Wikipedia: February 12

February 12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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.
1817 - Chilean patriotic army, after cross the Andes, defeat Spanish troops on the battle of Chacabuco
1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Indepence the 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 - 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 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 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)
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)
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)
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
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 (beheaded), (b. 1537)
1804 - Immanuel Kant, philosopher
1916 - Richard Dedekind, mathematician, (b. 1831)
1929 - Lily Langtry, singer, actress
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)
1995 - Robert Bolt, writer, (b. 1924)
2000 - Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, (b. 1922)
2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, musician, (b. 1929)
2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach, (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

United States - Lincoln's Birthday (traditionally)
2002 Chinese New Year
1991, 2002, 2013 Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)
Georgia Day in the U.S. state of Georgia

See also:

February 11 - February 13 - January 12 - March 12 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December