February 12

Events

1354 - Treaty of Stralsund settles border disputes between the duchies of Mecklenburg and Pomerania.

1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1554 - A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Jane of England|Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.

1689 - The Convention Parliament convenes and declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II of England|James II, the last Catholic British monarchy|British monarch, constitutes an abdication.

1719 - The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded

1733 - Englishman James Oglethorpe founds the 13^th and final United States|American colony of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia, and its first city at Savannah, Georgia|Savannah.

1737 - The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated.

1771 - Gustav III of Sweden|Gustav III becomes the Monarch of Sweden|King of Sweden when his father Adolf Frederick of Sweden|Adolf Frederick "/nowiki> himself to death".

1809 - British naturalist Charles Darwin and American president Abraham Lincoln are born.

1817 - Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeat Spanish troops on the battle of Chacabuco

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Independence of Chile near Concepcion, Chile|Concepción.

1825 - The Creek (people)|Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.

1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

1870 - Women gain the right to vote in Utah|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.

1894 - Anarchist Emile 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, abdication|abdicates.

1912 - China adopts the Gregorian calendar.

1915 - In Washington, DC, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1924 - Premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman's Palais Royal Orchestra in Aeolian Hall in New York City

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''.

1938 - Anschluss: Germany|German troops enter Austria.

1946 - Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

1951 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari marries the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|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|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 of the United States|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.

2001 - Google obtains Usenet, creating http://groups.google.com(http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/pressrelease48.html

2002 - The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević 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|Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119

2004 - Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California, on National Freedom to Marry Day, orders his county clerk to revise marriage licenses to allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.

2004 - Mattel|Mattel Inc. announces the split of Barbie|Barbara Millicent Roberts and Ken Carson (aka Barbie|Barbie and Ken) after 43 years of Courtship|dating.

2005 - Former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean becomes chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Births

1074 - Conrad (King of Italy)|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 scientist (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)

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, French poet (d. 1843)

1788 - Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)

1794 - Alexander Petrov, Russian cess 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)

1818 - Otto Ludwig, German writer

1828 - George Meredith, English writer (d. 1909)

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)

1880 - John L. Lewis, American labor union leader (d. 1969)

1881 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)

1884 - Max Beckmann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)

1884 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)

1893 - Omar Bradley, American general (d. 1981)

1898 - Wallace Ford, actor (d. 1966)

1900 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1980)

1904 - Ted Mack (television host)|Ted Mack, American television host (d. 1976)

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)

1915 - Lorne Greene, American actor (d. 1987)

1916 - Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)

1918 - Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)

1919 - Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)

1920 - William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian and professor (d. 2000)

1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film and opera director and designer

1925 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (d. 1984)

1926 - Joe Garagiola, baseball player

1926 - Paul Kurtz, American philosopher

1926 - Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant

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)

1933 - Costa-Gavras, Greek-born director and writer

1934 - Bill Russell (basketball)|Bill Russell, American basketball player

1936 - Joe Don Baker, American actor

1936 - Paul Shenar, American actor

1937 - Charles Dumas, American athlete

1938 - Judy Blume, American author

1938 - Johnny Rutherford, American race car driver

1939 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (The Doors)

1940 - Richard Lynch, American actor

1942 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel

1945 - Maud Adams, Swedish actress

1950 - Michael Ironside, Canadian actor

1953 - Nabil Shaban, British actor

1953 - Robin Thomas, American actor

1954 - Philip Zimmermann, cryptographer

1955 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host

1962 - Jimmy Kirkwood, Irish-born field hockey player

1967 - Chris McKinstry, Canadian computer scientist

1968 - Josh Brolin, American actor

1968 - Chynna Phillips, American singer

1969 - Darren Aronofsky, American director and writer

1969 - Meja, Swedish singer

1969 - Hong Myung-Bo, Korean footballer

1970 - Jim Creeggan, Canadian bassist (Barenaked Ladies)

1976 - Silvia Saint, Czech actress

1980 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player

1980 - Christina Ricci, American actress

Deaths

1538 - Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter

1554 - Lord Guilford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey (executed) (b. 1536)

1554 - Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the throne of England (executed) (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)

1916 - Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (b. 1831)

1929 - Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)

1933 - Henri Duparc, French composer (b. 1848)

1935 - Auguste Escoffier, French chef (b. 1846)

1949 - Hassan al Banna|Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)

1951 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founder of Pakistan (b. 1895)

1954 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)

1957 - Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, folklorist (b. 1872)

1971 - James C. Penney, American department store founder (b. 1875)

1976 - Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)

1979 - Jean Renoir, French director (b. 1894)

1982 - Victor Jory, Canadian actor (b. 1902)

1983 - Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter

1984 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)

1985 - Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (b. 1924)

1992 - Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)

1992 - María Elena Moyano, Peruvian activist (b. 1960)

1993 - James Bulger, English murder victim (b. 1990)

1995 - Robert Bolt, English writer (b. 1924)

1995 - Philip Taylor Kramer, American musician (Iron Butterfly)

1996 - Bob Shaw, Irish author (b. 1931)

2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)

2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)

2000 - Charles Schulz, American comics author (b. 1922)

2001 - Kristina Söderbaum, German actress and photographer (b. 1912)

2005 - Brian Kelly, American actor (b. 1932)

2005 - Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan athlete (b. 1964)

Holidays and observances

United States - Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's Birthday (traditionally)

1991, 2002, 2013 Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)

Georgia Day in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia

National Freedom to Marry Day (unofficial)

Darwin Day

1947 - Union Day of Burma

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/12

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050212.html ---- February 11 - February 13 - January 12 - March 12 – historical anniversaries|listing of all days