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

Events

• 364 - Valentinian I is elevated as Roman Emperor.
• 1258 - Hulagu Khan sacks Baghdad
• 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 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.
• 1878 - Pierre Fatou, a French Mathematician is born, who worked on iteration theory which was later analysed by Benoit Mandelbrot.
• 1883 - The first vaudeville theater is opened, in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1900 - The Boer War "Siege of Ladysmith" which lasted 118 days was lifted.
• 1933 - The Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
• 1935 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers.
• 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 announced 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 - United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
• 1974 - After seven years, the Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations.
• 1975 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
• 1983 - The final episode of USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106 to more than 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, 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.

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)
• 1882 - Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)
• 1894 - Ben Hecht, playwright, film writer (d. 1964)
• 1900 - Wolfram Hirth, pilot and designer of aircrafts (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)
• 1909 - Stephen Spender, poet (d. 1995)
• 1915 - Zero Mostel, actor (d. 1977)
• 1917 - El Salvador (1967-1972) (d. 2003)
• 1929 - Hayden Fry, college football coach
• 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
• 1942 - Brian Jones, musician ("The Rolling Stones") (d. 1969)
• 1942 - Joe South, musician
• 1942 - Dino Zoff, Italian legendary football goalkeeper
• 1945 - Bubba Smith, American football player, actor (Police Academy)
• 1946 - Robin Cook, British politician
• 1948 - Mike Figgis, director, writer, composer
• 1948 - Bernadette Peters, actress, singer
• 1948 - Mercedes Ruehl, actress
• 1960 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and Playboy model
• 1968 - David V Duccini, philosopher
• 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
• 2001 - Smarty Jones, winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby

Deaths

• 1326 - Duke Leopold I of Austria
• 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)
• 1977 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, actor (b. 1905)
• 1979 - "The famous Mr. Ed", the talking horse
• 1986 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
• 1993 - Ruby Keeler, actress, singer, dancer (b. 1910)
• 1998 - Dermot Morgan, actor, comedian (b. 1952)
• 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
• 2003 - Chris Brasher, athlete
• 2003 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, former President of El Salvador
• 2003 - Roger Michael Needham, professor of cryptography at Cambridge University

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.

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