Today is the 50th day of 2021 and the 61st day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1807, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason.

In 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for the phonograph.

In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the internment of Japanese-Americans.

In 1945, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.

In 1963, Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” was published, sparking a new wave of feminism in the United States.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), astronomer; Lee Marvin (1924-1987), actor; John Frankenheimer (1930- 2002), director; Smokey Robinson (1940- ), singer-songwriter; Amy Tan (1952- ), author; Jeff Daniels (1955- ), actor; Ray Winstone (1957- ), actor; Roger Goodell (1959- ), NFL commissioner; Seal (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Jonathan Lethem (1964- ), author; Benicio Del Toro (1967- ), actor; Jeff Kinney (1971- ), cartoonist/children’s author; David Mazouz (2001- ), actor; Millie Bobby Brown (2004- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an average surface temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1995, Sterling Marlin became the third person in the race’s history to win back-to-back Daytona 500s, a feat that has not been accomplished since.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them.” -- Amy Tan, “Saving Fish From Drowning”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 33,000 -- number of Japanese-Americans who served in the U.S. military in World War II.

TODAY’S MOON: First quarter (Feb. 19).

SATURDAY,

FEBRUARY 20, 2021

Today is the 51st day of 2021 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1792, President George Washington signed into law the Postal Service Act, establishing the U.S. Post Office Department.

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard the Mercury program’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.

In 2003, a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert set fire to the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937- 2018), singer/actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), basketball player/broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fashion model; Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Trevor Noah (1984- ), comedian/TV host; Miles Teller (1987- ), actor; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and women, as of 2021) have come from New York than from any other state.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest person in history to win a singles figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I do not use words like liberal or conservative. You can ask me a question and I will give you an answer. Those are words rich people on television use to divide and conquer.” -- Charles Barkley

TODAY’S NUMBER: 10,506 -- duration (in hours) of the longest single human spaceflight, by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov from January 1994 to March 1995. Polyakov spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter (Feb. 19) and full moon (Feb. 27).