The February 28 reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

February 28

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

Jan - February - Mar
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30
2004 day arrangement All days

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances

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 the 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. The California left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California after the 4 month 21 day journey.
• 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.
• 1933 - The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in 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 - Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
• 1974 - After seven years, the United States and Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations.
• 1975 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
• 1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history.
• 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 on federal firearms violations. Four agents and six Davidians die in the raid and a 51-day standoff begins.
• 1997 - North Hollywood Shootout Possibly the most violent shootout in modern American police history.
• 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 Northwest area of the United States. 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)
• 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)
• 1915 - Zero Mostel, actor (d. 1977)
• 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
• 1945 - Bubba Smith, Football Hall of Famer
• 1946 - Robin Cook, British politician
• 1948 - Mike Figgis, director, writer, composer
• 1948 - Bernadette Peters, actress, singer
• 1948 - Mercedes Ruehl, actress
• 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

• 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)
• 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, german violinist (b. 1920)

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.

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