What happened on February 28? There are more than 290 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

Interesting Facts & Myths About February 28

February 28 In HistoryFebruary 28 is the 59th day of the year 2024. There are 307 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 9th week of the year 2024.

On this day in Miami, Florida 33132 sunrise occured at 06:43 AM and sunset occured at 06:22 PM (local time).

The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Pisces. The modern birthstone for this month is Amethyst while the mystical birthstone is Bloodstone.

According to the Chinese calendar, there are 336 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).

Birthday curiousity Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the March 30 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)

Historical Events For February 28

  • 202 BC
    coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty’s rule over China
  • 870
    The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
  • 1638
    The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
  • 1700
    Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
  • 1710
    In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.
  • 1784
    John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
  • 1811
    Cry of Asencio, begin of the Uruguayan War of Independence
  • 1827
    The Baltimore & 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 (today Quebec)
  • 1844
    A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
  • 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 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
  • 1854
    The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
  • 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.)
  • 1893
    The USS Indiana, 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.
  • 1914
    The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus is proclaimed in Gjirokastër, by the Greeks living in southern Albania.
  • 1922
    The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
  • 1928
    C.V. Raman discovers Raman effect.
  • 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 (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
  • 1942
    The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
  • 1947
    228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives.
  • 1953
    James D. 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 (pub. April 2).
  • 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 the worst school bus accident in U.S. history.
  • 1959
    Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object to achieve a polar orbit, is launched.
  • 1972
    Sino-American relations: The United States and People’s Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
  • 1975
    A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
  • 1980
    Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
  • 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, Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
  • 1991
    The first Gulf War ends.
  • 1993
    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 BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
  • 1997
    An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
  • 1997
    An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people
  • 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.
  • 1997
    The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.
  • 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.
  • 2001
    Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
  • 2001
    The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.
  • 2004
    Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500 km long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
  • 2005
    A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.

Who Were Born On February 28?

  • 1155
    Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
  • 1261
    Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (d. 1283)
  • 1533
    Michel de Montaigne, French writer (d. 1592)
  • 1552
    Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker (d. 1632)
  • 1573
    Elias Holl, German Architect (d. 1646)
  • 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 astronomer (d. 1760)
  • 1712
    Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (d. 1759)
  • 1724
    George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal (d. 1807)
  • 1812
    Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
  • 1820
    John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
  • 1823
    Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)
  • 1824
    Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)
  • 1833
    Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
  • 1838
    Maurice Lévy, French engineer (d. 1910)
  • 1840
    Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
  • 1841
    Adrien Albert Marie de Mun, French politician (d. 1914)
  • 1851
    Samuel W. McCall, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
  • 1865
    Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary (d. 1940)
  • 1878
    Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
  • 1878
    Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
  • 1882
    Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)
  • 1882
    José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer (d. 1959)
  • 1882
    Pádraic Ó Conaire, Irish writer (d. 1928)
  • 1893
    Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect (d. 1979)
  • 1894
    Ben Hecht, American playwright (d. 1964)
  • 1895
    Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and film director (d. 1974)
  • 1896
    Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
  • 1900
    Wolfram Hirth, German pilot (d. 1959)
  • 1901
    Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
  • 1903
    Vincente Minnelli, American film director (d. 1986)
  • 1906
    Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
  • 1907
    Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon) (d. 1988)
  • 1908
    Alexander Golitzen, American art director (d. 2005)
  • 1908
    Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
  • 1909
    Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
  • 1911
    Otakar Vávra, Czech film director
  • 1912
    Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
  • 1915
    Ketti Frings, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1915
    Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1987)
  • 1915
    Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977)
  • 1916
    Cesar Climaco, Filipino politician (d. 1984)
  • 1916
    Svend Asmussen, Danish jazz violinist
  • 1917
    Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 2007)
  • 1918
    Alfred Burke, British actor (d. 2011)
  • 1921
    Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)
  • 1922
    Joyce Howard, British film actress (d. 2010)
  • 1923
    Charles Durning, American actor
  • 1925
    Harry H Corbett, English actor (d. 1982)
  • 1926
    Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin
  • 1929
    Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
  • 1929
    Hayden Fry, American football coach
  • 1929
    John Montague, Irish poet
  • 1929
    Joseph Rouleau, Canadian bass opera singer
  • 1930
    Bruce Dawe, Australian poet
  • 1930
    Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel laureate
  • 1931
    Dean Smith, American basketball coach
  • 1931
    Gavin MacLeod, American actor
  • 1932
    Don Francks, Canadian actor
  • 1933
    Miro Steržaj, Slovenian 9-pin bowler
  • 1933
    Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician
  • 1933
    Robert Grondelaers, Belgian cyclist (d. 1989)
  • 1938
    Foge Fazio, American college football coach (d. 2009)
  • 1939
    Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan Buddhist meditation instructor (d. 1987)
  • 1939
    Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel laureate
  • 1939
    Tommy Tune, American dancer
  • 1940
    Joe South, American singer
  • 1940
    Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
  • 1942
    Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
  • 1942
    Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
  • 1942
    Frank Bonner, American actor
  • 1943
    Barbara Acklin, American soul singer (d. 1998)
  • 1943
    Charles Bernstein, American composer
  • 1944
    Kelly Bishop, American actress
  • 1944
    Sepp Maier, German footballer
  • 1944
    Win Aung, Burmese politician
  • 1945
    Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
  • 1945
    Mimsy Farmer, American actress
  • 1946
    Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
  • 1947
    Stephanie Beacham, English actress
  • 1948
    Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
  • 1948
    Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
  • 1948
    Mike Figgis, English director
  • 1948
    Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel laureate
  • 1949
    Ilene Graff, American actress and singer
  • 1951
    Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
  • 1952
    William Finn, American composer
  • 1953
    Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian racing driver
  • 1953
    Paul Krugman, American economist, Nobel laureate
  • 1953
    Ricky Steamboat, American professional wrestler
  • 1954
    Brian Billick, American football coach
  • 1955
    Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian
  • 1956
    Adrian Dantley, American basketball player
  • 1956
    Guy Maddin, Canadian film director
  • 1956
    Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born Northern Irish footballer
  • 1956
    Mike Tenay, American wrestling commentator
  • 1957
    Ainsley Harriott, British celebrity chef
  • 1957
    Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52's)
  • 1957
    John Turturro, American actor
  • 1957
    Paul Delph, American musician and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1958
    David R. Ross, Scottish historian and writer (d. 2010)
  • 1958
    Ginette Harrison, British mountaineer (d. 1999)
  • 1958
    Jack Abramoff, American businessman, political figure and convict
  • 1958
    Jeanne Mas, French singer and actress
  • 1958
    Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)
  • 1960
    Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress (d. 1980)
  • 1961
    Barry McGuigan, Irish boxer
  • 1961
    Eric Bachelart, Belgian racing driver
  • 1961
    Mark Latham, Australian politician
  • 1961
    Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
  • 1961
    René Simard, Canadian singer and TV host
  • 1963
    Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
  • 1964
    Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan cyclist
  • 1964
    Fernando del Valle, American tenor
  • 1964
    Lotta Lotass, Swedish writer
  • 1965
    Park Gok-ji, South Korean film editor
  • 1966
    Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
  • 1967
    Colin Cooper, English footballer
  • 1968
    Stéphan Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1969
    Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver
  • 1969
    Patrick Monahan, American singer (Train)
  • 1969
    Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
  • 1969
    Tor Øivind Ødegård, Norwegian middle distance runner
  • 1970
    Daniel Handler, American writer
  • 1970
    Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete
  • 1971
    Junya Nakano, Japanese composer
  • 1971
    Maxine Bahns, American actress
  • 1971
    Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor
  • 1971
    Tristan Louis, American writer
  • 1972
    Rory Cochrane, American actor
  • 1973
    Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1973
    Masato Tanaka, Japanese professional wrestler
  • 1973
    Nicolas Minassian, French racing driver
  • 1974
    Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
  • 1974
    Moana Mackey, New Zealand politician
  • 1974
    Tangi Miller, American actress
  • 1975
    Mike Rucker, American football player
  • 1976
    Adam Pine, Australian swimmer
  • 1976
    Ali Larter, American actress and model
  • 1976
    Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor
  • 1977
    Jason Aldean, American country singer
  • 1978
    Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
  • 1978
    Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
  • 1978
    Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter
  • 1978
    Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
  • 1978
    Yasir Hameed, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1979
    Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
  • 1979
    Michael Bisping, English mixed martial artist
  • 1979
    Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
  • 1979
    Sébastien Bourdais, French racing driver
  • 1980
    Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
  • 1980
    Esquerdinha, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980
    Lucian Bute, Romanian-born Canadian boxer
  • 1980
    Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
  • 1980
    Piotr Giza, Polish footballer
  • 1980
    Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
  • 1981
    Brian Bannister, American baseball player
  • 1981
    Florent Serra, French tennis player
  • 1982
    Natalia Vodianova, Russian supermodel
  • 1984
    Ben Fagan, American musician and reality show contestant
  • 1984
    Karolína Kurková, Czech supermodel
  • 1985
    Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985
    Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer
  • 1985
    Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
  • 1985
    Tim Bresnan, British cricketer
  • 1986
    Mark Sztyndera, German rugby player
  • 1987
    Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
  • 1988
    Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
  • 1988
    Maikol Negro, Italian footballer
  • 1988
    Markéta Irglová, Czech songwriter and actress
  • 1988
    Steeve Gerard Fankà, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1989
    Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
  • 1989
    Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
  • 1991
    Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
  • 2007
    Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco

Who Died On February 28?

  • 1261
    Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. c.1230s)
  • 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
  • 1525
    Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler
  • 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)
  • 1836
    Friedrich August Grotefend, German philogist (b. 1798)
  • 1857
    André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)
  • 1869
    Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)
  • 1891
    George Hearst, American businessman and US Senator (b. 1820)
  • 1916
    Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
  • 1925
    Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)
  • 1929
    Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (b. 1874)
  • 1932
    Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)
  • 1935
    Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian composer (b. 1847).
  • 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)
  • 1956
    Emile Buisson, French murderer (executed) (b. 1902)
  • 1959
    Maxwell Anderson, American playwright and film writer (b. 1888)
  • 1963
    Rajendra Prasad, First President of India (b. 1884)
  • 1966
    Jonathan Hale, Canadian-born actor (b. 1891)
  • 1967
    Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
  • 1974
    Bobby Bloom, American singer/songwriter (b. 1946)
  • 1977
    Eddie ‘Rochester’Anderson, American actor (b. 1905)
  • 1978
    Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
  • 1978
    Philip Ahn, American actor (b. 1905)
  • 1978
    Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
  • 1979
    Paul Alverdes, German writer (b. 1897)
  • 1985
    David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)
  • 1985
    Ray Ellington, English singer (b. 1916)
  • 1986
    Laura Z. Hobson, American novelist (b. 1900)
  • 1986
    Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
  • 1987
    Stephen Tennant, eccentric English socialite (b. 1906)
  • 1991
    Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)
  • 1991
    Wassily Hoeffding, American statistician (b. 1914)
  • 1993
    Ishirō Honda, Japanese film director (b. 1911)
  • 1993
    Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1910)
  • 1998
    Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
  • 1998
    Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
  • 1999
    Christine Glanville, British puppeteer (b. 1924)
  • 2002
    Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
  • 2002
    Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
  • 2003
    Chris Brasher, English athlete (b. 1928)
  • 2003
    Dinos Dimopoulos, Greek film director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 2003
    Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
  • 2003
    Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
  • 2003
    Rudolf Kingslake, English optical engineer (b. 1903)
  • 2004
    Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (b. 1982)
  • 2004
    Carmen Laforet, Spanish writer (b. 1921)
  • 2004
    Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
  • 2006
    Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)
  • 2007
    Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and political commentator (b. 1917)
  • 2007
    Baron Charles Forte, Italian-born hotelier (b. 1908)
  • 2007
    Billy Thorpe, Australian musician (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (b. 1946)
  • 2008
    Mike Smith, English musician (The Dave Clark Five) (b. 1943)
  • 2009
    Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster (b. 1918)
  • 2011
    Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
  • 2011
    Peter Gomes, Harvard University Chaplain (b. 1942)

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