February 28

Events

• 202 BC - Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
• 870 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
• 1246 - The siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.
• 1525 - Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.
• 1638 - The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
• 1700 - Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
• 1710 - Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
• 1728 - Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire defeats Asaf Jah I in the Battle of Palkhed.
• 1827 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
• 1838 - Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada.
• 1844 - A gun on explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing six people, including two United States Cabinet members.
• 1847 - The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua.
• 1849 - Regular steamship service from the east to the west coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
• 1867 - Seventy years of Holy See–United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.
• 1870 - The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1874 - One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
• 1893 - The, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
• 1897 - Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
• 1900 - The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
• 1904 - S.L. Benfica is founded in Portugal.
• 1922 - The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
• 1925 - The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
• 1933 - Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
• 1935 - DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
• 1939 - The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
• 1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time.
• 1942 - The heavy cruiser is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with which lost 375 men.
• 1947 - February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
• 1948 - Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots and looting in Accra.
• 1953 - James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature.
• 1954 - The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
• 1958 - A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
• 1959 - Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
• 1966 - A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.
• 1972 - China–United States relations: The United States and China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
• 1975 - In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
• 1980 - Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
• 1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.
• 1985 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
• 1986 - Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
• 1991 - The first Gulf War ends.
• 1993 - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and six Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
• 1995 - Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the 1993 Australian federal election.
• 1997 - An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
• 1997 - GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
• 1998 - First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
• 1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
• 2002 - During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
• 2004 - Over one million Taiwanese participate in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally form a long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947.
• 2005 - A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
• 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.

  Births

• 1119 - Emperor Xizong of Jin
• 1155 - Henry the Young King, son and heir of Henry II of England
• 1261 - Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway
• 1518 - Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Duke of Brittany
• 1533 - Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author
• 1535 - Cornelius Gemma, Dutch astronomer and astrologer
• 1552 - Jost Bürgi, Swiss mathematician and clockmaker
• 1612 - John Pearson, English bishop, theologian, and scholar
• 1627 - Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex
• 1675 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer
• 1683 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French entomologist and academic
• 1704 - Louis Godin, French astronomer and academic
• 1712 - Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general
• 1724 - George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
• 1792 - Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist, and geographer
• 1812 - Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author
• 1820 - John Tenniel, English illustrator
• 1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal
• 1840 - Henri Duveyrier, French explorer
• 1848 - Arthur Giry, French historian and academic
• 1851 - Samuel W. McCall, American journalist and politician, 47th Governor of Massachusetts
• 1858 - Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director
• 1865 - Wilfred Grenfell, English physician and missionary
• 1866 - Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright
• 1873 - William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor
• 1878 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer
• 1882 - Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress
• 1882 - José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher, lawyer, and politician, Mexican Secretary of Public Education
• 1883 - Seán Mac Diarmada, Irish rebel leader
• 1884 - Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia
• 1887 - William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter
• 1894 - Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1895 - Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director
• 1896 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1898 - Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish footballer
• 1900 - Wolf Hirth, German pilot and engineer, co-founded Schempp-Hirth
• 1901 - Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1903 - Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter
• 1906 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster
• 1907 - Milton Caniff, American cartoonist
• 1908 - Billie Bird, American actress
• 1909 - Stephen Spender, English author and poet
• 1911 - Otakar Vávra, Czech director and screenwriter
• 1915 - Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter
• 1915 - Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1915 - Zero Mostel, American actor and comedian
• 1916 - Cesar Climaco, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Mayor of Zamboanga City
• 1917 - Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer
• 1919 - Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls
• 1919 - Brian Urquhart, English soldier and diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
• 1920 - Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish soldier, pilot, and architect
• 1921 - Pierre Clostermann, French pilot, engineer, and author
• 1922 - Yuri Lotman, Russian-Estonian historian and scholar
• 1923 - Charles Durning, American soldier and actor
• 1924 - Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect
• 1924 - Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician
• 1925 - Harry H. Corbett, Burmese-English actor
• 1926 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American author and educator
• 1928 - Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer
• 1928 - Tom Aldredge, American actor
• 1928 - Sylvia del Villard, actress, dancer, choreographer and Afro-Puerto Rican activist
• 1929 - Hayden Fry, American football player and coach
• 1929 - Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect, designed 8 Spruce Street and Walt Disney Concert Hall
• 1929 - John Montague, American-Irish poet and academic
• 1929 - Rangaswamy Srinivasan, Indian-American physical chemist and inventor
• 1930 - Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1931 - Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi academic and politician, 14th President of Bangladesh
• 1931 - Peter Alliss, English golfer and sportscaster
• 1931 - Gavin MacLeod, American actor
• 1931 - Len Newcombe, Welsh footballer, outside forward and scout
• 1931 - Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach
• 1932 - Don Francks, Canadian actor, singer, and jazz musician
• 1933 - Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist and politician
• 1934 - Willie Bobo, American Latin Jazz/Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist
• 1937 - Jeff Farrell, American swimmer
• 1938 - Foge Fazio, American football player and coach
• 1939 - John Fahey, American guitarist
• 1939 - Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan philosopher and scholar
• 1939 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1939 - Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director
• 1940 - Aldo Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
• 1940 - Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
• 1940 - Joe South, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer
• 1942 - Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 1942 - Dino Zoff, Italian footballer and manager
• 1943 - Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter
• 1943 - Hans Dijkstal, Egyptian-Dutch educator and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1943 - Donnie Iris, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 - Kelly Bishop, American actress and dancer
• 1944 - Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author
• 1944 - Sepp Maier, German footballer and manager
• 1944 - Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer
• 1945 - Mimsy Farmer, American-French actress and sculptor
• 1945 - Bubba Smith, American football player and actor
• 1945 - Linda Preiss Rothschild, American mathematician and academic
• 1946 - Philip Bailhache, English lawyer and politician
• 1946 - Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• 1946 - Syreeta Wright, African-American singer songwriter
• 1947 - Stephanie Beacham, English actress
• 1948 - Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1948 - Mike Figgis, English director, screenwriter, and composer
• 1948 - Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author
• 1948 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
• 1948 - Alfred Sant, Maltese politician, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
• 1951 - Bill Cratty, American dancer and choreographer
• 1951 - Debora Green, American physician convicted of murder
• 1953 - Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian race car driver
• 1953 - Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1953 - Ricky Steamboat, American wrestler, referee, and trainer
• 1954 - Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1955 - Adrian Dantley, American basketball player and coach
• 1955 - Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer
• 1956 - Terry Leahy, English businessman
• 1956 - Guy Maddin, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
• 1957 - Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
• 1957 - Ainsley Harriott, English chef and author
• 1957 - Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
• 1957 - John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1957 - Cindy Wilson, American singer-songwriter
• 1958 - Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican criminal and narcotics trafficker
• 1958 - Natalya Estemirova, Russian journalist and activist
• 1958 - Jeanne Mas, Spanish-French singer-songwriter and actress
• 1958 - David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author
• 1959 - Jack Abramoff, American businessman and lobbyist
• 1959 - Megan McDonald, American librarian and author
• 1961 - Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress
• 1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician
• 1961 - Barry McGuigan, Irish-British boxer
• 1962 - Gary Belcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1963 - Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
• 1964 - Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan sprinter and cyclist
• 1965 - Colum McCann, Irish-American author and academic
• 1965 - Norman Smiley, English-American wrestler and trainer
• 1966 - Vincent Askew, American basketball player and coach
• 1966 - Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
• 1966 - Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
• 1967 - Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager
• 1967 - Martin Tielli, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1969 - Sean Farrel, English footballer, forward
• 1969 - Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver
• 1969 - Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
• 1969 - Patrick Monahan, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1970 - Daniel Handler, American journalist, author, and accordion player
• 1970 - Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner
• 1971 - Junya Nakano, Japanese pianist and composer
• 1971 - Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor and director
• 1972 - Rory Cochrane, American actor
• 1972 - Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor and screenwriter
• 1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 - Scott McLeod, New Zealand rugby player
• 1973 - Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver
• 1973 - Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler
• 1974 - Lee Carsley, English-Irish footballer and manager
• 1974 - Alexander Zickler, German footballer and manager
• 1975 - Mike Rucker, American football player
• 1976 - Ali Larter, American actress
• 1977 - Jason Aldean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1977 - Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler
• 1978 - Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1978 - Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
• 1978 - Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
• 1978 - Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player
• 1979 - Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver
• 1979 - Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
• 1979 - Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
• 1980 - Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
• 1980 - Lucian Bute, Romanian-Canadian boxer
• 1980 - Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
• 1980 - Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
• 1981 - Brian Bannister, American baseball player and scout
• 1982 - Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model and actress
• 1984 - Noureen DeWulf, American actress
• 1984 - Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress
• 1985 - Tim Bresnan, English cricketer
• 1985 - Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
• 1985 - Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 - Travis Stevens, American judoka
• 1987 - Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
• 1988 - Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
• 1988 - Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
• 1989 - Carlos Dunlap, American football player
• 1989 - Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
• 1989 - Kevin Proctor, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1989 - Angelababy, Chinese actress
• 1990 - Takayasu Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler
• 1994 - Jake Bugg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1994 - Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer
• 1999 - Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player

  Deaths

• 628 - Khosrow II, Shah of Iran – Sasanian Empire
• 911 - Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, Muslim Shia imam
• 1105 - Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse
• 1261 - Henry III, Duke of Brabant
• 1326 - Leopold I, Duke of Austria
• 1453 - Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine
• 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
• 1551 - Martin Bucer, German Protestant reformer
• 1572 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian and author
• 1621 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
• 1648 - Christian IV of Denmark
• 1786 - John Gwynn, English architect and engineer
• 1788 - Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
• 1857 - André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic
• 1869 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French author and poet
• 1879 - Hortense Allart, Italian-French author
• 1891 - George Hearst, American businessman and politician
• 1916 - Henry James, American novelist, short writer, and critic
• 1925 - Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st President of Germany
• 1929 - Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician and immunologist
• 1932 - Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic
• 1935 - Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1936 - Charles Nicolle, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1941 - Alfonso XIII of Spain
• 1942 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral
• 1959 - Maxwell Anderson, American journalist, author, and playwright
• 1963 - Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India
• 1966 - Charles Bassett, American captain, engineer, and astronaut
• 1966 - Elliot See, American commander, engineer, and astronaut
• 1967 - Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine
• 1977 - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, American actor and comedian
• 1978 - Zara Cully, American actress
• 1978 - Eric Frank Russell, English author
• 1983 - Winifred Atwell, Trinidadian pianist
• 1987 - Stephen Tennant, English author
• 1991 - Wassily Hoeffding, Finnish-American statistician and theorist
• 1993 - Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress and dancer
• 1998 - Dermot Morgan, Irish comedian and actor
• 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Ukrainian diplomat
• 2002 - Mary Stuart, American actress and singer
• 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer
• 2003 - Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon
• 2003 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadorian general and politician, President of El Salvador
• 2004 - Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian
• 2004 - Carmen Laforet, Spanish author
• 2004 - Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian sergeant
• 2005 - Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer
• 2006 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 2007 - Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-English businessman, founded the Forte Group
• 2007 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic
• 2007 - Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 2008 - Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman
• 2009 - Paul Harvey, American radio host
• 2011 - Annie Girardot, French actress
• 2011 - Jane Russell, American actress and singer
• 2012 - Frisner Augustin, Haitian drummer and composer
• 2012 - Jim Green, American-Canadian educator and politician
• 2012 - Hal Roach, Irish comedian and author
• 2013 - Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 2013 - Neil McCorkell, English cricketer and coach
• 2014 - Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author
• 2014 - Lee Lorch, American mathematician and activist
• 2015 - Alex Johnson, American baseball player
• 2015 - Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author
• 2016 - George Kennedy, American actor
• 2017 - Pierre Pascau, Mauritian-Canadian journalist
• 2019 - André Previn, German-American pianist, conductor, and composer.
• 2020 - Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's
• 2020 - Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician
• 2020 - Sir Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Abercius
• *Anna Julia Cooper and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright
• *Hilarius
• *Mar Abba
• *Oswald of Worcester
• *Romanus of Condat
• *Rufinus
• *February 28
• Earliest day on which Rare Disease Day can fall, while February 29 is the latest; observed on the last day of February
• The third day of Ayyám-i-Há
• Día de Andalucía
• Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture.
• National Science Day
• Peace Memorial Day
• Teachers' Day