- Feb 1 1st full-scale test of US Minuteman ICBM is successful
- Feb 1 Australian cricket tail-enders Ken Mackay (62no) and Lindsay Kline (15no) hang on for 100 minutes to earn a famous draw on the final day vs West Indies in 4th Test in Adelaide
Powell Increases Medical Insurance
Feb 1 British minister Enoch Powell makes medical insurance more expensive
"The Misfits"
Feb 1 John Huston's film drama "The Misfits" officially premieres at the Loews Capitol in NYC, after a sneak preview at Reno, Nevada's Grenada Theatre; the final movie for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe was written by Monroe's husband Arthur Miller, and also featured Montgomery Cliff
Anglo War of Independence
Feb 4 Angolan War of Independence begins when militants storm Luanda jail and barracks, trying to free political prisoners (last until 1974)
- Feb 4 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
- Feb 6 "Jail, No Bail" Jail-in movement starts in Rock Hill, South Carolina
- Feb 6 KOAP TV channel 10 in Portland, OR (PBS) begins broadcasting
Jane Fonda Debut
Feb 7 Jane Fonda made her acting debut in the NBC drama "A String of Beads"
Piston's 7th Symphony
Feb 10 Walter Piston's 7th Symphony, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra premieres under direction of Eugene Ormandy; wins 1961 Pulitzer Prize
- Feb 11 Robert Weaver sworn in as Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the 1st African American to be appointed to a US cabinet-level position
Sports History
Feb 12 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 40 rebounds to beat Philadelphia Warriors, 136-125
- Feb 12 Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad scores his 1st test cricket century for Pakistan at 17 years of age
- Feb 12 USSR launches Venera 1 toward Venus
- Feb 13 Soviet Union fires a rocket from Sputnik V to Venus
- Feb 14 Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley Calif
- Feb 15 Australia beat West Indies 2-1 in one of best Test Cricket series ever
- Feb 15 Plane crash kills entire US figure skating team outside Brussels airport in Belgium enroute to World Championships in Prague from NYC; 73 crew and passengers (including 34 American skaters, coaches, officials, and other team members), and a farmer on the ground are lost
- Feb 16 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Virginia
- Feb 16 China uses its 1st nuclear reactor
- Feb 16 NASA Explorer 9 mission launches satellite for the 1st time from Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia; this was also the 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put into orbit
- Feb 18 Henk van der Grift becomes world champion skater
- Feb 19 Albania disavows Chinese "Revisionism"
- Feb 19 Dutchman Henk van der Grift becomes world champ all-round skater
Event of Interest
Feb 21 Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Die Physiker" premieres in Zurich
- Feb 21 Gabon adopts constitution
- Feb 21 Mercury-Atlas 2 reentry Test reaches 172 km
- Feb 24 NASA Explorer S-45 mission; ionosphere beacon satellite fails to reach Earth orbit
- Feb 25 Niagara ends St Bonaventura's 99-game home college basketball win streak
- Feb 25 Paul Bikle in glider climbs from 1,208 m at release to record altitude of 1,410m
- Feb 26 3rd Daytona 500: Marvin Panch wins in a 1960 Pontiac owned by Smokey Yunick when race leader Fireball Roberts' car suffered a blown engine with 13 laps remaining
- Feb 27 The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated
Appointment of Interest
Feb 28 US President John F Kennedy names Henry Kissinger special advisor
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists