February 19

On This Day In History
	1945: Iwo Jima invaded by U.S. Marines On this day in 1945, during the final phases of World War II, U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima so as to wrest control of the strategically important island from the Japanese, who put up fierce resistance in the ensuing battle.
U.S. Marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945.
Biography Of The Day
	Nicolaus Copernicus Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, born this day in 1473, reintroduced the heliocentric system, proposing that the Earth, like the other planets, revolves around the Sun and that it turns once daily on its axis.
Copernicus, coloured engraving, 17th century
More Events On This Day In History
	1997 Deng Xiaoping, who introduced economic reforms to China in 1978, died in Beijing.
	1942 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order allowing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
1881	1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to include the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in its state constitution.
	1878 American inventor Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.