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
- 1784 –John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1959 –Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object to achieve a polar orbit, is launched.
- 1975 –A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
- 1991 –The first Gulf War ends.
- 1998 –Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
- 2005 –A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
Who were born on February 28?
- 1612 –John Pearson, English theologian (d. 1686)
- 1724 –George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal (d. 1807)
- 1895 –Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and film director (d. 1974)
- 1901 –Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
- 1912 –Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
- 1923 –Charles Durning, American actor
- 1929 –Hayden Fry, American football coach
- 1944 –Sepp Maier, German footballer
- 1979 –Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player
- 1985 –Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
Who died on February 28?
- 1510 –Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
- 1967 –Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
- 1974 –Bobby Bloom, American singer/songwriter (b. 1946)
- 1977 –Eddie ‘Rochester’Anderson, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 –Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)
- 1986 –Laura Z. Hobson, American novelist (b. 1900)
- 1998 –Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
- 2002 –Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
- 2007 –Billy Thorpe, Australian musician (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (b. 1946)
- 2009 –Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster (b. 1918)
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