February 27

Events
Up to 1900
425 - The University of Constantinople is founded.
907 - Abaoji, a Khitan chieftain, is enthroned as Emperor Taizu, creating the Liao Dynasty in Northern China.
1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, expelling the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
1594 - Henry IV of France is crowned king.
1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo.
1626 - Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese to a great victory over the Manchurians under Nurhaci.
1655 - The lighthouse at Lindesnes, the southernmost tip of Norway, is first lit, with 13 candles.
1700 - The island of New Britain is first reached by a European, on an expedition led by William Dampier.
1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
1782 - American Revolutionary War: The British House of Commons votes against further war in America.
1812 - Near the city of Rosario, Manuel Belgrano raises what later develops into the Flag of Argentina.
1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in New York City that contributes to him being elected US president.
1861 - Russian troops kill 5 protesters in Warsaw.
1864 - American Civil War: The first northern prisoners arrive the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
1870 - The Flag of Japan is adopted as the national flag on merchant ships.
1881 - First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.
1898 - George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.
1900 - The UK Labour Party is founded.
1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British officers receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.
1901 2000
1912 - In Sudan, the first rail track from Khartoum to El Obeid opened.
1916 - British passenger steamer Maloja is sunk by a German U-boat two miles from Dover, killing 155 people.
1921 - The International Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
1925 - Adolf Hitler re-founds the Nazi Party in Munich, ordering it to be built up on a national level.
1930 - Bouvet Island becomes a dependent territory of Norway.
1932 - Nature magazine releases an article by James Chadwick, describing the existence of the neutron.
1933 - The Reichstag building in Berlin is set on fire.
1939 - The United States Supreme Court rules sit-in protests as illegal.
1940 - Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover Carbon-14.
1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Java Sea begins.
1943 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
1943 - The Rosenstrasse protest begins in Berlin.
1948 - President of Finland Juho Kusti Paasikivi signs a defence treaty with Joseph Stalin.
1951 - The 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, limiting the US president to two terms in office.
1961 - The first Congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
1962 - Two dissident Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to kill South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem.
1963 - Juan Bosch is elected President of the Dominican Republic.
1964 - The Italian Government asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
1973 - Wounded Knee Incident standoff at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota begins.
1976 - The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara declares its independence.
1986 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
1988 - A violent pogrom takes place against the Armenian Community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.
1989 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.
1991 - US President George H. W. Bush declares that "Kuwait is liberated".
1992 - Jack Unterweger is arrested by FBI agents in Miami, Florida on suspicion of several murders.
1993 - Niger holds its first Presidential Election.
1994 - The 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, come to an end.
1995 - A terrorist explosion in a market in the city of Zakho in Iraqi Kurdistan kills around 100 people and injures over 150.
From 2001
2002 - Godhra train bombing: A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya.
2002 - Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at Stansted Airport. The evacuation procedures later come in for criticism.
2004 - The bombing of Superferry 14 by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines kills 116 people.
2004 - The initial version of the John Jay Report is released into the Catholic sex abuse scandal in the United States.
2005 - Million Dollar Baby is the most successful movie at the 77th Academy Awards ceremony.
2007 - The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls by 9%, its largest drop in 10 years.
2010 - 2010 Cauquenes earthquake: A major magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Chile, killing around 500 people.
2015 - Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is shot dead by an unknown assailant shortly before midnight.
Births
Up to 1900
272 - Constantine, Roman Emperor (d. 337)
1572 - Francis II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1632)
1689 - Pietro Gnocchi, Italian composer, choir director, historian and geographer (d. 1775)
1711 - Constantine Mavrocordates, Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia (d. 1769)
1767 - Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, French politician (d. 1855)
1789 - Manuel Rodriguez, Chilean lawyer and guerrilla (d. 1818)
1795 - Jose Antonio Navarro, American statesman, revolutionary and politician from Texas (d. 1871)
1799 - Edward Belcher, British polar explorer (d. 1877)
1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)
1809 - Jean-Charles Cornay, French missionary and saint (d. 1837)
1814 - Samuel Kleinschmidt, German-Greenlandic linguist (d. 1886)
1831 - Nikolai Ge, Russian painter (d. 1894)
1836 - Russell A. Alger, Governor of Michigan (d. 1907)
1846 - Simon Bamberger, Governor of Utah (d. 1926)
1856 - Mattia Battistini, Italian baritone (d. 1928)
1859 - Bertha Pappenheim, German activist and writer (d. 1936)
1861 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)
1862 - Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and shooter (d. 1937)
1863 - Joaquin Sorolla, Spanish painter (d. 1923)
1863 - George Herbert Mead, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1931)
1867 - Irving Fisher, American economist (d. 1947)
1870 - Louis Coerne, American composer and music educator (d. 1922)
1872 - Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1950)
1874 - F. M. Cornford, English classical scholar and translator (d. 1943)
1875 - Manuel Ugarte, Argentine politician (d. 1951)
1877 - Adela Verne, English pianist (d. 1952)
1878 - Alvan T. Fuller, 50th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1879 - Rene Lefebvre, martyr of the French Resistance (d. 1944)
1881 - Sveinn Bjornsson, 1st President of Iceland (d. 1952)
1882 - Burton K. Wheeler, American politician (d. 1975)
1886 - Hugo Black, United States Supreme Court Justice (d. 1971)
1887 - Pyotr Nesterov, Russian pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1914)
1888 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., American historian (d. 1965)
1888 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
1891 - Anne Samson, Canadian nun and supercentenarian (d. 2004)
1891 - David Sarnoff, Russian-born broadcast pioneer (d. 1971)
1892 - William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
1895 - Miyagiyama Fukumatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1943)
1897 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (d. 1993)
1897 - Bernard Lyot, French astronomer (d. 1952)
1899 - Charles Best, Canadian scientist (d. 1978)
1901 1950
1901 - Marino Marini, Italian artist and sculptor (d. 1980)
1902 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
1903 - Ion Irimescu, Romanian sculptor and sketcher (d. 2005)
1903 - Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)
1904 - Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (d. 1996)
1904 - Chick Fullis, American baseball player (d. 1946)
1905 - Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)
1907 - Mildred Bailey, American singer (d. 1951)
1910 - Genrikh Gasparyan, Armenian chess player and composer (d. 1995)
1910 - Joan Bennett, American actress (d. 1990)
1912 - Lawrence Durrell, English writer (d. 1990)
1913 - Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (d. 2005)
1913 - Kazimierz Sabbat, Polish politician (d. 1989)
1917 - John Connally, 39th Governor of Texas and 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1993)
1921 - Theodore Van Kirk, American soldier, pilot and navigator (d. 2014)
1923 - Alejandro Zaffaroni, Uruguayan-American chemist and entrepreneur (d. 2014)
1923 - Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1990)
1926 - David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist (d. 2013)
1927 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)
1927 - Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
1928 - Alfred Hrdlicka, Austrian artist, sculptor and writer (d. 2009)
1928 - Jean Joubert, French novelist, short story writer and poet (d. 2015)
1928 - Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)
1929 - Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
1930 - Joanne Woodward, American actress
1932 - Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (d. 2011)
1932 - Ernst Hinterseer, Austrian skier
1934 - Ralph Nader, American consumer activist
1934 - Michiko Maeda, Japanese actress
1935 - Alberto Remedios, operatic tenor
1935 - Mirella Freni, Italian soprano
1935 - Brian Heap, English biologist and academic
1936 - Roger Mahony, American cardinal
1936 - Ron Barassi, Australian footballer and coach
1939 - Kenzo Takada, Japanese fashion designer
1939 - Don McKinnon, New Zealand politician
1939 - Antoinette Sibley, English ballerina
1940 - Loren Pankratz, American psychologist
1940 - Bill Hunter, Australian actor (d. 2011)
1941 - Paddy Ashdown, British politician
1942 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist
1942 - Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, German footballer (d. 2011)
1943 - Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazilian football manager
1945 - Carl Anderson, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1947 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist and conductor
1948 - John Chittick, American health activist (d. 2017)
1950 - Julia Neuberger, English rabbi and politician
1950 - Annabel Goldie, Scottish politician
1951 1975
1951 - Lee Atwater, American political figure (d. 1991)
1953 - Ian Khama, President of Botswana
1953 - Gabriela Svobodova, Czech cross-country skier
1953 - Gavin Esler, British broadcaster
1953 - Yolande Moreau, Belgian comedian, actress, movie director and screenwriter
1957 - Viktor Markin, Soviet-Russian sprinter
1957 - Adrian Smith, English musician (Iron Maiden)
1957 - Timothy Spall, English actor
1958 - Maggie Hassan, Governor of New Hampshire
1959 - Johnny Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1960 - Carson Yeung, Hong Kong businessman
1962 - Adam Baldwin, American actor
1964 - Thomas Lange, German rower
1965 - Noah Emmerich, American actor
1966 - Baltasar Kormakur, Icelandic actor, director and producer
1969 - Gareth Llewellyn, Welsh rugby player
1969 - Stuart MacBride, Scottish author
1970 - Goran Markov, Macedonian footballer
1970 - Patricia Petibon, French soprano
1971 - Roman Giertych, Polish Minister of Education
1971 - Derren Brown, British illusionist
1973 - Peter Andre, British-Australian singer-songwriter, businessman and television personality
1974 - Colin Edwards, American motorcycle racer
1974 - Carte Goodwin, former United States Senator for West Virginia
1975 - Prodromos Korkizoglou, Greek decathlete
From 1976
1976 - Sergei Semak, Russian footballer
1978 - James Beattie, English footballer
1978 - Kakha Kaladze, Georgian footballer
1979 - Adriana Campos, Colombian actress (d. 2015)
1980 - Debbie Flood, British rower
1980 - Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton
1980 - Bobby Valentino, American singer
1981 - Evi Goffin, Belgian singer-songwriter
1981 - Josh Groban, American singer
1982 - Bruno Soares, Brazilian tennis player
1982 - Amedy Coulibaly, French Islamic Jihadist (d. 2015)
1983 - Kate Mara, American actress
1984 - Lotta Schelin, Swedish footballer
1985 - Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Russian footballer
1985 - Brandon Coburn, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 - Dustin Jeffrey, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 - Shota Shimizu, Japanese musician
1989 - Stephen Kiprotich, Ugandan long-distance runner
1989 - Brittany Ashton Holmes, American actress
1992 - Jonjo Shelvey, English footballer
1992 - Callum Wilson, English footballer
1992 - Meyers Leonard, American basketball player
1994 - Hou Yifan, Chinese chess player
1996 - Marta Bassino, Italian skier
Deaths
Up to 1900
640 - Pepin the Elder, Frankish Mayor of the Palace (b. 580)
956 - Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople (b. 917)
1659 - Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College (b. 1609)
1706 - John Evelyn, English diarist (b. 1620)
1735 - John Arbuthnot, English physician and writer (b. 1667)
1795 - Tanikaze Kajinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1750)
1844 - Nicholas Biddle, American banker (b. 1786)
1850 - Samuel Adams, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1805)
1874 - Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1819)
1887 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b. 1833)
1892 - Louis Vuitton, French designer (b. 1821)
1901 2000
1905 - George S. Boutwell, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1818)
1906 - Samuel Pierpoint Langley, American astrophysicist (b. 1834)
1931 - Chandrasekhar Azad, Indian revolutionary (b. 1906)
1936 - Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist (b. 1849)
1936 - Joshua W. Alexander, United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1852)
1937 - Emily Malbone Morgan, American saint (b. 1862)
1939 - Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary (b. 1869)
1941 - William D. Byron, American politician (b. 1895)
1943 - Kostis Palamas, Greek poet (b. 1859)
1956 - Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Indian politician (b. 1888)
1970 - Marie Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
1972 - Pat Brady, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
1973 - Bill Everett, American comic book artist (b. 1917)
1985 - Henry Cabot Lodge, American politician (b. 1902)
1986 - Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
1987 - Joan Greenwood, English actress and director (b. 1921)
1989 - Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist (b. 1903)
1993 - Lillian Gish, American actress (b. 1893)
1998 - George H. Hitchings, American scientist (b. 1905)
1999 - Christine Glanville, British puppeteer (b. 1924)
From 2001
2002 - Spike Milligan, Irish-born comedian (b. 1918)
2003 - Fred Rogers, American children's television actor (b. 1928)
2003 - John Lanchbery, English-Australian composer and conductor (b. 1923)
2006 - Linda Smith, British comedienne (b. 1958)
2007 - Bobby Rosengarden, American jazz drummer (b. 1924)
2008 - Ivan Rebroff, German singer (b. 1931)
2008 - William F. Buckley, Jr., American writer and commentator (b. 1925)
2009 - Manea Manescu, Romanian Prime Minister (b. 1916)
2010 - Wendy Toye, British actress (b. 1917)
2011 - Necmettin Erbakan, Turkish Prime Minister (b. 1926)
2011 - Frank Buckles, American World War I veteran and supercentenarian (b. 1901)
2013 - Van Cliburn, American pianist (b. 1934)
2013 - Ramon Dekkers, Dutch kickboxer (b. 1969)
2013 - Dale Robertson, American actor (b. 1923)
2014 - Jan Hoet, Belgian art historian (b. 1936)
2014 - Huber Matos, Cuban dissident, activist and writer (b. 1918)
2014 - Aaron Allston, American game designer and science fiction author (b. 1960)
2015 - Bohdan Tomaszewski, Polish sports commentator (b. 1921)
2015 - Richard Bakalyan, American actor (b. 1931)
2015 - Bob Benmosche, American executive (b. 1944)
2015 - Mykhailo Chechetov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1953)
2015 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor (b. 1931)
2015 - Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician (b. 1959)
2016 - Rajesh Pillai, Indian film director (b. 1974)
2017 - John Harlan, American radio and television announcer (b. 1925)
2017 - Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador (b. 1924)
2018 - Quini, Spanish footballer (b. 1949)
2018 - William H. T. Bush, American businessman (b. 1938)
Observances
National Day of the Dominican Republic
Days of the year