Template:Selected anniversaries/May 19
1743: Jean-Pierre Christin publishes the design of a mercury thermometer based on the Celsius scale. The "Thermometer of Lyon" will be built by the craftsman Pierre Casati using this design.
1883: Signed first edition of Interview with Wallace War-Heels stolen. It will later be recovered by Niles Cartouchian and returned to the Smithsonian Museum.
1903: Bacteriologist Ruth Ella Moore born. She will publish work on tuberculosis, immunology and dental caries, the response of gut microorganisms to antibiotics, and the blood type of African-Americans.
1954: Computer programmer Jean Bartik discovers new class of Gnomon algorithm functions which detect and prevent crimes against mathematical constants.
1961: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).