February 12
February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 322 days remaining, 323 in leap years.
Events
- 1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
- 1554 - Nine days after claiming the throne of England, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
- 1719 - The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest still existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded
- 1733 - Englishman James Oglethorpe founds the 13th and final American colony of Georgia, and its first city at Savannah.
- 1737 - The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated.
- 1817 - Chilean patriotic army, after cross the Andes, defeat Spanish troops on the battle of Chacabuco
- 1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Indepence of Chile near Concepcion, Chile
- 1825 - The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.
- 1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands.
- 1870 - Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.
- 1879 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
- 1892 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the United States.
- 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
- 1912 - China adopts the Gregorian calendar.
- 1915 - In Washington, DC the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
- 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
- 1934 - The Export-Import Bank is incorporated.
- 1938 - Anschluss: German troops enter Austria.
- 1951 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari marries the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi at Golestan Palace in Teheran at age of 17.
- 1973 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in SI units on signs.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.
- 1994 - 1994 Winter Olympics open in Lillehammer, Norway.
- 1998 - The presidential line-item veto is declared unconstitutional by United States federal judge.
- 1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
- 2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
- 2002 - The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
- 2002 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
- 2002 - An Iran Air Tours (subsidiary of Iran Air) Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119
Births
- 1567 - Thomas Campion, composer, poet (d. 1620)
- 1637 - Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (d. 1680)
- 1768 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
- 1775 - Louisa Adams, First Lady, wife of President John Quincy Adams (d. 1852)
- 1777 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, poet (d. 1843)
- 1809 - Charles Darwin, naturalist (d. 1882)
- 1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
- 1861 - Lou Andreas-Salome, author (d. 1937)
- 1865 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, full name Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (d. 1940)
- 1880 - John L. Lewis, labor union leader (d. 1969)
- 1881 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (d. 1931)
- 1884 - Max Beckmann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)
- 1884 - Marie Vassilieff, artist (d. 1957)
- 1893 - Omar Bradley, general (d. 1981)
- 1912 - R. F. Delderfield, author (d. 1972)
- 1914 - Tex Beneke, musician, band leader (d. 2000)
- 1915 - Lorne Greene, actor (d. 1987)
- 1919 - Forrest Tucker, actor (d. 1986)
- 1920 - William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian and professor of Church history emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (d. 2000)
- 1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, film director
- 1925 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (d. 1984)
- 1926 - Paul Kurtz, philosopher, founder of numerous secular humanist groups
- 1932 - Julian Simon, economist, author (d. 1998)
- 1933 - Costa-Gavras, director, writer
- 1934 - Bill Russell, basketball star
- 1937 - Charles Dumas, American high jumper
- 1938 - Judy Blume, author
- 1939 - Ray Manzarek, keyboardist
- 1942 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
- 1943 - Samuel Karokikki, athlet
- 1950 - Michael Ironside, actor
- 1954 - Philip Zimmermann, cryptographer
- 1955 - Arsenio Hall, actor, talk show host
- 1969 - Hong Myung-Bo, South Korean football player
- 1976 - Sylvia Saint, Porn star
- 1980 - Christina Ricci, actress
- 1980 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, tennis player
- 1989 - Julio Altamiranda, guitarist
Deaths
- 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, briefly Queen of England (beheaded) (b. 1537)
- 1612 - Christopher Clavius, astronomer
- 1771 - King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (b. 1710)
- 1799 - Lazzaro Spallanzani, biologist(b. 1729)
- 1804 - Immanuel Kant, philosopher
- 1916 - Richard Dedekind, mathematician (b. 1831)
- 1929 - Lily Langtry, singer, actress
- 1951 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founding father of Pakistan (b. 1895)
- 1954 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
- 1971 - James C. Penney, department store founder (b. 1875)
- 1976 - Sal Mineo, actor (b. 1939)
- 1979 - Jean Renoir, director (b. 1894)
- 1982 - Victor Jory, actor
- 1983 - Eubie Blake, musician, songwriter (b. 1883 or 1887)
- 1984 - Julio Cortázar, author, intellectual (b. 1914)
- 1993 - James Bulger, abduction/murder victim (b. 1990)
- 1995 - Robert Bolt, writer (b. 1924)
- 1996 - Bob Shaw, science fiction author (b. 1931)
- 2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, musician (b. 1929)
- 2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- 2000 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances
February 11 - February 13 - January 12 - March 12 -- listing of all days
