Today In History

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2019. There are 321 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1633: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition, accused of defending Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way around. (Galileo was found vehemently suspect of heresy, and ended up being sentenced to a form of house arrest.)

ON THIS DATE

› 1861: Abraham Lincoln was officially declared winner of the 1860 presidential election as electors cast their ballots.

› 1943: During World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was officially established.

› 1974: Nobel Prizewinning Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union.

› 1988: The 15th Winter Olympics opened in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

› 1996: The rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, opened off-Broadway.

› 2013: Beginning a long farewell to his flock, a weary Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his final public Mass as pontiff, presiding over Ash Wednesday services inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager is 96. Actress Kim Novak is 86. Actor George Segal is 85. Actor Bo Svenson is 78. Actress Carol Lynley is

77. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 77. Actress Stockard Channing is 75. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 75. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is 73. Singer Peter Gabriel is 69. Actor David Naughton is 68. Rock musician Peter Hook is 63. Actor Matt Salinger is 59. Singer Henry Rollins is 58. Actor Neal McDonough is 53. Singer Freedom Williams is 53. Actress Kelly Hu is 51. Rock singer Matt Berninger (The National) is 48. Rock musician Todd Harrell (formerly with 3 Doors Down) is 47. Country musician Scott Thomas (Parmalee) is 46. Singer Robbie Williams is 45. Singer-songwriter Feist is 43. Rhythm and blues performer Natalie Stewart is 40. Actress Mena Suvari is 40. Rock musician Dash Hutton is

34. Actress Katie Volding is 30. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (also known as Prince Michael Jackson I) is 22.