What are the important events that happened on February 28? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
February 28: Facts & Myths About This Day
February 28 is the 59th day of the year 2017 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is February 15, 2017 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,488,240,000 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘pentacontaenneagon’ day.
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Pisces is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 356 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 1,530 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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February 28 Historical 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
- 1638 –The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
- 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.
- 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.)
- 1900 –The Second Boer War: The 118-day “Siege of Ladysmith” is lifted.
- 1940 –Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
- 1954 –The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
- 1997 –An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people
- 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.
Who were born on February 28?
- 1824 –Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)
- 1851 –Samuel W. McCall, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
- 1894 –Ben Hecht, American playwright (d. 1964)
- 1922 –Joyce Howard, British film actress (d. 2010)
- 1929 –Joseph Rouleau, Canadian bass opera singer
- 1953 –Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian racing driver
- 1957 –John Turturro, American actor
- 1973 –Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 –Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
- 1988 –Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player
Who died on February 28?
- 1621 –Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
- 1869 –Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)
- 1935 –Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian composer (b. 1847).
- 1936 –Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)
- 1959 –Maxwell Anderson, American playwright and film writer (b. 1888)
- 1978 –Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)
- 1986 –Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
- 2002 –Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2003 –Chris Brasher, English athlete (b. 1928)
- 2004 –Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
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