This Day In History, February 19th.
Five Historical Events That Happened on February 19th.
Thomas Edison receives a patent for the phonograph, a device for recording and reproducing sound, in 1878.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps, during World War II.
1986: The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station, which will eventually become the Earth's largest man-made satellite.
The Holocaust Museum opened in 2001. Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel, opens a new wing dedicated to Holocaust survivors' children.
2018: A gunman kills 17 people and injures another 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in the United States' deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre.
This Day In History, February 4th, 1878: Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the phonograph, which he invented the previous year, on February 19, 1878. The phonograph was a device that converted sound waves into indentations on the surface of a tinfoil cylinder in order to record sound onto it. The recorded sound could then be reproduced by playing back the cylinder. The phonograph was a game-changing invention that had a significant impact on the development of the music and entertainment industries, as well as sound recording and reproduction technology.
February 19th, 1942: During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing the forced relocation of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast of the United States to internment camps. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and the fear of Japanese espionage and sabotage on the West Coast, this decision was made. Internment of Japanese-Americans was a violation of their civil liberties and constitutional rights, and it had a devastating impact on the individuals and families affected. It is now widely acknowledged to be a heinous injustice and a dark chapter in American history.
The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station into orbit around the Earth on February 19, 1986. Mir was the first modular space station, built to serve as a long-term platform for scientific research and experimentation. Mir hosted 28 long-duration expeditions and astronauts and cosmonauts from many different countries during its 15 years in orbit. It was the largest man-made satellite in orbit until the International Space Station surpassed it in 2001. Mir was finally deorbited in 2001, and it burned up upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
The museum of the Holocaust Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel, opens a new wing dedicated to children who were victims of the Holocaust.
On February 19, 2001, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, Israel, dedicated a new wing called the Children's Memorial to the memory of the approximately 1.5 million Jewish children killed during the Holocaust. The memorial is a dark underground space with a single candle that reflects and multiplies into thousands of points of light, representing the lost lives. In the memorial, the names of some of the children who died during the Holocaust are also read aloud. The Children's Memorial is a moving and poignant tribute to the young victims of one of the twentieth century's greatest tragedies.
The United States suffers its deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
17 people were killed and 17 more were injured when a shooter opened fire at Parkland, Florida's Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on February 19, 2018. Since the Sandy Hook incident in 2012, this was the bloodiest school shooting in the country. The shooting triggered a national dialogue about school safety and gun regulation, and it sparked a surge of student activism and rallies demanding tighter gun control measures. New regulations and security precautions were also put in place at schools around the nation as a result of the disaste.