A Focus on History: February 13 through February 19

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February 13

Italian philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, Galileo Galilei, arrives in Rome to face charges of heresy for advocating Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo officially faced the Roman Inquisition in April of that same year and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. Put under house arrest indefinitely by Pope Urban VIII, Galileo spent the rest of his days at his villa in Arcetri, near Florence, before dying January 8, 1642. – 1633.

The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict. Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches. Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom’s forces by riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom’s forces February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege. – 1861.

February 14

Claudius Gothicus, Roman emperor, was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families. To get rid of the problem, Claudius bans all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, a holy priest in Rome, realizing the injustice of the decree, defies Claudius and continues to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine was executed. – 278.

An expelled student enters Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. and opens fire and kills 17 individuals and wounds 17 others, in what became the deadliest shooting at a high school in United States history. Student survivors took to social media to make their anger known, which went viral. – 2018.

February 15

Toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window and advertises them as Teddy bears. Michtom earlier had petitioned U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt for permission to use his nickname, Teddy. The president agreed and, before long, other toy manufacturers began turning out copies of Michtom’s stuffed bears, which soon became a national childhood institution. – 1903.

The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team is killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. – 1961.

A disgruntled employee fatally shoots five individuals and wounds five officers in Aurora at the Henry Pratt Company warehouse. – 2019.

February 16

Diamond Mine disaster in Braidwood, Ill.. The coal mine was on a marsh-like tract of land with no natural drainage. Snow melted and forced a collapse on the east side of the mine and killed 74. – 1883.

In Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen. – 1923.

February 17

Approximately 900 persons drown when a passenger ferry, the Neptune, overturns near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The ferry was dangerously overloaded, and carried no lifeboats or emergency gear. – 1993.

February 18

A man ignites a gasoline-filled container inside a subway train in Daegu, South Korea. The blaze engulfes the six-car train, before spreading to another train that had pulled into the station a few minutes later. In all, 198 persons were killed and nearly 150 others were injured. – 2003.

February 19

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 to initiate a controversial World War II policy with lasting consequences for Japanese Americans. The document ordered the removal of resident enemy aliens from parts of the West vaguely identified as military areas. Although Order 9066 affected Italian Americans and German Americans, the largest numbers of detainees were by far Japanese Americans who were systematically rounded up and placed in detention centers. – 1942.

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