According to The Arizona Republic February 28th article "Earth's Orbit of Sun Is Reason For the Leap", leap year arose out of a predicament. It takes the Earth almost 6 hours longer than an even 365 days(days in a year excluding leap year) to complete one full orbit around the sun.
One early roman astonomer named Sosigense suggested adding one day to the calendar every 4 years. Julius Caesar agreed, and beginning in 45 BC, he incorporated leap day every four years into the calendar.
However there was a problem by the 16th century things were still a little off throwing off the liturgical year(Roman Catholic Church calendar). To fix this poblem in 1582, Pope Gregory XII as in author of the Gregorian calendar updated the Julian calender by elimating trhe leap years every four centuries.
The Gregorian calendar was slow to be adopted. Britain along with its American colonies didn't adjust its clendar until 1752. Greece didn't adjust leap year until 1923, making it the last European country to do so.
So the new year for leap years is add an extra day at the end of February making February 29 days, every year that's evenly divisible by four, unless it's the year that's evenly divisible by 100, but not if the year is also evenly divisible by 400.
And now you know the history of leap year. I bet you want to know if any famous people were born on leap day. Yes, of course, one in about 1,461 people are born on Leap Day(February 29th), that's about 200,000 in the United States, and 4 million worldwide. So, yes statistically someone famous had to be born on that day like... Jeffrey Atkins, aka Rapper Ja Rule born on February 29, 1975, and actor Antonio Sabato Jr. born in 1972, entertainer Dinah Shore born in 1916, and jazz musician Jimmy Dorsey born in 1904. And of course one infamous person serial killr Aileen Wuornos born in 1956.
Leap year lore includes in Ireland women are allowed to make marriage proposals on Leap Day, and in Greece leap years are thought of to be a unlucky day for weddings.
For more Leap Day trivia, there is a website for all you history buffs entitled www.leapyearday.com
Have a Happy Leap Day!
