February 29

February 29 is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining. A year which has a February 29 is, by definition, a leap year. This date only occurs approximately every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1992, 1996, or 2004, with some exceptions in century years.

A century year, that is, a year which ends in two zeroes 1800, 1900, 2000, etc., is not a leap year unless it is also evenly divisible by 400. This means that the year 2000 was a leap year and 2400 will also be one, but 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, and the years 2100, 2200, and 2300 won't be leap years either.

Those who are born on this day usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28 during non-leap years.

This day may be colloqially termed a leap day.

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances

Events

• 1704 - Native Americans attack and destroy Deerfield, Massachusetts
• 1720 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden resigns
• 1940 - For her role as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind," Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress).
• 1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
• 1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
• 1988 - The soap opera Day by Day premieres on NBC.

Births

• 1736 - Ann Lee, founder of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing ("Shakers")
• 1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, composer († 1868)
• 1840 - John Philip Holland, developer of the first submarine († 1914)
• 1860 - Herman Hollerith, statistician († 1929)
• 1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, bandleader († 1957)
• 1908 - Balthus, painter († 2001)
• 1908 - Dee Brown, writer, historian († 2002)
• 1916 - Dinah Shore, singer († 1994)
• 1920 - Howard Nemerov, American, winner of the Pulitzer Prize († 1991)
• 1924 - Al Rosen, baseball player
• 1936 - Henri Richard, ice hockey player
• 1960 - Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
• 1972 - Antonio Sabato Jr, actor
• 1976 - Ja Rule, rapper/actor

Deaths

• 468 - Pope Hilarius
• 1940 - Edward Frederick Benson, American writer

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith - Day 4 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) (in leap years only) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

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See also:

February 28 - March 1 - January 29 - March 29 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December