Historical Events on February 28

  • 1838: Robert Nelson declares the independence of what would eventually become Quebec.
  • 1844: Six people are killed – including two U.S Cabinet members – when a gun on the USS Princeton explodes while it’s on the Potomac River.
  • 1847: The U.S wins the Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican American War. This war would set the stage for the eventual capture of Chihuahua.
  • 1885: The American Telephone & Telegraph Company becomes a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone.
  • 1893: The first U.S battleship – the USS Indiana – is launched on this day.
  • 1940: The first televised game of basketball occurs on this day. The game is between the University of Pittsburgh and Fordham University at Madison Square Garden.
  • 1942: The USS Houston sinks during the Battle of Sunda Strait. Almost 700 crew members are killed.
  • 1953: Francis Crick and James Watson announce that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA.
  • 1954: The first color TV sets that use the NTSC standard are offered to the general public for sale.
  • 1983: Almost 106 million viewers watch the final episode of M.A.S.H.
  • 1991: The Gulf War ends on this day.
  • 1993: The Branch Davidian Church in Waco, Texas is raided by the ATF. 4 ATF agents and 5 Branch Davidians will die during the raid. This is the beginning of a fifty-one day standoff.

Famous Birthdays on February 28

  • American physician and Nobel Prize laureate, Philip Showalter Hench is born in 1896.
  • American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Linus Pauling is born in 1901.
  • American gangster Bugsy Siegel is born in 1906.
  • American actress Billie Bird is born in 1908.
  • Brazilian-English biologist and Nobel Prize laureate, Peter Medawar is born in 1915.
  • American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Leon Cooper is born in 1930.
  • American actor Gavin MacLeod is born in 1931.
  • American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Steven Chu is born in 1948.
  • American actress Bernadette Peters is born in 1948.
  • American economist and Nobel Prize laureate, Paul Krugman is born in 1953.