February 19th in History

Thomas Edison and his phonograph (Photo: Levin Handy, Brady-Handy Collection)

Today in History

  • Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is arrested for treason (1807)
  • The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party (1847)
  • Thomas Edison patents the phonograph (1878)
  • US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an order allowing for forced relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps. (1942)
  • US Marines land on the shores of Iwo Jima (1945)
  • Georgia establishes the first literature censorship board in the US (1952)
  • Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, a key event in modern feminism, is published (1963)

Birthdays

  • Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer (1473)
  • David Garrick, actor and impresario (1717)
  • Svante Arrhenius, scientist and Nobel laureate, helped found physical chemistry (1859)
  • Cedric Hardwicke, ator (1893)
  • Merle Oberon, actress (1911)
  • Carson McCullers, author (1917)
  • Lee Marvin, actor (1924)
  • Terry Carr, science fiction writer and editor (1937)
  • Smokey Robinson, singer-songwriter (1940)
  • Homer Hickam, engineer, author of Rocket Boys (1943)
  • Karen Silkwood, nuclear technician and activist, subject of the film Silkwood (1946)
  • Amy Tan, author (1952)
  • Prince Andrew, son of Queen Elizabeth II (1960)
  • Seal, singer-songwriter (1963)
  • Justine Bateman, actress (1966)
  • Benicio del Toro, filmmaker (1967)
  • Jeff Kinney, author and illustrator, creator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1971)

Deaths

  • Ernst Mach, physicist, namesake of the Mach number for supersonic flight (1916)
  • Billy Mitchell, US general and pilot known as the “father of the US Air Force” (1936)
  • André Gide, author (1951)
  • Grandpa Jones, country musician (1998)
  • Stanley Kramer, filmmaker (2001)
  • Johnny Paycheck, country musician (2003)
  • Umberto Eco, author (2016)
  • Harper Lee, author (2016)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Armed Forces Day (Mexico)
  • Brancusi Day (Romania)
  • Chocolate Mint Day (US)
  • Commemoration of Vasil Levsky (Bulgaria)
  • Flag Day (Turkmenistan)
  • Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)

February 19 is the 50th day of the year. There are 315 days (316 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.