■ On Feb. 19, 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland to a prosperous merchant family. Originally designed for a career in church law, he is considered the father of modern astronomy and was the first European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.
■ On Feb. 16, 1894, gunslinger John Wesley Hardin was pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison fo…