◆ On this day

February 19

4 sourced moments from February 19 in history: Born in Toruń in 1473, Copernicus wasn't first to move Earth; Edison Patents the Phonograph (1878); FDR signs Japanese American internment order (1942), plus 1 more.

‹

›

M 16 T 17 W 18 T 19 F 20 S 21 S 22

4 things happened on February 19

newest first ↓

1945 History · War & Conflict

Why Iwo Jima's strategic value is still debated

Taking Iwo Jima cost nearly 7,000 American lives. The Navy's own historians say most of the reasons for taking it fell apart.

Read →

1942 Society & Economy · Politics & Law

FDR signs Japanese American internment order

A single wartime signature uprooted some 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them U.S. citizens, into guarded camps.

Read →

1878 Technology · Inventions

Edison Patents the Phonograph

On this day in 1878, Edison secured a patent for the first machine that could not only capture a human voice but play it back.

Read →

1473 Space · Astrophysics

Born in Toruń in 1473, Copernicus wasn't first to move Earth

Copernicus, born 19 February 1473, built the first full Sun-centred system, but not the idea itself, and even his grave remains disputed.

Read →