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Today in History, February 28th

On February 28, 1953, Watson and Crick worked out DNA's double helix. Plus Pope Benedict XVI's resignation and the M*A*S*H finale.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published February 28, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

February 28 is best known as the day in 1953 when James Watson and Francis Crick worked out the double-helix structure of DNA. The date also saw Pope Benedict XVI step down in 2013 and the record-setting final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983.

The big story: Watson and Crick Crack DNA’s Structure (1953)

By early 1953, scientists knew DNA carried genetic information, but nobody could say what the molecule looked like. At Cambridge University, a young American biologist, James Watson, and a British physicist, Francis Crick, had been building models to find out. On February 28, 1953, they hit on the answer: two strands twisted around each other in a double helix, linked by paired bases like the rungs of a ladder. The shape explained, in one picture, how DNA could copy itself. According to Watson’s later memoir, Crick celebrated by walking into the Eagle pub nearby and announcing they had found the secret of life. Their short paper appeared in Nature that April. The breakthrough leaned on X-ray images made by Rosalind Franklin, which her colleague Maurice Wilkins had shown Watson shortly before. Watson, Crick and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize. Franklin had died in 1958, and the prize is not awarded after death.

More events on February 28

Year	What happened
1827	The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was chartered in Maryland as the first U.S. railroad set up to carry both passengers and freight for hire.
1844	A huge cannon called the Peacemaker exploded aboard the USS Princeton on the Potomac, killing two members of President John Tyler’s cabinet. Tyler, who was still on a ladder below the upper deck, survived.
1922	Britain ended its protectorate over Egypt with a one-sided declaration of independence, though it kept control over defense, the Sudan and other key matters.
1947	Protests against Nationalist rule spread across Taipei, the day that gave Taiwan’s 228 Incident its name. A brutal crackdown followed in March.
1975	A rush-hour train crashed at London’s Moorgate station, killing 43 people in the Underground’s worst peacetime accident.
1983	The final episode of MASH* aired on CBS. The two-and-a-half-hour finale drew about 77 percent of the TV audience, a record at the time.
1986	Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead on a Stockholm street.
1993	A federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, turned into a gun battle that killed four ATF agents and six Davidians and began a 51-day standoff.
2013	Pope Benedict XVI formally resigned, the first pope to give up the office since Gregory XII in 1415.
2026	The U.S. and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran. U.S. and Israeli leaders announced that day that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed, and Iran fired missiles and drones in response.

Born on February 28

1901: Linus Pauling, chemist who won two unshared Nobel Prizes, for chemistry and for peace.
1929: Frank Gehry, Canadian-born architect of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
1940: Mario Andretti, Italian-born racer who won the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One world title.