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From today's featured article Arthur W. Radford (1896–1973) was a U.S. Navy admiral and naval aviator. In over 40 years of military service, he held a variety of posts including Vice Chief of Naval Operations, commander of the Pacific Fleet and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Radford's first sea duty was aboard the battleship USS South Carolina during World War I. In the first years of World War II, he was the architect of the navy's aviator training programs. In its final years he commanded aircraft carrier divisions through several campaigns of the Pacific War. Noted as a strong-willed and aggressive leader, Radford was a central figure in the post-war debates on U.S. military policy, and was a staunch proponent of naval aviation. He defended the Navy's interests in an era of shrinking defense budgets during the 1949 "Revolt of the Admirals", a contentious public fight over policy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he advocated a strong nuclear deterrent in support of the New Look policy of President Dwight Eisenhower. He retired from the military in 1957. He was the namesake of the Spruance-class destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford. (Full article...) Recently featured: Halo Wars African river martin Æthelberht of Kent Did you know... Six Gentlemen ... that Six Gentlemen (pictured) by Ni Zan is thought to represent the isolation of scholar-recluses in Yuan dynasty China? ... that the composer Sterndale Bennett introduced cricket to Germany? ... that Jacksonville attorney Bill Birchfield referred to himself as the "Duke of Mayo"? ... that after seeing a trailer for Oprah Winfrey's Belief series, Tim McGraw got Winfrey to provide footage for his "Humble and Kind" music video? ... that professional surfer Kala Alexander is vice president of an organization that gives children with cystic fibrosis surfing lessons? ... that the first waves of the landing at Lae were carried in four destroyer transports? ... that Gujarati theatre actor Markand Bhatt received a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2008? ... that Ezubao attracted 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) from 900,000 Chinese investors before it was closed down as a Ponzi scheme?

In the news Denny Hamlin Tara Air Flight 193 crashes in Nepal, killing all twenty-three people on board. In motorsport, Denny Hamlin (pictured) wins the Daytona 500 by 0.01 seconds, the narrowest margin in the race's history. Cyclone Winston, the strongest tropical cyclone on record to strike Fiji, kills at least forty-two people. Yoweri Museveni claims a fifth term as President of Uganda, in an election international observers have criticised as flawed. A bombing in Ankara, Turkey, kills at least thirty people and injures more than sixty others. Ongoing events: Zika virus outbreak European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Douglas Slocombe Eric Brown Umberto Eco On this day... February 27 Mary of Guise 1560 – The Treaty of Berwick was signed, setting the terms under which an English fleet and army could enter Scotland to expel French troops defending the Regency of Mary of Guise (pictured). 1870 – The current flag of Japan was first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships. 1940 – American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the radioactive isotope carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples. 1996 – The media franchise Pokémon was launched with the release of the first version of the video game Pocket Monsters Aka and Midori. 2015 – Russian statesman and politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated in central Moscow while returning from a meal out. More anniversaries: February 26 February 27 February 28

Today's featured picture The cylindrical equal-area projection is a family of cylindrical, equal-area map projections including the Gall–Peters, Behrmann and Lambert projections. Cylindrical projections stretch distances east–west as a function of latitude; as such, cylindrical equal-area projections have a north–south compression which is precisely the reciprocal of east–west stretching. The various specializations of this projection differ only in the ratio of the vertical to horizontal axis. Map: Strebe, using Geocart Recently featured: Victor Hugo Mako shark jaw Howard Thurston

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