February 28
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining until the end of the year (307 in leap years). In a common year this is the last day of February, and the next day is March 1. In Leap years, February 28 is followed by February 29. In some countries, people born on that date, legally reach the ages of 18 and 21 on February 28.
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Events [change]
- 202 BC – Emperor Gaozu of Han is crowned in China, marking the beginning of the Han Dynasty.
- 870 – The fourth council of Constantinople closes.
- 1525 – Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc is executed by Hernan Cortes' forces.
- 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
- 1700 – In Sweden, this date is followed by March 1 instead of February 29, creating the Swedish calendar.
- 1710 - Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jorgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally-sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.
- 1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
- 1811 - Cry of Asencio: Beginning of Uruguay's War of Independence.
- 1813 - In a Treaty with Russia, Prussia changes sides from that of Napoleon Bonaparte to that of the Coalition against him.
- 1827 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, offering commercial transportation of both people and freight, the first US railroad to do so.
- 1835 – The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lonnrot, is published for the first time.
- 1838 – Robert Nelson proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (present-day Quebec).
- 1844 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes on a Potomac River cruise, including two united States cabinet members.
- 1854 - In Wisconsin, the Republican Party is founded. Abraham Lincoln is the party's first elected President in 1860.
- 1870 - The Bulgarian exarchate is created by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1883 - The first vaudeville theatre opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State.
- 1890 - In the Torres Strait, between Queensland, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, the ship HMS Quetta sinks after a rock collision, killing 134 people.
- 1893 - American battleship USS Indiana is launched.
- 1897 – Madagascar's last Queen, Ranavalona III, is deposed by French military forces.
- 1922 – Egypt declares independence.
- 1928 – C.V. Raman discovers the Raman effect, on the spread of light.
- 1933 - Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel go into exile in Prague.
- 1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
- 1940 – Basketball is shown on television for the first time.
- 1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the battle of Sunda Strait, killing 693 people. The same also happens to the HMAS Perth, on which 375 are killed.
- 1946 - French sports paper L'Equipe publishes its first edition.
- 1947 – 228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 lives.
- 1952 - End of the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo.
- 1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA.
- 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky, hits a wrecker truck and plunges into the Lerisa Fork River, killing 26 children and the driver.
- 1975 – A tube train crashes at Moorgate Station in London, killing 43 people.
- 1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
- 1983 – the final episode of M*A*S*H airs, it is one of the most watched shows in TV history with 125 million people watching.
- 1986 – Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme is shot dead.
- 1988 – The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary end, with host nation Canada winning no gold medals.
- 1997 – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people.
- 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran kills around 3,000 people.
- 1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminouis flash of gamma rays, strikes Earth for 80 seconds.
- 1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin an offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army.
- 2001 – Ten people are killed in a train crash in Selby, Yorkshire.
- 2001 - The Nisqually earthquake at magnitude 6.8 strikes Washington State.
- 2002 - Religious violence in Gujarat: Two separate massacres kill a total of 166 people.
- 2002 - The twelve Eurozone countries officially give up their old currencies.
- 2003 - Vaclav Klaus is elected President of the Czech Republic.
- 2004 – 1 million people form a human chain in Taiwan, in memory of the 228 Incident.
- 2005 – In Al Hillah, Iraq, a bomb explodes outside a police training academy, killing 127 people.
- 2005 – In Lebanon the pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns.
- 2008 - Dimitris Christofias becomes President of Cyprus.
- 2010 – The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver end with host nation Canada winning the most gold medals.
- 2013 - Nikos Anastasiades becomes President of Cyprus.
- 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI officially resigns as Pope, as the first Pope to do so since 1415.
Births [change]
- 1155 – Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
- 1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway (d. 1283)
- 1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French writer (d. 1592)
- 1552 – Jost Buergi, Swiss clock maker (d. 1632)
- 1612 – John Pearson, English theologian (d. 1686)
- 1670 - Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (d. 1737)
- 1704 – Louis Godin, French astronomer (d. 1760)
- 1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (d. 1759)
- 1743 – Rene-Just Hauy, French mineralogist (d. 1822)
- 1792 - Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist and geographer (d. 1876)
- 1797 – Prince Frederick of the Netherlands (d. 1881)
- 1804 - Henry S. Foote, Governor of Mississippi (d. 1880)
- 1812 - Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
- 1813 – Pomare IV, Queen of Tahiti (d. 1877)
- 1824 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)
- 1825 - Jean-Baptiste Arban, French composer (d. 1889)
- 1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
- 1838 - Maurice Levy, French engineer (d. 1910)
- 1840 - Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
- 1851 - Samuel W. McDall, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
- 1858 - Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and theatre director (d. 1941)
- 1866 - Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov, Russian poet (d. 1949)
- 1877 - Sergei Bortkiewicz, Russian composer (d. 1952)
- 1878 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
- 1878 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
- 1882 – Jose Vasconcelos, Mexican writer (d. 1959)
- 1889 - Pavel Dybenko, Russian revolutionary (d. 1938)
- 1893 - Vsevolod Pudovkin, Soviet-Russian filmmaker (d. 1953)
- 1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French writer, playwright and director (d. 1974)
- 1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician (d. 1965)
- 1901 – Linus Pauling, American scientist (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American film director (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
- 1907 - Milton Caniff, American comic creator (d. 1988)
- 1909 – Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Clara Petacci, mistress to Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
- 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist (d. 1987)
- 1916 – Svend Asmussen, Danish jazz violinist
- 1923 - Charles Durning, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet-born American defector, author and daughter of Joseph Stalin (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
- 1930 - Leon Cooper, American physicist
- 1930 – Marty Grosz, American musician
- 1931 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach
- 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist
- 1940 – Aldo Andretti, Italian-born racing driver
- 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-born racing driver
- 1941 – Suzanne Mubarak, former First Lady of Egypt
- 1942 – Brian Jones, English musician (Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
- 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
- 1942 - Frank Bonner, American actor
- 1943 - Charles Bernstein, American composer
- 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer
- 1944 - Storm Thorgerson, British graphic designer (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress
- 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
- 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, British actress
- 1947 – Togiola Tulafono, American Samoan politician
- 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist
- 1948 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- 1951 - Roseanna Vitro, American jazz singer
- 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist
- 1955 - Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian
- 1956 – Tommy Remengesau, President of Palau (2001-2009 and since 2013)
- 1956 – Terry Leahy, British businessman
- 1957 - Jan Ceulemans, Belgian footballer
- 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, British chef
- 1957 – John Turturro, American actor
- 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)
- 1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician
- 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish boxer
- 1966 - Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
- 1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
- 1970 – Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket
- 1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
- 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
- 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
- 1979 – Ivo Karlovic, Croatian tennis player
- 1979 – Primoz Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
- 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
- 1981 – Florent Serra, French tennis player
- 1984 – Fredrik Stoor, Swedish footballer
- 1984 – Karolina Kurkova, Czech supermodel
- 1984 - Ben Fagan, American musician
- 1985 – Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
- 1985 - Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 - Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
- 1991 - Sarah Bolger, Irish footballer
- 1993 - Emmelie de Forest, Danish singer
- 1994 - Jake Bugg, British singer-songwriter
- 2007 – Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco
Deaths [change]
- 468 – Pope Hilarius
- 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230)
- 1326 – Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)
- 1453 - Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
- 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
- 1525 – Cuauhtemoc, Aztec ruler
- 1621 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
- 1648 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (b. 1577)
- 1836 – Friedrich August Grotefend, German philologist (b. 1798)
- 1844 - Thomas Walker Gilmer, Governor of Virginia (b. 1802)
- 1844 - Abel P. Upshur, American politician (b. 1790)
- 1869 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)
- 1891 - George Hearst, American politician and businessman (b. 1820)
- 1916 – Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
- 1925 – Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)
- 1932 - Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)
- 1936 - Kamala Nehru, wife of Jawaharlal Nehru (b. 1899)
- 1936 – Charles Nicolle, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1928 (b. 1866)
- 1941 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
- 1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
- 1959 - Maxwell Anderson, American playwright (b. 1888)
- 1963 – Rajendra Prasad, first President of India (b. 1884)
- 1967 – Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
- 1974 - Bobby Bloom, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
- 1985 – David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)
- 1986 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (murdered) (b. 1927)
- 1986 – Laura Z. Hobson, American writer (b. 1900)
- 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1910)
- 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
- 1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
- 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Fidel Sanchez Hernandez, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Carmen Laforet, Spanish writer (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress (b. 1921)
- 2013 - Donald A. Glaser, American physicist (b. 1926)
