April 12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April 12 is the 102nd day of the year (103rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 263 days remaining until the end of the year.
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Events [change]
- 238 - Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against Numidian forces loyal to Maximus Thrax and is killed. His father, Gordian I, commits suicide.
- 467 – Anthemius becomes Emperor of the West Roman Empire.
- 1557 – The city of Cuenca, in Ecuador, is founded.
- 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of the two united Kingdoms of Scotland and England.
- 1633 – Galileo Galilei's trial before the inquisition begins.
- 1831 - Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester cause it to collapse.
- 1861 – The American Civil War begins when Fort Sumter, South Carolina, is attacked.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama falls to the Union Army.
- 1877 – The United Kingdom annexes Transvaal.
- 1917 - World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
- 1927 - Chiang Kai-shek orders Communist Party of China members to be executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
- 1934 – The strongest wind gust, outside of Antarctica or not within a tornado, is measured at Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, at 231 miles per hour (372 kilometres per hour).
- 1935 - First flight of the Bristol Blenheim aircraft.
- 1937 – Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine to power an aircraft.
- 1945 – US President Franklin Roosevelt dies. Harry S. Truman is sworn in as his successor.
- 1954 – Bill Haley and His Comets record their hit song Rock Around the Clock.
- 1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is declared safe and effective.
- 1961 – Yuri Gagarin is the first cosmonaut in space, sent by the U.S.S.R.
- 1980 – Terry Fox starts his Marathon of Hope.
- 1980 – In Liberia, Samuel K. Doe takes power in a coup, in which President William Tolbert is killed.
- 1981 – The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched.
- 1992 – Disneyland Paris opens, as Euro Disneyland.
- 1998 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Slovenia.
- 2002 – A female suicide bomber detonates herself in Jerusalem, killing 7 people and injuring 104.
- 2007 – A suicide bomber attacks the Iraqi parliament.
- 2009 – Zimbabwe abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
- 2010 - A train crash near Merano, Italy, kills 9 people, after running into a landslide.
Births [change]
- 599 BC – Mahavira, Indian founder of Jainism (d. 527 BC)
- 812 – Muhammad at-Taqi, Arabian Shia Imam (d. 835)
- 1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546)
- 1500 – Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (d. 1574)
- 1526 – Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585)
- 1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1604)
- 1577 – King Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648)
- 1713 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (d. 1796)
- 1716 - Felice Giardini, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1796)
- 1722 – Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (d. 1793)
- 1724 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1790)
- 1726 – Charles Burney, English music historian (d. 1814)
- 1748 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (d. 1836)
- 1760 - Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer (d. 1797)
- 1777 – Henry Clay, American statesman and five-time Presidential candidate (d. 1852)
- 1792 - John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, English statesman (d. 1840)
- 1794 - Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (d. 1847).
- 1796 - George N. Briggs, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
- 1799 – Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1855)
- 1801 - Joseph Lanner, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1843)
- 1823 – Alexandr Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (d. 1886)
- 1828 - Charles Foster, Governor of Ohio and United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1904)
- 1839 – Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (d. 1888)
- 1851 - Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer (d. 1828)
- 1856 – William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
- 1866 - Princess Viktoria of Prussia (d. 1929)
- 1869 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)
- 1871 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and dictator (d. 1941)
- 1874 - William B. Bankhead, American politician (d. 1940)
- 1884 – Otto Fritz Meyerhof, German doctor, won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951)
- 1887 – Harold Lockwood, American silent film actor (d. 1918)
- 1888 – Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet pianist (d. 1964)
- 1892 – Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1940)
- 1893 – Robert Harron, American actor (d. 1920)
- 1894 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, President of Portugal (d. 1964)
- 1898 – Lily Pons, American soprano (d. 1976)
- 1902 – Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
- 1903 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist (d. 1994)
- 1911 - Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer (d. 1976)
- 1912 - Hamengkubuwono IX, 2nd Vice president of Indonesia (d. 1988)
- 1913 - Keiko Fukuda, Japanese judoka (d. 2013)
- 1914 – Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer (d. 2010)
- 1914 - Armen Alchian, American economist (d. 2013)
- 1919 - Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader (d. 1991)
- 1922 - Simon Kapwepwe, 2nd Vice president of Zambia (d. 1980)
- 1923 – Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Raymond Barre, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Oliver Postgate, British animator, puppetteer and writer (d. 2008)
- 1928 – Hardy Krueger, German actor
- 1928 - Elspet Gray, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Luis Vigoreaux, Puerto Rican TV and radio personality (d. 1983)
- 1932 – Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1933 – Montserrat Caballe, Catalan-Spanish operatic soprano
- 1936 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1936 - Tony Earl, 41st Governor of Wisconsin
- 1937 - Igor Volk, Soviet-Ukrainian cosmonaut
- 1940 – Enayat Michael Ali, Trinidadian professional cricketer
- 1940 – Herbie Hancock, American musician
- 1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer (d. 1993)
- 1942 – Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa
- 1945 – Lee Jong-Wook, South Korean Director-General of the WHO (d. 2006)
- 1946 – George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, former Secretary-General of NATO
- 1946 – Ed O'Neill, American actor
- 1947 - Alex Briley, American singer (Village People)
- 1947 – David Letterman, American comedian and TV host
- 1947 – Tom Clancy, American author
- 1948 – Joschka Fischer, German politician
- 1948 – Marcello Lippi, Italian football manager
- 1948 – Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter (d. 2008)
- 1950 – Joyce Banda, President of Malawi
- 1950 – David Cassidy, American singer and actor
- 1950 – Maia Danziger, American actress
- 1950 - Flavio Briatore, Italian businessman
- 1954 – Jon Krakauer, American author and mountaineer
- 1955 – Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, Icelandic writer
- 1956 – Andy Garcia, American actor
- 1956 – Herbert Groenemeyer, German singer and actor
- 1956 – Walter Salles, Brazilian film director
- 1957 – Vince Gill, American Country singer
- 1958 - Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian hurdler
- 1961 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician
- 1965 - Kim Bodnia, Danish actor
- 1967 - Mellow Man Ace, American rapper
- 1968 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1970 – Nick Hexum, singer and guitarist
- 1971 – Nicholas Brendon, actor
- 1971 – Shannen Doherty, American actress
- 1973 – Christian Panucci, Italian footballer
- 1974 – Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 – Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1978 – Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay)
- 1979 – Claire Danes, actress
- 1980 – Mateja Kezman, Serbian footballer
- 1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer (Westlife)
- 1981 - Nicolas Burdisso, Argentine footballer
- 1981 - Grant Holt, English footballer
- 1982 – Riley Smith, model and actor
- 1983 - Jelena Dokic, Serbian-Australian tennis player
- 1985 - James Alexandrou, British actor
- 1985 - Olga Seryabkina, Russian singer-songwriter
- 1987 - Brooklyn Decker, American model and actress
- 1987 – Brendon Urie, American singer of Panic! at the Disco
- 1988 - Ricardo Gabriel Alvarez, Argentine footballer
- 1989 - Miguel Angel Ponce, Mexican footballer
- 1990 - Francesca Halsall, British swimmer
- 1994 – Saoirse Ronan, Irish actress
- 2000 – Suzanna von Nathusius, Polish actress
Deaths [change]
- 45 BC – Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman general
- 65 – Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist
- 238 – Gordian I, Roman Emperor
- 238 – Gordian II, Roman heir
- 352 - Pope Julius I
- 434 - Archbishop Maximianus of Constantinople
- 1125 - Vladislaus I of Bohemia (b. 1065)
- 1555 – Juana of Castile, wife of Philip I of Castile (b. 1479)
- 1675 - Richard Bennett, British Governor of Virginia (b. 1609)
- 1782 – Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
- 1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer (b. 1730)
- 1872 - Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (b. 1795)
- 1878 - William H. Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
- 1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse (b. 1821)
- 1933 - Adelbert Ames, American general and politician (b. 1835)
- 1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (b. 1873)
- 1945 – Franklin Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
- 1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer (b. 1899)
- 1971 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist (b. 1895)
- 1980 – William Tolbert, President of Liberia (b. 1913)
- 1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
- 1981 - Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, of Japan (b. 1887)
- 1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
- 1999 – Boxcar Willie, American musician (b. 1949)
- 2006 – Rajkumar, Indian film actor and singer (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland (b. 1923)
- 2009 - Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, American academic scholar (b. 1950)
- 2009 – Marilyn Chambers, American pornographic actress (b. 1952)
- 2010 – Werner Schroeter, German film director (b. 1945)
Observances [change]
- Cosmonauts' Day (Russia), celebrating Yuri Gagarin's space flight in 1961
