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Feb 28| HISTORY “4”
“2”DAY |Feb
30 >> |Mar
01 >> Events, deaths, births, of FEB 29 [For Feb 29 Julian go to Gregorian date 1583~1699: Mar 10 1700s: Mar 11 1800s: Mar 12 1900~2099: Mar 13] |
On a 29 February:
1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs 1984 Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he is stepping down 1968 first pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)
1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan. 1956 President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term. 1944 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death. 1944 US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands. 1940 45 U boats sunk this month (170'000 tons) 1936 FDR signs 2nd neutrality act. 1932 Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland |
1904 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to study Panama Canal 1864 George Custer's cavalry fights skirmishes at Stanardsville and Charlottesville, Virginia during a raid on Albemarle 1868 first British government of Disraeli forms 1856 Hostilities in umteenth (actually 11th) and next to last Russo-Turkish War, or Crimean War, cease (?). Actually Russia accepted preliminary peace terms on 18560201, the Congress of Paris worked out the final settlement from 18560225 to 18560330, when.the resulting Treaty of Paris was signed, which guaranteed the integrity of Ottoman Turkey and obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube. 1848 Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland. |
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1832 Darwin is delighted
by a Brazilian forest He makes this entry in The Voyage of the Beagle: BAHIA, OR SAN SALVADOR. BRAZIL, Feb. 29th. The day has passed delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest. The elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, but above all the general luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with admiration. A most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign. To a person fond of natural history, such a day as this brings with it a deeper pleasure than he can ever hope to experience again. After wandering about for some hours, I returned to the landing-place; but, before reaching it, I was overtaken by a tropical storm. I tried to find shelter under a tree, which was so thick that it would never have been penetrated by common English rain; but here, in a couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed down the trunk. It is to this violence of the rain that we must attribute the verdure at the bottom of the thickest woods: if the showers were like those of a colder climate, the greater part would be absorbed or evaporated before it reached the ground. I will not at present attempt to describe the gaudy scenery of this noble bay, because, in our homeward voyage, we called here a second time, and I shall then have occasion to remark on it. On 27 December 1831, British naturalist Charles Robert Darwin had set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle, on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Visiting such diverse places as Fernando Noronha island (20 February 1832), Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, wildlife, and geology of many lands. This information proves invaluable in the development of his theory of evolution, first put forth in his groundbreaking scientific work of 1859, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Darwin's theory of natural selection argues that species are the result of a gradual biological evolution of living organisms in which nature encourages, through natural selection, those species best suited to their environments to propagate future descendants. The Origin of Species is the first significant work on the theory of evolution, and is greeted with great interest in the scientific world, although it is also violently attacked because it contradicts the account of creation given in the Bible. Nevertheless, the work, unquestionably one of the most important in the history of science, eventually succeeds in gaining acceptance from almost all biologists. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life would be published in England on 24 November 1859. Darwin's theory of natural selection argues that species are the result of a gradual biological evolution of living organisms in which nature encourages, through natural selection, those species best suited to their environments to propagate future descendants. The first printing of 1250 copies sells out in a single day. By 1872, it would have run through six editions, and become one of the most influential books of modern times. Darwin, the privileged and well-connected son of a successful English doctor, had been interested in botany and natural sciences since his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers. At Cambridge, he found professors and scientists with similar interests and with their help began participating in scientific voyages. He traveled around South America for five years as an unpaid botanist on the HMS Beagle. By the time Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as a field researcher and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters dispatched from South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read at meetings of prominent scientific societies in London. Darwin began publishing studies of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage. Fearing the fate of other scientists, like Copernicus and Galileo, who had published radical scientific theories, Darwin held off publishing his theory of natural selection for years. He secretly developed his theory during two decades of surreptitious research following his trip on the Beagle. Meanwhile, he married and had seven children. He finally published Origin of Species after another scientist began publishing papers with similar ideas. His book laid the groundwork for modern botany, cellular biology, and genetics. He died in 1882. Darwin, who was influenced by the work of French naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, and later by English scientist Alfred Russel Wallace, acquired most of the evidence for his theory during a five-year surveying expedition aboard the HMS Beagle during the 1830s. Visiting such diverse places as Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, wildlife, and geology of many lands. This information, along with his experiments with variation and interbreeding after returning to England, proved invaluable in the development of his theory of natural selection. His On the Origin of Species is the first significant work on the theory of evolution, and is greeted with great interest in the scientific world, although it is also violently attacked because it contradicts the account of creation given in the Bible. Nevertheless, the work, unquestionably one of the most important in the history of science, eventually succeeds in gaining acceptance from almost all biologists. Darwin, born 12 February 1809 the privileged and well-connected son of successful English doctor Robert Waring Darwin, had been interested in botany and natural sciences since his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers. At Cambridge, he found professors and scientists with similar interests and with their help began participating in scientific voyages, including the HMS Beagle's trip. By the time Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as a field researcher and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters dispatched from South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read at meetings of prominent scientific societies in London. Darwin began publishing studies of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage, while also secretly working on his radical theory of evolution. Knowing that scientists who had published radical theories before had been ostracized or worse, Darwin held off on publishing his theory of natural selection for nearly two decades. Meanwhile, he married and had seven children. He finally published On the Origin of Species after another scientist began publishing papers with similar ideas. His book laid the groundwork for modern botany, cellular biology, and genetics. He died on 19 April 1882. DARWIN ONLINE: |
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Deaths
which occurred on a February 29:
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1996 All 117 passengers and 6 crew members aboard a Peruvian Faucett Airline Boing 737 which crashes in the Andes as it prepares to land at Arequipa. 1956 Elpidio Quirino, 65, President of Philippines (1949-53) 1948 27 British soldiers, as Stern gang bombs Cairo-Haifa train 1868 [Charles] Louis I [Augustus], 81, King of Bavaria (L Montez) |1604 John Whitgift, 74, Archbishop of Canterbury (1583-1604)
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Births
which occurred on a February 29: 1924 David Beattie British Governor-General of New Zealand. 1924 Andrzej Maria Descur, who would be made a cardinal on 25 May 1985. 1920 Howard Nemerov (Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: Collected Works [1978]; 3rd poet laureate of US [1988-1990]) 1904 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenber dorff Sr, near Hamburg, Germany; had a given name for every letter in the alphabet, shortened it to Mr Wolfe Plus 585, Sr. 1896 Ranchhodji Morarji Desai premier of India (1977-79) 1890 John Philip Holland father of modern submarine 1880 Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland and Italy opens
1828 Antonio Guzman Blanco President of Venezuela 1792 Gioacchino Rossini operatic composer: (The Barber of Seville)
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