Tukuk-OS📅 February 28
23 events · 12 births · 12 deaths
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What happened on February 28? Below are the notable events chosen by Wikipedia’s editors for this date, followed by celebrated births, deaths and the observances recognised around the world.
Events
- 2026 — The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.
2026 Iran warAli KhameneiList of Iranian officials killed during the 2026 Iran war
- 2021 — Bus drivers in Greater Manchester began an eleven-week strike, one of the longest in British transportation history.
- 2013 — Benedict XVI became the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign from the papacy.
- 2002 — During a period of religious violence in Gujarat, India, mobs of Hindus attacked Muslims in Naroda Patiya and in Chamanpura, resulting in 166 deaths.
- 2001 — A high-speed train crash occurred near Selby in North Yorkshire, England, killing 10 and injuring 82.
- 1997 — GRB 970228, a highly luminous 80-second flash of gamma rays, was detected on Earth, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
- 1997 — Two heavily armed bank robbers exchanged gunfire with officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in North Hollywood, in one of the most intense gun battles in American police history.
North Hollywood shootoutLos Angeles Police DepartmentNorth Hollywood, Los Angeles
- 1985 — The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launched a mortar attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary station in Newry, Northern Ireland, killing nine people.
The TroublesProvisional Irish Republican Army1985 Newry mortar attack
- 1975 — A London Underground train failed to stop at the terminal Moorgate station, crashing and causing the deaths of 43 people.
- 1974 — The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Liberal Party, under Jeremy Thorpe, achieved their highest ever number of votes.
February 1974 United Kingdom general electionHung parliamentLiberal Party (UK)
- 1972 — Japanese police stormed a mountain lodge near Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, to end a ten-day siege by members of the paramilitary group United Red Army.
- 1966 — American test pilots Charles Bassett and Elliot See die in a plane crash in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1963 — Chicago alderman Benjamin F. Lewis was murdered in his office by unknown assailants two days after having been reelected.
- 1947 — Nationalist soldiers fired on protesters in Taipei (crowd pictured), triggering widespread uprisings and violent suppression in the White Terror.
- 1939 — In one of the most famous errors in lexicography, the erroneous word dord was discovered in Webster's New International Dictionary by an editor.
- 1928 — Indian physicist C. V. Raman and his colleagues discovered what is now known as Raman scattering, for which he later became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1914 — In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Greeks living in southern Albania proclaimed the short-lived Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
Balkan WarsGreeks in AlbaniaAutonomous Republic of Northern Epirus
- 1904 — The most successful football club in Portugal, S.L. Benfica (first team pictured), was founded in Lisbon as Sport Lisboa.
- 1897 — Ranavalona III (pictured), the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by French military forces.
- 1893 — USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, was launched.
- 1874 — In one of the longest cases ever heard in an English court, the claimant in the Tichborne case was convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the missing heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
- 1638 — The National Covenant was formally adopted in opposition to proposed reforms to the Church of Scotland by King Charles I.
- -202 — Rebel leader Liu Bang declared himself Emperor Gaozu of Han after overthrowing the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty of China.
Births
- 2005 — Vitor Roque, Brazilian footballer
- 2000 — Moise Kean, Italian footballer
- 2000 — Josip Šutalo, Croatian footballer
- 1999 — Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player
- 1998 — Teun Koopmeiners, Dutch footballer
- 1997 — Chris Lindstrom, American football player
- 1996 — Jakub Vrána, Czech ice hockey player
- 1996 — Lucas Boyé, Argentinian footballer
- 1996 — Axel Werner, Argentinian footballer
- 1995 — Randy Arozarena, Cuban-Mexican baseball player
- 1994 — Alex Caruso, American basketball player
- 1994 — Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer
Deaths
- 2026 — Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (born 1939)
- 2026 — Aziz Nasirzadeh, Minister of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran (born 1964)
Aziz NasirzadehMinistry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran)
- 2026 — Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran (born 1961)
- 2025 — David Johansen, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1950)
- 2025 — Miguel Piñera, Chilean celebrity, night club owner and amateur musician (born 1954)
- 2025 — Joseph Wambaugh, American writer (born 1937)
- 2024 — Ahmed Salim, Bangladeshi convicted murderer (born 1989)
- 2024 — Héctor Ortiz, Puerto Rican baseball player and coach (born 1969)
- 2024 — Cat Janice, American singer-songwriter (born 1993)
- 2020 — Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's (born 1930)
- 2020 — Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician (born 1923)
- 2020 — Sir Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (born 1917)
Observances & holidays
- Christian feast day: February 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Kalevala Day, also known as the Finnish Culture Day (Finland)
- National Science Day (India)
- Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan)
- Andalusia Day (Spain)
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