February 19
Events
Pre-1600
1601–1900
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 Naval operations in the [Dardanelles Campaign|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 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- 1976 - Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.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 Hercules|C-130] transport plane in open combat.
- 1985 - William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital.
- 1985 - A Boeing 727 operating as Iberia Flight 610 crashes Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148; it is the deadliest accident to occur in Iberia's history and the deadliest in Basque County to occur.
- 1986 - Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.
- 1988 - A Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operating as AVAir Flight 3378 crashes in Cary, North Carolina, killing 12.
- 1989 - Flying Tiger Line Flight 066 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 2003 Iran [Ilyushin Il-76 crash|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.
- 2020 - Nine people are killed in two domestic terrorist shootings in Hanau, Hesse, Germany.
- 2021 - Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
Births
Pre-1600
1601–1900
- 1611 - Andries de Graeff, Dutch politician
- 1630 - Shivaji, Indian warrior-king and the founder of Maratha Empire
- 1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist
- 1717 - David Garrick, English actor, playwright, and producer
- 1743 - Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer
- 1798 - Allan MacNab, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Premier of Canada West
- 1800 - Émilie Gamelin, Canadian nun and social worker, founded the Sisters of Providence
- 1804 - Carl von Rokitansky, German physician, pathologist, and philosopher
- 1821 - August Schleicher, German linguist and academic
- 1833 - Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1838 - Lydia Thompson, British burlesque performer
- 1841 - Elfrida Andrée, Swedish organist, composer, and conductor
- 1855 - Nishinoumi Kajirō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 16th Yokozuna
- 1859 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1865 - Sven Hedin, Swedish geographer and explorer
- 1869 - Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian-Russian poet and author
- 1872 - Johan Pitka, Estonian admiral
- 1876 - Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian-French sculptor, painter, and photographer
- 1877 - Gabriele Münter, German painter
- 1878 - Harriet Bosse, Swedish–Norwegian actress
- 1880 - Álvaro Obregón, Mexican general and politician, 39th President of Mexico
- 1886 - José Abad Santos, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 5th Chief [Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines]
- 1888 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian lawyer and poet
- 1893 - Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director
- 1895 - Louis Calhern, American actor
- 1896 - André Breton, French poet and author
- 1897 - Alma Rubens, American actress
- 1899 - Lucio Fontana, Argentinian-Italian painter and sculptor
1901–present
- 1902 - Kay Boyle, American novelist, short story writer, and educator
- 1904 - Havank, Dutch journalist and author
- 1911 - Merle Oberon, Indian-American actress
- 1912 - Saul Chaplin, American composer
- 1912 - Dorothy Janis, American actress
- 1913 - Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza
- 1913 - Frank Tashlin, American animator and screenwriter
- 1914 - Thelma Kench, New Zealand Olympic sprinter
- 1915 - Dick Emery, English actor and comedian
- 1915 - John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1916 - Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster
- 1917 - Carson McCullers, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist
- 1918 - Fay McKenzie, American actress
- 1920 - C. Z. Guest, American actress, fashion designer, and author
- 1920 - Jaan Kross, Estonian author and poet
- 1920 - George Rose, English actor and singer
- 1922 - Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1924 - David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player and theoretician
- 1924 - Lee Marvin, American actor
- 1926 - György Kurtág, Hungarian composer and academic
- 1927 - Philippe Boiry, French journalist
- 1929 - Jacques Deray, French director and screenwriter
- 1930 - John Frankenheimer, American director and producer
- 1930 - K. Viswanath, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1932 - Joseph P. Kerwin, American captain, physician, and astronaut
- 1935 - Chung-Yun Hse, Wood scientist
- 1935 - Dave Niehaus, American sportscaster
- 1935 - Russ Nixon, American MLB catcher and coach
- 1936 - Sam Myers, American singer-songwriter
- 1936 - Frederick Seidel, American poet
- 1937 - Terry Carr, American author and educator
- 1937 - Norm O'Neill, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1938 - Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama
- 1939 - Erin Pizzey, English activist and author, founded Refuge
- 1940 - Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan
- 1940 - Smokey Robinson, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1940 - Bobby Rogers, American singer-songwriter
- 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
- 1942 - Paul Krause, American football player and politician
- 1942 - Will Provine, American biologist, historian, and academic
- 1942 - Howard Stringer, Welsh businessman
- 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
- 1947 - Jackie Curtis, American actress and playwright
- 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
- 1948 - Raúl Grijalva, United States representative from Arizona
- 1948 - Tony Iommi, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1949 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American game designer and programmer
- 1949 - Eddie Hardin, English singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1949 - Barry Lloyd, English footballer and manager
- 1949 - William Messner-Loebs, American author and illustrator
- 1950 - Juice Leskinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
- 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 - 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
- 1954 - Francis Buchholz, German bass player
- 1954 - Michael Gira, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1954 - Sócrates, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1955 - Jeff Daniels, American actor and playwright
- 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
- 1957 - Dave Stewart, American baseball player, coach, and executive
- 1957 - Ray Winstone, English actor
- 1958 - Leslie David Baker, American actor
- 1958 - Helen Fielding, English author and screenwriter
- 1958 - Steve Nieve, English keyboard player and composer
- 1959 - Roger Goodell, American businessman, 6th National Football League Commissioner
- 1960 - Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, second son of Elizabeth II
- 1960 - John Paul Jr., American race car driver
- 1961 - Justin Fashanu, English footballer
- 1961 - Ernie Gonzalez, American golfer
- 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 actor, director, and producer
- 1968 - Prince Markie Dee, American rapper and actor
- 1968 - Frank Watkins, American bass player
- 1969 - Burton C. Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1969 - Helena Guergis, Canadian businesswoman and politician
- 1970 - Joacim Cans, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1970 - Verena Nussbaum, Austrian politician
- 1970 - Bellamy Young, American actress
- 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
- 1973 - Eric Lange, American actor
- 1975 - Daniel Adair, Canadian drummer and producer
- 1975 - Daewon Song, South Korean-American skateboarder, co-founded Almost Skateboards
- 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
- 1981 - Shawn Spears, Canadian wrestler
- 1983 - Kotoōshū Katsunori, Bulgarian sumo wrestler
- 1983 - Mika Nakashima, Japanese singer and actress
- 1983 - Reynhard Sinaga, Indonesian sex offender
- 1983 - Ryan Whitney, American ice hockey player
- 1983 - Jawad Williams, American basketball player
- 1984 - Chris Richardson, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 - Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
- 1985 - Arielle Kebbel, American actress and model
- 1985 - Kosta Perović, Serbian basketball player
- 1986 - Kyle Chipchura, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 - Linus Klasen, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1986 - Marta, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 - Maria Mena, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1987 - Anna Cappellini, Italian ice dancer
- 1987 - Josh Reddick, American baseball player
- 1988 - Shawn Matthias, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 - Seth Morrison, American guitarist
- 1989 - Sone Aluko, English-Nigerian footballer
- 1991 - Trevor Bayne, American race car driver
- 1991 - Christoph Kramer, German footballer
- 1991 - Adreian Payne, American basketball player
- 1992 - Camille Kostek, American model
- 1992 - Cody Parkey, American football player
- 1993 - Mauro Icardi, Argentine footballer
- 1993 - Victoria Justice, American actress and singer
- 1994 - Tiina Trutsi, Estonian footballer
- 1995 - Nikola Jokić, Serbian basketball player
- 1996 - Mabel, British-Swedish singer
- 1996 - D. J. Wilson, American basketball player
- 1998 - Katharina Gerlach, German tennis player
- 1998 - Chappell Roan, American singer and songwriter
- 1998 - Jungwoo, South Korean singer
- 2001 - Lee Kang-in, South Korean footballer
- 2001 - David Mazouz, American actor
- 2003 - Jakub Ojrzyński, Polish footballer
- 2004 - Millie Bobby Brown, English actress, model and producer
Deaths
Pre-1600
- 197 - Clodius Albinus, Roman usurper
- 446 - Leontius of Trier, Bishop of Trier
- 1133 - Irene Doukaina, Byzantine wife of Alexios I Komnenos
- 1275 - Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sufi philosopher and poet
- 1300 - Munio of Zamora, General of the Dominican Order
- 1408 - Thomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf, English rebel
- 1414 - Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1445 - Eleanor of Aragon, queen of Portugal
- 1491 - Enno I, Count of East Frisia, German noble
- 1553 - Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician
1601–1900
- 1602 - Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur
- 1605 - Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer
- 1622 - Henry Savile, English scholar and politician
- 1672 - Charles Chauncy, English-American minister, theologian, and academic
- 1709 - Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun
- 1716 - Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet
- 1785 - Mary, Countess of Harold, English aristocrat and philanthropist
- 1789 - Nicholas Van Dyke, American lawyer and politician, 7th Governor of Delaware
- 1799 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, and sailor
- 1806 - Elizabeth Carter, English poet and translator
- 1837 - Georg Büchner, German-Swiss poet and playwright
- 1837 - Thomas Burgess, English bishop and philosopher
- 1887 - Multatuli, Dutch-German author and civil servant
- 1897 - Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician and academic
1901–present
- 1915 - Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Indian philosopher and politician
- 1916 - Ernst Mach, Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher
- 1927 - Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer and educator
- 1928 - George Howard Earle Jr., American lawyer and businessman
- 1936 - Billy Mitchell, American general and pilot
- 1945 - John Basilone, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient
- 1951 - André Gide, French novelist, essayist, and dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1952 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1953 - Richard Rushall, British businessman
- 1957 - Maurice Garin, Italian-French cyclist
- 1959 - Willard Miller, American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient
- 1962 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek-American pathologist, invented the Pap smear
- 1969 - Madge Blake, American actress
- 1970 - Ralph Edward Flanders, US Senator from Vermont
- 1972 - John Grierson, Scottish director and producer
- 1972 - Lee Morgan, American trumpet player and composer
- 1973 - Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist
- 1977 - Anthony Crosland, English author and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- 1977 - Mike González, Cuban baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1980 - Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter
- 1983 - Alice White, American actress
- 1988 - André Frédéric Cournand, French-American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1992 - Tojo Yamamoto, American wrestler and manager
- 1994 - Derek Jarman, English director and set designer
- 1996 - Charlie Finley, American businessman
- 1997 - Leo Rosten, Polish-American author and academic
- 1997 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China
- 1998 - Grandpa Jones, American singer-songwriter and banjo player
- 1999 - Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric
- 2000 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian-New Zealand painter and illustrator
- 2001 - Liza 'N' Eliaz, Belgian, transgender, hardcore DJ
- 2001 - Stanley Kramer, American director and producer
- 2001 - Charles Trenet, French singer-songwriter
- 2002 - Sylvia Rivera, American transgender LGBT activist
- 2003 - Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 2007 - Janet Blair, American actress and singer
- 2007 - Celia Franca, English-Canadian dancer and director, founded the National Ballet of Canada
- 2008 - Yegor Letov, Russian singer-songwriter
- 2008 - Lydia Shum, Chinese-Hong Kong actress and singer
- 2009 - Kelly Groucutt, English singer and bass player
- 2011 - Ollie Matson, American sprinter and football player
- 2012 - Ruth Barcan Marcus, American philosopher and logician
- 2012 - Jaroslav Velinský, Czech author and songwriter
- 2012 - Vitaly Vorotnikov, Russian politician, 27th Prime Minister of Russia
- 2013 - Armen Alchian, American economist and academic
- 2013 - Park Chul-soo, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter
- 2013 - Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 2013 - Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic
- 2013 - Eugene Whelan, Canadian farmer and politician, 22nd Canadian Minister of Agriculture
- 2014 - Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager
- 2014 - Dale Gardner, American captain and astronaut
- 2014 - Valeri Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut
- 2015 - Harold Johnson, American boxer
- 2015 - Nirad Mohapatra, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 2015 - Harris Wittels, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 2016 - Umberto Eco, Italian novelist, literary critic, and philosopher
- 2016 - Harper Lee, American author
- 2016 - Chiaki Morosawa, Japanese anime screenwriter
- 2016 - Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter
- 2017 - Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist
- 2019 - Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer
- 2020 - José Mojica Marins, Brazilian filmmaker, actor, composer, screenwriter, and television horror host
- 2020 - Pop Smoke, American rapper
Holidays and observances