What happened on February 12? There are more than 294 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About February 12
February 12 is the 43rd day of the year 2024. There are 323 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 7th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Fort Dick, California 95538 sunrise occured at 07:14 AM and sunset occured at 05:46 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aquarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Amethyst while the mystical birthstone is Bloodstone.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 352 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For February 12
- 881Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Emperor
- 1429English 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).
- 1502Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
- 1541Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
- 1554A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
- 1593Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
- 1689The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
- 1733Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).
- 1771Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
- 1816The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.
- 1817An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco.
- 1818Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
- 1825The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
- 1832Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
- 1851Edward Hargraves announces that he has found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rush.
- 1855Michigan State University is established.
- 1894Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris’s Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
- 1909New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
- 1909The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
- 1912The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
- 1914In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
- 1934In Spain the national council of Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista decides to merge the movement with the Falange Española.
- 1934The Austrian Civil War begins.
- 1935USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
- 1946African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
- 1946World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
- 1947A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
- 1961U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
- 1968Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre.
- 1974Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
- 1990Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
- 1992The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
- 1994Four men break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edward Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
- 1999President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
- 2001NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
- 2002An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
- 2002New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Water Horse in Chinese astrology.
- 2002The 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.
- 2004The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
- 2009Colgan 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.
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Who Were Born On February 12?
- 1074Conrad, King of Germany and Italy (d. 1101)
- 1218Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (d. 1256)
- 1567Thomas Campion, English composer and poet (d. 1620)
- 1606John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
- 1637Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist (d. 1680)
- 1663Cotton Mather, New England minister (d. 1728)
- 1665Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
- 1704Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (d. 1772)
- 1728Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
- 1752Dorothea Ackermann, German actress (d. 1821)
- 1753François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
- 1768Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
- 1775Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States (1825–1829), widow of John Quincy Adams (d. 1852)
- 1777Bernard Courtois, French chemist (d. 1838)
- 1777Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German poet (d. 1843)
- 1785Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist (d. 1838)
- 1788Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
- 1791Peter Cooper, American Industrialist, inventor and philanthropist (d. 1883)
- 1794Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player (d. 1867)
- 1804Heinrich Lenz, German physicist (d. 1865)
- 1809Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-his death) (d. 1865)
- 1809Charles Darwin, English naturalist (d. 1882)
- 1828George Meredith, English writer (d. 1909)
- 1843John Graham Chambers, English athlete who wrote the Queensberry rules for boxing (d. 1883)
- 1857Bobby Peel, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1861Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born author (d. 1937)
- 1865Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (d. 1940)
- 1869Emperor Kien Phuc, the 7th emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty (d. 1884)
- 1870Marie Lloyd, English music-hall performer (d. 1922)
- 1876Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (1879-his death) (d. 1933)
- 1880John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969)
- 1884Alice Roosevelt Longworth, elder daughter of Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1980)
- 1884Johan Laidoner, Estonian military commander (d. 1953)
- 1884Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
- 1884Max Beckmann, German artist (d. 1950)
- 1885Julius Streicher, Nazi German publisher (d. 1946)
- 1889Bhante Dharmawara, Cambodian monk and supercentenarian (d. 1999)
- 1893Omar 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)
- 1897Vola Vale, American actress (d. 1970)
- 1898Wallace Ford, English-born actor (d. 1966)
- 1900Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
- 1902William Collier, American stage and film actor (d. 1987)
- 1903Chick Hafey, baseball player (d. 1973)
- 1903Joseph F. Biroc, American cinematographer (d. 1996)
- 1904Ted Mack, American television host (d. 1976)
- 1907Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator (d. 1991)
- 1907Joseph Kearns, American actor (d. 1962)
- 1908August Neo, Estonian wrestler (d. 1982)
- 1908Jacques Herbrand, French logician and mathematician (d. 1931)
- 1908Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (d. 1982)
- 1909Sigmund Rascher, German SS doctor (d. 1945)
- 1911Stephen H. Sholes, American recording executive (d. 1968)
- 1912R. F. Delderfield, English author (d. 1972)
- 1914Arvid Pardo, Maltese diplomat, a.k.a “Father of the Law of the Sea Conference” (d. 1999)
- 1914Tex Beneke, American musician and band leader (d. 2000)
- 1915Lorne Greene, Canadian actor (d. 1987)
- 1916Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
- 1917Raizo Matsuno, Japanese politician (d. 2006)
- 1918Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
- 1919Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1920Pran, Indian actor
- 1920William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian and professor (d. 2000)
- 1922Hussein Onn, Malaysian politician, Prime Minister (1976–1981) (d. 1990)
- 1923Chaskel Besser, Orthodox rabbi (d. 2010)
- 1923Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film and opera director and designer
- 1925Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (d. 1984)
- 1926Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant
- 1926Joe Garagiola, American baseball player and announcer
- 1930Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
- 1930John Doyle, Irish hurler
- 1931Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch author (d. 2008)
- 1932Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (d. 2003)
- 1932Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (d. 1998)
- 1933Costa-Gavras, Greek filmmaker
- 1934Anne Krueger, American economist
- 1934Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
- 1934Bill Russell, American basketball player
- 1935Gene McDaniels, American singer
- 1936Joe Don Baker, American actor
- 1936Paul Shenar, American actor
- 1937Charles Dumas, American athlete (d. 2004)
- 1938Judy Blume, American author
- 1938Peter Temple-Morris, Baron Temple-Morris, British politician
- 1939Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (The Doors)
- 1940Ralph Bates, English actor (d. 1991)
- 1941Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)
- 1942Ehud Barak, Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel (1999–2001)
- 1942Pat Dobson, American baseball player (d. 2006)
- 1944Moe Bandy, American singer
- 1945David Friedman, American economist
- 1945Maud Adams, Swedish actress
- 1946Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer
- 1946Cliff DeYoung, American actor and musician
- 1946Jean Eyeghe Ndong, Prime Minister of Gabon
- 1947Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Indian leader of Damdami Taksal (d. 1984)
- 1947Jim Durham, American sportscaster
- 1948Mike Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1948Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
- 1949Joaquín Sabina, Spanish singer and songwriter
- 1950Michael Ironside, Canadian actor
- 1950Steve Hackett, English guitarist (Genesis)
- 1951Steven Parent, Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
- 1952Michael McDonald, American musician
- 1952Simon MacCorkindale, British actor (d. 2010)
- 1953Joanna Kerns, American actress
- 1953Nabil Shaban, British actor
- 1953Robin Thomas, American actor
- 1954Joseph Jordania, Australian/Georgian evolutionary musicologist
- 1954Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
- 1954Tzimis Panousis, Greek musician and stand-up comedian
- 1955Bill Laswell, American bassist and record producer
- 1955Chet Lemon, American baseball player
- 1956Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
- 1956Brian Robertson, Scottish musician (Thin Lizzy and Motörhead)
- 1958Bobby Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1958Grant McLennan, Australian musician (The Go-Betweens) (d. 2006)
- 1959Dan Puric, Romanian actor, director and writer
- 1959Larry Nance, American basketball player
- 1959Sigrid Thornton, Australian actress
- 1960George Gray, American professional wrestler
- 1961Jim Harris, Canadian politician
- 1962Jimmy Kirkwood, Irish-born field hockey player
- 1963Ed Lover, American radio personality
- 1963Rubén Amaro, Jr., major league baseball outfielder and general manager
- 1964Michel Petit, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965Christine Elise, American actress
- 1965John Michael Higgins, American actor
- 1967Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Indian composer and musician
- 1967Chris McKinstry, Canadian computer scientist
- 1968Christopher McCandless, American nomad, subject of biography Into the Wild (d. 1992)
- 1968Chynna Phillips, American singer
- 1968Grégory Charles, Canadian singer, dancer, pianist, radio and television host
- 1968Josh Brolin, American actor
- 1969Brad Werenka, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969Darren Aronofsky, American director and writer
- 1969Hong Myung-Bo, Korean footballer
- 1969Meja, Swedish singer
- 1970Jim Creeggan, Canadian bassist (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1970Judd Winick, writer and artist
- 1971Scott Menville American voice actor
- 1972Ajay Naidu, Indian-American actor
- 1972Owen Nolan, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1972Sophie Zelmani, Swedish singer/songwriter
- 1973Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
- 1973Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress
- 1974Toranosuke Takagi, Japanese race car driver
- 1975Cliff Blezinski, Design Director for Epic Games
- 1975Scot Pollard, American basketball player
- 1976Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby union footballer
- 1976Silvia Saint, Czech pornographic actress
- 1977Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player
- 1978Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1978Douglas Fisher, American high school security guard and musician
- 1978Gethin Jones, Welsh television presenter
- 1978Silver Meikar, Estonian politician
- 1979Antonio Chatman, American football player
- 1979Jesse Spencer, Australian actor
- 1979Matt Mauck, American football player
- 1979Richard Barnwell, English footballer
- 1980Christina Ricci, American actress
- 1980Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
- 1980Sarah Lancaster, American actress
- 1981Lisa Hannigan, Irish singer
- 1982Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand All Black rugby player
- 1982Jonas Hiller, Swiss ice hockey goaltender
- 1982Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
- 1983Carlton Brewster, American football player
- 1984Alexandra Dahlström, Swedish actress
- 1984Aylar Lie, Norwegian model
- 1984Brad Keselowski, American racing car driver
- 1984Lolly Badcock, English pornographic actress
- 1984Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
- 1985Saskia Burmeister, Australian actress
- 1986Diego Ângelo, Brazilian footballer
- 1988Nana Eikura, Japanese actress
- 1992Faisal ibn Hamad Al Khalifah, prince of Bahrain (d. 2006)
- 1993Apollos Cura, Philippine 9gagger
- 1993Jennifer Stone, American actress
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Who Died On February 12?
- 1538Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter
- 1554Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the English throne (b. 1537)
- 1554Lord Guilford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey (b. 1536)
- 1571Nicholas Throckmorton, English diplomat and politician (b. 1515)
- 1590François Hotman, French lawyer and writer (b. 1524)
- 1612Christopher Clavius, German astronomer (b. 1538)
- 1624George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist (b. 1563)
- 1630Fynes Moryson, English traveler and writer (b. 1566)
- 1700Aleksei Shein, Russian general and statesman (b. 1662)
- 1724Elkanah Settle, English writer (b. 1648)
- 1728Agostino Steffani, Italian diplomat and composer (b. 1653)
- 1762Laurent Belissen, French composer (b. 1693)
- 1763Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (b. 1688)
- 1771King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (b. 1710)
- 1789Ethan Allen, American patriot (b. 1738)
- 1799Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (b. 1729)
- 1804Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b. 1724)
- 1834Friedrich Schleiermacher, German philosopher (b. 1768)
- 1894Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (b. 1830)
- 1896Ambroise Thomas, French opera composer (b. 1811)
- 1915Émile Waldteufel, French composer (b. 1837)
- 1916Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (b. 1831)
- 1920Aurore Gagnon, Victim of child abuse (b. 1909)
- 1929Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)
- 1931Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (b. 1855)
- 1933Henri Duparc, French composer (b. 1848)
- 1935Georges Auguste Escoffier, French chef (b. 1846)
- 1942Grant Wood, American painter (b.1891)
- 1945Antonio Villa-Real, Filipino jurist (b. 1880)
- 1947Moses Gomberg, Russian-born American chemist (b. 1866)
- 1949Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
- 1954Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
- 1957Eric Alfred Knudsen, American folklorist (b. 1872)
- 1958Douglas Hartree, English mathematical physicist (b. 1897)
- 1960Jean-Michel Atlan, French painter (b. 1913)
- 1961Branko Miljković, Serbian poet (b. 1934)
- 1969Paltiel Daykan, Russian-born Israeli jurist (b. 1885)
- 1970Ishman Bracey, American blues musician (b. 1901)
- 1971James C. Penney, American department store founder (b. 1875)
- 1976Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
- 1979Jean Renoir, French director (b. 1894)
- 1980Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (b. 1913)
- 1982Victor Jory, Canadian actor (b. 1902)
- 1983Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
- 1984Anna Anderson, claimant to the throne of Russia (b. 1896)
- 1984Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
- 1985Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1989Thomas Bernhard, Austrian playwright and novelist (b. 1931)
- 1991Roger Patterson, American death metal bass player (b. 1968)
- 1992Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)
- 1993James Bulger, English murder victim (b. 1990)
- 1994Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate (b. 1950)
- 1995Philip Taylor Kramer, American musician (Iron Butterfly) (b. 1952)
- 1996Bob Shaw, Northern Irish novelist (b. 1931)
- 1998Hugh Gardner Ackley, American economist (b.1915)
- 2000Andy Lewis, Australian musician (b. 1967)
- 2000Charles M. Schulz, American comics author (b. 1922)
- 2000Oliver, American pop singer (b. 1945)
- 2000Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
- 2000Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- 2001Kristina Söderbaum, German actress (b. 1912)
- 2001Tiberio Mitri, Italian boxer (b. 1926)
- 2002John Eriksen, Danish footballer (b. 1957)
- 2003Vali Myers, Australian painter (b. 1930)
- 2005Dorothy Stang, Brazilian nun (b. 1931)
- 2005Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan athlete (b. 1964)
- 2005Sammi Smith, American country music singer (b. 1943)
- 2007Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1905)
- 2007Randy Stone, American actor and casting director (b. 1958)
- 2008Oscar Brodney, American screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 2009Alison Des Forges, American investigator of the Rwanda genocide (b. 1942)
- 2009Beverly Eckert, American co-chair of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee (b. 1951)
- 2009Coleman Mellett, American musician (b. 1974)
- 2009Gerry Niewood, American musician (b. 1943)
- 2010Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (b. 1988)
- 2011Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer (b. 1919)
- 2011Mato Damjanović, Croatian chess grandmaster (b. 1927)
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