What Happened on February 28?

February 28 is when Watson and Crick figured out DNA's famous spiral shape — the twisted ladder that holds the instructions for every living thing!

1827 — Baltimore & Ohio Railroad chartered — America's first passenger railroad

Baltimore merchants chartered the Baltimore & Ohio, the first American railroad chartered to carry both passengers and freight — kicking off America's railroad age. Read the full story →
1953 — Watson and Crick discover DNA's double-helix structure

Working with cardboard models and crucial X-ray images from Rosalind Franklin's lab, James Watson and Francis Crick worked out DNA's twisted-ladder shape — the secret of how life copies itself. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Linus Pauling (1901–1994) · Mario Andretti (1940) · Bernadette Peters (1948) · Brian Jones (1942–1993)

National Tooth Fairy Day