February 28
February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar . There are 306 days remaining, 307 in leap years .
Events
34 - Valentinian I is elevated as Roman Emperor .
1700 - February 28 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 is opened, 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.)
1900 - The Boer War : The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith " is lifted.
1922 - The United Kingdom accepted the independence of Egypt .
1933 - Gleichschaltung Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire .
1935 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers .
1939 - The word "Dord " was discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition 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 formed a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
Births
1553 - Michel de Montaigne , writer and philosopher (d. 1592 )
1683 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur , scientist (d. 1757 )
1820 - John Tenniel , illustrator (d. 1914 )
1827 - Blondin , French tightrope walker whose spectacular crossings of Niagara Falls (USA/Canada) made him world famous (d. 1897 )
1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen , German field marshal (d. 1913 )
1862 - Canon Edwin Sidney Savage , Rector of Hexham Abbey and St Bartholomew the Great (d. 1947 )
1878 - Pierre Fatou , French Mathematician, who worked on iteration theory which was later analysed by Benoit Mandelbrot . (d. 1929 )
1882 - Geraldine Farrar , American soprano (d. 1967 )
1894 - Ben Hecht , playwright, film writer (d. 1964 )
1900 - Wolfram Hirth , pilot and designer of aircraft (d. 1959 )
1901 - Linus Pauling , the only winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 and Peace 1962 (d. 1994 )
1903 - Vincente Minnelli , director (d. 1986 )
1906 - Bugsy Siegel , gangster (d. 1947 )
1908 - Earl Scheib , American auto painting magnate (d. 1992 )
1908 - Billie Bird , American actress (d. 2002 )
1909 - Stephen Spender , poet (d. 1995 )
1915 - Zero Mostel , actor (d. 1977 )
1923 - Charles Durning , American actor
1926 - Svetlana Alliluyeva , Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin
1929 - Hayden Fry , college football coach
1929 - Frank Gehry , Canadian/American architect
1930 - Gavin MacLeod , American actor
1931 - Dean Smith , NCAA basketball coach
1938 - Klaus Staeck , graphic artist
1939 - Erika Pluhar , actress and singer
1939 - Tommy Tune , dancer, choreographer, actor
1940 - Mario Andretti , automobile driver
1940 - Joe South , American singer, songwriter
1942 - Brian Jones , musician ("The Rolling Stones ") (d. 1969 )
1942 - Joe South , musician
1942 - Dino Zoff , Italian football goalkeeper
1942 - Frank Bonner , American actor, director
1944 - Sepp Maier , German legendary football goalkeeper
1944 - Kelly Bishop , American actress
1945 - Bubba Smith , American football player, actor (Police Academy 1946 - Robin Cook , British politician
1946 - Syreeta Wright , American singer (d. 2004 )
1947 - Stephanie Beacham , actress
1948 - Mike Figgis , director, writer, composer
1948 - Bernadette Peters , actress, singer
1948 - Mercedes Ruehl , actress
1952 - William Finn , composer, lyricist
1955 - Gilbert Gottfried , American comedian, actor
1957 - John Turturro , American actor
1960 - Dorothy Stratten , Canadian actress and Playboy model (d. 1980 )
1961 - Mark Latham , former leader of the Australian Labour Party
1962 - Rae Dawn Chong , Canadian actress
1969 - Robert Sean Leonard , American actor
1970 - Lemony Snicket , author of The Series of Unfortunate Events books
1973 - Eric Lindros , ice hockey star
1979 - Primož Peterka , Slovenian ski jumper
1987 - Michelle Horn , teen actress
1996 - Bobb'e J. Thompson , rap musician, actor
Deaths
1326 - Duke Leopold I of Austria
1510 - Juan de la Cosa , Spanish cartographer , conquistador and explorer (b. 1460 )
1621 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590 )
1648 - King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway , (b. 1577 )
1916 - Henry James , writer (b. 1843 )
1941 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886 )
1942 - Karel Doorman , Dutch admiral (b. 1889 )
1959 - Maxwell Anderson , playwright, film writer (b. 1888 )
1966 - Jonathan Hale , Canadian actor
1967 - Henry Luce , American publisher
1977 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson , actor (b. 1905 )
1978 - Philip Ahn , American actor
1978 - Zara Cully , American actress
1985 - David Byron , singer, Uriah Heep lead vocalist (b. 1947 )
1985 - Ray Ellington , British singer (b. 1916 )
1986 - Olof Palme , Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927 )
1993 - Ruby Keeler , actress, singer, dancer (b. 1910 )
1998 - Dermot Morgan , actor, comedian (b. 1952 )
1998 - Arkady Shevchenko , Soviet diplomat
2002 - Helmut Zacharias , German violinist (b. 1920 )
2002 - Mary Stuart , American actress
2003 - Chris Brasher , athlete
2003 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández , former President of El Salvador
2003 - Roger Michael Needham , professor of cryptography at Cambridge University
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 link
February 27 - February 29 - March 1 - January 28 - March 28 -- listing of all days
