What happened on February 19 ?

1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)

1526 - Charles de L'Ecluse, Flemish botanist (d. 1609)

1552 - Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal and statesman (d. 1630)

1630 - Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire (d. 1680)

1660 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (d. 1742)

1717 - David Garrick, British actor (d. 1779)

1722 - Tiphaigne de la Roche, French writer (d. 1774)

1743 - Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (d. 1805)

1802 - Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1881)

1804 - Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, German physician (d. 1878)

1804 - David Wark, Canadian politician and Senator (d. 1905)

1821 - August Schleicher, German linguist (d. 1868)

1833 - ÿlie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1906)

1859 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)

1865 - Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer (d. 1952)

1876 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (d. 1957)

1877 - Gabriele Münter, German painter (d. 1962)

1888 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928)

1893 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, British actor (d. 1964)

1895 - Louis Calhern, American actor (d. 1956)

1899 - Yury Olesha, Russian novelist (d. 1960)

1900 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)

1902 - Kay Boyle, American writer (d. 1992)

1904 - Havank, Dutch writer (d. 1964)

1911 - Merle Oberon, British actress (d. 1979)

1912 - Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)

1914 - Jacques Dufilho, French comedian and actor (d. 2005)

1916 - Eddie Arcaro, American jockey (d. 1997)

1917 - Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)

1920 - Jaan Kross, Estonian writer

1920 - George Rose, British music hall entertainer (d. 1988)

1924 - David Bronstein, Ukrainian chess player

1924 - Lee Marvin, American actor (d. 1987)

1930 - John Frankenheimer, American film director (d. 2002)

1936 - Marin Sorescu, Romanian poet, writer and novelist (d. 1997)

1940 - Smokey Robinson, American musician

1940 - Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan

1941 - David Gross, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1942 - Paul Krause, American football player

1943 - Lou Christie, American singer

1943 - Tim Hunt, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1945 - Michael Nader, American actor

1946 - Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974)

1948 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (d. 2002)

1948 - Tony Iommi, British musician (Black Sabbath)

1949 - Dan Bunten, American software developer (d. 1998)

1950 - Andy Powell, British Musician

1951 - Stephen Nichols, American actor

1951 - Tahir-ul-Qadri, Pakastani Islamic scholar

1952 - Amy Tan, American novelist

1953 - Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (d. 1994)

1954 - Socrates, Brazilian footballer

1955 - Jeff Daniels, American actor

1956 - Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1957 - Falco, Austrian singer (d. 1998)

1957 - Ray Winstone, British actor

1960 - Andrew, Duke of York

1962 - Hana Mandlikova, Czech tennis player

1963 - Seal, British singer

1964 - Dmitri Lipskerov, Russian writer

1966 - Justine Bateman, American actress

1966 - Paul Haarhuis, Dutch tennis player

1967 - Benicio Del Toro, Puerto Rican actor

1969 - Burton C. Bell, American vocalist (Fear Factory)

1979 - Mariska, Finnish female rapper

1979 - Clinton Morrison, Irish International footballer.

1983 - Vitas, Russian singer

1983 - Mika Nakashima, Japanese singer and actress

1985 - Haylie Duff, American singer and actress

1986 - Reon Kadena, Japanese model and actress

1986 - Maria Mena, Norwegian singer

1986 - Judith Bingham, American singer/songwriter

1993 - Victoria Justice, American actress