On this day: February 5

February 5: Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan begins (2016); Kashmir Solidarity Day in Pakistan

The "Welcome Stranger" gold nugget

• 62 – Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake, which may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the town 17 years later.
• 1869 – Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger" (pictured).
• 1909 – Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
• 1941 – Second World War: British and Free French forces began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian Eritrea.
• 2000 – Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close, Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's Novye Aldi suburb.

• More anniversaries:
  • February 4
  • February 5
  • February 6

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