Today is the 52nd day of 2015 and the 63rd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1842, John Greenough received the first U.S. patent for a sewing machine.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published "The Communist Manifesto."

In 1925, the first issue of The New Yorker was published.

In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City.

In 1972, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China while in office.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Leo Delibes (1836-1891), composer; Anais Nin (1903-1977), author; John Rawls (1921-2002), philosopher; Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984), film director; Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), humorist; David Geffen (1943- ), record producer; Tyne Daly (1946- ), actress; Alan Rickman (1946- ), actor; William Petersen (1953- ), actor; Kelsey Grammer (1955- ), actor; Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958- ), singer-songwriter; Chuck Palahniuk (1962- ), author; David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), author; Jennifer Love Hewitt (1979- ), actress; Ellen Page (1987- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Chemnitz, East Germany, changed its name to Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953. After East and West Germany reunited in 1990, the name was changed back following a referendum.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, race car driver Bill France and various members of the auto racing community formed the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR).

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment, because it does not fit them." -- Anais Nin

TODAY'S NUMBER: 555 -- height (in feet) of the Washington Monument, dedicated on this day in 1885.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 18) and first quarter moon (Feb. 25).

Today is the 51st day of 2015 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1839, Congress passed legislation prohibiting dueling in the District of Columbia.

In 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.

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.

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- ), 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; Justin Verlander (1983- ), baseball player; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and women, as of 2015) have come from New York than any other state.

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

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." -- Ansel Adams

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 new moon (Feb. 18) and first quarter moon (Feb. 25).

Today is the 50th day of 2015 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 1963, Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" was published, sparking a new wave of feminism in the United States.

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.

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; Seal (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Benicio Del Toro (1967- ), actor; Jeff Kinney (1971- ), cartoonist/children's author.

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

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, Sterling Marlin became the first person in a decade to win back-to-back Daytona 500s.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention." -- Amy Tan, "The Joy Luck Club"

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

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 18) and first quarter moon (Feb. 25).