On this day, February 4

1789 Electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

1906 The University Club was in the process of purchasing a site on Grant (Bigelow) Boulevard, in the Bellefield district, for its new home.

1932 A.W. Mellon, at the age of 76, was appointed ambassador to Great Britain after serving 11 years as Secretary of the Treasury. 1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

1984 Charles H. “Chuck” Cooper, a former Duquesne University All-American who became the first black to be drafted into the National Basketball Association, died at age 57.

2004 The social networking website Facebook had its beginnings as Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched “Thefacebook.”

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: Actor Jerry Adler, 91. Actor Gary Conway, 84. Former Vice President Dan Quayle, 73. Rock singer Alice Cooper, 72. Actress Lisa Eichhorn, 68. Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, 61. Country singer Clint Black, 58. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya, 47. Rock musician Rick Burch (Jimmy Eat World), 45. Singer Natalie Imbruglia, 45. Rapper Cam’ron, 44. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw, 43.

Thought for today: “Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.”

— Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher (1864-1936)