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.
* 1733 - English colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia.
* 1818 - Chile gains its independence from Spain
* 1825 - Creek Indians 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 - World War II: German troops enter Austria
* 1973 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in metric on
signs.
* 1973 - Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by
the Viet Cong.
* 1994 - 1994 Winter Olympic Games 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 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.
Births
* 1567 - Thomas Campion, composer, poet
* 1768 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (+ 1835)
* 1775 - Louisa Adams, First Lady, wife of President John Quincy Adams
* 1777 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, poet (+ 1843)
* 1809 - Charles Darwin, naturalist
* 1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (+ 1865)
* 1861 - Lou Andreas-Salome, author (+ 1937)
* 1880 - John L. Lewis, labor union leader (+ 1969)
* 1881 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (+ 1931)
* 1884 - Max Beckmann, painter and graphic artist (+ 1950)
* 1884 - Marie Vassilieff, artist (+ 1957)
* 1893 - Omar Bradley, general (+ 1981)
* 1914 - Tex Beneke, musician, band leader (+ 2000)
* 1915 - Lorne Greene, actor (+ 1987)
* 1919 - Forrest Tucker, actor (+ 1986)
* 1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, film director
* 1925 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (+ 1984)
* 1933 - Costa-Gavras, director, writer
* 1934 - Bill Russell, basketball star
* 1938 - Judy Blume, author
* 1939 - Ray Manzarek, keyboardist
* 1942 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
* 1950 - Michael Ironside, actor
* 1954 - Philip Zimmermann, cryptographer
* 1955 - Arsenio Hall, actor, talk show host
* 1980 - Christina Ricci, actress
Deaths
* 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, briefly Queen of England
* 1916 - Richard Dedekind, mathematician
* 1929 - Lily Langtry, singer, actress
* 1954 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker
* 1976 - Sal Mineo, actor
* 1979 - Jean Renoir, director
* 1982 - Victor Jory, actor
* 1983 - Eubie Blake, musician, songwriter
* 1995 - Robert Bolt, writer (+ 1995)
* 2000 - Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip
* 2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, musician
* 2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach
Holidays and observances
* United States - Lincoln's Birthday (traditionally)
* 2002 Chinese new year
* 1991, 2002, 2013 Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)
