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). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).
+ 1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
+ 1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
+ 1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden)
+ 1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
+ 1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
+ 1993 – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
+ 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
( Births )
+ 1919 – Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls (d. 2013)
+ 1929 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach
+ 1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor
+ 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
+ 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver
+ 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)
+ 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author