History of 27 February
- 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 that 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 – 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
- 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
- 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, goalkeeper
- 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
- 1998 – Todd Cantwell, English footballer