February 24: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 310 days remaining, 311 in leap years. By Roman custom February 24 is the day added to a leap year, and the occurrence of February 29 is merely a consequence of this.

Events

• 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.
• 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
• 1711 - The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
• 1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah
• 1803 - The Supreme Court of the United States, in Marbury v. Madison, establishes the principle of judicial review.
• 1804 - London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute,
• 1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
• 1831 - The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
• 1839 - William Otis receives a patent for the steam shovel.
• 1848 - King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
• 1863 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
• 1868 - The first parade to have floats is staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted.
• 1881 - China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty
• 1899 - Western Washington University Established.
• 1909 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
• 1914 - Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War hero for the Union on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, died at the age of 85.
• 1917 - World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.
• 1918 - Estonia: Declaration of independence from Russia.
• 1925 - A thermite (magnesium) bomb is used for the first time to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam clogging the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, New York.
• 1938 - A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product (DuPont) to be made with nylon yarn.
• 1942 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
• 1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
• 1946 - Juan Perón is elected president of Argentina.
• 1948 - Cold War: The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
• 1970 - National Public Radio is founded.
• 1975 - Hard rock band Led Zeppelin release the classic double album Physical Graffiti.
• 1976 - Cuba : national Constitution proclaimed
• 1981 - Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
• 1981 - Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Dr. Herman Tarnower, the author of the bestselling The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.
• 1983 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
• 1988 - The Supreme Court of the United States sides with Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.
• 1989 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
• 1989 - United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
• 1992 - Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain marries Courtney Love.
• 1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
• 1996 - The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1999 - The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him.
• 1999 - A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern China killing 61.
• 2002 - 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah ends.

• 1103 - Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
• 1304 - Ibn Battuta, explorer
• 1463 - Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian humanist (d. 1494)
• 1500 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)
• 1547 - Don John of Austria, military leader (d. 1578)
• 1557 - Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)
• 1597 - Vincent Voiture, French poet (d. 1648)
• 1619 - Charles Le Brun, French artist (d. 1690)
• 1622 - Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1665)
• 1684 - Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (d. 1738)
• 1693 - James Quin, English actor (d. 1766)
• 1709 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
• 1723 - John Burgoyne, British general (d. 1792)
• 1774 - Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850)
• 1786 - Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1859)
• 1836 - Winslow Homer, American artist (d. 1910)
• 1842 - Arrigo Boito, Italian composer (d. 1918)
• 1846 - Luigi Denza, Italian composer (d. 1922)
• 1848 - Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
• 1852 - George Moore, English writer (d. 1933)
• 1866 - Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian phsyicist (d. 1912)
• 1874 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (d. 1955)
• 1877 - Ettie Rout, New Zealand activist (b. 1936)
• 1885 - Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral (d. 1966)
• 1885 - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1939)
• 1890 - Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
• 1909 - August Derleth, American writer (d. 1971)
• 1914 - Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
• 1921 - Abe Vigoda, American actor
• 1921 - Douglass Watson, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1922 - Richard Hamilton, English painter
• 1922 - Steven Hill, American actor
• 1923 - David Soyer, American cellist
• 1932 - Michel Legrand, French composer
• 1932 - John Vernon, Canadian actor (d. 2005)
• 1931 - Dominic Chianese, American actor
• 1934 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2000)
• 1934 - Renata Scotto, Italian soprano
• 1938 - Phil Knight, American sportswear manufacturer
• 1940 - Denis Law Scottish footballer
• 1942 - Joseph Lieberman, American politician and vice presidential candidate
• 1943 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
• 1944 - Nicky Hopkins, British musician (d. 1994)
• 1945 - Barry Bostwick, American actor
• 1947 - Rupert Holmes, English musician
• 1947 - Edward James Olmos, American actor
• 1948 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
• 1948 - Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
• 1948 - Dennis Waterman, British actor
• 1950 - Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1951 - Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
• 1951 - Helen Shaver, Canadian actress
• 1955 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
• 1955 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
• 1956 - Paula Zahn, American journalist
• 1958 - Sammy Kershaw, American musician
• 1962 - Michelle Shocked, American musician
• 1966 - Billy Zane, American actor
• 1968 - Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (d. 2005)
• 1970 - Jeff Garcia, American football player
• 1972 - Stewart Isbell, American photographer
• 1973 - Jordan Jovtchev, Bulgarian gymnast
• 1973 - Alexei Kovalev, Russian hockey player
• 1974 - Chad Hugo, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)
• 1975 - Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian fiddler
• 1977 - Jason Akermanis, Australian footballer
• 1981 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
• 1982 - Klára Koukalová, Czech tennis player

• 616 - King Ethelbert of Kent
• 1525 - Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier
• 1563 - Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (b. 1519)
• 1588 - Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
• 1666 - Nicholas Lanier, English composer (b. 1588)
• 1674 - Matthias Weckmann, German composer (b. 1616)
• 1685 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
• 1704 - Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)
• 1714 - Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (b. 1637)
• 1721 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
• 1777 - King Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
• 1779 - Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (b. 1704)
• 1781 - Edward Capell, English critic (b. 1713)
• 1799 - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist (b. 1742)
• 1810 - Henry Cavendish, English scientist (b. 1756)
• 1812 - Etienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
• 1815 - Robert Fulton, American inventor (b. 1765)
• 1825 - Thomas Bowdler, English physician and editor (b. 1754)
• 1856 - Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1792)
• 1925 - Hjalmar Branting, Prime Minister of Sweden, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1860)
• 1970 - Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
• 1975 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
• 1984 - Helmut Schelsky, German sociologist (b. 1912)
• 1990 - Tony Conigliaro, baseball player (b. 1945)
• 1990 - Malcolm Forbes, American publisher (b. 1917)
• 1990 - Sandro Pertini, Italian politician (b. 1896)
• 1990 - Johnnie Ray, American singer (b. 1927)
• 1991 - John Daly, South African game show host (b. 1914)
• 1991 - George Gobel, American comedian (b. 1919)
• 1993 - Danny Gallivan (April 11, 1917 - February 24, 1993) was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster.
• 1993 - Bobby Moore, English footballer (b. 1941)
• 1994 - Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
• 1998 - Antonio Prohias, Cuban-born cartoonist (b. 1921)
• 1998 - Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906)
• 1999 - Andre Dubus, American writer (b. 1936)
• 2001 - Claude E. Shannon, American information theorist (b. 1916)
• 2002 - Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (b. 1912)
• 2003 - John Edward Christopher Hill, English historian (b. 1912)
• 2003 - Bernard Loiseau, French chef (b. 1951)
• 2004 - John Randolph, American actor (b. 1915)

• Regifugium, in the Roman calendar
• Independence Day in Estonia (1918)
• Flag Day in México
• Catholicism: Mardi Gras (aka Shrove Tuesday) (2004, 2009)

February 23 - February 25 - January 24 - March 24 -- listing of all days