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747 BC - Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.

364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.

1794 - Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down.

1797 - The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.

1848 - The second French Republic is proclaimed.

1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.

1870 - In New York City, the first pneumatic-subway opens.

1887 - At the SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.

1919 - An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).

1929 - The Grand Teton National Park is created.

1935 - The Luftwaffe is reformed.

1935 - Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration which led directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.

1936 - In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.

1944 - Shooting begins of the Nazi propaganda film, The Fuhrer Gives a Village to the Jews in Theresienstadt.

1952 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.

1957 - Final radio broadcast of Dragnet.

1966 - Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket

1970 - National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.

1971 - Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

1972 - Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.

1986 - People Power Revolution in the Philippines.

1986 - Robert Penn Warren is named poet laureate of the United States.

1987 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes American President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1990 - The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.

1991 - Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser.

1991 - Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

1993 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand. The buildings would be destroyed in a subsequent attack on September 11, 2001.

1995 - The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

1995 - at The Houston Astrodome Selena Quintanilla-Perez performed in her last concert before she was killed. More than 64,000 fans were in attendance making it the astrodome's largest crowd at the time.

2001 - The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.

2004 - The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.

2004 - Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2005 - Hosni Mubarak the president of Egypt orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76 of the constitution.

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1361 - Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)

1564 - Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)

1587 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)

1671 - Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)

1672 - Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)

1714 - James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758)

1715 - Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)

1720 - Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1803)

1749 - Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher

1786 - François Arago, French mathematician (d. 1853)

1799 - Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (d. 1864)

1802 - Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)

1808 - Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)

1814 - Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)

1829 - Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)

1846 - Buffalo Bill, American pioneer, officer, and hunter (d. 1917)

1857 - Émile Coué, French psychologist (d. 1926)

1861 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)

1861 - Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Russian revolutioner, Lenin's wife (d. 1939)

1879 - Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)

1882 - Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)

1885 - Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)

1887 - Grover Cleveland Alexander, baseball player (d. 1950)

1887 - William Frawley, American actor (d. 1966)

1893 - I. A. Richards, English literary critic (d. 1979)

1899 - Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)

1902 - Jean Bruller, French writer and illustrator (d. 1991)

1903 - Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)

1907 - Dub Taylor, American actor (d. 1994)

1908 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)

1908 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)

1909 - King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)

1912 - Dane Clark, American actor (d. 1998)

1914 - Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)

1916 - Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)

1918 - Otis Ray Bowen,American politician and physician.

1918 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)

1919 - Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)

1919 - Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)

1920 - Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)

1920 - Danny Gardella, baseball player (d. 2005)

1922 - Margaret Leighton, British Actress (d. 1976)

1921 - Betty Hutton, American actress

1926 - Miroslava Stern, Mexican actress (d. 1955)

1927 - Tom Kennedy, American game show host

1928 - Fats Domino, American musician

1928 - Anatoli Filipchenko, cosmonaut

1928 - Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel

1930 - Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (d. 2005)

1931 - Ally McLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)

1932 - Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)

1934 - Robert Novak, American political columnist

1941 - Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)

1943 - Bill Duke, American actor and director

1945 - Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress

1945 - Peter Brock, Australian motorsports champion (d. 2006)

1946 - Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1947 - Sandie Shaw, British singer

1950 - Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand

1951 - Lee Atwater, American political operative (d. 1991)

1953 - Michael Bolton, American singer

1954 - Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey

1956 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese singer

1957 - Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player

1957 - David Muldrow Beasley, American politician

1958 - Michel Houellebecq, French novelist

1959 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

1962 - Greg Germann, American actor

1968 - J.T. Snow, American baseball player, 1st baseman

1971 - Erykah Badu, American singer

1971 - Max Martin, Swedish composer and producer

1973 - Marshall Faulk, American football star

1973 - Jenny Thompson, American swimmer

1973 - Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer

1974 - Sébastien Loeb, French rally driver

1978 - Marc Hynes, British racing driver

1979 - Corinne Bailey Rae, British singer

1980 - Alex Fong, Hong Kong singer

1980 - Gary Majewski, Baseball player

1981 - Kertus Davis, NASCAR driver

1982 - Jay Mullen, British actor

1984 - Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer

1984 - Emmanuel Adebayor, Togon footballer

1985 - Alexandria Hilfiger, American actress, Daughter of Tommy Hilfiger

1986 - Crystal Kay, Japanese singer

1993 - Taylor Dooley, American actress

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1154 - King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)

1266 - King Manfred of Sicily

1360 - Roger de Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)

1525 - Cuauhtémoc, Aztec ruler

1552 - Heinrich Faber, German composer

1561 - Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer

1577 - King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)

1608 - John Still, English bishop

1630 - William Brade, English composer (b. 1560)

1638 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (b. 1681)

1723 - Thomas d'Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)

1726 - Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)

1770 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)

1802 - Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (b. 1718)

1813 - Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)

1815 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)

1903 - Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)

1913 - Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)

1921 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)

1931 - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)

1947 - Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss politician, member of the Federal Council (b. 1868)

1961 - King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)

1966 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)

1969 - Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)

1969 - Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)

1971 - Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)

1981 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)

1985 - Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1910)

1989 - Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)

1993 - Constance Ford, American actress (b. 1923)

1994 - Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)

1995 - Jack Clayton, British film director (b.1921)

1997 - David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)

1998 - Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

2002 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)

2004 - Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)

2004 - Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)

2004 - Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)

2005 - Jef Raskin, American computer scientist (b. 1943)

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Bahá'í Faith - February 26, Day 1 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

Nation of Islam - Savior's Day - commemoration of the birthdate of Wallace Fard Muhammad, believed to be Allah in human form, the saviour of the black race.

Liberation Day in Kuwait (1991).

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Liturgical feasts

Saint Nestor (died 251)
Saint Alexander of Alexandria
Saint Victor
Blessed Leo of Furnes (d. 1163)
Saint Mechtild (d. 1154)
Blessed Edigna