On this day, 28th
February, in history, several significant scientific events occurred:
In 1953, James Watson and
Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA while working at the Cavendish
Laboratory in Cambridge, England. Their discovery revolutionized the field of
biology and led to major advancements in genetics and biotechnology.
In 1975, a major
earthquake struck the city of Haicheng in northeastern China. The Chinese
government had received warning of the impending disaster from a group of
scientists who had observed unusual geological activity in the area. As a
result, they were able to evacuate the city and save many lives.
In 1986, Swedish Prime
Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in Stockholm. Palme was a prominent figure
in Swedish politics and a leading advocate for nuclear disarmament and
environmental protection.
In 2013, astronomers
announced the discovery of a new planet outside of our solar system called PSO
J318.5-22. The planet is a gas giant that is about eight times the mass of
Jupiter, and it is located about 80 light-years away from Earth.
1986: The Challenger
Space Shuttle disaster
On February 28th, 1986,
the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after takeoff, killing
all seven crew members on board. The disaster was caused by the failure of a
seal on one of the solid rocket boosters, which allowed hot gases to escape and
ignite the main fuel tank. The tragedy resulted in a suspension of NASA's
shuttle program for over two years, and led to major changes in the way that
NASA conducted its missions.
2013: First evidence of
cosmic inflation
On February 28th, 2013,
the BICEP2 collaboration announced that they had detected the first direct
evidence of cosmic inflation, which is the theory that the universe underwent a
brief but dramatic expansion immediately after the Big Bang. The BICEP2
telescope observed a pattern in the cosmic microwave background radiation that
supported the inflationary theory, and the discovery was widely considered to
be one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the decade. However,
subsequent analyses have challenged the BICEP2 team's findings, and the results
remain controversial.
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