On Feb. 19, 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the relocation and internment of people of Japanese ancestry.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford, calling the issuing of the internment order for people of Japanese ancestry in 1942 “a sad day in American history,” signed a proclamation formally confirming its termination.

In 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the last of China’s major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

In 2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raul was later named to succeed him.

In 2019, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to develop plans for a new Space Force within the Air Force.