February 16

1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture the city of Olinda in what is to later become part of Dutch Brazil.

1804 – Off the shores of Tripoli, Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the frigate USS Philadelphia that had been captured by Barbary pirates

1923 – In the Valley of The Kings in Egypt, Howard Carter breaks the seals on the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a U.S. patent for nylon.

1945 – American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines to retake it from Japanese forces.

1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1960 – The U.S. Navy’s nuclear powered submarine USS Triton sets sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 911 emergency telephone system goes into service.

1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created in Chicago by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, members of CACHE, the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists’ Exchange

1985 – The moslem terrorist group Hezbollah (Party of Allah) is founded in Beirut, Lebanon

1996 – A Chicago bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC (MAryland Rail Commuter) train bound for Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring Maryland, killing 3 crew members and 8 passengers  and injuring 26 more aboard both trains.

2000 – Emery Worldwide Airlines cargo flight 17,  a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, shortly after takeoff, killing all 3 crew aboard.