February 19

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 315 days remaining, 316 in leap years. \n

Events

\n* 607 - Boniface III becomes Pope.\n* 1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York.\n* 1807 - In Alabama, Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason.\n* 1846 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed. \n* 1847 - The Donner Party is rescued. It is noted that some of the survivors seem to be remarkably well-fed considering their ordeal. \n* 1861 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.\n* 1878 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.\n* 1881 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. \n* 1913 - Prizes are included in Cracker Jack candy boxes for the first time.\n* 1942 - World War II: About 150 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.\n* 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps. \n* 1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima starting the battle. \n* 1949 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University. \n* 1953 - Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States. \n* 1959 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence. \n* 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.\n* 1985 - Artificial heart patient William Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital. \n* 1985 - A Spanish Boeing 747 crashes into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148.\n* 1986 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.\n* 1986 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.\n* 1999 - Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. \n* 2001 - A Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center. \n* 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

Births

\n*1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer (d. 1543)\n*1626 - February 18/19 - Francesco Redi, physician, refuted abiogenesis (d. 1697)\n*1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann, physician and chemist (d. 1742)\n*1717 - David Garrick, actor (d. 1779)\n*1743 - Luigi Boccherini, italian classical music performer (d. 1805)\n*1802 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1881)\n*1804 - David Wark, Canadian politician and Senator (d. 1905)\n*1821 - August Schleicher, linguist (d. 1868)\n*1865 - Sven Hedin, scientist (d. 1952)\n*1876 - Constantin Brancusi, sculptor (d. 1957)\n*1877 - Gabriele Münter, painter, member of Blaue Reiter (d. 1962)\n*1911 - Merle Oberon, actress (d. 1979)\n*1912 - Stan Kenton, musician (d. 1979)\n*1917 - Carson McCullers, author (d. 1967)\n*1924 - Lee Marvin, actor (d. 1987)\n*1939 - Alfredo Bryce-Echenique, Peruvian novelist\n*1940 - Smokey Robinson, musician\n*1949 - Dan Bunten, software developer (d. 1998)\n*1952 - Amy Tan, novelist\n*1954 - Socrates, football player\n*1955 - Jeff Daniels, actor\n*1957 - Falco, singer (d. 1998)\n* 1957 - Ray Winstone, British actor\n*1960 - Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II\n*1963 - Seal, singer\n*1967 - Benicio Del Toro, actor

Deaths

\n*1670 - King Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)\n*1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (b. 1733)\n*1897 - Karl Weierstraß, German mathematician (b. 1815)\n*1936 - Billy Mitchell, military aviation pioneer (b. 1879)\n*1942 - Frank Abbandando, Mafia hitman, executed (b. 1910)\n*1951 - André Gide, author (b. 1869)\n*1952 - Knut Hamsun, author (b. 1859)\n*1980 - Bon Scott, musician ("AC/DC") (b. 1946)\n*1997 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese Communist political leader and revolutionary (b. 1904) \n*2000 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (b. 1928)\n*2001 - Stanley Kramer, director (b. 1913)\n*2001 - Priscilla Davis, former Fort Worth, Texas socialite (b. 1942)\n*2003 - Johnny Paycheck, country music singer

Holidays and observances

• Chaoflux (Discordianism)\n----

February 18 - February 20 - January 19 - March 19 -- listing of all days \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n