On this day...

1720 Edmund Halley appointed 2nd Astronomer Royal of England
1749 10th (final) volume of Fielding's "Tom Jones" is published
1763 Treaty of Paris ends French-Indian War, surrenders Canada to England
1807 US Coast Survey authorized by Congress
1840 Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert
1846 British defeat Sikhs in battle of Sobraon, India
1863 First US fire extinguisher patent granted to Alanson Crane, Virginia
1863 PT Barnum stages wedding of Tom Thumb & Mercy Lavinia Warren
1870 YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) founded (NYC)
1879 First electric arc light used (California Theater)
1897 NY Times begins using slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print"
1906 Britains first modern battleship "HMS Dreadnought" launched
1920 Baseball outlaws all pitches involving tampering with the ball
1925 First waterless gas storage tank put into service, Michigan City, Indiana
1930 Grain Stabilization Corporation authorized by Congress
1934 Byrd souvenir sheet issued, NYC; first unperforated ungummed US stamp
1935 First US streamlined electric RR engine begins service
1942 Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo" goes gold
1943 8th Army sweeps through North Africa to Tunisia
1947 Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia
1947 Province of Petsamo returned to Soviet Union by Finland
1949 Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" opens on Broadway
1956 "My Friend Flicka" premiers on CBS (later NBC) TV
1961 AFL's LA Chargers move to San Diego
1962 Jim Beatty sets American indoor mile record (3:58.9) in LA
1962 USSR swaps Francis Gary Power to US for Rudolph Abel
1964 Australian destroyer "Voyager" sinks in collision, killing 82
1967 25th Amendment (Presidential Disability & Succession) in effect
1971 American Mensa, Ltd incorporates in NY
1971 Bill White becomes the first black baseball announcer (NY Yankees)
1972 Ras al Khaima joins the United Arab Emirates
1973 World's largest storage tank explodes (Staten Island NY), crushing 40
1974 Silver futures hit record $4.81 an ounce in London
1981 8 killed & 198 injured by fire at Las Vegas Hilton
1987 Philippine troops murder 17 civilians-Lupao Massacre
1989 Miami Vice's 100th episode seen on TV
1989 Ron Brown (D) chosen first black chairman of a major US party
1990 Buster Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to become heavyweight boxing champ
1992 Mike Tyson found guilty of rape in Indiana

Birthdays which occurred February 10th:

1609 Sir John Suckling, English Cavalier poet/dramatist/courtier
1670 William Congreve, restoration writer (Way of the World)
1775 Charles Lamb, England, critic/poet/essayist
1880 Jesse G. Vincent, Arkansas, engineer designed first V-12 engine
1890 Boris Pasternak, Russia, novelist/poet (Dr. Zhivago, Nobel 1958)
1893 Jimmy Durante, NYC, comedian
1893 William (Bill) Tilden, tennis player (US Open 1920-25, 29)
1894 Harold MacMillan, British PM (1957-63)
1896 Olin Howlin, Denver, actor (Swifty-Circus Boy)
1897 John Franklin Enders, microbiologist (polio-Nobel 1954)
1898 Bertolt Brecht, Germany, playwright (Mother Courage)
1902 Walter Brattain Amoy, China, US physicist (Nobel 1956)
1906 Lon Chaney, Jr., actor (Hawkeye, Pistols 'n' Petticoats)
1910 Dominique Pire, Belgium, educator, aided WW II refugees (Nobel 1958)
1922 Neva Patterson, actress (Governor & JJ, Doc Elliot, Nichols)
1923 Cesare Siepi, Italy, basso (NY Metropolitan Opera)
1924 Randy Van Horne, El Paso Tx, singer (Nat King Cole Show)
1925 Neva Patterson, Iowa, actress (Governor & JJ, Nichols, Doc Elliot)
1928 Hans Nielsen, Denmark, lightweight boxer (Olympic-gold-1924)
1929 Jim Whittacker, first American to climb Mt. Everest
1930 Robert Wagner, Detroit Mich, actor (It Takes a Thief, Hart to Hart)
1937 Don Wilson, rock guitarist (Ventures-Walk Don't Run, Batman Theme)
1939 Boris Pickett, singer (Monster Mash)
1939 Roberta Flack, NC, vocalist (If Ever I Saw Your Face)
1942 Jimmy Merchant, rock vocalist (Frankie Lymon & Teenagers)
1950 Mark Spitz, US Olympic swimmer
1951 Roxanne Pulitzer, author (The Prize Pulitzer)
1955 Greg Norman, Australia, golfer
1963 Lenny Dykstra, baseball player
1967 Laura Dern LA, actress (Blue Velvet, Mask, Jurassic Park)

Deaths which occurred on February 10th:

1495 Sir William Stanley, English Lord Chamberlain, executed for conspiracy
1567 Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots' husband, murdered
1902 J.N. Krieger, German Selenographer
1958 Billy Vine, actor (54th Street Revue), dies at 42
1983 Eduard Franz, actor (Zorro), dies at 80
1989 Dan Kelly, NHL sportscaster, dies at 52, "He shoots, he scores!"