History of Today in India – 28 February

Explore the history of today 28 February in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 28 February 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 28 February in World History

28 Feb 2024: Prime Minister Modi of India inaugurates the 2nd Space Port of India – Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport. Read more
28 Feb 2023: Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured. Read more
28 Feb 2013: Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so voluntarily since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Read more
28 Feb 2002: During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. Read more
28 Feb 2001: The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in southern Puget Sound, damages the Seattle metropolitan area. Read more
28 Feb 1997: An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths. Read more
28 Feb 1997: A Turkish military memorandum results in the collapse of the coalition government in Turkey. Read more
28 Feb 1993: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh, starting a 51-day standoff. Read more
28 Feb 1990: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-36. Read more
28 Feb 1986: Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. Read more
28 Feb 1985: The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers. Read more
28 Feb 1983: The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers. Read more
28 Feb 1975: In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. Read more
28 Feb 1974: The British election ends in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote share since 1929. Read more
28 Feb 1973: Aeroflot Flight X-167 crashes during takeoff from Semey Airport, killing 32 people. Read more
28 Feb 1969: The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Read more
28 Feb 1966: A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. Read more
28 Feb 1959: Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. Read more
28 Feb 1958: A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. Read more
28 Feb 1948: The 1948 Accra riots erupt following a march by ex-servicemen of the Gold Coast Regiment towards the seat of the colonial government at Christiansborg Castle, where they were fired upon by Superintendant Colin Imray, leading to the killing of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey and the arrest of the Big Six in the Gold Coast. Read more
28 Feb 1947: February 28 incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 18,000 – 28,000 civilians. Read more
28 Feb 1925: The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. Read more
28 Feb 1922: The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Read more
28 Feb 1844: A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who is also on board, is not injured from the blast. Read more
28 Feb 1835: Elias Lönnrot signs and dates the foreword to the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called Old Kalevala. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 28 February in World History

28 Feb 2005: Vitor Roque, Brazilian footballer Vitor Hugo Roque Ferreira, commonly known as Vitor Roque, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Palmeiras and the Brazil national team. Read more
28 Feb 2000: Moise Kean, Italian footballer Bioty Moise Kean is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Fiorentina and the Italy national team. Read more
28 Feb 2000: Josip Šutalo, Croatian footballer Josip Šutalo is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Eredivisie club Ajax. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he plays for the Croatia national team. Read more
28 Feb 1999: Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player Luka Dončić is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since his rookie season, he has been selected to six NBA All-Star games and five All-NBA First Team selections. He also represents the Slovenian national team. Nicknamed Luka Magic, he is broadly regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time. Read more
28 Feb 1998: Teun Koopmeiners, Dutch footballer Teun Koopmeiners is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the Netherlands national team. Read more
28 Feb 1997: Chris Lindstrom, American football player Christopher Paul Lindstrom is an American professional football guard for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Boston College Eagles. Read more
28 Feb 1996: Bobb'e J. Thompson, American actor Bobb'e Jacques Thompson is an American actor, rapper and comedian. Read more
28 Feb 1996: Jakub Vrána, Czech ice hockey player Jakub Vrána is a Czech professional ice hockey forward for Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Vrána was selected by the Washington Capitals in the first round, 13th overall, of the 2014 NHL entry draft, and has also played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators. Vrána won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Capitals in 2018. Read more
28 Feb 1996: Lucas Boyé, Argentinian footballer Lucas Ariel Boyé is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Alavés. Read more
28 Feb 1996: Axel Werner, Argentinian footballer Axel Wilfredo Werner is an Argentine professional footballer as a goalkeeper for Aldosivi. Read more
28 Feb 1995: Randy Arozarena, Cuban-Mexican baseball player Randy Lia Arozarena González is a Cuban and Mexican professional baseball left fielder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays. He has represented Mexico in senior international baseball competition, after previously playing for Cuban youth teams. Read more
28 Feb 1995: Madisen Beaty, American actress Madisen Beaty is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Daisy Fuller in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Doris Solstad in The Master (2012), Rebeccah Mulcahey in Other People (2016), Talya Banks in the ABC Family series The Fosters (2013–2018), Iris in The Magicians (2018–2019), and Patricia Krenwinkel in Aquarius (2015–16) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Read more
28 Feb 1995: Quinn Shephard, American actress Quinn Shephard is an American actress, writer, producer, director, and film editor. She played the roles of Donna Malone in the Christmas comedy Unaccompanied Minors and Morgan Sanders in the television series Hostages. In 2017, her feature film directorial debut, Blame, screened at several film festivals and earned critical attention. Read more
28 Feb 1994: Alex Caruso, American basketball player Alex Michael Caruso is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies, earning second-team all-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors as a senior in 2016. He is a two-time NBA champion, winning titles with the Lakers in 2020 and the Thunder in 2025. He is widely regarded by analysts and fellow players as one of the greatest and most versatile defenders of his generation. Known for his ability to seamlessly switch across multiple positions, Caruso has consistently been trusted with guarding elite frontcourt players in key games without disrupting team defensive structure. He earned two consecutive All-Defensive Team selections as a member of the Chicago Bulls in 2023 and 2024. Read more
28 Feb 1994: Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer Arkadiusz Krystian Milik is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus and the Poland national team. Read more
28 Feb 1993: Marquis Teague, American basketball player Marquis Devante Teague is an American professional basketball player who last played for Kolossos Rodou of the Greek Basket League. He was one of the top-rated high school basketball players in the class of 2011. Read more
28 Feb 1993: Éder Álvarez Balanta, Colombian footballer Éder Fabián Álvarez Balanta is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for América de Cali and the Colombia national team. River Plate former coach Ramón Díaz has compared Álvarez Balanta's talents to that of 1970s legend Daniel Passarella. Read more
28 Feb 1991: Sarah Bolger, Irish actress Sarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She starred in the films In America (2003), Stormbreaker (2006), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), The Moth Diaries (2011), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Emelie (2015), and A Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019), The Up and Comer (2025). On television, she portrayed Princess Mary Tudor in The Tudors (2008–2010), for which she won an IFTA award, and Princess Aurora in Once Upon a Time (2012–2015). Bolger also appeared on the series Into the Badlands (2015–2017) and starred on Mayans M.C. (2018–2023). Read more
28 Feb 1991: Ronalds Ķēniņš, Latvian ice hockey player Ronalds Ķēniņš is a Latvian professional ice hockey forward who currently plays for the Kyiv Capitals of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. He played 38 games for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 2015 and 2016. Read more
28 Feb 1990: Takayasu Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler Takayasu Akira is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 2005 and reached the top makuuchi division in 2011, the first wrestler born in the Heisei era to do so. His highest rank has been ōzeki. He wrestles for Tagonoura stable. He has been runner-up in a tournament nine times and has earned thirteen special prizes: six for Fighting Spirit, four for Outstanding Performance and three for Technique. He has won six gold stars for defeating yokozuna. After achieving 34 wins in the three tournaments from January to May 2017, he was officially promoted to ōzeki on May 31, 2017. He maintained the rank for a total of 15 tournaments. Read more
28 Feb 1990: Ryan Allen, American football player Ryan Allen is an American football coach and former punter who is a special teams player development and specialist coach for the Clemson Tigers. He played seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is best known for being the starting punter for the New England Patriots for six seasons, during which he won three Super Bowls and was their longest serving starting punter of the Bill Belichick era. Allen played college football for the Oregon State Beavers and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. He won twice the Ray Guy Award in 2011 and 2012, and also was a unanimous All-American in 2012. Allen was signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2013. Read more
28 Feb 1990: Sebastian Rudy, German footballer Sebastian Rudy is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or defender. He began his senior career at VfB Stuttgart in 2008 before moving to TSG Hoffenheim in 2010, where he spent a majority of his playing career. Rudy transferred to Bayern Munich in 2017 and won the Bundesliga during a one-year spell with the club. He moved to Schalke 04 in 2018, before returning to Hoffenheim on a loan in 2019 and a permanent transfer in 2021. Rudy retired from professional football in 2023. He currently plays for German amateur team SG Dilsberg. Read more
28 Feb 1989: Carlos Dunlap, American football player Carlos Dunlap is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators, who won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game. He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft. Read more
28 Feb 1989: Charles Jenkins, American basketball player Charles T. Jenkins is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 2011 NBA draft after finishing his four-year college career with the Hofstra Pride. In addition to being a citizen of the United States, Jenkins also has Serbian citizenship. Read more
28 Feb 1988: Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player Albertín Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz is a Cuban-born American professional baseball relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Pittsburgh Pirates and in the Cuban National Series for Holguín. Chapman bats and throws left-handed, and is nicknamed "the Cuban Missile", due to his high fastball velocity. A member of the 300 save club, Chapman is the all-time leader in strikeouts for left-handed relievers. Read more
28 Feb 1987: Akito, Japanese professional wrestler Akito Nishigaki is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Akito . He is working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). Read more
28 Feb 1987: Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer Antonio Candreva is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder or right winger. Read more
28 Feb 1987: Michelle Horn, American actress Michelle Horn is an American actress. She is best known for her voice acting role as young Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Read more
28 Feb 1987: Josh McRoberts, American basketball player Joshua Scott McRoberts is an American former professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). McRoberts, a 6-foot-10-inch (2.08 m) power forward, played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. He was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 37th overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Read more
28 Feb 1985: Tim Bresnan, English cricketer Timothy Thomas Bresnan is an English former first-class cricketer, who last played for Warwickshire. He played as a fast-medium bowler who had ability with the bat. He was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. Read more
28 Feb 1985: Diego, Brazilian footballer Diego Ribas da Cunha, commonly known as just Diego or Diego Ribas, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
28 Feb 1985: Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player Jelena Janković is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 18 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2008. Janković won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles and two doubles titles, including the 2007 Wimbledon mixed-doubles title partnering Jamie Murray. Her career-best major performance in singles was a runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open. Read more
28 Feb 1984: Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress Karolína Kurková is a Czech model known for her work as a former Victoria's Secret Angel and Vogue cover star. Mario Testino praised the "proportions of her body and her face, as well as her energy level", which he said "ma[de] her a model who could fit almost into any moment". Vogue editor Anna Wintour called her the "next supermodel". Read more
28 Feb 1984: Ali Marhyar, French actor, film director and screenwriter Ali Marhyar is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. He is known for his roles in films such as 18 Years Old and Rising (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and As Above, So Below (2014). On television, he co-created, wrote and starred in Casting(s) (2013–2015), and had recurring roles in Candice Renoir (2015–2022), and Family Business (2019–2020). In 2023, Marhyar released his feature directorial debut, Like a Prince. Read more
28 Feb 1982: Isabel Mendes Lopes, Portuguese politician Isabel Rendeiro Marques Mendes Lopes is a Portuguese civil engineer, politician and member of the Assembly of the Republic, the national legislature of Portugal. A member of the LIVRE party, she has represented Lisbon since March 2024. Read more
28 Feb 1982: Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model and actress Natalia Mikhailovna Vodianova, nicknamed Supernova, is a Russian fashion model and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Read more
28 Feb 1981: Brian Bannister, American baseball player and scout Brian Patrick Bannister is an American director of pitching for the Chicago White Sox. He is a former professional baseball starting pitcher who played for the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2006 through 2010. He played college baseball as a walk-on for the University of Southern California. Bannister was selected by the Mets in the seventh round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft. He previously served as assistant pitching coach and vice president of pitching development for the Boston Red Sox. Read more
28 Feb 1980: Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer Pascal Bosschaart is a Dutch football coach and former player. As a player, he won the KNVB Cup twice with Utrecht, before playing for Feyenoord, ADO Den Haag and Sydney FC. After his playing career, he transitioned into coaching and became interim coach at Cambuur and Feyenoord. Read more
28 Feb 1980: Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen is a Danish former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After starting his career with Holbæk, he played for a number of European clubs, winning the Danish Superliga championship with Copenhagen, the German DFB-Ligapokal trophy with Schalke 04, and the European UEFA Cup with Spanish team Sevilla, later also playing for Italian Serie A club Juventus, as well as Premier League side Liverpool, French side Evian, and Dutch side Ajax. Read more
28 Feb 1980: Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player Tayshaun Durell Prince is an American professional basketball executive and former player for the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) small forward graduated from Dominguez High School before playing college basketball for the University of Kentucky. He was drafted 23rd overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2002 NBA draft and went on to win a championship with the team in 2004. Read more
28 Feb 1979: Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships in the open-wheel racing series-sanctioned Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007. Later he competed at the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2021. He also entered 27 races in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008 and the start of 2009. Read more
28 Feb 1979: Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player Ivo Karlović is a Croatian former professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm makes him the joint-tallest ranked tennis player in history. He won eight ATP Tour singles titles between 2007 and 2016. He was a serve-and-volleyer and officially held the record for the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, measured at 251 km/h (156 mph), before being officially surpassed by John Isner in 2016. He was considered one of the best servers on tour, and held the record for career aces from 1991 onwards with 13,728 before the record was broken by Isner on July 1 2022. This makes him one of only five players since 1991 to surpass 10,000 aces. His height enabled him to serve with high speed and unique trajectory. Read more
28 Feb 1978: Geoffrey Arend, American actor Geoffrey Rashid Arend, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ethan Gross on the ABC drama series Body of Proof, Matt Mahoney on the CBS political drama series Madam Secretary, and a young stoner in Super Troopers. Read more
28 Feb 1978: Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier Benjamin Raich is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. With 14 medals won at Winter Olympics and World Championships, 36 World Cup race victories, one first place and five second places in the World Cup overall ranking, three victories of the slalom World Cup, three victories of the combined World Cup, two victories of the giant slalom World Cup and the highest score of career World Cup points, he is considered among the best alpine racers in World Cup history. Read more
28 Feb 1978: Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player Jamaal Lee Tinsley is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Tinsley played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones. Following his senior year, he was drafted by the Vancouver Grizzlies with the 27th pick of the 2001 NBA draft and was immediately dealt to the Atlanta Hawks, and then to the Indiana Pacers on draft night. Tinsley played 11 seasons in the NBA, primarily with the Pacers, as well as the Grizzlies and Jazz. Read more
28 Feb 1978: Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player Mariano Zabaleta is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He had an unusual but effective service motion. His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay. Zabaleta's career highlights include reaching the quarter-finals of the 2001 US Open and the final of the 1999 Hamburg Masters. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21. Read more
28 Feb 1977: Jason Aldean, American singer-songwriter Jason Aldine Williams, known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, a record label for which he has released eleven albums and 40 singles. His 2010 album, My Kinda Party, is certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His 2012 album Night Train is certified double-platinum, while his 2005 self-titled debut, 2007 album Relentless, 2009 album Wide Open, and 2014 album Old Boots, New Dirt are all certified platinum. Aldean has received five Grammy Award nominations throughout his career, twice for Best Country Album. Read more
28 Feb 1977: Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler Lance Hoyt, better known by his ring name Lance Archer, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where is a member of The Don Callis Family and one-half of The Murder Machines with Brian Cage. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known for his time with WWE as Vance Archer, and Impact Wrestling (TNA) under his real name and as Lance Rock. Read more
28 Feb 1976: Francisco Elson, Dutch basketball player Francisco Marinho Robby Elson is a Dutch former professional basketball player. Elson was the seventh Dutch player to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Elson served as the captain of the Netherlands national basketball team in international basketball, as he led the team in several EuroBasket qualifying rounds. He was the first Dutch player to become an NBA champion, doing so with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007. Read more
28 Feb 1976: Ali Larter, American actress and model Alison Elizabeth Larter, is an American actress and former model. She portrayed fictional model Allegra Coleman in a 1996 Esquire magazine hoax and took on guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s. Her film debut in Varsity Blues (1999) was followed by a role in the horror film House on Haunted Hill (1999). She portrayed Clear Rivers in the Final Destination franchise (2000–2003) establishing her as a scream queen. Read more
28 Feb 1975: Mike Rucker, American football player Michael Dean Rucker is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and was selected by the Panthers in the second round of the 1999 NFL draft. Read more
28 Feb 1974: Lee Carsley, English-Irish footballer and manager Lee Kevin Carsley is a professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the England national under-21 football team. Read more
28 Feb 1974: Alexander Zickler, German footballer and manager Alexander Zickler is a German professional football coach and a former player who played as a striker. Read more
28 Feb 1973: Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player Eric Bryan Lindros is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for the Oshawa Generals prior to being chosen first overall in the 1991 NHL entry draft by the Quebec Nordiques. He refused to play for the Nordiques and was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in June 1992 for a package of players and draft picks including Peter Forsberg. During his OHL career, Lindros led the Generals to a Memorial Cup victory in 1990. Prior to being drafted in 1991, Lindros captured the Red Tilson Trophy as the Most Outstanding Player in the OHL, and also was named the CHL Player of the Year. Read more
28 Feb 1973: Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver Nicolas Minassian is a French professional racing driver of Armenian descent. Read more
28 Feb 1973: Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler Masato Tanaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in the United States where he was a one-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion. He is currently splitting his time wrestling for both Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is overall a ten-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions. Read more
28 Feb 1972: Rory Cochrane, American actor Rory Cochrane is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in Dazed and Confused, Lucas in Empire Records, Lee Schatz in Argo, Freck in A Scanner Darkly, and Tim Speedle in CSI: Miami. Read more
28 Feb 1972: Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor and screenwriter Ville Juhana Haapasalo is a Finnish stage and film actor who has worked in Finland and Russia. His acting career started in 1995, after he finished his studies in St. Petersburg. In 2003, he was honored with the State Prize of the Russian Federation for his role of Veikko in the film The Cuckoo directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin. Read more
28 Feb 1971: Junya Nakano, Japanese pianist and composer Junya Nakano is a Japanese video game composer. After working for Konami in the early 1990s, he was employed by Squaresoft and then Square Enix from 1995 to 2009. He is best known for scoring Threads of Fate and co-composing Final Fantasy X for Squaresoft, arranging for Dawn of Mana and the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV for Square Enix, and scoring arcade video games such as X-Men and Mystic Warriors for Konami. Nakano has collaborated with Masashi Hamauzu on a number of games. Read more
28 Feb 1971: Tasha Smith, American actress, director, and producer Tasha Smith is an American actress and director. She began her career in a starring role on the NBC comedy series Boston Common (1996–97), and later appeared in numerous movies and television series. Read more
28 Feb 1970: Daniel Brochu, Canadian actor Daniel Brochu is a Canadian actor. Read more
28 Feb 1970: Daniel Handler, American author, musician, screenwriter, and producer Daniel Handler is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions, published under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The former was adapted into a film in 2004, as well as a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019. Read more
28 Feb 1970: Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner Noureddine Morceli is a retired Algerian middle-distance runner. The winner of the 1500 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Morceli won three straight gold medals at that distance at the World Championships in Athletics. He set world records in the 1500 m, mile, 2000m, and 3000 metres. One time during his career, he held 6 world records at the same time. Read more
28 Feb 1969: Sean Farrel, English footballer Sean Paul Farrell is an English former professional footballer. Read more
28 Feb 1969: Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver Robert Franklin "Butch" Leitzinger is an American professional racing driver. He is best known as an ALMS driver with Dyson Racing, but he has also driven for a variety of other teams and race series. He won the IMSA Pro WSC Championship driver's titles in both 1997 and 1998 while driving for Dyson Racing. Leitzinger is also a three time winner of the Daytona 24 Hours race, having won in 1994, 1997 and 1999. Read more
28 Feb 1969: Robert Sean Leonard, American actor Robert Lawrence Leonard, known as Robert Sean Leonard, is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Neil Perry in the drama film Dead Poets Society (1989) and Dr. James Wilson in the medical drama series House (2004–2012). Read more
28 Feb 1969: Pat Monahan, American singer-songwriter and actor Patrick Monahan is an American musician. He is best known as the lead singer and sole constant member of the band Train. He has also collaborated with multiple artists and has recorded a solo album, Last of Seven. Read more
28 Feb 1967: Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager Colin Terence Cooper is an English football manager and former professional footballer. Read more
28 Feb 1967: Seth Rudetsky, American musician, actor, writer, and radio host Seth Dennis Rudetsky is an American musician, actor, writer and radio host. He currently is the host of Seth's Big Fat Broadway and Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's On Broadway. The show focuses on Rudetsky's knowledge of Broadway theatre history and trivia. Read more
28 Feb 1966: Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Read more
28 Feb 1966: Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid Jovan Vraniškovski, Metropolitan Jovan of Kruševo and Demir Hisar (town), of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, formerly known as Jovan VI, Metropolitan of Skopje and the Archbishop of Ohrid, is the former head of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric (2005–2023). Read more
28 Feb 1965: Mikko Mäkelä, Finnish ice hockey player and coach Mikko Matti Mäkelä is a Finnish former professional ice hockey left wing. Known as the "Flying Finn", he was drafted in the fourth round, 65th overall, by the New York Islanders in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. Read more
28 Feb 1963: Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist Claudio Chiappucci is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 1992. Read more
28 Feb 1961: Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film Stony Island, and in 1981 starred in the science fantasy film Quest for Fire, for which she received the Genie Award for Best Actress. Read more
28 Feb 1961: Barry McGuigan, Irish-British boxer Finbar Patrick "Barry" McGuigan MBE is an Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Clones, County Monaghan, McGuigan represented both Northern Ireland and Ireland as an amateur. Nicknamed The Clones Cyclone, he held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986. At regional level, he also held the British and European featherweight titles between 1983 and 1985. In 1985, McGuigan became BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 2005, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Read more
28 Feb 1958: Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican criminal and narcotics trafficker (died 2012) José Manuel Torres Félix, also known as El M1, EL 14, and/or El Ondeado, was a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of
the Sinaloa Cartel. Read more
28 Feb 1958: Mark Pavelich, American ice hockey player (died 2021) Mark Thomas Pavelich was an American professional ice hockey forward who played 355 regular season games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars, and San Jose Sharks between 1981 and 1991. Pavelich was a member of the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal. Read more
28 Feb 1958: David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (died 2010) David Robertson Ross was a Scottish author and historian. He published eight books, most of them mixing elements of Scottish history and travel literature. Read more
28 Feb 1957: Ainsley Harriott, English chef and television presenter Ainsley Denzil Dubriel Harriott is an English chef and television presenter. He is known for his BBC cooking game shows Can't Cook, Won't Cook and Ready Steady Cook. Read more
28 Feb 1957: Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster Ian David Stockley Smith is a New Zealand cricket and rugby commentator and former cricketer. He played as a wicket-keeper for New Zealand throughout the 1980s and part of the 1990s. Read more
28 Feb 1957: John Turturro, American actor and director John Michael Turturro is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his varied roles in independent films, as well as his frequent collaborations with the Coen brothers and Spike Lee. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. Read more
28 Feb 1957: Cindy Wilson, American singer-songwriter Cynthia Leigh Wilson is an American musician and one of the vocalists, songwriters and founding members of new wave rock band the B-52s. She is noted for her distinctive contralto voice and also plays percussion during live shows. She is the younger sister of the late guitarist Ricky Wilson (1953–1985), who was also a founding member of the band. Read more
28 Feb 1956: Francis Hughes, Irish Republican, hunger striker (died 1981) Francis Joseph Sean Hughes was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his arrest following a shoot-out with the British Army in which a British soldier was killed. At his trial, he was sentenced to a total of 83 years' imprisonment; he died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike in HM Prison Maze. Hughes was one of 22 Irish republicans who died on hunger-strike between 1917 and 1981. Read more
28 Feb 1956: Terry Leahy, English businessman Sir Terence Patrick Leahy is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, the largest British retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. In 2011, he became a senior advisor at private equity company Clayton Dubilier & Rice. Read more
28 Feb 1955: Adrian Dantley, American basketball player and coach Adrian Delano Dantley nicknamed A.D. is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, holds two-time All-NBA honours, and is a two-time NBA scoring champion. Dantley finished ninth on the all-time NBA scoring list at the time of his retirement and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. He served as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA from 2003 to 2011. He played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Read more
28 Feb 1955: Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer (died 2022) Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was best known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often controversial sense of humor. His numerous roles in film and television included voicing Iago in The Walt Disney Company's Aladdin franchise until his death in 2022, Mister Mxyzptlk in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Action, Digit LeBoid in PBS Kids' Cyberchase until his death, Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Aflac duck mascot before he was replaced by Daniel McKeague in 2011. He also played Mr. Peabody in the Problem Child franchise, the only actor in the series to reprise his role in all three films as well as the animated television series. Read more
28 Feb 1954: Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster Brian Harold Billick is an American former football coach and commentator. He was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 1994 to 1998; the team broke the NFL scoring record in the 1998 season. He then spent nine seasons as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens from January 19, 1999, to December 31, 2007. Read more
28 Feb 1953: Luther Burden, American basketball player (died 2015) Luther Dean "Ticky" Burden was an American NBA and ABA basketball player. Read more
28 Feb 1953: Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He was a columnist for The New York Times from 2000 to 2024. In 2008, Krugman was the sole winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to new trade theory and new economic geography. The Prize Committee cited Krugman's work explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic distribution of economic activity, by examining the effects of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services. Read more
28 Feb 1953: Ricky Steamboat, American professional wrestler Richard Henry Blood Sr., better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation. Steamboat is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential professional wrestlers of all time. Read more
28 Feb 1952: William Finn, American composer and lyricist (died 2025) William Alan Finn was an American composer and lyricist. He was best known for his musicals, which include Falsettos, for which he won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical, A New Brain (1998), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005). Read more
28 Feb 1949: Zoia Ceaușescu, Romanian mathematician, daughter of Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena Ceaușescu (died 2006) Zoia Ceaușescu was a Romanian mathematician, the daughter of Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena and sister of Nicu Ceaușescu and Valentin Ceaușescu. She was also known as Tovarășa Zoia. Read more
28 Feb 1949: Ilene Graff, American actress and singer Ilene Graff is an American actress and singer. Read more
28 Feb 1948: Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate Steven Chu is an American physicist and former government official. He is a Nobel laureate and was the 12th U.S. secretary of energy. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University. He is known for his research at the University of California, Berkeley, and his research at Bell Laboratories and Stanford University regarding the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, for which he shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips. Read more
28 Feb 1948: Mike Figgis, English film director, screenwriter, and composer Michael Figgis is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on Leaving Las Vegas (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers' online community Shooting People. Read more
28 Feb 1948: Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author Bernadette Peters is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards. Read more
28 Feb 1948: Mercedes Ruehl, American actress Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American screen, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. Read more
28 Feb 1947: Stephanie Beacham, English actress Stephanie Beacham is an English actress. In a career spanning six decades, she has a wide number of credits to her name on film, television, stage and radio in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Read more
28 Feb 1947: Salvador Flamenco, Salvadoran footballer Salvador Flamenco Cabezas is a retired footballer from El Salvador. Read more
28 Feb 1946: Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (died 2005) Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001, when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003. Read more
28 Feb 1946: Syreeta Wright, American singer-songwriter (died 2004) Syreeta Wright, known as Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston. Read more
28 Feb 1945: Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (died 2011) Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith was an American professional football defensive end and actor. Smith played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers. Read more
28 Feb 1944: Kelly Bishop, American actress Kelly Bishop is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series Gilmore Girls and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Houseman, in the film Dirty Dancing. Bishop originated the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line for which she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2023, she starred as Mrs. Ivey in The Watchful Eye (2023). Read more
28 Feb 1944: Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (died 2014) Edward Leonard Greenspan, was one of Canada's most famous defence lawyers, and a prolific author of legal volumes. His fame was owed to numerous high-profile clients and to his national exposure on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series Scales of Justice (1982–94). Read more
28 Feb 1944: Sepp Maier, German footballer and manager Josef Dieter "Sepp" Maier is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Bayern Munich and the West Germany national team. Regarded as one of football's greatest goalkeepers, he was nicknamed "Die Katze von Anzing" for his fast reflexes, agility, flexibility, speed, and consistency. With 709 matches played across seventeen seasons, he was Bayern's all-time record appearance holder, until he was surpassed by Thomas Müller in 2024. Read more
28 Feb 1944: Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer (died 2013) Storm Elvin Thorgerson was an English art director and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other art for 10cc, the Alan Parsons Project, Black Sabbath, Catherine Wheel, the Cranberries, Led Zeppelin, the Mars Volta, Muse, and Phish. Read more
28 Feb 1943: Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (died 1998) Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites. Read more
28 Feb 1942: Frank Bonner, American actor and television director (died 2021) Frank Woodrow Boers Jr. was an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as sales manager Herb Tarlek on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Read more
28 Feb 1942: Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 1969) Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was an English musician and one of the founders of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones recordings and in concerts. Read more
28 Feb 1942: Oliviero Toscani, Italian photographer (died 2025) Oliviero Toscani was an Italian photographer, best-known worldwide for designing controversial advertising campaigns for Italian brand Benetton from 1982 to 2000. Read more
28 Feb 1942: Dino Zoff, Italian footballer Dino Zoff is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he lifted as captain of the Italy national team in the 1982 tournament, at the age of 40 years, 4 months and 13 days. He also won the award for best goalkeeper of the tournament and was elected to the team of the tournament for his performances, keeping two clean-sheets, an honour he also received after winning the 1968 European Championship on home soil. Zoff is the only Italian player to have won both the World Cup and the European Championship. He also achieved great club success with Juventus, winning six Serie A titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and a UEFA Cup, also reaching two European Champions' Cup finals in the 1972–73 and 1982–83 seasons, as well as finishing second in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup final. Read more
28 Feb 1941: Alice Brock, American artist, author and restaurateur (died 2024) Alice May Brock was an American artist, author and restauranteur. A resident of Massachusetts for her entire adult life, Brock owned and operated three restaurants in the Berkshires—The Back Room, Take-Out Alice, and Alice's at Avaloch—in succession between 1965 and 1979. The first of these was the subject of Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant", which in turn inspired the 1969 film. Read more
28 Feb 1941: Arthur Ngirakelsong, 2nd Chief Justice of Palau (died 2022) Arthur Ngirakelsong was a Palauan jurist who served as the chief justice of Palau from 1992 to 2020. Ngirakelsong was born on December 28, 1941. He obtained a masters degree from the University of Hawaiʻi in 1967. In 1974, he became one of the first Micronesians to earn a Juris Doctor when he graduated from Rutgers Law School. He worked as a staff attorney for the Micronesian Constitutional Convention, where he was one of the main drafters of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia, and legal counsel for the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. Read more
28 Feb 1940: Mario Andretti, Italian-American racing driver Mario Gabriele Andretti is an American former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1968 to 1982, and IndyCar from 1964 to 1994. Andretti won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1978 with Lotus, and won 12 Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Andretti won four IndyCar National Championship titles and the Indianapolis 500 in 1969; in stock car racing, he won the Daytona 500 in 1967. In endurance racing, Andretti is a three-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Read more
28 Feb 1939: Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Chee Tsui is an American physicist. He is currently serving as the Professor of Electrical Engineering, emeritus, at Princeton University. Tsui's areas of research include electrical properties of thin films and microstructures of semiconductors and solid-state physics. Read more
28 Feb 1939: Tommy Tune, American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer Thomas James Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read more
28 Feb 1937: Jeff Farrell, American swimmer Felix Jeffrey Farrell is a Hall of Fame American former competition swimmer, and a 1960 two-time Olympic gold medalist, where he became a world record-holder in two relay events. After the Olympics, he worked as a swim coach abroad, and in the 1980s returned to America, living in Santa Barbara, where he worked in real estate. While training with Santa Barbara Masters, he would break numerous world and national age group records as a Masters competitor between 1981 and 2011. Read more
28 Feb 1933: Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist and politician Rein Taagepera is an Estonian political scientist and former politician. Read more
28 Feb 1932: Don Francks, Canadian actor, singer, and jazz musician (died 2016) Don Harvey Francks, also known by his stage name Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, musician and singer. Read more
28 Feb 1932: Ernst Hinterseer, Austria retired alpine skier Ernst Hinterseer is a retired alpine skier from Austria. He participated in the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, placing sixth in the giant slalom. At the 1960 Winter Olympics he won a gold medal in the slalom, and bronze in the giant slalom. He was only a substitute for the slalom, and was trailing in fifth place after the first leg. Read more
28 Feb 1931: Peter Alliss, English golfer and sportscaster (died 2020) Peter Alliss was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, as lead golf analyst for the BBC and an analyst for ABC Sports, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of golf". In 2012 he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category. Read more
28 Feb 1931: Gavin MacLeod, American actor, Christian activist, and author (died 2021) Gavin MacLeod was an American actor best known for his roles as news writer Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and ship's captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's The Love Boat. After growing up Catholic, MacLeod became an evangelical Christian in 1984. His career, which spanned six decades, included work as a Christian television host, author, and guest on several talk, variety, and religious programs. Read more
28 Feb 1931: Len Newcombe, Welsh footballer and scout (died 1996) Bernard John Newcombe was a Welsh professional footballer who played in the Football League for Brentford and Fulham as an outside forward. He later returned to Fulham as a scout. Read more
28 Feb 1930: Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Leon N. Cooper was an American theoretical physicist and neuroscientist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on superconductivity. Cooper developed the concept of Cooper pairs and collaborated with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer to develop the BCS theory of conventional superconductivity. In neuroscience, Cooper co-developed the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity. Read more
28 Feb 1929: Hayden Fry, American football player and coach (died 2019) John Hayden Fry was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now known as the University of North Texas—from 1973 to 1978, and the University of Iowa from 1979 to 1998, compiling a career coaching record of 232–178–10. Fry played in college at Baylor University. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2003. Read more
28 Feb 1929: Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect and designer (died 2025) Frank Owen Gehry was a Canadian and American architect and designer known for his postmodern designs and use of unconventional forms and materials. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. His most famous works include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. These buildings are characterized by their sculptural, often undulating exteriors and innovative use of materials such as titanium and stainless steel. Read more
28 Feb 1929: John Montague, American-Irish poet and academic (died 2016) John Montague was an Irish poet. Born in the United States, he was raised in Ulster in the north of Ireland. He published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. He was one of the best-known Irish contemporary poets. In 1998 he became the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry. In 2010, he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur, France's highest civil award. Read more
28 Feb 1928: Tom Aldredge, American actor (died 2011) Thomas Ernest Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor. Read more
28 Feb 1928: Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (died 1976) Sir William Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a producer. Read more
28 Feb 1926: Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American writer, daughter of Joseph Stalin (died 2011) Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. In 1967 she became an international sensation when she defected to the United States and, in 1978, became a naturalized American citizen. From 1984 to 1986 she briefly returned to the Soviet Union and had her Soviet citizenship reinstated. She was Stalin's last surviving child. Read more
28 Feb 1925: Harry H. Corbett, Burmese-English actor (died 1982) Harry H. Corbett OBE was an English actor. He is best remembered for playing rag-and-bone man Harold Steptoe alongside Wilfrid Brambell in the long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son. His success on television led to appearances in comedy films including The Bargee (1964), Carry On Screaming! (1966) and Jabberwocky (1977). Read more
28 Feb 1924: Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (died 2014) Robert Aloysius Roe was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from November 4, 1969 to January 3, 1993. Read more
28 Feb 1923: Charles Durning, American actor (died 2012) Charles Edward Durning was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. He received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and nine Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2008, Durning was awarded with Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. His best-known films include The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Muppet Movie (1979), True Confessions (1981), Tootsie (1982), Dick Tracy (1990), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Prior to his acting career, Durning served in World War II and was decorated for valor in combat. Read more
28 Feb 1922: Radu Câmpeanu, Romanian politician (died 2016) Radu-Anton Câmpeanu was a Romanian politician who was also jurist and economist by profession, after graduating from the University of Bucharest (UB) in November 1945, specializing in constitutional right. During the interwar period and up until 1945, he was the leader of the National Liberal students' association at nationwide level. Read more
28 Feb 1921: Marah Halim Harahap, Indonesian military officer, Governor of North Sumatra (died 2015) Major General Marah Halim Harahap was an Indonesian general, politician, and governor. He was the Governor of North Sumatra from 1967 until 1978. Under his leadership, North Sumatra recovered from the 30 September Movement and organized an association football tournament with his name which was internationally recognized by FIFA. Read more
28 Feb 1920: Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish soldier, pilot, and architect (died 2014) Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska was a Polish pilot who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. She was one of two daughters of Józef Piłsudski. Read more
28 Feb 1919: Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls (died 2013) Alfred Marshall was an American businessman who founded Marshalls, a chain of department stores which specializes in overstocked, irregular and out-of-season name brand clothing sold at deeply discounted prices. He opened the original Marshalls in 1956 in Beverly, Massachusetts. Read more
28 Feb 1915: Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 1981) Ketti Frings was an American writer, playwright, and screenwriter who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958. Read more
28 Feb 1915: Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) Sir Peter Brian Medawar was a British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants. For his scientific works, he is regarded as the "father of transplantation". He is remembered for his wit both in person and in popular writings. Richard Dawkins referred to him as "the wittiest of all scientific writers"; Stephen Jay Gould as "the cleverest man I have ever known". Read more
28 Feb 1909: Stephen Spender, English author and poet (died 1995) Sir Stephen Harold Spender was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1965. Read more
28 Feb 1908: Billie Bird, American actress (died 2002) Billie Bird Sellen, better known professionally as Billie Bird, was an American character actress and comedian. She played Margie in Dear John (1988–1992). Read more
28 Feb 1907: Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (died 1988) Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist known for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips. Read more
28 Feb 1906: Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (died 1947) Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish-American mob, along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, the Italian-American Mafia, and the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate. Described as "handsome" and "charismatic," Siegel became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters. Read more
28 Feb 1903: Vincente Minnelli, American theatre and film director (died 1986) Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2025, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Read more
28 Feb 1901: Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994) Linus Carl Pauling was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time. For his scientific work, Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. For his peace activism, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962. He is one of five people to have won more than one Nobel Prize. Of these, he is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes, and one of two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields, the other being Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Read more
28 Feb 1898: Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish footballer (died 1969) Zeki Rıza Sporel was a Turkish football player and a politician. He plied his trade at the striker position for Fenerbahçe and the Turkey national football team. His career started in the Fenerbahçe youth teams until he was promoted to the senior team. Zeki spent his entire career with the club, setting numerous records. He was also a forerunner for Turkey, becoming the first player to score for the team. He is often cited as one of the best strikers in Turkish football history. He was also active in politics as he became a member of the Democrat Party in 1946. Read more
28 Feb 1896: Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) Philip Showalter Hench was an American physician. Hench, along with his Mayo Clinic co-worker Edward Calvin Kendall and Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for the discovery of the hormone cortisone, and its application for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The Nobel Committee bestowed the award for the trio's "discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects." Read more
28 Feb 1894: Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1964) Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films, including six Academy Award nominations and two wins. Read more
28 Feb 1887: William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter (died 1966) William Zorach was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the Arts in 1927. He was at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism. Read more
28 Feb 1884: Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1942) Ants Piip VR III/1 was an Estonian lawyer, diplomat and politician. Piip was the 1st Head of State of Estonia and the 5th Prime Minister of Estonia. Piip played a key role in internationalising the independence aspirations of Estonia during the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. Read more
28 Feb 1878: Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (died 1929) Pierre Joseph Louis Fatou was a French mathematician and astronomer. He is known for major contributions to several branches of analysis. The Fatou lemma and the Fatou set are named after him. Read more
28 Feb 1866: Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (died 1949) Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian poet, playwright, Classicist, and senior literary and dramatic theorist of the Russian Symbolist movement. He was also a philosopher, translator, and literary critic. Read more
28 Feb 1858: Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (died 1941) Olof Teodor "Tore" Svennberg was a Swedish actor and theatre director whose career spanned more than five decades. Read more
28 Feb 1848: Arthur Giry, French historian and academic (died 1899) Jean-Marie-Joseph-Arthur Giry was a French historian, noted for his studies of France in the Middle Ages. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 28 February in World History

28 Feb 2025: David Johansen, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1950) David Roger Johansen was an American singer, songwriter, and actor best known as lead singer of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter and for playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged (1988). Read more
28 Feb 2025: Miguel Piñera, Chilean celebrity, night club owner and amateur musician (born 1954) José Miguel Carlos "Negro" Piñera Echenique was a Chilean celebrity, night club owner and amateur musician who was the youngest brother of former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and of economist José Piñera. He married Argentinian model Belén Hidalgo in 2004 but divorced in 2011. Negro Piñera was of Asturian and Basque descent. Read more
28 Feb 2025: Joseph Wambaugh, American writer (born 1937) Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh Jr. was an American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. Many of his novels are set in Los Angeles and its surroundings and feature Los Angeles police officers as protagonists. He won three Edgar Awards, and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. Read more
28 Feb 2024: Ahmed Salim, Bangladeshi convicted murderer (born 1989) Ahmed Salim was a Bangladeshi painter who was convicted of murdering his Indonesian girlfriend Nurhidayati Wartono Surata on the evening of 30 December 2018 at a hotel in Geylang in Singapore. According to Ahmed, Nurhidayati met with Ahmed and expressed her intention to break up with him due to his arranged marriage and her finding a new boyfriend. Ahmed planned to kill Nurhidayati during that meeting itself if she rejected his request to break up with her new boyfriend. Read more
28 Feb 2024: Héctor Ortiz, Puerto Rican baseball player and coach (born 1969) Héctor Ortiz Montañez was a Puerto Rican professional baseball catcher and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers. He also coached in MLB for the Texas Rangers. Read more
28 Feb 2024: Cat Janice, American singer-songwriter (born 1993) Catherine Janice Ipsan, known professionally as Cat Janice, was an American singer-songwriter. Janice wrote and sang "Dance You Outta My Head", which went viral on TikTok. Read more
28 Feb 2020: Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's (born 1930) Joseph Hardin Coulombe was an American entrepreneur who founded the grocery store chain Trader Joe's in 1967 and served as its CEO until his retirement in 1988. Read more
28 Feb 2020: Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician (born 1923) Freeman John Dyson was a British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, and engineering. He was professor emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a member of the board of sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Read more
28 Feb 2020: Sir Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (born 1917) Sir Cyrus Lenox Simson Hewitt was an Australian public servant. His career in the Commonwealth Public Service spanned from 1939 to 1980, and included periods as a senior adviser and departmental secretary. His most prominent position was as secretary of the Prime Minister's Department during the Gorton government (1968–1971). He worked closely with Prime Minister John Gorton, although his initial appointment in place of John Bunting was seen as unconventional. Hewitt was also influential as secretary of the Department of Minerals and Energy during the Whitlam government (1972–1975), working under minister Rex Connor. He later served as chairman of Qantas (1975–1980). Read more
28 Feb 2019: André Previn, German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. (born 1929) André George Previn was a German and American conductor, composer, and pianist. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved success, and the latter two were part of his life until the end. In movies, he arranged and composed music. In jazz, he was a celebrated pianist, accompanist to singers, and interpreter of songs from the "Great American Songbook". In classical music, he also performed as a pianist but gained television fame as a conductor, and during his last thirty years created his legacy as a composer. Read more
28 Feb 2016: George Kennedy, American actor (born 1925) George Harris Kennedy Jr. was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport (1970). Read more
28 Feb 2015: Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author (born 1923) Yaşar Kemal was a leading Turkish writer of Kurdish descent, who wrote in Turkish and a human rights activist. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature on the strength of his 1955 novel Memed, My Hawk. Read more
28 Feb 2014: Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (born 1935) Hugo Brandt Corstius was a Dutch author, known for his achievements in both literature and science. Read more
28 Feb 2013: Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926) Donald Arthur Glaser was an American physicist and biologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1960 for his invention of the bubble chamber. Read more
28 Feb 2011: Annie Girardot, French actress (born 1931) Annie Suzanne Girardot was a French actress. She often played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her to women undergoing similar daily struggles. Read more
28 Feb 2009: Paul Harvey, American radio host (born 1918) Paul Harvey Aurandt was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast News and Comment on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous The Rest of the Story segments. From 1951 to 2008, his programs reached as many as 24 million people per week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, on 400 American Forces Network stations, and in 300 newspapers. Read more
28 Feb 2007: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (born 1917) Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a specialist in American history, much of Schlesinger's work explored the history of 20th-century American liberalism. In particular, his work focused on leaders such as Harry S. Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. In the 1952 and 1956 presidential campaigns, he was a primary speechwriter and adviser to the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson II. Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian" to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. He wrote a detailed account of the Kennedy administration, from the 1960 presidential campaign to the president's state funeral, titled A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, which won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Read more
28 Feb 2006: Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920) Owen Chamberlain was an American physicist who shared with Emilio Segrè the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton, a sub-atomic antiparticle. Read more
28 Feb 2005: Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (born 1941) Chris Curtis was an English musician. He was best known for being with the 1960s beat band The Searchers. He originated the concept behind Deep Purple and formed the band in its original incarnation of 'Roundabout'. Read more
28 Feb 2004: Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (born 1914) Daniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and served until 1987. He was instrumental in the creation of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Read more
28 Feb 2003: Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (born 1928) Christopher William Brasher CBE was a British track and field athlete, Olympic champion, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon. Read more
28 Feb 2002: Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (born 1926) Mary Stuart was an American actress, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Read more
28 Feb 2002: Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (born 1920) Helmut Zacharias was a German violinist and composer who created over 400 works and sold 14 million records. He also appeared in a number of films, usually playing musicians. Read more
28 Feb 1998: Arkady Shevchenko, Ukrainian diplomat (born 1930) Arkady Nikolayevich Shevchenko was a Soviet diplomat who was the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the West. Read more
28 Feb 1993: Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress and dancer (born 1909) Ethel Ruby Keeler was a Canadian and American actress, dancer, and singer who was paired on-screen with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Bros., particularly 42nd Street (1933). From 1928 to 1940, she was married to actor and singer Al Jolson. She retired from show business in the 1940s, but made a widely publicized comeback on Broadway starring in the revival of the 1920s musical No, No, Nanette in 1971. Read more
28 Feb 1978: Zara Cully, American actress (born 1892) Zara Frances Cully was an American actress. Cully was best known for her role as Olivia "Mother Jefferson" Jefferson in the CBS sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons. In the latter, she portrayed the character of George Jefferson's mother from 1975 until her death in 1978. Read more
28 Feb 1977: Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, American actor and comedian (born 1905) Edmund Lincoln Anderson was an American actor and comedian. To a generation of early radio and television comedy audiences, he was known as "Rochester". Read more
28 Feb 1975: Neville Cardus, English cricket and music writer (born 1888) Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, CBE was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became The Manchester Guardian's cricket correspondent in 1919 and its chief music critic in 1927, holding the two posts simultaneously until 1940. His contributions to these two distinct fields in the years before the Second World War established his reputation as one of the foremost critics of his generation. Read more
28 Feb 1966: Charles Bassett, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (born 1931) Charles Arthur Bassett II was an American electrical engineer and United States Air Force test pilot. He went to Ohio State University for two years and later graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He joined the Air Force as a pilot and graduated from both the Air Force's Experimental Flight Test Pilot School and the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Bassett was married and had two children. Read more
28 Feb 1966: Elliot See, American commander, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927) Elliot McKay See Jr. was an American engineer, naval aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut. Read more
28 Feb 1955: Isak Penttala, Finnish politician (born 1883) Isak Penttala was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province South between March 1927 and July 1951. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons during and following the Finnish Civil War. Read more
28 Feb 1936: Charles Nicolle, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866) Charles Jules Henri Nicolle was a French bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus. Read more
28 Feb 1932: Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (born 1851) Camille Guillaume Bigourdan was a French astronomer. Read more
28 Feb 1929: Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician and immunologist (born 1874) Clemens Peter Freiherr von Pirquet was an Austrian scientist and pediatrician best known for his contributions to the fields of bacteriology and immunology. Read more
28 Feb 1882: Adolf Zytogorski, Polish-British chess master and translator (born c. 1811/1812) Adolf Żytogórski was a Polish-British chess master and translator. Read more
28 Feb 1857: André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic (born 1809) André Hubert Dumont was a Belgian geologist. Read more

Why is 28 February Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 28 February, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 28 February in World history?

On 28 February, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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