February 19

Events

Pre-1600

* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan idols in the Roman Empire.
*1594 – Having already been elected to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, having succeeded his father John III of Sweden in 1592.
*1600 – The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.

1601–1900

*1649 – The Second Battle of Guararapes takes place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil.
*1674 – England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England.
*1714 – Great Northern War: The battle of Napue between Sweden and Russia is fought in Isokyrö, Ostrobothnia.
*1726 – The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.
*1807 – Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama and confined to Fort Stoddert.
*1819 – British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands and claims them in the name of King George III.
*1836 – King William IV signs Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia.
*1846 – In Austin, Texas the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States.
*1847 – The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party.
*1859 – Daniel E. Sickles, a New York Congressman, is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity.
*1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
*1884 – More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

1901–present

*1913 – Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.
*1915 – World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.
*1937 – Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Ethiopian nationalists of Eritrean origin attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.
*1942 – World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack the northern Australian city of Darwin, killing 243 people.
* 1942 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese Americans to internment camps.
*1943 – World War II: Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins.
*1945 – World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima: About 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima.
*1948 – The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta.
*1949 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
*1953 – Book censorship in the United States: The Georgia Literature Commission is established.
*1954 – Transfer of Crimea: The Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
*1959 – The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.
*1960 – China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket.
*1963 – The publication of Betty Friedan's '' The Feminine Mystique'' reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.
*1965 – Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm, all Catholics, attempt a coup against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyễn Khánh.
*1976 – Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.
*1978 – Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.
*1985 – William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital.
* 1985 – Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 crashes into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148.
*1986 – Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.
*1989 – Flying Tiger Line flight 66 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four.
*2002 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
*2003 – An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.
*2006 – A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.
*2011 – The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore.
*2012 – Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico.

Births

Pre-1600

*1461 – Domenico Grimani, Italian cardinal (d. 1523)
*1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)
*1497 – Matthäus Schwarz, German fashion writer (d. 1574)
*1519 – Froben Christoph of Zimmern, German author of the Zimmern Chronicle (d. 1566)
*1526 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist and academic (d. 1609)
*1532 – Jean-Antoine de Baïf, French poet (d. 1589)
*1552 – Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal (d. 1630)
*1594 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (d. 1612)

1601–1900

*1611 – Andries de Graeff, Dutch politician (d. 1678)
*1630 – Shivaji, Indian warrior-king and the founder of Maratha Empire
*1660 – Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (d. 1742)
*1717 – David Garrick, English actor, playwright, and producer (d. 1779)
*1743 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1805)
*1798 – Allan MacNab, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Premier of Canada West (d. 1862)
*1800 – Émilie Gamelin, Canadian nun and social worker, founded the Sisters of Providence (d. 1851)
*1804 – Carl von Rokitansky, German physician, pathologist, and philosopher (d. 1878)
*1821 – August Schleicher, German linguist and academic (d. 1868)
*1833 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
*1838 – Lydia Thompson, British burlesque performer (d. 1908)
*1841 – Elfrida Andrée, Swedish organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1929)
*1855 – Nishinoumi Kajirō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 16th Yokozuna (d. 1908)
*1859 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
*1865 – Sven Hedin, Swedish geographer and explorer (d. 1952)
*1869 – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian-Russian poet and author (d. 1923)
*1872 – Johan Pitka, Estonian admiral (d. 1944)
*1876 – Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian-French sculptor, painter, and photographer (d. 1957)
*1877 – Gabriele Münter, German painter (d. 1962)
*1878 – Harriet Bosse, Swedish–Norwegian actress (d. 1961)
*1880 – Álvaro Obregón, Mexican general and politician, 39th President of Mexico (d. 1928)
*1886 – José Abad Santos, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 1942)
*1888 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian lawyer and poet (d. 1928)
*1893 – Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director (d. 1964)
*1895 – Louis Calhern, American actor (d. 1956)
*1896 – André Breton, French poet and author (d. 1966)
*1897 – Alma Rubens, American actress (d. 1931)
*1899 – Lucio Fontana, Argentinian-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1968)

1901–present

*1902 – Kay Boyle, American novelist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1992)
*1904 – Havank, Dutch journalist and author (d. 1964)
*1911 – Merle Oberon, Indian-American actress (d. 1979)
*1912 – Dorothy Janis, American actress (d. 2010)
* 1912 – Saul Chaplin, American composer (d. 1997)
*1913 – Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza (d. 2007)
* 1913 – Frank Tashlin, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1972)
*1914 – Thelma Kench, New Zealand Olympic sprinter (d. 1985)
*1915 – John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (d. 2014)
*1916 – Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster (d. 1997)
*1917 – Carson McCullers, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist (d. 1967)
*1918 – Fay McKenzie, American actress (d. 2019)
*1920 – C. Z. Guest, American actress, fashion designer, and author (d. 2003)
* 1920 – Jaan Kross, Estonian author and poet (d. 2007)
* 1920 – George Rose, English actor and singer (d. 1988)
*1922 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
*1924 – David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player and theoretician (d. 2006)
* 1924 – Lee Marvin, American actor (d. 1987)
*1926 – György Kurtág, Hungarian composer and academic
*1927 – Philippe Boiry, French journalist (d. 2014)
*1929 – Jacques Deray, French director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
*1930 – John Frankenheimer, American director and producer (d. 2002)
* 1930 – K. Viswanath, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter
*1932 – Joseph P. Kerwin, American captain, physician, and astronaut
*1935 – Dave Niehaus, American sportscaster (d. 2010)
* 1935 – Russ Nixon, American MLB catcher and coach (d. 2016)
*1936 – Sam Myers, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
* 1936 – Frederick Seidel, American poet
*1937 – Terry Carr, American author and educator (d. 1987)
* 1937 – Norm O'Neill, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (d. 2008)
*1938 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (d. 1989)
*1939 – Erin Pizzey, English activist and author, founded Refuge
*1940 – Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (d. 2006)
* 1940 – Smokey Robinson, American singer-songwriter and producer
* 1940 – Bobby Rogers, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
*1941 – David Gross, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
* 1941 – Jenny Tonge, Baroness Tonge, English politician
*1942 – Cyrus Chothia, English biochemist and emeritus scientist at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (d. 2019)
* 1942 – Paul Krause, American football player and politician
* 1942 – Howard Stringer, Welsh businessman
* 1942 – Will Provine, American biologist, historian, and academic (d. 2015)
*1943 – Lou Christie, American singer-songwriter
* 1943 – Homer Hickam, American author and engineer
* 1943 – Tim Hunt, English biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate
*1944 – Les Hinton, English-American journalist and businessman
*1945 – Yuri Antonov, Uzbek-Russian singer-songwriter
*1946 – Paul Dean, Canadian guitarist
* 1946 – Peter Hudson, Australian footballer and coach
* 1946 – Karen Silkwood, American technician and activist (d. 1974)
*1947 – Jackie Curtis, American actress and playwright (d. 1985)
* 1947 – Tim Shadbolt, New Zealand businessman and politician, 42nd Mayor of Invercargill
*1948 – Mark Andes, American singer-songwriter and bass player
* 1948 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician (d. 2002)
* 1948 – Tony Iommi, English guitarist and songwriter
*1949 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American game designer and programmer (d. 1998)
* 1949 – Eddie Hardin, English singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2015)
* 1949 – Barry Lloyd, English footballer and manager
* 1949 – William Messner-Loebs, American author and illustrator
*1950 – Juice Leskinen, Finnish singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
* 1950 – Andy Powell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
*1951 – Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, Pakistani scholar and politician, founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran
*1952 – Ryū Murakami, Japanese novelist and filmmaker
* 1952 – Rodolfo Neri Vela, Mexican engineer and astronaut
* 1952 – Gary Seear, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2018)
* 1952 – Dave Cheadle, American baseball player (d. 2012)
* 1952 – Amy Tan, American novelist, essayist, and short story writer
* 1952 – Danilo Türk, Slovene academic and politician, 3rd President of Slovenia
*1953 – Corrado Barazzutti, Italian tennis player
* 1953 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentine lawyer and politician, President of Argentina and Vice President of Argentina
* 1953 – Massimo Troisi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
*1954 – Sócrates, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2011)
* 1954 – Francis Buchholz, German bass player
* 1954 – Michael Gira, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
*1955 – Jeff Daniels, American actor and playwright
*1956 – Kathleen Beller, American actress
* 1956 – Peter Holsapple, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* 1956 – Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
* 1956 – Dave Wakeling, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
*1957 – Falco, Austrian singer-songwriter, rapper, and musician (d. 1998)
* 1957 – Dave Stewart, American baseball player and coach
* 1957 – Ray Winstone, English actor
*1958 – Tommy Cairo, American wrestler
* 1958 – Helen Fielding, English author and screenwriter
* 1958 – Steve Nieve, English keyboard player and composer
*1959 – Roger Goodell, American businessman
*1960 – Prince Andrew, Duke of York
* 1960 – John Paul Jr., American race car driver (d. 2020)
*1961 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (d. 1998)
* 1961 – Ernie Gonzalez, American golfer (d. 2020)
*1962 – Hana Mandlíková, Czech-Australian tennis player and coach
*1963 – Seal, English singer-songwriter
* 1963 – Jessica Tuck, American actress
*1964 – Doug Aldrich, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* 1964 – Jennifer Doudna, American biochemist
* 1964 – Jonathan Lethem, American novelist, essayist, and short story writer
*1965 – Jon Fishman, American drummer
* 1965 – Clark Hunt, American businessman
* 1965 – Leroy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
*1966 – Justine Bateman, American actress and producer
* 1966 – Paul Haarhuis, Dutch tennis player and coach
* 1966 – Eduardo Xol, American designer and author
*1967 – Benicio del Toro, Puerto Rican-American actor, director, and producer
*1968 – Frank Watkins, American bass player (d. 2015)
* 1968 – Prince Markie Dee, American rapper and actor (d. 2021)
*1969 – Burton C. Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* 1969 – Helena Guergis, Canadian businesswoman and politician
*1970 – Joacim Cans, Swedish singer-songwriter
*1971 – Miguel Batista, Dominican baseball player and poet
* 1971 – Richard Green, Australian golfer
* 1971 – Jeff Kinney, American author and illustrator
*1972 – Francine Fournier, American wrestler and manager
* 1972 – Sunset Thomas, American pornographic actress
*1975 – Daniel Adair, Canadian drummer and producer
* 1975 – Daewon Song, South Korean-American skateboarder, co-founded Almost Skateboards
*1976 – Beth Rigby, British political editor, ''Sky News''
*1977 – Ola Salo, Swedish singer-songwriter and keyboard player
* 1977 – Andrew Ross Sorkin, American journalist and author
* 1977 – Gianluca Zambrotta, Italian footballer and manager
*1978 – Ben Gummer, English scholar and politician
* 1978 – Immortal Technique, Peruvian-American rapper
*1979 – Steve Cherundolo, American soccer player and manager
*1980 – Dwight Freeney, American football player
* 1980 – Ma Lin, Chinese table tennis player
* 1980 – Mike Miller, American basketball player
*1981 – Beth Ditto, American singer
*1983 – Kotoōshū Katsunori, Bulgarian sumo wrestler
* 1983 – Mika Nakashima, Japanese singer and actress
* 1983 – Reynhard Sinaga, Indonesian serial rapist
* 1983 – Ryan Whitney, American ice hockey player
*1984 – Chris Richardson, American singer-songwriter
*1985 – Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
*1986 – Kyle Chipchura, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1986 – Marta, Brazilian footballer
* 1986 – Maria Mena, Norwegian singer-songwriter
* 1986 – Michael Schwimer, American baseball player
*1987 – Anna Cappellini, Italian ice dancer
*1988 – Shawn Matthias, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1988 – Seth Morrison, American guitarist
*1989 – Sone Aluko, Anglo-Nigerian international footballer
*1991 – Christoph Kramer, German national footballer
* 1991 – Trevor Bayne, American race car driver
*1992 – Camille Kostek, American model
*1993 – Mauro Icardi, Argentinian footballer
* 1993 – Victoria Justice, American actress and singer
*1994 – Sam Lisone, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
* 1994 – Tiina Trutsi, Estonian footballer
*1995 – Nikola Jokić, Serbian basketball player
*1996 – Mabel, British-Swedish singer
*1998 – Katharina Gerlach, German tennis player
*2001 – David Mazouz, American actor
* 2001 – Lee Kang-in, South Korean footballer
*2004 – Millie Bobby Brown, English actress, model and producer

Deaths

Pre-1600

* 197 – Clodius Albinus, Roman usurper (b. 150)
* 446 – Leontius of Trier