Almanac - February 28
John Tenniel 1820-1914
Events
- 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.
- 1525 – The Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by Hernán Cortés's forces.
- 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. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
- 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 of magnitude 6.1 in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people
- 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
- 1997 – The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2001 – Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
- 2004 – Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) 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.
Births
- 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)
- 1616 – Kaspar Förster, German singer and composer (d. 1673)
- 1619 – Giuseppe Felice Tosi, singer, organist and composer (d. 1693)
- 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)
- 1714 – Gioacchino Conti, Italian soprano castrato (d. 1761)
- 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)
- 1827 – Édouard-Charles Fabre, Archbishop of Montreal (d. 1896)
- 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)
- 1876 – John Alden Carpenter, American composer (d. 1951)
- 1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)
- 1878 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
- 1882 – Pádraic Ó Conaire, Irish writer (d. 1928)
- 1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)
- 1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer (d. 1959)
- 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 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
- 1908 – Alexander Golitzen, American art director (d. 2005)
- 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 – Svend Asmussen, Danish jazz violinist
- 1916 – Cesar Climaco, Filipino politician (d. 1984)
- 1917 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Odette Laure, French actress and cabaret singer (d. 2004)
- 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
- 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin
- 1925 – Harry H Corbett, English actor (d. 1982)
- 1928 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (d. 1976)
- 1929 – Hayden Fry, American football coach
- 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
- 1929 – John Montague, Irish poet
- 1929 – Joseph Rouleau, Canadian bass opera singer
- 1930 – Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1930 – Bruce Dawe, Australian poet
- 1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
- 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball coach
- 1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor
- 1933 – Robert Grondelaers, Belgian cyclist (d. 1989)
- 1933 – Miro Steržaj, Slovenian 9-pin bowler
- 1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician
- 1938 – Foge Fazio, American college football coach (d. 2009)
- 1938 – Mike Wofford, American composer and jazz pianist
- 1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan Buddhist meditation instructor (d. 1987)
- 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1939 – Tommy Tune, American dancer
- 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
- 1940 – Joe South, American singer
- 1941 – Suzanne Mubarak, former First Lady of Egypt
- 1942 – Frank Bonner, American actor
- 1942 – Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
- 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
- 1943 – Barbara Acklin, American soul singer (d. 1998)
- 1943 – Charles Bernstein, American composer
- 1943 – Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid, Macedonian cleric
- 1944 – Win Aung, Burmese politician
- 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress
- 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer
- 1945 – Mimsy Farmer, American actress
- 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Don Francisco, American singer, songwriter, and musician, specializing in the field of contemporary Christian music
- 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
- 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1948 – Mike Figgis, English director
- 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- 1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
- 1949 – Ilene Graff, American actress and singer
- 1951 – Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
- 1951 – Jim Wohlford, American baseball player
- 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 – Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born Northern Irish footballer
- 1956 – Mike Tenay, American wrestling commentator
- 1956 – Guy Maddin, Canadian film director
- 1957 – Paul Delph, American musician and producer (d. 1996)
- 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, British celebrity chef
- 1957 – John Turturro, American actor
- 1957 – Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52's)
- 1958 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman, political figure and convict
- 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)
- 1958 – Ginette Harrison, British mountaineer (d. 1999)
- 1958 – Jeanne Mas, French singer and actress
- 1958 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and writer (d. 2010)
- 1960 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress (d. 1980)
- 1961 – Eric Bachelart, Belgian racing driver
- 1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
- 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician
- 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish boxer
- 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 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
- 1969 – Patrick Monahan, American singer (Train)
- 1969 – Tor Øivind Ødegård, Norwegian middle distance runner
- 1970 – Daniel Handler, American writer
- 1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete
- 1971 – Maxine Bahns, American actress
- 1971 – Tristan Louis, American writer
- 1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese composer
- 1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor
- 1972 – Rory Cochrane, American actor
- 1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French racing driver
- 1973 – Masato Tanaka, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1974 – Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
- 1974 – Moana Mackey, New Zealand politician
- 1974 – Tangi Miller, American actress
- 1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
- 1976 – Ali Larter, American actress and model
- 1976 – Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor
- 1976 – Adam Pine, Australian swimmer
- 1977 – Jason Aldean, American country singer
- 1978 – Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter
- 1978 – Yasir Hameed, Pakistani cricketer
- 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
- 1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
- 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
- 1979 – Michael Bisping, English mixed martial artist
- 1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French racing driver
- 1979 – Ivo Karlovic, Croatian tennis player
- 1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
- 1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-born Canadian boxer
- 1980 – Piotr Giza, Polish footballer
- 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
- 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
- 1980 – Esquerdinha, Brazilian footballer
- 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
- 1984 – Christian Müller, German footballer
- 1985 – Tim Bresnan, British cricketer
- 1985 – Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer
- 1985 – Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
- 1985 – Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Mark Sztyndera, German rugby player
- 1987 – Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
- 1988 – Steeve Gerard Fankà, Cameroonian footballer
- 1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech songwriter and actress
- 1988 – Maikol Negro, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
- 1991 – Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
- 2007 – Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco
Deaths
- 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. c.1230s|1230)
- 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, tlatoani of Tenochtitlan (b. c. 1495)
- 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 – Philip Ahn, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 – Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
- 1978 – Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
- 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 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese film director (b. 1911)
- 1993 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
- 1998 – Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
- 1999 – Christine Glanville, British puppeteer (b. 1924)
- 2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
- 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 – Rudolf Kingslake, English optical engineer (b. 1903)
- 2003 – Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
- 2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish writer (b. 1921)
- 2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (b. 1982)
- 2005 – Chris Curtis, English singer and musician (The Searchers) (b. 1941)
- 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)
- 2006 – John S. Lesmeister, American politician (b. 1955)
- 2007 – Baron Charles Forte, Italian-born hotelier (b. 1908)
- 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and political commentator (b. 1917)
- 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)
- 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress (b. 1921)
Holidays and observances
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