Nadal's First Australian Title
Feb 1 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Spanish ace Rafael Nadal wins his first Australian title; beats Roger Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2
- Feb 1 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the first openly gay Head of Government in the modern world.
- Feb 1 Super Bowl XLIII, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Arizona Cardinals, 27-23; MVP: Santonio Holmes, Pittsburgh, WR
1st African American Attorney General
Feb 3 Eric Holder becomes 82nd and 1st African American US Attorney General, succeeding Michael Mukasey
- Feb 5 59th Berlin International Film Festival: "The Milk of Sorrow" wins the Golden Bear
- Feb 5 The United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii, damaging the ship as well as a coral reef
"Violin Concerto"
Feb 6 "Violin Concerto", by Jennifer Higdon premieres, in Indianapolis, Indiana (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2010) [1]
Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Feb 6 President Barack Obama announces the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, with Paul Volcker as Chairman and Austan Goolsbee as Staff Director and Chief Economist
- Feb 7 Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.
51st Grammy Awards
Feb 8 51st Grammy Awards: Best Album "Raising Sand" and Record of the Year "Please Read The Letter", both by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss win
62nd BAFTA Awards
Feb 8 62nd British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs): "Slumdog Millionaire" Best Film, Danny Boyle Best Director
Grammy Awards
Feb 8 Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" wins a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
- Feb 8 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 30-21; MVP: Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals, WR
Rihanna Cancels
Feb 8 Singer Rihanna cancels performance at the Grammys after being assaulted by boyfriend Chris Brown
Uri Geller Buys Lamb Island
Feb 11 Uri Geller purchases Lamb Island, Scotland, previously known for its witch trials
- Feb 12 40th NAACP Image Awards: "The Secret Life of Bees" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
- Feb 12 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes near Buffalo in the state of New York killing 50 people.
- Feb 13 The Dutch Statistics agency confirms the Netherlands are in recession
- Feb 13 Unix time passed 1,234,567,890 seconds February 13, 2009 at exactly 23:31:30 (UTC).
- Feb 15 51st Daytona 500: Matt Kenseth wins shortened race; called off with 48 laps to go after a severe rainstorm hits the track
58th NBA All-Star Game
Feb 15 58th NBA All-Star Game, US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ: West beats East, 146-119; MVPs: Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers, F; Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers, C
Terry Pratchett Knighted
Feb 18 English fantasy author Terry Pratchett receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace
- Feb 18 The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced that the Taiwanese economy has contracted an unprecedented 8.36% in the fourth quarter of 2008; thus placing the country in a technical recession
- Feb 21 29th Golden Raspberry Awards: "The Love Guru" wins
81st Academy Awards
Feb 22 81st Academy Awards: "Slumdog Millionaire", Sean Penn and Kate Winslet win. Heath Ledger posthumously wins Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight".
Stevie Wonder Receives Gershwin Prize
Feb 25 American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder receives Library of Congress Gershwin Prize at the White House in Washington, D.C.
- Feb 25 BDR massacre in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 74 People are being killed, including more than 50 Army officials, by Bangladeshi Boarder Guards inside its headquarter.
- Feb 27 Statistics Finland informs that Finland's gross domestic product diminished by 1.3% in the last quarter of 2008 from the previous quarter
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists