NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft began mapping the surface of Mars
The probe discovered vast amounts of hydrogen just below the Martian surface, indicating frozen water. It has become NASA's longest-serving Mars space...
February 19 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
2002
1993
IBM's Deep Blue chess computer lost to world champion Garry Kasparov in their first match
Despite losing this initial encounter, Deep Blue would get its revenge in 1997, becoming the first computer to defeat a reigning world champion in a m...
1986
The Soviet space station Mir was launched into orbit
Mir remained in orbit for 15 years, far exceeding its planned 5-year lifespan. It hosted international astronauts and cosmonauts from 12 different cou...
1985
William Schroeder became the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital
Schroeder lived 620 days with the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, longer than any previous recipient. He had to remain tethered to a 375-pound external air...
1968
The first nationwide broadcast of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired on PBS
Fred Rogers' gentle approach to children's television would continue for 33 years and 895 episodes. He famously testified before Congress in 1969 to s...
1955
The board game Scrabble went on sale in Britain for the first time
Scrabble had been sold in North America since 1948 but took years to cross the Atlantic. Within a year, it became a British sensation. The game's inve...
1942
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to Japanese-American internment
MajorThis order forcibly relocated over 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II. Two-thirds were American citizens. In 1988, the...
1913
The first prize-winning crossword puzzle was published in the New York World newspaper
Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, created what he called a 'word-cross puzzle.' The name was accidentally reversed to 'cross-word' and stuck....
1878
Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph, the first device to record and play back sound
MajorEdison's invention used tinfoil wrapped around a cylinder and could only play recordings a few times before they wore out. His first recorded words we...
1674
England and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War
As part of the treaty, the Dutch gave up their colony of New Amsterdam to the English. The English renamed it New York after the Duke of York. In exch...
1473
Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who proposed that Earth orbits the Sun, was born
MajorHis revolutionary heliocentric model challenged over a thousand years of astronomical orthodoxy. Published just before his death in 1543, his work lai...