February 12

February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 322 days remaining until the end of the year (323 in leap years).

Events

• 881 – Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Emperor
• 1429 – English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Comte de Clermont and Sir John Stewart of Darnley in the Battle of Rouvray (also known as the Battle of the Herrings).
• 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
• 1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
• 1554 – A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
• 1689 – The Convention Parliament convenes and declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
• 1700 – The Great Northern War begins in Northern Europe.
• 1719 – The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
• 1733 – Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).
• 1771 – Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
• 1816 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.
• 1817 – An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco.
• 1818 – Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
• 1825 – The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.
• 1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
• 1855 – Michigan State University is established.
• 1870 – Women gain the right to vote in the Utah Territory.
• 1879 – The first artificial ice rink in North America opens at Gilmore's Park in New York City.
• 1894 – Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris's Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
• 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
• 1912 – Xuantong Emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
• 1912 – The Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• 1914 – In Washington, D.C., 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 Austrian Civil War begins.
• 1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
• 1934 – In Spain the national council of Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista is inaugurated. The council decides to merge the movement with the Falange Española.
• 1940 – FBLA-PBL organization is founded.
• 1946 – World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
• 1961 – U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
• 1966 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, announces the Six Points in Karachi as the election manifesto of Awami League, that later led to formation of Bangladesh.
• 1973 – Vietnam War: The first United States prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.
• 1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
• 1976 – Actor Sal Mineo is stabbed to death in West Hollywood.
• 1990 – Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
• 1997 – Hwang Jang-yop, secretary in the Workers' Party of Korea and a prime architect of North Korea's Juche doctrine, defects at the South Korean embassy in Beijing along with his aide, Kim Dok-hong.
• 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 Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
• 2002 – US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for a deep geological repository for the United States.
• 2002 – An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
• 2004 – The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
• 2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.

Births

• 1074 – Conrad, King of Germany and Italy (d. 1101)
• 1218 – Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (d. 1256)
• 1567 – Thomas Campion, English composer and poet (d. 1620)
• 1606 – John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
• 1637 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist (d. 1680)
• 1663 – Cotton Mather, New England minister (d. 1728)
• 1665 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
• 1704 – Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (d. 1772)
• 1728 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
• 1752 – Dorothea Ackermann, German actress (d. 1821)
• 1753 – François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
• 1768 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
• 1775 – Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States, wife of John Quincy Adams (d. 1852)
• 1777 – Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German poet (d. 1843)
• 1777 – Bernard Courtois, French chemist (d. 1838)
• 1785 – Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist (d. 1838)
• 1788 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
• 1791 – Peter Cooper, American Industrialist, inventor and philanthropist (d. 1883)
• 1794 – Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player (d. 1867)
• 1804 – Heinrich Lenz, German physicist (d. 1865)
• 1809 – Charles Darwin, English naturalist (d. 1882)
• 1809 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
• 1828 – George Meredith, English writer (d. 1909)
• 1843 – John Graham Chambers, English athlete who wrote the Queensberry rules for boxing (d. 1883)
• 1857 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer (d. 1943)
• 1861 – Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born author (d. 1937)
• 1865 – Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (d. 1940)
• 1870 – Marie Lloyd, English music-hall performer (d. 1922)
• 1876 – Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933)
• 1880 – John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969)
• 1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
• 1884 – Max Beckmann, German artist (d. 1950)
• 1884 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
• 1884 – Johan Laidoner, Estonian military commander (d. 1953)
• 1884 – Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1980)
• 1885 – Julius Streicher, Nazi German publisher (d. 1946)
• 1889 – Bhante Dharmawara, Cambodian monk and supercentenarian (d. 1999)
• 1893 – Omar Bradley, American general, the last surviving five-star general in the United States and the 1st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (d. 1981)
• 1897 – Vola Vale, American actress (d. 1970)
• 1898 – Wallace Ford, English-born actor (d. 1966)
• 1900 – Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
• 1902 – William Collier, American stage and film actor (d. 1987)
• 1903 – Chick Hafey, baseball player (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Joseph F. Biroc, American cinematographer (d. 1996)
• 1904 – Ted Mack, American television host (d. 1976)
• 1907 – Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator (d. 1991)
• 1908 – Jacques Herbrand, French logician and mathematician (d. 1931)
• 1908 – Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (d. 1982)
• 1908 – August Neo, Estonian wrestler (d. 1982)
• 1909 – Sigmund Rascher, German SS doctor (d. 1945)
• 1911 – Stephen H. Sholes, American recording executive (d. 1968)
• 1912 – R. F. Delderfield, English author (d. 1972)
• 1914 – Tex Beneke, American musician and band leader (d. 2000)
• 1914 – Arvid Pardo, Maltese diplomat, a.k.a "Father of the Law of the Sea Conference" (d. 1999)
• 1915 – Lorne Greene, Canadian actor (d. 1987)
• 1916 – Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
• 1917 – Raizo Matsuno, Japanese politician (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1919 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1920 – William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian and professor (d. 2000)
• 1920 – Pran, Indian actor
• 1922 – Hussein bin Dato' Onn, Malaysian Prime Minister (d. 1990)
• 1923 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film and opera director and designer
• 1923 – Chaskel Besser, Orthodox rabbi (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (d. 1984)
• 1926 – Joe Garagiola, American baseball player and announcer
• 1926 – Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant
• 1930 – John Doyle, Irish hurler
• 1930 – Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
• 1931 – Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch author
• 1932 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (d. 2003)
• 1932 – Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (d. 1998)
• 1934 – Anne Krueger, American economist
• 1934 – Bill Russell, American basketball player
• 1934 – Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
• 1935 – Gene McDaniels, American singer
• 1936 – Joe Don Baker, American actor
• 1936 – Paul Shenar, American actor
• 1937 – Charles Dumas, American athlete (d. 2004)
• 1938 – Judy Blume, American author
• 1938 – Peter Temple-Morris, Baron Temple-Morris, British politician
• 1939 – Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (The Doors)
• 1940 – Richard Lynch, American actor
• 1941 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer
• 1942 – Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
• 1942 – Pat Dobson, American baseball player (d. 2006)
• 1944 – Moe Bandy, American singer
• 1945 – Maud Adams, Swedish actress
• 1945 – David Friedman, American economist
• 1946 – Cliff DeYoung, American actor and musician
• 1946 – Jean Eyeghe Ndong, Prime Minister of Gabon
• 1946 – Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer
• 1947 – Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Indian leader of Damdami Taksal (d. 1984)
• 1947 – Jim Durham, American sportscaster
• 1948 – Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
• 1948 – Mike Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1949 – Joaquín Sabina, Spanish singer and songwriter
• 1950 – Michael Ironside, Canadian actor
• 1950 – Steve Hackett, English guitarist (Genesis)
• 1951 – Steven Parent, Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
• 1952 – Michael McDonald, American musician
• 1952 – Simon MacCorkindale, British actor
• 1953 – Joanna Kerns, American actress
• 1953 – Nabil Shaban, British actor
• 1953 – Robin Thomas, American actor
• 1954 – Tzimis Panousis, Greek musician and stand-up comedian
• 1954 – Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
• 1955 – Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
• 1955 – Bill Laswell, American bassist and record producer
• 1955 – Chet Lemon, American baseball player
• 1956 – Brian Robertson, Scottish musician (Thin Lizzy and Motörhead)
• 1958 – Grant McLennan, Australian musician (The Go-Betweens) (d. 2006)
• 1958 – Bobby Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1959 – Larry Nance, American basketball player
• 1959 – Dan Puric, Romanian actor, director and writer
• 1959 – Sigrid Thornton, Australian actress
• 1960 – George Gray, American professional wrestler
• 1961 – Jim Harris, Canadian politician
• 1962 – Jimmy Kirkwood, Irish-born field hockey player
• 1963 – John Michael Higgins, American actor
• 1963 – Ed Lover, American radio personality
• 1967 – Chris McKinstry, Canadian computer scientist
• 1967 – Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Indian composer and musician
• 1968 – Josh Brolin, American actor
• 1968 – Grégory Charles, French Canadian singer, dancer, pianist, radio and television host
• 1968 – Christopher McCandless, American nomad, subject of biography Into the Wild (d. 1992)
• 1968 – Chynna Phillips, American singer
• 1968 – Kyle Vincent, American singer/songwriter
• 1969 – Darren Aronofsky, American director and writer
• 1969 – Hong Myung-Bo, Korean footballer
• 1969 – Meja, Swedish singer
• 1969 – Brad Werenka, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Jim Creeggan, Canadian bassist (Barenaked Ladies)
• 1970 – Judd Winick, writer and artist
• 1972 – Lance Hill, American football (soccer) player
• 1972 – Ajay Naidu, Indian-American actor
• 1972 – Owen Nolan, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
• 1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress
• 1974 – Toranosuke Takagi, Japanese race car driver
• 1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American hip-hop artist
• 1975 – Scot Pollard, American basketball player
• 1975 – Cliff Blezinski, Design Director for Epic Games
• 1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby union footballer
• 1976 – Silvia Saint, Czech pornographic actress
• 1977 – Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player
• 1978 – Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1978 – Gethin Jones, Welsh television presenter
• 1978 – Silver Meikar, Estonian politician
• 1979 – Richard Barnwell, English footballer
• 1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
• 1979 – Matt Mauck, American football player
• 1979 – Jesse Spencer, Australian actor
• 1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
• 1980 – Sarah Lancaster, American actress
• 1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress
• 1981 – Lisa Hannigan, Irish singer
• 1982 – Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
• 1983 – Carlton Brewster, American football player
• 1984 – Lolly Badcock, English pornographic actress
• 1984 – Brad Keselowski, American racing car driver
• 1984 – Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
• 1984 – Aylar Lie, Norwegian model
• 1984 – Alexandra Dahlström, Swedish actress
• 1985 – Saskia Burmeister, Australian actress
• 1986 – Diego Ângelo, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 – Nana Eikura, Japanese actress
• 1991 – Faisal ibn Hamad Al Khalifah, prince of Bahrain (d. 2006)
• 1993 – Jennifer Stone, American actress

Deaths

• 1538 – Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter
• 1554 – Lord Guilford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey (b. 1536)
• 1554 – Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the English throne (b. 1537)
• 1571 – Nicholas Throckmorton, English diplomat and politician (b. 1515)
• 1590 – François Hotman, French lawyer and writer (b. 1524)
• 1595 – Archduke Ernest of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (b. 1553)
• 1612 – Christopher Clavius, German astronomer (b. 1538)
• 1624 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist (b. 1563)
• 1630 – Fynes Moryson, English traveler and writer (b. 1566)
• 1700 – Aleksei Shein, Russian general and statesman (b. 1662)
• 1724 – Elkanah Settle, English writer (b. 1648)
• 1728 – Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat and composer (b. 1653)
• 1762 – Laurent Belissen, French composer (b. 1693)
• 1763 – Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (b. 1688)
• 1771 – King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (b. 1710)
• 1789 – Ethan Allen, American patriot (b. 1738)
• 1799 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (b. 1729)
• 1804 – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b. 1724)
• 1834 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German philosopher (b. 1768)
• 1894 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (b. 1830)
• 1896 – Ambroise Thomas, French opera composer (b. 1811)
• 1903 – Gaspar Núñez de Arce, Spanish dramatist and statesman (b. 1834)
• 1915 – Émile Waldteufel, French composer (b. 1837)
• 1916 – Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (b. 1831)
• 1929 – Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)
• 1931 – Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (b. 1855)
• 1933 – Henri Duparc, French composer (b. 1848)
• 1935 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef (b. 1846)
• 1942 – Grant Wood, American painter (b.1891)
• 1945 – Antonio Villa-Real, Filipino jurist (b. 1880)
• 1949 – Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
• 1951 – Choudhary Rehmat Ali, Pakistani nationalist (b. 1897)
• 1954 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
• 1957 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American folklorist (b. 1872)
• 1958 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematical physicist (b. 1897)
• 1969 – Paltiel Daykan, Russian-born Israeli jurist (b. 1885)
• 1970 – Ishman Bracey, American blues musician (b. 1901)
• 1971 – James C. Penney, American department store founder (b. 1875)
• 1976 – Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
• 1979 – Jean Renoir, French director (b. 1894)
• 1980 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (b. 1913)
• 1982 – Victor Jory, Canadian actor (b. 1902)
• 1983 – Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
• 1984 – Anna Anderson, claimant to the throne of Russia (b. 1896)
• 1984 – Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
• 1985 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1989 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian playwright and novelist (b. 1931)
• 1991 – Roger Patterson, American death metal bass player (b. 1968)
• 1992 – Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)
• 1993 – James Bulger, English murder victim (b. 1990)
• 1994 – Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate (b. 1950)
• 1995 – Robert Bolt, English writer (b. 1924)
• 1995 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American musician (Iron Butterfly) (b. 1952)
• 1996 – Bob Shaw, Northern Irish novelist (b. 1931)
• 1998 – Hugh Gardner Ackley, American economist (b.1915)
• 2000 – Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
• 2000 – Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
• 2000 – Andy Lewis, Australian musician (b. 1967)
• 2000 – Charles M. Schulz, American comics author (b. 1922)
• 2000 – Oliver, American pop singer (b. 1945)
• 2001 – Kristina Söderbaum, German actress (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Tiberio Mitri, Italian boxer (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Vali Myers, Australian painter (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan athlete (b. 1964)
• 2005 – Sammi Smith, American country music singer (b. 1943)
• 2005 – Dorothy Stang, Brazilian nun (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1905)
• 2007 – Randy Stone, American actor and casting director (b. 1958)
• 2008 – Oscar Brodney, American screenwriter (b. 1907)
• 2009 – Alison Des Forges, American investigator, expert of Rwanda genocide (b. 1942)
• 2009 – Beverly Eckert, American co-chair of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee (b. 1951)
• 2009 – Gerry Niewood, American musician (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Coleman Mellett, American musician (b. 1974)
• 2010 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (b. 1988)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Benedict of Aniane
  • Damian of Alexandria
  • Julian the Hospitaller
  • February 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Darwin Day (International)
• Georgia Day (Georgia (U.S. state))
• Lincoln's Birthday (United States)
• National Freedom to Marry Day, unofficial (United States)
• Red Hand Day (United Nations)
• Union Day (Myanmar)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada