February 24

Events
Up to 1900
303 - Galerius publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Roman Empire.
1303 - An English Army is defeated by a Scottish Army in the Battle of Roslin.
1377 - Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated in Buda.
1525 - The Spanish Imperial Army defeats the French Army at the Battle of Pavia.
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
1607 - The L'Orfeo opera by Claudio Monteverdi premieres.
1711 - London premiere (first performance) of Rinaldo by George Friedric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
1803 - The United States Supreme Court creates the principle of Judicial review.
1809 - London's Dury Lane Theatre burns to the ground.
1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
1831 - Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek: The first removal treaty in line with the Indian Removal Act in the United States is announced. The Choctaws of Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange and payment for land in the west.
1848 - Louis Philippe I gives up the French throne. He is France's last king.
1857 - New Orleans holds its first Mardi Gras parade in present form.
1863 - Arizona becomes a US territory.
1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first US President to be impeached, by the House of Representatives.
1875 - The ship SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef, and sinks, killing around 100 people.
1895 - The Second Cuban War of Independence begins.
1901 2000
1918 - Estonia declares its independence.
1920 - The Nazi Party is founded.
1942 - The steamer Struma, with 764 Jewish refugees on board is sunk in the Bosporus by a Soviet U-boat, having sailed under the Flag of Panama.
1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in parliament.
1966 - While abroad, Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah is diposed from power in a military coup, and replaced by Joseph Arthur Ankrah.
1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam re-captures Hue.
1969 - NASA launches the space probe Mariner 6 towards Mars.
1976 - A national constitution for Cuba is proclaimed.
1980 - The Shekel becomes the currency of Israel.
1980 - The US men's ice hockey team wins the gold medal over Finland at the Winter Olympics.
1981 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Athens.
1981 - Charles, Prince of Wales and the future Diana, Princess of Wales announce their engagement.
1983 - A special commission of the United States Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
1984 - Tyrone Mitchell carries out the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, California, killing 2 children and injuring 12.
1987 - In the Great Magellanic Cloud, the Supernova 1987A is discovered.
1989 - Ayatollah Khomeini offers 3 million $ to anyone who kills the writer Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.
1989 - United Airlines Flight 811, travelling from Honolulu, Hawaii to New Zealand, rips open during mid-flight, blowing 9 passengers out of the business class section, all of died as result.
1991 - In Operation Desert Storm the ground war begins.
1993 - Yukihiro Matsumoto invents the "Ruby" programming language.
1996 - Last occurrence of February 24 as leap year day in the European Union and the Roman Catholic Church.
1997 - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Turkmenistan and northern Iran, killing 100 people.
From 2001
2002 - The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City come to an end. Norway wins the most gold medals, with Germany winning the most medals overall.
2003 - A magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Xinjiang Province in China kills 261 people.
2004 - An earthquake in Morocco kills 571 people.
2006 - After an attempted coup in the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares a state of emergency.
2007 - Japan launches its fourth spy satellite to monitor potential threats, such as North Korea.
2008 - Raul Castro becomes President of Cuba, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro.
2011 - The Space Shuttle Discovery launches for the last time.
2016 - Tara Air Flight 193 crashes in the Myagdi District in Nepal, killing 23 people.
2022 - Russia starts invading Ukraine.
Births
Up to 1900
1103 - Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
1304 - Ibn Battuta, traveller from present-day Morocco (date of death unknown)
1463 - Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian humanist (d. 1494)
1500 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)
1536 - Pope Clement VIII (d. 1605)
1547 - Don John of Austria, Spanish general (d. 1578)
1557 - Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)
1595 - Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish writer and Latin poet (d. 1640)
1597 - Vincent Voiture, French poet (d. 1648)
1619 - Charles Le Brun, French painter (d. 1690)
1622 - Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1665)
1709 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
1721 - John McKinly, American physician and politician, President of Delaware (d. 1796)
1723 - John Burgoyne, British general and writer (d. 1792)
1743 - Joseph Banks, British botanist (d. 1820)
1767 - Buddha Loeta Nabhalai, King of Siam (d. 1824)
1774 - Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850)
1786 - Wilhelm Grimm, German storyteller (d. 1859)
1791 - Sveinbjorn Egilsson, Icelandic theologian, teacher, translator and poet (d. 1852)
1805 - Julius Vogel, 8th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1899)
1811 - Edward Dickinson Baker, British-born American general and politician (d. 1861)
1811 - Friedrich Daniel Bassermann, German entrepreneur and liberal politician (d. 1855)
1827 - Lydia Becker, British activist (d. 1890)
1831 - Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
1836 - Winslow Homer, American artist (d. 1910)
1837 - Rosalia de Castro, Galician writer and poet (d. 1885)
1842 - Arrigo Boito, Italian composer (d. 1918)
1843 - Teofilo Braga, Portuguese writer and statesman (d. 1924)
1846 - Luigi Denza, Italian composer (d. 1922)
1848 - Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
1852 - George Moore, Irish writer (d. 1933)
1864 - Jose Pardo y Barreda, two-time President of Peru (d. 1947)
1866 - Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian physicist (d. 1912)
1868 - Edouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (d. 1949)
1874 - Honus Wagner, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955)
1877 - Rudolph Ganz, Swiss pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1972)
1880 - Einar Arnorsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1955)
1885 - Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter and philosopher (d. 1939)
1885 - Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (d. 1966)
1893 - Ralph E. Gates, Governor of Indiana (d. 1978)
1895 - Vsevolod Ivanov, Russian writer (d. 1963)
1896 - Richard Thorpe, American movie director (d. 1991)
1897 - Yang Xiufeng, Chinese politician (d. 1983)
1898 - Kurt Tank, German engineer and pilot (d. 1983)
1899 - Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gromov, Soviet-Russian pilot (d. 1985)
1901 1950
1903 - Vladimir Bartol, Slovene author (d. 1967)
1909 - Max Black, American philosopher (d. 1988)
1912 - Jiri Trnka, Czech puppet maker and illustrator (d. 1969)
1914 - Weldon Kees, American poet, musician and painter (d. 1955)
1914 - Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)
1914 - Ralph Erskine, British architect (d. 2005)
1921 - Ingvar Lidholm, Swedish composer (d. 2017)
1921 - Abe Vigoda, American actor (d. 2016)
1921 - Douglass Watson, American actor (d. 1989)
1922 - Richard Hamilton, British painter and collage artist (d. 2011)
1922 - Steven Hill, American actor (d. 2016)
1924 - Erik Nielsen, Canadian politician (d. 2008)
1925 - Etel Adnan, Lebanese-American writer and artist
1926 - Erich Loest, German writer (d. 2013)
1927 - Emmanuelle Riva, French actress (d. 2017)
1927 - Trevor Colbourn, Australian-American professor (d. 2015)
1930 - Barbara Lawrence, American actress (d. 2013)
1931 - Dominic Chianese, American actor
1932 - Michel Legrand, French composer
1932 - Zell Miller, former Governor of Georgia
1932 - John Vernon, Canadian actor (d. 2005)
1933 - Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American academic and writer (d. 2014)
1934 - Renata Scotto, Italian soprano
1934 - Bettino Craxi, Italian politician (d. 2000)
1934 - Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi (d. 2012)
1934 - George Ryan, former Governor of Illinois
1935 - Ryhor Baradulin, Belarussian painter (d. 2014)
1938 - James Farentino, American actor (d. 2012)
1938 - Phil Knight, American businessman, co-founder of Nike, Inc.
1940 - Denis Law, Scottish footballer
1940 - Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (d. 2014)
1940 - James Sloyan, American actor
1942 - Paul Jones, English singer
1942 - Joe Lieberman, American politician
1942 - Colin Bond, Australian racing driver
1942 - Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Indian philosopher and theorist
1943 - Terry Semel, former CEO of Yahoo
1943 - Catherine Cesarky, French astronomer
1944 - David J. Wineland, American physicist
1944 - Ivica Racan, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (d. 2007)
1946 - Don Spiegelman, former Governor of Alabama
1946 - Ratomir Dujkovic, Serbian football manager
1947 - Mike Fratello, American basketball player
1947 - Edward James Olmos, American actor and director
1948 - Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
1948 - Dennis Waterman, English actor
1948 - Francois Lacombe, Canadian ice hockey player
1948 - Jayalalithaa, Indian actress and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2016)
1950 - George Thorogood, American singer and guitarist
1951 1975
1951 - Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
1951 - Helen Shaver, Canadian actress
1951 - Laimdota Straujuma, former Prime Minister of Latvia
1951 - David Ford, Northern Irish politician and former leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
1952 - Bruno Zuppiger, Swiss politician (d. 2016)
1954 - Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer and musician
1954 - Sid Meier, Canadian-American computer programmer
1955 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer, CEO of Apple Inc. (d. 2011)
1955 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
1956 - Judith Butler, American philosopher
1956 - Paula Zahn, American journalist
1958 - Sammy Kershaw, American musician
1958 - Mark Moses, American actor
1959 - Beth Broderick, American actress
1961 - Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway
1963 - Mike Vernon, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 - Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
1965 - Hansi Flick, German football coach
1965 - Kristin Davis, American actress
1965 - Jane Swift, former Governor of Massachusetts
1966 - Billy Zane, American actor
1966 - Ben Miller, British comedian, actor and director
1967 - Brian Schmidt, American-Australian astrophysicist, 2011 Nobel Prize winner
1967 - Fernando Tejero, Spanish actor
1968 - Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (d. 2005)
1971 - Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish racing driver
1971 - Josh Bernstein, American explorer and TV host
1971 - Brian Savage, Canadian ice hockey player
1971 - Leda Battisti, Italian singer
1972 - Manon Rheaume, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 - Chris Fehn, American musician (Slipknot)
1973 - Yordan Yovchev, Bulgarian gymnast
1973 - Alexei Kovalev, Russian ice hockey player
1974 - Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer
1974 - Chad Hugo, American musician
1974 - Bonnie Somerville, American actress
1975 - Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler
From 1976
1976 - Eric Griffin, American rock guitarist
1976 - Zach Johnson, American golfer
1977 - Bronson Arroyo, American baseball player
1977 - Floyd Mayweather, Jr., American boxer
1979 - Claire Cooper, English actress
1981 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
1981 - Mauro Rosales, Argentine footballer
1982 - Fala Chen, Chinese actress and model
1983 - Matt McGinley, American musician
1984 - Marina Timofeieva, Estonian ice dancer
1985 - William Kvist, Danish footballer
1986 - Wojtek Wolski, Polish-Canadian ice hockey player
1987 - Chieko Kawabe, Japanese singer, model and actress
1989 - Trace Cyrus, American musician
1989 - Daniel Kaluuya, British actor and writer
1989 - Kostas Koufas, Greek-American basketball player
1991 - Madison Hubbell, American ice dancer
1994 - Earl Sweatshirt, American rapper
2001 - Ramona Marquez, English actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
616 - King Ethelbert of Kent
1386 - Charles III of Naples and Hungary
1563 - Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (b. 1519)
1588 - Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
1666 - Nicholas Lanier, English composer (b. 1588)
1721 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (b. 1648)
1777 - Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
1785 - Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican lawyer and politician (b. 1746)
1799 - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist (b. 1742)
1810 - Henry Cavendish, English physicist (b. 1731)
1812 - Etienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1725)
1815 - Robert Fulton, American inventor (b. 1765)
1856 - Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1792)
1876 - Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia (b. 1809)
1879 - Shiranui Koemon, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1825)
1901 2000
1914 - Joshua Chamberlain, American Civil War figure (b. 1828)
1925 - Hjalmar Branting, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1860)
1929 - Andre Messager, French composer and conductor (b. 1853)
1945 - Ahmed Maher Pasha, Egyptian Premier
1953 - Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
1970 - Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
1973 - Eugen Rosenstock-Hussey, German-American sociologist and historian (b. 1888)
1975 - Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet premier (b. 1895)
1982 - Virginia Bruce, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
1986 - Tommy Douglas, Scottish-Canadian politician (b. 1904)
1988 - Memphis Slim, American blues singer and musician (b. 1915)
1990 - Sandro Pertini, President of Italy (b. 1896)
1991 - George Gobel, American comedian and actor (b. 1919)
1991 - John Charles Daly, American news broadcaster and game show host (b. 1914)
1993 - Bobby Moore, English footballer (b. 1941)
1994 - Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
1994 - Jean Sablon, French singer and actor (b. 1906)
1998 - Antonio Prohias, Cuban-born cartoonist (b. 1921)
1998 - Clara Fraser, American activist (b. 1923)
From 2001
2001 - Claude Shannon, American mathematician and electro technician (b. 1916)
2002 - Leo Ornstein, Ukrainian-American pianist and composer (b. 1912)
2003 - Bernard Loiseau, French chef (b. 1951)
2003 - Christopher Hill, British historian (b. 1912)
2006 - Don Knotts, American actor (b. 1924)
2006 - Dennis Weaver, American actor (b. 1924)
2007 - Leroy Jenkins, American composer and violinist (b. 1932)
2008 - Larry Norman, American musician, singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2011 - Anant Pai, Indian educator and comics creator (b. 1929)
2012 - Jan Berenstain, American writer (b. 1923)
2014 - Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1944)
2014 - Franny Beecher, American musician (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1921)
2014 - Alexis Hunter, New Zealand-English painter and photographer (b. 1948)
2014 - Prokash Karmakar, Indian painter (b. 1932)
2015 - Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakhstani politician and diplomat (b. 1962)
2015 - Irving Kahn, American financier (b. 1905)
2015 - Donald Keough, American businessman (b. 1926)
2015 - Maurice Hurley, American television writer and producer (b. 1939)
2015 - Bertrice Small, American author (b. 1937)
2016 - Ryszard Bender, Polish politician (b. 1932)
2016 - Peter Kenilorea, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (b. 1943)
2016 - Peter van der Merwe, Dutch footballer (b. 1942)
2016 - Rafael Iriondo, Spanish footballer (b. 1918)
2016 - Adriana Benetti, Italian actress (b. 1919)
2017 - Gustaw Lutkiewicz, Polish actor (b. 1924)
2017 - Daryl, American magician (b. 1955)
2018 - Shmuel Auerbach, Israeli rabbi (b. 1931)
2018 - Bud Luckey, American actor and animator (b. 1934)
2018 - Folco Quilici, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2018 - Sridevi, Indian actress (b. 1963)
2019 - Donald Keene, American and Japanese scholar, writer, translator and Japanese studies expert (b. 1922)
Observances
Independence Day (Estonia)
Flag Day (Mexico)
Engineer's Day (Iran)
National Artist Day (Thailand)
Days of the year