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MILESTONES: February 13, birthdays for Jaromir Jagr, Amber Riley, Birdman

February 15, 2019 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include fashion designer Adolfo, who was born in 1933; actress and model Marisa Berenson, who was born in 1948; rapper Birdman, who was born in 1969; actress Claire Bloom, who was born in 1931; author Susan Brownmiller, who was born in Brooklyn in 1935; cartoonist Matt Groening, who was born in 1954; hockey player Jaromir Jagr, who was born in 1972; Grammy Award-winning singer Melissa Manchester, who was born in 1951; actress Amber Riley, who was born in 1986; and actress Jane Seymour, who was born in 1951.

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GALILEO GALILEI WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1564. The physicist and astronomer helped overthrow medieval concepts of the world by proving the theory that all bodies, large and small, descend at equal speed and gathered evidence to support Copernicus’s theory that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. In 1632, Galilei was tried by the Inquisition and found “vehemently suspect of heresy” because his “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” argued in favor of heliocentrism in contradiction to literal readings of scripture. Galilei remained under house arrest until his death in Florence in 1642. “The Dialogue” was finally published in an uncensored form in 1835, and the Catholic Church issued an official apology to the astronomer in 2000.

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HAROLD ARLEN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1905. The American composer and songwriter is best-remembered for his song “Over the Rainbow,” which earned him an Oscar for Best Song in 1939. His other compositions include “That Old Black Magic,” “Blues in the Night” and “Stormy Weather.” Allen died in New York in 1986.

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SUSAN B. ANTHONY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1820. She was arrested in 1872 for voting in the U.S. presidential election. In the short federal trial that followed in 1873, Justice Ward Hunt found her guilty and ordered her to pay a fine, which she refused. Anthony was integral in the founding of the International Council of Women (1888) and was the first American woman to have her likeness on coinage (1979, Susan B. Anthony dollar). She died in 1906 in New York.

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ANTON J. CERMAK WAS ASSASSINATED ON THIS DAY IN 1933. In Bay Front Park, Florida, an assassin aiming at President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt had his aim deflected by a spectator. Cermak, mayor of Chicago, was struck and killed instead. Joe Zangara, the 32-year-old assassin who had emigrated from Italy in 1923, was executed for the crime at Florida State Prison in 1933.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“Independence is happiness.” — women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony, who was born on this day in 1820


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