History Of 27 February
1700 – The Pacific Island of New Britain was discovered.
1801 – The city of Washington, DC, was placed under congressional jurisdiction.
1827 – New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration.
1861 – In Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland. Five protesting marchers were killed in the incident.
1867 – Dr. William G. Bonwill invented the dental mallet.
1883 – Oscar Hammerstein patented the first cigar-rolling machine.
1896 – The “Charlotte Observer” published a picture of an X-ray photograph made by Dr. H.L. Smith. The photograph showed a perfect picture of all the bones of a hand and a bullet that Smith had placed between the third and fourth fingers in the palm.
1900 – In South Africa, the British received unconditional surrender from Boer Gen. Piet Cronje at Paardeberg.
1922 – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote.
1933 – The Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, was set afire. The Nazis accused Communist of the fire.
1939 – The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed sit-down strikes.
1949 – Chaim Weizmann became the first Israeli president.
1951 – The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting U.S. Presidents to two terms.
1972 – The Shanghai Communique was issued by U.S. President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai.
1973 – The American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
1974 – “People” magazine was first issued by Time-Life (later known as Time-Warner).
1981 – Chrysler Corporation was granted an additional $400 million in federal loan guarantees. Chrysler had posted a loss of $1.7 billion in 1980.
1982 – Wayne B. Williams was convicted of murdering two of the 28 black children and young adults whose bodies were found in Atlanta, GA, over a two-year period.
1986 – The U.S. Senate approved the telecast of its debates on a trial basis.
1990 – The Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping were indicted on five criminal counts in reference to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
1991 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced live on television that “Kuwait is liberated.”
1997 – In Ireland, divorce became legal.
1997 – Don Cornelius received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 – Britain’s House of Lords agreed to give a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. This was the end to 1,000 years of male preference.
1999 – Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new hot air balloon endurance record when they had been aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes. The two were in the process of trying to circumnavigate the Earth.
1999 – Nigeria returned to civilian rule when Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo became the country’s first elected president since August of 1983.
2002 – In Boston, twenty people working at Logan International Airport were charged with lying to get their jobs or security badges.
2004 – A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack kills 116.
2004 – Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack
2007 – The Chinese Correction: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in ten years.
2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.
2013 – Five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured in a shooting at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland.
2015 – Assassination of Boris Nemtsov occurs.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Josh Groban, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1981 – Cameron Ling, Australian footballer, and sportscaster
- 1981 – Natalie Grandin, English-South African tennis player
- 1981 – Élodie Ouédraogo, Belgian sprinter
- 1982 – Ali Bastian, English actress
- 1982 – Pat Richards, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Bruno Soares, a Brazilian tennis player
- 1982 – Tehila Hakimi, Israeli poet, and author
- 1983 – Devin Harris, American basketball player
- 1983 – Kate Mara, American actress
- 1984 – Aníbal Sánchez, American baseball player
- 1984 – Lotta Schelin, Swedish footballer
- 1984 – Akseli Kokkonen, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1985 – Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Russian footballer
- 1985 – Braydon Coburn, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Vladislav Kulik, Ukrainian-Russian footballer
- 1985 – Asami Abe, Japanese singer, and actress
- 1985 – Thiago Neves, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Brett Stewart, Australian rugby league player
- 1986 – Yovani Gallardo, American baseball player
- 1986 – Jonathan Moreira, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Sandeep Singh, Indian field hockey player
- 1986 – JWoww, American television personality
- 1987 – Scott Davies, English footballer
- 1987 – Bridie Kean, Australian wheelchair basketball player
- 1987 – Florence Kiplagat, Kenyan runner
- 1987 – Sandy Paillot, French footballer
- 1987 – Valeriy Andriytsev, Ukrainian wrestler
- 1987 – Maximiliano Moralez, the Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Iain Ramsay, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Dustin Jeffrey, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – David Button, English footballer
- 1989 – Lloyd Rigby, English footballer
- 1990 – Elijah Taylor, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1991 – Azeem Rafiq, Pakistani cricketer
- 1992 – Ty Dillon, American race car driver
- 1992 – Meyers Leonard, American basketball player
- 1992 – Filip Krajinović, a Serbian tennis player
- 1992 – Ioannis Potouridis, Greek footballer
- 1992 – Jonjo Shelvey, English footballer
- 1995 – Laura Gulbe, a Latvian tennis player