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). In a common year this is the last day of February, and the next day is March 1. In Leap years, February 28 is followed by February 29. In some countries, people born on that date, legally reach the ages of 18 and 21 on February 28.
Events
Up to 1900
- 468 – Pope Hilarius
- 1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230)
- 1326 – Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)
- 1453 - Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
- 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer
- 1525 – Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler
- 1572 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)
- 1621 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)
- 1648 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (b. 1577)
- 1836 – Friedrich August Grotefend, German philologist (b. 1798)
- 1844 - Thomas Walker Gilmer, Governor of Virginia (b. 1802)
- 1844 - Abel P. Upshur, American politician (b. 1790)
- 1869 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)
- 1891 - George Hearst, American politician and businessman (b. 1820)
1901 – 2000
- 1916 – Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)
- 1925 – Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)
- 1926 - Alphonse Borrelly, French astronomer (b. 1842)
- 1932 - Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)
- 1935 - Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer and conductor (b. 1847)
- 1936 - Kamala Nehru, wife of Jawaharlal Nehru (b. 1899)
- 1936 – Charles Nicolle, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1928 (b. 1866)
- 1941 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)
- 1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)
- 1956 - Emile Buisson, French gangster (b. 1902)
- 1959 - Maxwell Anderson, American playwright (b. 1888)
- 1963 – Rajendra Prasad, first President of India (b. 1884)
- 1965 - Adolf Scharf, President of Austria (b. 1890)
- 1967 – Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)
- 1974 - Bobby Bloom, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
- 1985 – David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)
- 1986 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (murdered) (b. 1927)
- 1986 – Laura Z. Hobson, American writer (b. 1900)
- 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1909)
- 1993 - Ishiro Honda, Japanese director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1911)
- 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)
- 1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)
From 2001
- 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Fidel Sanchez Hernandez, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
- 2003 - Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist (b. 1928)
- 2004 - Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Carmen Laforet, Spanish writer (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist (b. 1921)
- 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress (b. 1921)
- 2013 - Bruce Reynolds, British criminal (b. 1931)
- 2013 - Donald A. Glaser, American physicist (b. 1926)
- 2014 - Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch writer (b. 1935)
- 2014 - Michio Mado, Japanese poet (b. 1909)
- 2015 - Mykhailo Chechetov, Ukrainian-Russian politician (b. 1953)
- 2015 - Anthony Mason, American basketball player (b. 1966)
- 2015 - Yasar Kemal, Turkish author (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Frank Kelly, Irish actor (b. 1938)
- 2016 - George Kennedy, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2017 - Leone di Lernia, Italian radio host, singer, actor and composer (b. 1938)
- 2017 - Paul Kangas, American broadcaster (b. 1937)
- 2017 - Peter Mathews, Irish politician (b. 1951)
- 2017 - Vladimir Petrov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1947)
- 2017 - Elisabeth Waldheim, Austrian political figure (b. 1922)
- 2018 - Barry Crimmins, American comedian and social activist (b. 1953)
- 2018 - Rogelio Guerra, Mexican actor (b. 1936)
- 2018 - Jayendra Saraswathi, Indian guru (b. 1935)
- 2019 - André Previn, German-American pianist, comductor and composer (b. 1929)
Births
1901 – 1950
- 1901 – Linus Pauling, American scientist (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American movie director (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
- 1907 - Milton Caniff, American comic creator (d. 1988)
- 1909 – Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Clara Petacci, mistress to Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
- 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist (d. 1987)
- 1916 – Svend Asmussen, Danish jazz violinist (d. 2017)
- 1919 - Brian Urquhart, British World War II veteran and author
- 1920 - Jadwiga Pilsudska, Polish pilot (d. 2014)
- 1921 - Saul Zaentz, American movie producer (d. 2014)
- 1921 - Willi Sitte, German artist (d. 2013)
- 1922 - Yuri Lotman, Soviet philologist (d. 1993)
- 1923 - Charles Durning, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1924 - Robert A. Roe, American diplomat (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet-born American defector, writer and daughter of Joseph Stalin (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect
- 1930 - Leon Cooper, American physicist
- 1930 - Gavin MacLeod, American actor
- 1930 – Marty Grosz, American musician
- 1931 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach (d. 2015)
- 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist
- 1940 – Aldo Andretti, Italian-born racing driver
- 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-born racing driver
- 1940 - Barry Fantoni, English author, comic strip cartoonist and jazz musician
- 1941 - Tristan Garel-Jones, Baron Garel-Jones, British politician
- 1941 – Suzanne Mubarak, former First Lady of Egypt
- 1942 – Brian Jones, English musician (Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
- 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
- 1942 - Frank Bonner, American actor
- 1943 - Charles Bernstein, American composer
- 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer
- 1944 - Storm Thorgerson, British graphic designer (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress
- 1944 - Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (d. 2014)
- 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
- 1947 – Stephanie Beacham, British actress
- 1947 – Togiola Tulafono, American Samoan politician
- 1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist
- 1948 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- 1948 - Alfred Sant, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
- 1950 - Frankie Kao, Taiwanese singer (d. 2014)
1951 – 1975
- 1951 - Roseanna Vitro, American jazz singer
- 1951 - Gustav Thöni, Italian skier
- 1952 - Frank Warren, English boxing manager and promoter
- 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist
- 1955 - Jimmy Calderwood, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1955 - Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian (d. 2022)
- 1956 – Tommy Remengesau, President of Palau (2001-2009 and 2013-2021)
- 1956 – Terry Leahy, British businessman
- 1957 - Jan Ceulemans, Belgian footballer
- 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, British chef
- 1957 – John Turturro, American actor
- 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)
- 1958 - Christina Lathan, German sprinter
- 1958 - Jeanne Mas, French singer-songwriter and actress
- 1958 - Jack Abramoff, American political lobbyist
- 1960 - Dorothy Stratten, American model and actress (d. 1980)
- 1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician
- 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish boxer
- 1963 - Claudio Chiapucci, Italian cyclist
- 1965 - Colum McCann, Irish writer
- 1966 - Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer
- 1966 - Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid
- 1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor
- 1969 - Murray Gold, British movie score composer
- 1969 - Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek, Austrian politician
- 1969 - U. Srinivas, Indian mandolin player and composer (d. 2014)
- 1970 – Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket
- 1972 - Rory Cochrane, American actor
- 1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Lee Carsley, Irish footballer
From 1976
- 1976 - Ali Larter, American actress
- 1977 - Jason Aldean, American country music singer
- 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
- 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player
- 1979 – Ivo Karlovic, Croatian tennis player
- 1979 - Andriy Nesmachniy, Ukrainian footballer
- 1979 - Michael Bisping, English mixed martial artist and actor
- 1979 – Primoz Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1980 - Sigurd Pettersen, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer
- 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
- 1981 – Florent Serra, French tennis player
- 1982 - Yelena Slesarenko, Russian high jumper
- 1984 – Fredrik Stoor, Swedish footballer
- 1984 – Karolina Kurkova, Czech supermodel
- 1984 - Ben Fagan, American musician
- 1985 – Jelena Jankovic, Serbian tennis player
- 1985 - Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 - Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer
- 1989 - Angelababy, Chinese model, actress and singer
- 1989 - Charles Jenkins, American basketball player
- 1989 - Danielle Haim, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 - Zhang Liyin, Chinese singer
- 1990 - Naomi Broady, English tennis player
- 1990 - Georgina Leonidas, English actress
- 1991 - Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
- 1993 - Emmelie de Forest, Danish singer
- 1993 - Marquis Teague, American basketball player
- 1994 - Jake Bugg, British singer-songwriter
- 2000 - Moise Kean, Italian footballer
- 2007 – Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco