World/nation trivia: The week of Feb. 16-22

Feb. 16:

1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

1959, Fidel Castro was sworn in as premier of Cuba, six weeks after dictator Fulgencio Batista announced his resignation and fled the country into exile.

2018, in an indictment, special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election via a social media trolling campaign, aimed in part at helping Donald Trump win the presidency.

Feb. 17:

1801, the U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president

1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sank in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley, in the first naval attack of its kind; the Hunley also sank.

2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

2013, Danica Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any Sprint Cup race.

Feb. 18:

1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time.

1970, the “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).

2001, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash in the final lap of the Daytona 500; he was 49.

2021, the rover Perseverance successfully landed on Mars, where it continues to explore the planet’s surface today.

Feb. 19:

1847, the first rescuers reached members of the Donner Party, who had been snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains near the California-Nevada border for nearly four months.

1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the internment of 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.

2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raúl was later named to succeed him.

Feb. 20:

1792, President George Washington signed an act creating the United States Post Office Department, the predecessor of the U.S. Postal Service.

1905, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, upheld, 7 to 2, compulsory vaccination laws intended to protect the public’s health.

1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft, which circled the globe three times in a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds before splashing down safely in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 miles northwest of Puerto Rico.

2003, a fire sparked by pyrotechnics broke out during a concert by the rock group Great White at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people and injuring over 200 others.

Feb. 21:

1885, President Chester Arthur dedicated the Washington Monument.

1916, the Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I, began in northeastern France.

1965, civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York. Three men identified as members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.

1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean by balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, after a 5,400-mile, four-day flight from South Korea.

Feb. 22:

1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union, 4-3. (The U.S. team won the gold medal two days later with a 4-2 victory over Finland.)

1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had successfully cloned an adult mammal for the first time, a sheep they named “Dolly.”

– Associated Press