February 19
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 315 days remaining after February 19 until the end of the year (316 in leap years).
[change] Births
- 1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1543)
- 1626 – February 18/19 – Francesco Redi, physician (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)
- 1817 – King William III of the Netherlands (d. 1890)
- 1821 – August Schleicher, German linguist (d. 1868)
- 1833 – Elie Ducommun, Swiss journalist (d. 1906)
- 1859 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
- 1865 – Sven Hedin, Swedish scientist and adventurer (d. 1952)
- 1869 – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian writer and poet (d. 1923)
- 1876 – Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (d. 1957)
- 1877 – Gabriele Münter, painter (d. 1962)
- 1880 – Alvaro Obregon, Mexican President (d. 1928)
- 1888 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928)
- 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, founder of Scuderia Ferrari (d. 1988)
- 1910 – Dorothy Janis, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1911 – Merle Oberon, British actress (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Bill Bowerman, American athletics coach (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
- 1916 – Eddie Arcaro, American jockey (d. 1997)
- 1917 – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
- 1920 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (d. 2007)
- 1920 – George Rose, British music hall entertainer (d. 1988)
- 1924 – David Bronstein, chess player
- 1924 – Lee Marvin, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1930 – John Frankenheimer, American film director (d. 2002)
- 1939 – Alfredo Bryce-Echenique, Peruvian novelist
- 1940 – Smokey Robinson, American musician
- 1940 – Saparmurat Niyazov, former President of Turkmenistan (d. 2006)
- 1942 – Paul Krause, American football player
- 1943 – Lou Christie, American singer
- 1945 – Michael Nader, American actor
- 1946 – Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974)
- 1948 – Tony Iommi, British musician (Black Sabbath)
- 1948 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (d. 2002)
- 1949 – Dan Bunten, software developer (d. 1998)
- 1951 – Tahir-ul-Qadri, Islamic scholar and leader
- 1952 – Amy Tan, American novelist
- 1953 – Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (d. 1994)
- 1953 – Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of Argentina
- 1954 – Socrates, Brazilian footballer
- 1955 – Jeff Daniels, actor
- 1956 – Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist
- 1957 – Falco, Austrian singer (d. 1998)
- 1957 – Ray Winstone, British actor
- 1960 – Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
- 1962 – Hana Mandlikova, tennis player
- 1963 – Seal, British singer
- 1966 – Justine Bateman, actress
- 1966 – Paul Haarhuis, tennis player
- 1967 – Benicio Del Toro, actor
- 1977 – Gianluca Zambrotta, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Andrew Buchan, British actor
- 1979 – Steven Cherundolo, American soccer player
- 1979 – Eva-Maria Bisschop, Belgian pop star
- 1981 – Nicky Shorey, English footballer
- 1985 – Haylie Duff, American singer, actress
- 1986 – Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
- 1986 – Marta Vieira da Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Sone Aluko, Aberdeen F.C. footballer
- 1993 – Ben Austin, British musician (Like Fires)
[change] Deaths
- 1653 – Luigi de Rossi, Italian composer (b. 1597)
- 1670 – King Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
- 1709 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (b. 1646)
- 1927 – Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (b. 1847)
- 1952 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer (b. 1859)
- 1957 – Maurice Garin, French cyclist (b. 1871)
- 1962 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor (b. 1883)
- 1972 – John Grierson, Scottish documentary film maker (b. 1898)
- 1973 – Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist (b. 1892)
- 1997 – Deng Xiaoping, Chinese Communist leader (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Grandpa Jones, American entertainer (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Stanley Kramer, American director (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Lydia Shum, Hong Kong actress and singer (b. 1945)
- 2010 – Lionel Jeffries, British actor (b. 1926)
[change] Events
- 1819 – Explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands near Antarctica.
- 1861 – Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
- 1945 – 30,000 US Marines land on Iwo Jima.
- 1985 – Iberia Flight 610 crashes near Bilbao, killing all 148 people on board.
- 1986 – The Soviet Union launches the Mir spacecraft.
- 2001 – The Oklahoma City bombing museum is officially opened.
- 2008 – Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba. His brother, Raul Castro, succeeds him.
