TODAY IN HISTORY ― FEBRUARY 19

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 315 days remaining until the end of the year (316 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).
356 – Emperor Constantius II closes down all heathen temples.  

NATIONAL LASH DAY  


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 is crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden. 

1771 – Charles Messier adds objects M46, M47, M48 and M49 to his catalog (located in Puppis, Hydra and Virgo).

1846 – The Texas state government is formally installed in Austin.

1847 – On this day in 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

1884 – An estimated 47-60 tornadoes, called the Enigma Outbreak, run through MS, AL, NC, SC, TN, KY and IN killing at least 800 people.

1906 – W.K. Kellogg and C. Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. (later Kelloggs).

1910 – Typhoid Mary, Mary Mallon, is freed from her first periods of forced isolation and goes on to cause several further outbreaks of typhoid in the New York area.

1913 – The first  prize is inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

1919 – The Pan-African Congress is organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, in Paris.

1922 – Ed Wynn becomes the first "talent" to sign as a radio entertainer.

1942 – FDR orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans with Executive Order 9066.


1944 - A total of 823 British bombers attack Berlin in WWII.


1945 - On this day, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched.

1953 – Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in America.

1963 – The USSR informs JFK it is withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba.


1981 – George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism", "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine".

1985 – 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain.

1985 – William J. Schroeder is the first artificial heart patient to leave hospital. He spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, KY.

1986 – The USSR launches the Mir space station into Earth orbit.

1987 – An anti-smoking ad airs for the first time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner. Brenner had died from lung cancer the previous October.


1992 – Amateur astronomer Peter Collins of Boulder, CO discovers supernova Nova Cygni 1992.


2001 – An 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, is awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."

2008 – Toshiba announces its formal recall of its HD DVD video formatting, ending the format war between it and Sony's Blu-Ray Disc.

2014 – The death toll in the Ukraine reaches 26 after the government crack downs on protesters.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)

1743 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1805)

1917 – Carson McCullers, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist, (d. 1967)

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.