February 24

February

February was named for the Ramon god Februus. January and February were the last two months added to the calendar because the Romans believed winter to be a time without months. Originally February had 29 days regularly and 30 days on a leap year but Augusts took one day from February and added it to August. (more)

Birthstone: Amethyst (more)
Astrological sign: Aquarius (January 20-February 18) Pisces (February 19-March 20)

On February 24 many famous, great and interesting people were also born.

February 24 Birthdays:

Paula Zahn was born in 1956 in Naperville Illinois. She worked as a news anchor for ABC and CBS Morning. Zahn is an experienced cello player and started to play at age 5. She earned her journalism degree at Columbia University. (more)

Honus Wangner was a great American baseball player born in 1874 and died on December 6, 1955. Wagner was one of the first five baseball players to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Many consider him to be the best short stop if not the best all around player of all time. His card is one of the most valuable cards partially due to its rarity. His card was especially rare because he refused to allow tobacco companies to use his card in sales as to not show a bad example for children. (more)

Jacques de Vaucanson was born in France in 1709. He was a mechanical and robotic inventor. His most famous invention was "The duck" which was a mechanical, lifelike duck. He was appointed inspector of silk manufacturing and he tried to revolutionize the industry with new mechanical advancements. (more)

Kurt Tank was born in 1898 and became a German aircraft designer. He died on June 5, 1983. The airplane Ta 152 was named for Tank as the designer of the aircraft. (more)

Chester W Nimitz was born in 1885 in Fredericksburg, Texas and died February 20, 1966. In World War II Nimitz was the one that lead navel forces to victory in the Pacific. Later in his life he went to Washington and served as the Assistant chief of The Navy Bureao of Investigation. (more)

Steven Jobs was born in 1955. He co-founded Apple in 1976 and also co-founded Pixar in 1986. He grew up in apricot orchards where he still lives today. (more)

Carl Graebe was born in 1841 and died on January 19, 1927. He was a German organic chemist. He worked with Carl Lieberman and together they created alizarin. (more)

Henri Frankfort born in 1897 and died on July 16, 1954. Frankfort was an American archeologist and directed Expeditions to Egypt and Iraq. (more)

Johann Baptist Cramer was a well known Pianist from the period of change from Classicism to Romanticism. In 1778 he had his first foreign tour. He was born in 1771 and died in Germany on April 16, 1858. (more)

Clement VII was born in 1536 and died march 5, 1605. He was Pope from 1592 to 1605. He made Cardinal in 1585. He was the last pontiff to serve in the Counter-Reformation period. (more)

Events:

1541: Santiago, Chile was founded by Pedro de Valvidia with the original founding name of, Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. Because it was easy to attack and the moderate climate, Santiago Chile was the area chosen by Valvidia to found. (more)

1803: The supreme Court rules the first to be unconstitutional. The case was between William Marbury and James Masison. The case involved section 13 of the Judiciary act. (more)

1820: Mexico gains independence from Spain after several failed attempts. They won their independence with the help of liberals, Freemasons, and Spanish Americans working together. (more)

1836: Thousands of troops from the Mexican army attacked 189 Texas volunteers. The Alamo became a sign of liberty as the Mexican army was held back for 13 days. (more)

1868: President Andrew Jackson was impeached as the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47. He however did stay in office and finished his term never being voted out.

1881: The De Lesseps' Company starts working on the building of the Panama Canal. The canal was overseen by President Theodore Roosevelt as a canal that made shipping goods easily and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. (more)

1895: Cuban war of independence begins. It was started under the leadership of José Martí who is considered by most Most Cubans to be the father of the country. (more)

1924: Johnny Weissmuller gets the 100 meter swimming record (57:2/5 seconds) Weissmuller is considered by many to be the best swimmer ever. Besides this record, he had 27 more world record times. (more)

1983: Dow Jones closes above 1100 mark for 1st time

1989: 150-million-year-old fossil egg (oldest dinosaur embryo) found

1995: Dow-Jones hits record 4011.74