February 28

February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining until the end of the year (307 in leap years).

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.
• 628 – Khosrau II is executed by Mihr Hormozd under the orders of Kavadh II.
• 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 – 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, beginning 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.
• 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 Abd-ul-Aziz 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.
• 1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston
• 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.
• 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
• 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 massacre: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
• 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 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. It failed to achieve orbit.
• 1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the Australian federal election, 1993.
• 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.
• 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
• 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.
• 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.

Births

• 1155 – Henry the Young King, English son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)
• 1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway (d. 1283)
• 1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher (d. 1592)
• 1552 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss mathematician and clockmaker (d. 1632)
• 1573 – Elias Holl, German architect (d. 1646)
• 1612 – John Pearson, English bishop, theologian, and scholar (d. 1686)
• 1616 – Kaspar Förster, German singer and composer (d. 1673)
• 1619 – Giuseppe Felice Tosi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1693)
• 1670 – Benjamin Wadsworth, American clergyman and academic (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 (d. 1761)
• 1724 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal (d. 1807)
• 1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist, and geographer (d. 1876)
• 1812 – Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)
• 1820 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)
• 1823 – Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)
• 1824 – Charles Blondin, French acrobat (d. 1897)
• 1827 – Édouard-Charles Fabre, Canadian archbishop (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)
• 1848 – Arthur Giry, French historian (d. 1899)
• 1851 – Samuel W. McCall, American politician, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
• 1858 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (d. 1941)
• 1860 – Basil Spalding de Garmendia, American tennis player (d. 1932)
• 1865 – Wilfred Grenfell, English missionary (d. 1940)
• 1866 – Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1949)
• 1873 – William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor (d. 1912)
• 1876 – John Alden Carpenter, American composer (d. 1951)
• 1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1929)
• 1878 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)
• 1881 – Fernand Sanz, French cyclist (d. 1925)
• 1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
• 1882 – Pádraic Ó Conaire, Irish journalist and author (d. 1928)
• 1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher and politician (d. 1959)
• 1884 – Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer, diplomat and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
• 1893 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (d. 1979)
• 1894 – Ben Hecht, American screenwriter, director, and producer (d. 1964)
• 1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director (d. 1974)
• 1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
• 1900 – Wolfram Hirth, German pilot (d. 1959)
• 1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American director (d. 1986)
• 1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
• 1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
• 1908 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
• 1908 – Alexander Golitzen, Russian-American production designer (d. 2005)
• 1909 – Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Otakar Vávra, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2011)
• 1912 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
• 1915 – Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
• 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
• 1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977)
• 1916 – Svend Asmussen, Danish violinist
• 1916 – Cesar Climaco, Filipino politician (d. 1984)
• 1917 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (d. 2007)
• 1917 – Odette Laure, French actress and singer (d. 2004)
• 1918 – Alfred Burke, English actor (d. 2011)
• 1920 – Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish pilot
• 1921 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer and record industry executive (d. 2014)
• 1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French pilot, engineer, and author (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Joyce Howard, English actress (d. 2010)
• 1922 – Yuri Lotman, Russian-Estonian literary scholar, semiotician, and cultural historian (d. 1993)
• 1923 – Charles Durning, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1924 – Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Harry H. Corbett, English actor (d. 1982)
• 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian daughter of Joseph Stalin (d. 2011)
• 1928 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (d. 1976)
• 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
• 1929 – Joseph Rouleau, Canadian opera singer
• 1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi politician, 13th President of Bangladesh (d. 2012)
• 1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
• 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach
• 1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor and singer
• 1933 – Robert Grondelaers, Belgian cyclist (d. 1989)
• 1933 – Miro Steržaj, Slovenian bowler
• 1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist
• 1934 – Willie Bobo, American drummer (d. 1983)
• 1938 – Foge Fazio, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
• 1938 – Mike Wofford, American pianist and composer
• 1939 – John Fahey, American guitarist (d. 2001)
• 1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan meditation instructor and scholar (d. 1987)
• 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1939 – Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director
• 1939 – Dewey Robertson, Canadian wrestler (d. 2007)
• 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
• 1940 – Joe South, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
• 1941 – Suzanne Mubarak, Egyptian wife of Hosni Mubarak, 5th First Lady of Egypt
• 1941 – T. Thangavadivel, Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant and politician
• 1942 – Frank Bonner, American actor
• 1942 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
• 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
• 1943 – Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
• 1943 – Charles Bernstein, American composer
• 1943 – Hans Dijkstal, Egyptian-Dutch politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Donnie Iris, American rock singer and guitarist (The Jaggerz, Wild Cherry, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers)
• 1944 – Win Aung, Burmese military officer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Burma
• 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress and dancer
• 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer
• 1944 – Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer (d. 2013)
• 1945 – Mimsy Farmer, American actress
• 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
• 1946 – Robin Cook, Scottish politician (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Don Francisco, American singer-songwriter
• 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
• 1948 – Bineshwar Brahma, Indian religious leader (d. 2000)
• 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1948 – Mike Figgis, English director, screenwriter, and composer
• 1948 – Seppo Harjanne, Finnish rally co-driver
• 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author
• 1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
• 1948 – Alfred Sant, Maltese politician, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
• 1948 – Geoff Nicholls, English musician and keyboardist (Black Sabbath)
• 1949 – Ilene Graff, American actress and singer
• 1951 – Bill Cratty, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
• 1951 – Karsan Ghavri, Indian cricketer
• 1951 – Roseanna Vitro, American singer and educator
• 1951 – Jim Wohlford, American baseball player
• 1952 – William Finn, American composer and songwriter
• 1953 – Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian race car driver
• 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1953 – Ricky Steamboat, American wrestler
• 1954 – Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1954 – Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican drug trafficker (d. 2012)
• 1955 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian and actor
• 1956 – Adrian Dantley, American basketball player
• 1956 – Guy Maddin, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
• 1956 – Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-Irish footballer
• 1956 – Mike Tenay, American sportscaster
• 1957 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Zahara) (d. 1996)
• 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, English chef and author
• 1957 – John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1957 – Cindy Wilson, American singer-songwriter and actress (The B-52's)
• 1958 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman
• 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian journalist and activist (d. 2009)
• 1958 – Ginette Harrison, English mountaineer (d. 1999)
• 1958 – Jeanne Mas, French singer-songwriter and actress
• 1958 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (d. 2010)
• 1959 – Megan McDonald, American author
• 1960 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (d. 1980)
• 1960 – Tōru Ōkawa, Japanese actor
• 1961 – Eric Bachelart, Belgian race car driver
• 1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress
• 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician
• 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish boxer
• 1961 – René Simard, Canadian singer and television host
• 1963 – Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist
• 1964 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan cyclist
• 1964 – Fernando del Valle, American tenor
• 1964 – Lotta Lotass, Swedish author
• 1965 – Park Gok-ji, South Korean film editor
• 1965 – Colum McCann, Irish novelist
• 1965 – Norman Smiley, English-American wrestler
• 1966 – Vincent Askew, American basketball player
• 1966 – Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
• 1966 – Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
• 1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer
• 1967 – Martin Tielli, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 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-songwriter (Train)
• 1969 – Tor Øivind Ødegård, Norwegian runner
• 1970 – Daniel Handler, American author and screenwriter
• 1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner
• 1971 – Maxine Bahns, American actress
• 1971 – Tristan Louis, French-American author and blogger
• 1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor
• 1972 – Rory Cochrane, American actor
• 1972 – Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor
• 1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver
• 1973 – Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler
• 1974 – Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
• 1974 – Moana Mackey, New Zealand politician
• 1974 – Tangi Miller, American actress and dancer
• 1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player
• 1975 – Greg Simkins, American painter
• 1976 – Kaido Külaots, Estonian chess player
• 1976 – Ali Larter, American actress
• 1976 – Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor and producer
• 1976 – Adam Pine, Australian swimmer
• 1977 – Jason Aldean, American singer and guitarist
• 1978 – Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1978 – Yasir Hameed, Pakistani cricketer
• 1978 – Rei Kikukawa, Japanese actress
• 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
• 1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player
• 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player
• 1979 – Srikanth, Indian actor
• 1979 – Michael Bisping, Cypriot-English mixed martial artist
• 1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver
• 1979 – Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
• 1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
• 1980 – Bada, South Korean singer (S.E.S.)
• 1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-Canadian boxer
• 1980 – Glasner da Silva Albuquerque, Brazilian footballer
• 1980 – Piotr Giza, Polish footballer
• 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
• 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
• 1981 – Brian Bannister, American baseball player
• 1981 – Florent Serra, French tennis player
• 1982 – Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model
• 1984 – Noureen DeWulf, American actress
• 1984 – Ben Fagan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1984 – Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress
• 1984 – Christian Müller, German footballer
• 1985 – Tim Bresnan, English cricketer
• 1985 – Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
• 1985 – Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
• 1985 – Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Mark Sztyndera, German rugby player
• 1986 – Min Hyo-rin, South Korean singer and actress
• 1986 – Tendai Mzungu, Australian footballer
• 1987 – Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
• 1988 – Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
• 1988 – Steeve Gerard Fankà, Cameroonian footballer
• 1988 – Jorge Gastélum, Mexican footballer
• 1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
• 1988 – Yevgeni Kabayev, Russian footballer
• 1988 – Maikol Negro, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
• 1990 – Naomi Broady, English tennis player
• 1991 – Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
• 1993 – Emmelie de Forest, Danish singer-songwriter
• 1994 – Jake Bugg, English musician
• 1995 – Quinn Shephard, American actress
• 2007 – Lalla Khadija of Morocco

Deaths

• 468 – Pope Hilarius
• 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230)
• 1326 – Leopold I, Duke of Austria (b. 1290)
• 1453 – Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
• 1485 – Niclas, Graf von Abensberg, German knight (b. 1441)
• 1510 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer (b, 1450)
• 1525 – Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler (b. 1495)
• 1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)
• 1621 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
• 1648 – Christian IV of Denmark (b. 1577)
• 1746 – Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (b. 1660)
• 1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)
• 1788 – Thomas Cushing, American layer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1725)
• 1836 – Friedrich August Grotefend, German philologist (b. 1798)
• 1857 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)
• 1869 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French author and poet (b. 1790)
• 1891 – George Hearst, American businessman and politician (b. 1820)
• 1913 – George Finnegan, American boxer (b. 1881)
• 1916 – Henry James, American-English author (b. 1843)
• 1925 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st President of Germany (b. 1871)
• 1929 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (b. 1874)
• 1932 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)
• 1935 – Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1847)
• 1936 – Kamala Nehru, Indian wife of Jawaharlal Nehru (b. 1899)
• 1936 – Charles Nicolle, French biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
• 1941 – Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
• 1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
• 1956 – Émile Buisson, French gangster (b. 1902)
• 1959 – Maxwell Anderson, American journalist, author and playwright (b. 1888)
• 1963 – Rajendra Prasad, Indian politician, 1st President of India (b. 1884)
• 1966 – Jonathan Hale, Canadian-American actor (b. 1891)
• 1967 – Henry Luce, Chinese-American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine (b. 1898)
• 1974 – Bobby Bloom, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
• 1977 – Eddie 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 author and poet (b. 1897)
• 1985 – David Byron, English singer-songwriter (Uriah Heep and Spice) (b. 1947)
• 1985 – Alberts Ozoliņš, Latvian weightlifter (b. 1896)
• 1986 – Laura Z. Hobson, American author (b. 1900)
• 1986 – Olof Palme, Swedish politician, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
• 1987 – Stephen Tennant, English author (b. 1906)
• 1991 – Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)
• 1991 – Wassily Hoeffding, American statistician (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, screenwriter, and producer (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)
• 2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (b. 1926)
• 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Dinos Dimopoulos, Greek director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• 2003 – Rudolf Kingslake, English engineer (b. 1903)
• 2003 – Roger Needham, English computer scientist (b. 1935)
• 2003 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadorian general and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (b. 1982)
• 2005 – Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (The Searchers) (b. 1941)
• 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
• 2006 – John S. Lesmeister, American politician (b. 1955)
• 2007 – Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-English businessman, founded the Forte Group (b. 1908)
• 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (b. 1917)
• 2007 – Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (b. 1904)
• 2008 – Mike Smith, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (The Dave Clark Five) (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio host (b. 1918)
• 2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Peter J. Gomes, American preacher and theologian (b. 1942)
• 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Jim Green, American-Canadian politician (b. 1943)
• 2012 – Bai Jing, Chinese actress (b. 1983)
• 2013 – DJ Ajax, Australian DJ and producer (b. 1971)
• 2013 – Theo Bos, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1965)
• 2013 – Daniel Darc, French singer-songwriter (Taxi Girl) (b. 1959)
• 2013 – Yo-Yo Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Donald A. Glaser, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Jean Marcel Honoré, French cardinal (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Neil McCorkell, English cricketer (b. 1912)
• 2013 – Moon Mullen, American baseball and basketball player (b. 1917)
• 2013 – Seamus O'Connell, English footballer (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Bruce Reynolds, English criminal (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Armando Trovajoli, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1917)
• 2013 – Yulian Voronovskyi, Ukrainian bishop (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Robert Weimar, German psychologist (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abercius (martyr)
  • Hilarius
  • Mar Abba
  • Oswald of Worcester
  • Romanus of Condat
  • Rufinus
  • February 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish Culture. (Finland)
• National Science Day (India)
• Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan)
• Teachers' Day (Arab countries)
• The third day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá'í Faith)
• Rare Disease Day (last day of February)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to February 28.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada