill, British sculptor (d. 1940)
- 1883 - Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1886 - Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1887 - Ksawery Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Owen Brewster, American politician (d. 1961)
- 1889 - Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guide (d. 1977)
- 1891 - Vlas Chubar, Soviet politician (d. 1939)
- 1892 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American writer (d. 1950)
- 1895 - Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
- 1897 - Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1899 - Dwight Frye, American actor (d. 1943)
- 1899 - George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1899 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
- 1900 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish-born film director (d. 1983)
- 1900 - Seán Ó Faoláin, Irish author (d. 1991)
- 1902 - Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (d. 1980)
- 1903 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
- 1903 - Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)
- 1903 - Robert Weede, American baritone (d. 1972)
- 1907 - Sheldon Leonard, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1907 - Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 - Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
- 1911 - Bill Baker, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- 1913 - Buddy Tate, American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist (d. 2001)
- 1914 - Renato Dulbecco, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
- 1917 - Jane Bowles, American playwright (d. 1973)
- 1918 - Sid Abel, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1918 - Charlie Finley, American sports entrepreneur (d. 1996)
- 1918 - Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer
- 1918 - Robert Wadlow, American tallest ever-human (d. 1940)
- 1921 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African Republic leader (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- 1921 - David Greene, British television director (d. 2003)
- 1921 - Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
- 1922 - Jesús Iglesias, Argentine racing driver (d. 2005)
- 1925 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
- 1926 - Bud Yorkin, American film director
- 1928 - Paul Dooley, American actor
- 1928 - Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer
- 1928 - Clarence 13X, American religious leader (d. 1969)
- 1929 - James Hong, American actor
- 1929 - Rebecca Schull, American actress
- 1930 - Marni Nixon, American singer
- 1930 - James McGarrell, American painter
- 1932 - Ted Kennedy, American politician
- 1933 - Katharine, Duchess of Kent
- 1933 - Bobby Smith, English footballer
- 1934 - Sparky Anderson, American baseball manager
- 1936 - J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
- 1936 - Ernie K-Doe, American singer (d. 2001)
- 1938 - Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1938 - Ishmael Reed, American writer
- 1938 - Pierre Vallières, French-Canadian politician (d. 1995)
- 1940 - Johnson Mlambo, South African politician
- 1940 - Billy Name, American photographer
- 1941 - Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician
- 1942 - Christine Keeler, English model and showgirl
- 1943 - Terry Eagleton, British theorist
- 1943 - Horst Köhler, President of Germany
- 1944 - Jonathan Demme, American director
- 1944 - Robert Kardashian, American lawyer (d. 2003)
- 1944 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
- 1945 - Leslie Charleson, American actress
- 1945 - Oliver, American singer (d. 2000)
- 1947 - Carol Burns, Australian actress
- 1948 - John Ashton, American actor
- 1949 - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver and entrepreneur
- 1949 - Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player
- 1950 - Julius Erving, American basketball player
- 1950 - Ellen Greene, American actress
- 1950 - Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer
- 1950 - Miou-Miou, French actress
- 1950 - Genesis P-Orridge, English musician and performer
- 1950 - Julie Walters, English actress
- 1952 - Cyrinda Foxe, American model (d. 2002)
- 1952 - Bill Frist, American politician
- 1953 - Graham Lewis, English musician (Wire)
- 1953 - Nigel Planer, British actor
- 1955 - Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1959 - Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
- 1959 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- 1961 - Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist
- 1962 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist (d. 2006)
- 1962 - Lenda Murray, American bodybuilder
- 1962 - Les Wallace, Scottish darts player
- 1963 - Vijay Singh, Fijian golfer
- 1964 - Gigi Fernandez, Puerto Rican tennis player
- 1965 - Pat Lafontaine, American ice hockey player
- 1965 - Dean Karr, American director and photographer
- 1965 - Chris Dudley, American basketball player
- 1966 - Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne
- 1966 - Brian Greig, Australian politician
- 1966 - Thorsten Kaye,Daytime actor and poet
- 1966 - Aiden Shaw, English pornographic actor
- 1967 - Alf Poier, Austrian comedian
- 1968 - Shawn Graham, Canadian politician
- 1968 - Jayson Williams, American basketball player
- 1968 - Bradley Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1968 - Jeri Ryan, American actress
- 1968 - Elna Reinach, South African tennis player
- 1969 - Thomas Jane, American actor
- 1969 - Joaquín Cortés, Spanish dancer
- 1969 - Hans Klok, Dutch illusionist
- 1969 - Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer
- 1969 - Byron Stroud, American bassist
- 1969 - Clinton Kelly, American television personality
- 1970 - Dominic Roussel, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1971 - Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
- 1972 - Michael Chang, American tennis player
- 1972 - Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
- 1973 - Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 - Claus Lundekvam, Norwegian footballer
- 1973 - Einar Kristian Tveitå, Norwegian athlete
- 1974 - James Blunt, English musician
- 1974 - Chris Moyles, English DJ
- 1975 - Drew Barrymore, American actress
- 1976 - Faan Rautenbach, South African rugby player
- 1977 - Timo Rose, German filmmaker
- 1977 - Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
- 1979 - Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1979 - Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
- 1981 - Fredson Camara, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 - Jenna Haze, American pornographic actress
- 1982 - Robert Weiner, Jr., American water polo player
- 1984 - Venetian Princess Internet (You tube) Star (Real Name: Jodie-Amy Rivera)
- 1985 - Hameur Bouazza, Algerian footballer
- 1985 - Sean Garballey, American politician
- 1986 - Miko Hughes, American actor
- 1986 - Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
- 1988 - Kevin Borlée, Belgian athlete
- 1988 - Przemysław Kazimierczak, Polish footballer
- 1989 - Alia Sabur, American college educator
- 965 - Odo, Duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
- 1071 - Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (killed in battle) (b. c. 1055)
- 1111 - Roger Borsa, King of Sicily
- 1371 - King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)
- 1512 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1454)
- 1627 - Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)
- 1674 - Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)
- 1680 - Catherine Monvoisin, French sorceress (b. c. 1640)
- 1690 - Charles Le Brun, French artist (b. 1619)
- 1727 - Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
- 1731 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- 1732 - Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
- 1742 - Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)
- 1797 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)
- 1799 - Heshen, infamous Qing Dynasty Chinese official at court (b. 1750)
- 1816 - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1723)
- 1875 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
- 1875 - Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
- 1890 - John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
- 1890 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
- 1892 - Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)
- 1903 - Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1904 - Leslie Stephen, English writer and critic (b. 1832)
- 1913 - Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist (b. 1857)
- 1921 - Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
- 1923 - Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (b. 1852)
- 1934 - Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (b. 1856)
- 1939 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
- 1942 - Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (b. 1881)
- 1943 - Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1918)
- 1943 - Christoph Probst, German resistance fighter (b. 1919)
- 1943 - Sophie Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1921)
- 1944 - Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mohandas Gandhi (b. 1869)
- 1945 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (b. 1888)
- 1958 - Abul Kalam Azad, Indian independence movement leader (b. 1888)
- 1960 - Paul-Émile Borduas, Quebec painter (b. 1905)
- 1961 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
- 1965 - Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1882)
- 1968 - Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
- 1973 - Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
- 1973 - Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
- 1974 - Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1930)
- 1976 - Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- 1980 - Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist (b. 1886)
- 1982 - Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan (b. 1898)
- 1983 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- 1983 - Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
- 1984 - Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1985 - Salvador Espriu, Spanish poet (b. 1913)
- 1985 - Alexander Scourby, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1985 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (b. 1889)
- 1987 - Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)
- 1989 - Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader, UDT President in the exterior (b. 1938)
- 1994 - Papa John Creach, American musician (b. 1917)
- 1995 - Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1997 - Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
- 1998 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
- 2000 - Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (b. 1946)
- 2002 - Chuck Jones, American cartoonist (b. 1912)
- 2002 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel and political leader (b. 1934)
- 2002 - Roden Cutler, Australian diplomat and war hero (b. 1916)
- 2002 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (b. 1963)
- 2003 - Daniel Taradash, American screenwriter (b. 1913)
- 2004 - Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Andy Seminick, American baseball player (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish artist (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
- 2005 - Lee Eun Ju, Korean actress (b. 1980)
- 2006 - Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (b. 1961)
- 2007 - Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1954)
- 2007 - Howard Verne Ramsey, oldest U.S. veteran of WWI (b. 1898)
- 2007 - Samuel Hinga Norman, Sierra Leonean alleged war criminal (b. 1940)
- 2007 - George Jellicoe, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords & Special Boat Service veteran (b. 1918)
