This Day in History February 19 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus, the first modern European scientist to propose that the earth revolves around the sun, is born in Poland 1807 Former U.S. vice president Aaron Burr is arrested in Alabama on charges of treason 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 1878 Thomas Edison patents the phonograph, the first device to both record and play back sound 1884 A series of 37 tornadoes sweeps across the Southeast, killing 167 people 1942 10 weeks after Pearl Harbor, FDR signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast 1945 U.S. Marines invade the Japanese island of Iwo Jima—it becomes one of the most brutal battles of World War II 1956 The Five Satins record their hit song “In the Still of the Night” in the basement of Saint Bernadette Church in New Haven, Connecticut 1963 British singer- songwriter Seal, whose real name is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, is born in Paddington, England 1980 Bon Scott, Australian rock band AC/DC’s lead singer, dies at the age of 33 “acute alcohol poisoning” after a night of excessive drinking—he was replaced by Englishman Brian Johnson for the band’s Back in Black album that was released 5 months later 1981 English singer-songwriter and drummer Phil Collins of the band Genesis releases his debut solo album, Face Value—the album features the iconic song “In the Air Tonight” 1983 “Baby, Come to Me,” a duet by Patti Austin and James Ingram, hits #1 in the U.S.—the song was written by Rod Temperton, who wrote Michael Jackson’s hit song “Thriller” 2009 Kelly Groucutt, bassist for the English band Electric Light Orchestra, dies of a heart attack at age 63 2010 Golf legend Tiger Woods gives a televised news conference in which he apologizes for his extramarital affairs and admits to “selfish” and “foolish” behavior 2020 China expels three Wall Street Journal reporters from the country because of a coronavirus opinion piece written by another WSJ writer in the United States— the op-ed article criticized China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak—China called the article racist 2020 In Yokohama, Japan, the 14-day quarantine period ends aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was hit hard by the coronavirus—542 of the 3,711 onboard had been diagnosed with the virus 2020 President Donald Trump holds a “Keep America Great” re-election campaign rally at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix— people began camping out 30 hours before the doors opened 2021 The city of Mesa warns that the natural gas supply could be in jeopardy because of the winter storm in Texas— customers have been asked to take shorter showers and avoid using gas fireplaces unless necessary 2021 The United States formally rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement today—former President Trump announced the nation’s exit from the agreement in 2017, but the U.S. did not formally drop out until 107 days ago in November 2020 2021 The Biden administration announced yesterday that the U.S. is willing to sit down for talks with Iran and the other 5 signers of the Iran nuclear deal, which was abandoned during the Trump administration 2021 6 U.S. Capitol Police officers have been suspended over their actions during the January 6 riot— another 29 others have been placed under investigation 2021

NASA’s Perseverance flawlessly landed on Mars yesterday and sent back her first images immediately after touchdown— the mission will explore the Jezero Crater, the site of a lake that existed 3.9 billion years ago, hoping to find evidence that there was once life on Mars by searching for microfossils in the crater’s rocks and soil