Today:
197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeated the usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, one of the largest and bloodiest battles fought between Roman armies.
1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who formulated the model of the universe that placed the Sun at the center rather than the Earth, was born in Torun, Poland.
1807 – Former United States Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason in Alabama, accused of plotting to create an independent country in the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico.
1847 – The first rescue party reached the Donner Party, a group of California-bound settlers stranded by heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
1878 – Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the phonograph, the first device capable of recording and reproducing sound.
1942 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced relocation and internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
1945 – During World War II, approximately 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima, beginning one of the most intense battles of the Pacific theater.
1959 – An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey, and Greece granting independence to Cyprus.
1986 – The Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station, the first modular space station to be inhabited by long-term crews.
2008 – Fidel Castro announced his resignation as the President of Cuba after nearly 50 years in power, handing leadership to his brother Raúl.