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This day in history

This day in history: 27 February

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day241 · 85

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Key facts

382 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 27 February.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Anne Line

Christian feast day: February 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Christian feast day: George Herbert (Anglicanism)

Christian feast day: Gregory of Narek

Christian feast day: Honorina

Christian feast day: Leander

Doctors' Day (Vietnam)

Independence Day (Dominican Republic), celebrates the first independence of Dominican Republic from Haiti in 1844.

Majuba Day (some Afrikaners in South Africa)

Marathi Language Day (Maharashtra, India)

Events

2019Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

2015Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend.

2013A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured.

2010An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after.

2008Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later.

2007Chinese stock bubble of 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest daily fall in ten years, following speculation about a crackdown on illegal share offerings and trading, and fears about accelerating inflation.

2004A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers.

2004Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.

2002Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims.

2002Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport causing minor injuries.

2001Loganair Flight 670A crashes while attempting to make a water landing in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

1991Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".

1988Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom.

1976The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

1973The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.

1971Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions.

1964The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

1963The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

1962Vietnam War: Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm.

1961The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.

1951The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

1943The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest.

1943The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.

1942World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies.

1942World War II: Operation Biting launches its overnight raid on the German coastal radar station at Bruneval to retrieve a Würzburg installation.

1940Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.

1939United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. that the National Labor Relations Board has no authority to force an employer to rehire workers who engage in sit-down strikes.

1933Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

1932The Mäntsälä rebellion begins when members of the far-right Lapua Movement start shooting at the social democrats' event in Mäntsälä, Finland.

1922A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.

1921The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

1916Ocean liner SS Maloja strikes a mine near Dover and sinks with the loss of 155 lives.

1902Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.

1900Fußball-Club Bayern München is founded.

1900Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé at the Battle of Paardeberg.

1900The British Labour Party is founded.

1898King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.

1881First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.

1870The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.

1864American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

Born on this day

2002Johnny Davis, American basketball player

1998Todd Cantwell, English footballer

1996Chris Godwin, American football player

1996Ten, Thai singer and dancer

1995Laura Gulbe, Latvian tennis player

1995Sergej Milinković-Savić, Serbian footballer

1995Tomáš Souček, Czech footballer

1994Mike Matheson, Canadian ice hockey player

1993Alphonse Areola, French footballer

1992Callum Wilson, English footballer

1992Ioannis Potouridis, Greek footballer

1992Jonjo Shelvey, English footballer

1992Meyers Leonard, American basketball player

1991Azeem Rafiq, Pakistani cricketer

1990Adam Morgan, American baseball player

1990Chandler Jones, American football player

1990Lindsey Morgan, American actress

1989David Button, English footballer

1989Lloyd Rigby, English footballer

1988Dustin Jeffrey, Canadian ice hockey player

1988Iain Ramsay, Australian footballer

1987Florence Kiplagat, Kenyan runner

1987Valeriy Andriytsev, Ukrainian wrestler

1986Daniel Gibson, American basketball player and coach

1986Jonathan Moreira, Brazilian footballer

1986Sandeep Singh, Indian field hockey player

1986Yovani Gallardo, Mexican baseball player

1985Asami Abe, Japanese singer and actress

1985Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Russian footballer

1985Thiago Neves, Brazilian footballer

1985Vladislav Kulik, Ukrainian-Russian footballer

1984Akseli Kokkonen, Norwegian ski jumper

1984Aníbal Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player

1984Denard Span, American baseball player

1984James Augustine, American basketball player

1984Jumbo Díaz, Dominican baseball player

1984Lotta Schelin, Swedish footballer

1983Devin Harris, American basketball player

1983Kate Mara, American actress

1982Ali Bastian, English actress

Died on this day

2025Boris Spassky, Russian chess grandmaster (born 1937)

2023Gérard Latortue, Haitian prime minister (born 1934)

2021Ng Man-tat, Hong Kong actor (born 1952)

2019France-Albert René, Seychellois politician, 2nd President of Seychelles (born 1935)

2018Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1959)

2016James Z. Davis, American lawyer and judge (born 1943)

2016Yi Cheol-seung, South Korean lawyer and politician (born 1922)

2015Boris Nemtsov, Russian academic and politician, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (born 1959)

2015Julio César Strassera, Argentinian lawyer and jurist (born 1933)

2015Leonard Nimoy, American actor (born 1931)

2014Aaron Allston, American game designer and author (born 1960)

2014Terry Rand, American basketball player (born 1934)

2013Adolfo Zaldívar, Chilean lawyer and politician (born 1943)

2013Dale Robertson, American actor (born 1923)

2013Ramon Dekkers, Dutch mixed martial artist and kick-boxer (born 1969)

2013Van Cliburn, American pianist (born 1934)

2012Helga Vlahović, Croatian journalist and producer (born 1945)

2012Ma Jiyuan, Chinese general (born 1921)

2012Tina Strobos, Dutch physician and psychiatrist (born 1920)

2011Duke Snider, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (born 1926)

2011Frank Buckles, American soldier (born 1901)

2011Gary Winick, American director and producer (born 1961)

2011Necmettin Erbakan, Turkish engineer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1926)

2010Nanaji Deshmukh, Indian educator and activist (born 1916)

2008Ivan Rebroff, German vocalist of Russian descent with four and a half octave range (born 1931)

2008Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (born 1929)

2008William F. Buckley, Jr., American author and journalist, founded the National Review (born 1925)

2007Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, German general (born 1914)

2006Linda Smith, English comedian and author (born 1958)

2006Otis Chandler, American publisher (born 1927)

Quote of the day

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

attributed to the Buddha

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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