Feb 11 in History
1808 — Jesse Fell, a businessman in WilkesBarre, Pennsylvania, burns anthracite on an open grate in his local tavern and proves that the “stone coal”, cheaper and more fuel-efficient than wood, is suitable for heating homes.
1851 — February 11-12: Teams from Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) and Port Phillip District (now Victoria) play the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia. Contested at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania, Van Diemen’s Land win by three wickets.
1889 — The Constitution of the Emperor of Japan is promulgated by Emperor Meiji, establishing clear limits on the power of the executive branch and the emperor. It is replaced with the “Postwar Constitution” on November 3 1946.
1938 — BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science-fiction television programme, a 35-minute adaptation of a section of Czech playwright Karel Capek’s 1920 play “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots), which introduced the term “robot” to the English language and to sci-fi as a whole.
1959 — The Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia, an organisation of states within the British Aden Protectorate, is created. It gains independence on November 30 1967 as the People’s (Democratic) Republic of Yemen (South Yemen). It becomes a Marxist-Leninist one-party state in 1969, the only communist state in the Middle East and the Arab world until it is united with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) on May 22 1990 to form the Republic of Yemen.
1966 — The South African government declares District Six in Cape Town a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act.
1971 — Cold War: The Seabed Arms Control Treaty, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters, opens for signature.
1990 — Buster Douglas, a 42/1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson (undefeated in 38 fights) in the 10th round at Tokyo Dome in Japan to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
2001 — Dutch student Jan de Wit, 20, using the pseudonym “On The Fly”, launches the “Anna Kournikova” virus infecting millions of e-mails via a trick photo attachment of the tennis star.
2011 — Arab Spring: Eighteen days into the Egyptian revolution, which started on January 25, Hosni Mubarak resigns as president (since October 14 1981). Power is transferred to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.