February 28

Template:FebruaryCalendar2009

This date in recent years February 28, 2006 February 28, 2005 February 28, 2004 February 28, 2003

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

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

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 Republican Party of the United States 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 the 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 the U.S. state of Washington.
• 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

• 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)
• 1724 - George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal (d. 1807)
• 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)
• 1882 - José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer and politician (d. 1959)
• 1894 - Ben Hecht, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1964)
• 1896 - Philip Showalter Hench, Americah physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1965)
• 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 - Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1987)
• 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 and songwriter
• 1942 - Frank Bonner, American actor and 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
• 1944 - Win Aung, Burmese politician
• 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
• 1956 - Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born Northern Irish footballer
• 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
• 1982 - Natalia Vodianova, Russian Model
• 1985 - Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
• 1986 - Daniel Broderick, Australian musician
• 2001 - Smarty Jones, American racehorse

Deaths

• 1261 - Henry III, Duke of Brabant
• 1326 - Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)
• 1453 - Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
• 1485 - Niclas, Graf von Abensberg, German soldier (b. 1441)
• 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
• 1572 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)
• 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)
• 1786 - John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
• 1788 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
• 1857 - André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)
• 1916 - Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
• 1936 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)
• 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)
• 1967 - Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
• 1974 - Bobby Bloom, American singer/songwriter (b. 1946)
• 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)
• 1991 - Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)
• 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1910)
• 1998 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
• 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
• 2002 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
• 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
• 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)
• 2004 - Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (killed in battle) (b. 1982)

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.
• Mardi Gras - 2006 Fat Tuesday

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day

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February 27 - February 29 - March 1 - January 28 - March 28 -- listing of all days

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