February 19
February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 315 days remaining, 316 in leap years. Events 607 - Boniface III becomes Pope. 1594 - Having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa was crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden. 1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York. 1807 - In Alabama, Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason. 1819 - British explorer William Smith discovered the South Shetland Islands, and claimed them in the name of King George III. 1846 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed. 1847 - The Donner Party is rescued. It is noted that some of the survivors seem to be remarkably well-fed considering their ordeal. 1852 - The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. 1861 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia. 1878 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison. 1881 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. 1913 - Prizes are included in Cracker Jack candy boxes for the first time. 1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli began. 1941 - World War II: The Deutsches Afrikakorps, the corps-level headquarters controlling the German Panzer divisionss in North Africa, was formed. 1942 - World War II: About 150 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia. 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps. 1943 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia began. 1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima starting the battle. 1949 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University. 1953 - Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States. 1959 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence, which is then on formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960. 1964 - Paul Simon writes "The Sounds of Silence," the song which, in a year and a half, will catapult him and Art Garfunkel to stardom as Simon & Garfunkel. 1985 - Artificial heart patient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital. 1985 - A Spanish Boeing 747 crashes into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148. 1985 - EastEnders first airs on televisions across the United Kingdom, on the first night of a major ident change for BBC1. 1986 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station. 1986 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide. 1999 - Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2001 - A Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system. 2004 - Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."
Births1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer (d. 1543)1626 - February 18/19 - Francesco Redi, physician, refuted abiogenesis (d. 1697)1630 - Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire (d. 1680)1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann, physician and chemist (d. 1742)1717 - David Garrick, actor (d. 1779)1743 - Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (d. 1805)1802 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1881)1804 - David Wark, Canadian politician and Senator (d. 1905)1821 - August Schleicher, linguist (d. 1868)1865 - Sven Hedin, scientist (d. 1952)1876 - Constantin Brancusi, sculptor (d. 1957)1877 - Gabriele Münter, painter, member of Blaue Reiter (d. 1962)1888 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928) 1898 - Enzo Ferrari, founder of Scuderia Ferrari (d. 1988)1911 - Merle Oberon, actress (d. 1979)1912 - Stan Kenton, musician (d. 1979)1916 - Eddie Arcaro, American jockey (d. 1997)1917 - Carson McCullers, author (d. 1967)1920 - George Rose, British music hall entertainer (d. 1988)1924 - Lee Marvin, actor (d. 1987)1930 - John Frankenheimer, American film director (d. 2002_1939 - Alfredo Bryce-Echenique, Peruvian novelist1940 - Smokey Robinson, musician1942 - Paul Krause, American football player1943 - Lou Christie, American singer1945 - Michael Nader, American actor1946 - Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974)1948 - Tony Iommi, British musician (Black Sabbath)1948 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician1949 - Dan Bunten, software developer (d. 1998)1952 - Amy Tan, novelist1953 - Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (d. 1994)1954 - Socrates, football player1955 - Jeff Daniels, actor1957 - Falco, singer (d. 1998) 1957 - Ray Winstone, British actor1960 - Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II1962 - Hana Mandlikova, tennis player1963 - Seal, singer1966 - Justine Bateman, actress1966 - Paul Haarhuis, tennis player1967 - Benicio Del Toro, actor1979 - Eva-Maria Bisschop, Belgian pop star1985 - Haylie Duff, American singer, actress1986 - Maria Mena, Norwegian pop star
Deaths 197 - Clodius Albinus, Roman governor of Britain1670 - King Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)1709 - Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (b. 1646)1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (b. 1733)1897 - Karl Weierstraß, German mathematician (b. 1815)1936 - Billy Mitchell, military aviation pioneer (b. 1879)1942 - Frank Abbandando, Mafia hitman, executed (b. 1910)1951 - André Gide, author (b. 1869)1952 - Knut Hamsun, author (b. 1859)1969 - Madge Blake, American actress1970 - Jules Munshin, American actor1972 - Tedd Pierce, animator (b. 1906)1973 - Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist (b. 1892)1980 - Bon Scott, musician ("AC/DC") (b. 1946)1997 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese Communist political leader and revolutionary (b. 1904)1997 - Leo Rosten, Yiddish writer, humorist1997 - Charles O. Finley, American sports entrepreneur1998 - Grandpa Jones, country music entertainer, comedian1999 - Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, Iraqi Shiite leader, killed (b. 1943?)2000 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (b. 1928)2001 - Priscilla Davis, former Fort Worth, Texas socialite (b. 1942) 2001 - Stanley Kramer, director (b. 1913)2001 - Charles Trenet, popular French singer 2003 - Johnny Paycheck, country music singer2004 - Clark Byers, American sign maker 2004 - Hermann Krings, German philosopher
Holidays and observances
February 18 - February 20 - January 19 - March 19 -- listing of all days
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