What happened on February 29? There are more than 166 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 29
February 29 is the 60th day of the year 2024. There are 306 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday. This day falls under the 9th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Tenino, Washington 98589 sunrise occured at 06:49 AM and sunset occured at 05:57 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 335 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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A person who is born on February 29 may be called a “leapling” or a “leap year baby”. In non-leap years, they typically celebrate their birthday on either February 28 or March 1.
February 29: A Day In History
February 29, known as a leap day in the Gregorian calendar, is a date that occurs in most years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 do not contain a leap day, with the exception of years that are evenly divisible by 400, which do contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year.
Leap years
Although most years of the modern calendar have 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, during which an extra 24 hours have accumulated, one extra day is added to keep the count coordinated with the sun’s apparent position.
It is, however, slightly inaccurate to calculate an additional 6 hours each year. A better approximation, derived from the Alfonsine tables, is that the Earth takes a complete revolution around the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds. To compensate for the difference, an end-of-century year is not a leap year unless it is also exactly divisible by 400. This means that the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years, as will be 2400 and 2800, but the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not, nor will be 2100, 2200 and 2300.
The Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20,871 weeks including 97 leap days. Over this period, February 29 falls 13 times on a Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday; 14 times on a Friday or Saturday; and 15 times on a Monday or Wednesday.
The concepts of the leap year and leap day are distinct from the leap second, which results from changes in the Earth’s rotational speed.
The leap day was introduced as part of the Julian reform. The day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the “bis sextum”—literally ‘double sixth', since February 24 was 'the sixth day before the Kalends of March’using Roman inclusive counting (March 1 was the 'first day'). Although exceptions exist, the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually regarded as the intercalated or “bissextile” day since the third century. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages.
An English law of 1256 decreed that in leap years, the leap day and the day before (February 25 & 24) are to be reckoned as one day for the purpose of calculating when a full year had passed. In England and Wales a person born on February 29 legally reaches the age of 18 or 21 on February 28 of the relevant year. In the European Union, February 29 officially became the leap day only in 2000.
In cases of New Zealand citizens, the NZ Parliament has decreed that if a date of birth was February 29, in non-leap years the legal birth date date shall be the preceding day, the 28th. This is affirmed in §2(2) of the Land Transport Act 1999.
In France, there is a humorous periodical called La Bougie du Sapeur (The Sapper’s Candle) published every February 29 since 1980. The name is a reference to the sapper Camember, a comic strip character born February 29, 1844 who was created by Georges Colomb in the 1890s.
Historical Events For February 29
- 1504Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
- 1704Queen Anne’s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
- 1712February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
- 1720Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
- 1796The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
- 1864American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
- 1892St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
- 1916Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
- 1932TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William “Alfalfa” Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
- 1936Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
- 1940Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
- 1940For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
- 1940In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden’s Consul General in San Francisco.
- 1944World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
- 1952The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- 1956U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
- 1960An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
- 1960Family Circus makes its debut.
- 1964In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
- 1972Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
- 1972Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
- 1980Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
- 1984Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
- 1988South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
- 1988Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to come out as gay.
- 1996Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
- 2004Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup.
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Who Were Born On February 29?
- 1468Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
- 1692John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)
- 1724Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d. 1822)
- 1736Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784)
- 1792Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
- 1812Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1880)
- 1836Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908)
- 1840John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
- 1852Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)
- 1852George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, Russian nobleman (d. 1912)
- 1860Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)
- 1892Ed Appleton, American baseball player (d. 1932)
- 1896Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
- 1896Roy Parker, baseball player (d. 1954)
- 1896William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)
- 1904Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
- 1904Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)
- 1904Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)
- 1904Wolfe+585, Senior (alleged date), German-born American typesetter who has the longest personal name ever used (death year unknown)
- 1908Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1908Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)
- 1908Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1916Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
- 1920Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1920Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
- 1920Ivan Ivanovich Petrov, Russian operatic bass (d. 2003)
- 1920James Mitchell, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1920Michèle Morgan, French actress
- 1920Rolland W. Redlin, American politician (d. 2011)
- 1924Al Rosen, American baseball player
- 1924Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador
- 1924David Beattie, New Zealand Governor-General (d. 2001)
- 1928Joss Ackland, English actor
- 1928Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
- 1928Terry Lewis, Australian police commissioner
- 1928Vance Haynes, American archaeologist
- 1932Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)
- 1932Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
- 1932Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver (d. 1985)
- 1932Paul Giel, American baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1932Reri Grist, African-American coloratura soprano
- 1936Alex Rocco, American actor
- 1936Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936Jack Lousma, American astronaut
- 1940Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
- 1940William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer
- 1944Dennis Farina, American actor
- 1944Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
- 1944Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator
- 1944Phyllis Frelich, American actress
- 1944Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008)
- 1948Jirō Akagawa, Japanese novelist
- 1948Ken Foree, American actor
- 1952Al Autry, American baseball player
- 1952Bart Stupak, American congressman
- 1952Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
- 1952Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality
- 1952Tim Powers, American writer
- 1956Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
- 1956Bob Speller, Canadian politician
- 1956J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebrity journalist
- 1956Jerry Fry, American baseball player
- 1956Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer
- 1960Bill Long, American baseball player
- 1960Khaled, Algerian raï musician
- 1960Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
- 1960Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
- 1964Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality
- 1964Mervyn Warren, American film & TV composer and musician
- 1968Bryce Paup, American football player
- 1968Chucky Brown, American basketball player
- 1968Eugene Volokh, American law professor
- 1968Frank Woodley, Australian comedian
- 1968Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist
- 1968Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress
- 1968Pete Fenson, American curler
- 1968Suanne Braun, South African actress
- 1968Wendi Peters, British actress
- 1972Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-born actor
- 1972Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)
- 1972Iván García, Cuban athlete
- 1972Mike Pollitt, English footballer
- 1972Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American Real World housemate and AIDS activist (d. 1994)
- 1972Saul Williams, American rapper, poet, and actor
- 1976Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
- 1976Katalin Kovács, Hungarian sprint canoer
- 1976Terrence Long, American baseball player
- 1976Zoë Baker, New Zealand swimmer
- 1980Chris Conley, American musician
- 1980Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league footballer
- 1980Michail Mouroutsos, Greek Olympic taekwondo gold medalist
- 1980Ruben Plaza, Spanish cyclist
- 1980Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980Taylor Twellman, American soccer player
- 1984Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
- 1984Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984Cullen Jones, American swimmer
- 1984Darren Ambrose, English footballer
- 1984Dennis Walger, German rugby player
- 1984Nuria Martinez, Spanish basketball player WNBA
- 1988Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
- 1988Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player
- 1988Scott Golbourne, English footballer
- 1992Perry Kitchen, American soccer player
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Who Died On February 29?
- 1528Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (b. 1504)
- 1592Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
- 1600Caspar Hennenberger, German Lutheran pastor, historian and cartographer (b. 1529)
- 1604John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)
- 1740Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
- 1744John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)
- 1820Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)
- 1848Louis-François, Baron Lejeune, French general and painter (b. 1775)
- 1868Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
- 1880Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1812, also on 29 February)
- 1908John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, first Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
- 1908Pat Garrett, U.S. gunslinger (b. 1850)
- 1920Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
- 1928Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
- 1940Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)
- 1944Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)
- 1948Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
- 1956Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
- 1964Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)
- 1968Lena Blackburne, American baseball player and manager (b. 1886)
- 1968Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
- 1972Tom Davies, American footballer (b. 1896)
- 1976Florence Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
- 1980Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)
- 1984Ludwik Starski, Polish lyricist (b. 1903)
- 1988Sidney Harmon, American film producer (b. 1907)
- 1992Earl Scheib, American car repainter (b. 1908)
- 1992Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)
- 1996Ralph Rowe, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
- 1996Shams Pahlavi, Persian princess (b. 1917)
- 2000Dennis Danell, American guitarist (Social Distortion) (b. 1961)
- 2004Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)
- 2004Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (b. 1923)
- 2008Erik Ortvad, Danish artist (b. 1917)
- 2008Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
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