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February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining, 307 in leap years.
Events
- 364 - Valentinian I is elevated as Roman Emperor.
- 1700 - Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
- 1784 - John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
- 1827 - The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
- 1844 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United States Cabinet members and several others.
- 1849 - Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 21 days after leaving New York Harbor.
- 1850 - The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 1854 - The United States Republican Party is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
- 1861 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.
- 1870 - The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1883 - The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
- 1897 - Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch in Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.
- 1900 - The Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
- 1922 - The United Kingdom accepts the independence of Egypt.
- 1933 - Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
- 1935 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers.
- 1939 - The word "Dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
- 1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
- 1947 - February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.
- 1948 - Bud Gartiser sets a new world record after clearing the 50-yard low hurdles in 6.8 seconds.
- 1952 - End of 8th Winter Olympic Games in Oslo.
- 1953 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; formal announcement April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2).
- 1960 - End of 10th Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California
- 1972 - Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
- 1974 - After seven years, the United States and Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations.
- 1975 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
- 1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106–125 million viewers in the U.S. (estimate varies by source).
- 1986 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
- 1993 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest cult leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
- 1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive againt the KLA in Kosovo.
- 2001 - An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley area of Washington. There were no reports of any deaths.
- 2002 - Ethnic conflict in India: At least 55 are killed in Ahmadabad, India when Hindus burn Muslim homes.
- 2004 - Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
Births
- 1553 - Michel de Montaigne, French writer and philosopher (d. 1592)
- 1670 - Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (d. 1737)
- 1675 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
- 1683 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (d. 1757)
- 1820 - John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
- 1827 - Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)
- 1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
- 1878 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
- 1882 - Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)
- 1894 - Ben Hecht, American playwright, film writer (d. 1964)
- 1900 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)
- 1901 - Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (d. 1994)
- 1903 - Vincente Minnelli, American director (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
- 1908 - Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
- 1909 - Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977)
- 1923 - Charles Durning, American actor
- 1926 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin
- 1929 - Hayden Fry, American football coach
- 1929 - Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
- 1930 - Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 - Gavin MacLeod, American actor
- 1931 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach
- 1939 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1939 - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor
- 1940 - Mario Andretti, American race car driver
- 1940 - Joe South, American singer, songwriter
- 1942 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
- 1942 - Joe South, American musician
- 1942 - Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
- 1942 - Frank Bonner, American actor, director
- 1944 - Sepp Maier, German footballer
- 1944 - Kelly Bishop, American actress
- 1945 - Bubba Smith, American football player and actor
- 1946 - Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
- 1946 - Syreeta Wright, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1947 - Stephanie Beacham, British actress
- 1948 - Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1948 - Mike Figgis, English director, writer, and composer
- 1948 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- 1948 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
- 1952 - William Finn, American composer and lyricist
- 1955 - Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian and actor
- 1957 - John Turturro, American actor
- 1960 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model (d. 1980)
- 1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician
- 1961 - Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
- 1969 - Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
- 1971 - Tristan Louis, American writer
- 1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian hockey player
- 1979 - Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1980 - Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
- 1985 - Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
- 1987 - Michelle Horn, American actress
Deaths
- 1261 - Henry III, Duke of Brabant
- 1326 - Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)
- 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
- 1621 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
- 1648 - King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, (b. 1577)
- 1746 - Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (b. 1660)
- 1916 - Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
- 1941 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
- 1942 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
- 1959 - Maxwell Anderson, American playwright and film writer (b. 1888)
- 1966 - Jonathan Hale, Canadian actor
- 1967 - Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
- 1977 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 - Philip Ahn, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 - Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
- 1985 - David Byron, British singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)
- 1985 - Ray Ellington, British singer (b. 1916)
- 1986 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
- 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1910)
- 1998 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
- 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat
- 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
- 2002 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Chris Brasher, British athlete (b. 1928)
- 2003 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (heart attack) (b. 1917)
- 2003 - Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
- 2004 - Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
Holidays and observances
- Bahá'í Faith - Day 3 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
External links
February 27 - February 29 - March 1 - January 28 - March 28 -- listing of all days
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