February 28

Categories: Days

February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining, 307 in leap years.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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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 Second 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

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Births

1155 - Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
1533 - Michel de Montaigne, French writer and philosopher (d. 1592)
1552 - Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (d. 1632)
1612 - John Pearson, English theologian (d. 1686)
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)
1704 - Louis Godin, French astonomer (d. 1760)
1712 - Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (d. 1759)
1820 - John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
1823 - Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)
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
1933 - Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician
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 - Frank Bonner, American actor, director
1942 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
1942 - Joe South, American musician
1942 - Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
1944 - Kelly Bishop, American actress
1944 - Sepp Maier, German footballer
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 - Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician
1969 - Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
1970 - Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete
1970 - Lemony Snicket, American writer
1971 - Tristan Louis, American writer
1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian hockey player
1974 - Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
1979 - Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
1980 - Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
1985 - Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
1986 - Daniel Broderick, Australian musician