ON THIS DATE

In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr, accused of treason, was arrested in the Mississippi Territory, in present-day Alabama. (Burr was acquitted at trial.)

In 1878, Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for “an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines.”

In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the relocation and internment of people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.

In 1945, Operation Detachment began during World

War II as some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on

Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

In 1959, an agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford, calling the issuing of the internment order for people of Japanese ancestry in 1942 “a sad day in American history,” signed a proclamation formally confirming its termination.

In 1985, the British soap opera “EastEnders” debuted on BBC Television.

In 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the last of China’s major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

In 2003, an Iranian plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed, killing all on board.

In 2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century; brother Raul was named to succeed him.

In 2017, three former elite U.S. gymnasts, including

2000 Olympian Jamie Dantzscher, appeared on

CBS’ “60 Minutes” to say they were sexually abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, a volunteer team physician for USA Gymnastics. (Nassar would be sentenced to decades in prison after hundreds of girls and women said he sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment.)

— ASSOCIATED PRESS