April 12
is the
102nd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (103rd in
leap years). There are 263 days remaining.
*
467 -
Anthemius is elevated to
Emperor of the Western Roman Empire*
1606 - The
Union Jack is adopted as the
national flag of
Great Britain.
*
1633 - The formal inquest of
Galileo Galilei by the
Inquisition begins.
*
1776 -
North Carolina's
Provincial Congress authorized its delegates to the
Second Continental Congress to vote for
independence by issuing the
Halifax Resolves.
*
1861 -
American Civil War: The
war begins with
Confederate forces firing on
Fort Sumter, in the harbor of
Charleston, South Carolina.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Fort Pillow massacre --
Confederate forces under
General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the
African American soldiers who had surrendered at
Fort Pillow,
Tennessee.
*
1865 -
American Civil War:
Mobile, Alabama, falls to the
Union Army.
*
1877 - The
United Kingdom annexes the
Transvaal.
*
1937 -
Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first
jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the
British Thomson-Houston factory in
Rugby, England.
*
1945 -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president
Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd
President of the United States.
*
1954 -
Bill Haley and His Comets record "
Rock Around the Clock" in
New York City. Initially unsuccessful, the recording would help launch the
rock and roll revolution a year later.
*
1955 - The
polio vaccine, developed by
Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
*
1961 -
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space.
*
1968 -
Nerve gas accident at
Skull Valley,
Utah.
*
1980 -
Samuel Doe takes control of
Liberia in a
coup d'etat, ending over 130 years of
democratic presidential succession in that country.
* 1980 -
Terry Fox begins his "
Marathon of Hope" by dipping his artificial leg into the
Atlantic at
St. John's, Newfoundland.
*
1981 - The first launch of a
Space Shuttle:
Columbia launches on the
STS-1 mission.
*
1994 -
Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass
Usenet spam.
*
1996 -
Yahoo! has its
initial public offering, selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.
*
1998 - Catastrophic
earthquake in
Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the
Richter scale near the town of
Posočje.
*
1999 -
American President Bill Clinton was cited for
contempt of court by
federal district judge Susan Webber Wright for giving "intentionally false statements" in sworn
testimony during his
deposition in the Paula Jones
sexual harassment civil
lawsuit. Clinton was
fined $90,000.[
1]
*
2002 -
Pedro Carmona becomes interim
President of Venezuela during the
Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002, a
military coup against
Hugo Chávez.
*
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)
*
1722 -
Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (d.
1793)
*
1724 - Dr.
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)
*
1777 -
Henry Clay, American statesman and five-time Presidential candidate (d.
1852)
*
1794 -
Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (d.
1847)
*
1799 -
Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (d.
1855)
*
1823 -
Alexandr Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (d.
1886)
*
1839 -
Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (d.
1888)
*
1848 -
José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican poet
*
1856 -
William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d.
1937)
*
1868 -
Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese naval commander (d. 1918)
*
1869 -
Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d.
1922)
*
1884 -
Otto Meyerhof, German-born biochemist, recipient of the
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)
*
1898 -
Lily Pons, American soprano (d.
1976)
*
1901 -
Lowell Stockman, American representative
*
1902 -
Louis Beel,
Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d.
1977)
*
1903 -
Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (d.
1979)
* 1903 -
Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist,
Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d.
1994)
*
1907 -
Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (d.
2003)
*
1912 -
Walt Gorney, American actor (d.
2004)
*
1916 -
Beverly Cleary, American writer
*
1916 -
Benjamin Libet, American scientist
*
1917 -
Helen Forrest, American singer (d.
1999)
*
1921 -
James Dougherty, first husband of
Marilyn Monroe (d.
2005)
*
1922 -
Tiny Tim, American musician (d.
1996)
*
1923 -
Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (d.
2004)
*
1924 -
Peter Safar, Austrian physician (d.
2003)
*
1928 -
Hardy Krüger, German actor
* 1928 -
Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
*
1932 -
Dennis Banks, American activist
* 1932 -
Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan Politician (assassinated) (d.
2005)
*
1933 -
Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano
*
1935 -
Johnny Bucyk, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1939 -
Alan Ayckbourn, English writer
*
1940 -
Herbie Hancock, American pianist and composer
*
1941 -
Bobby Moore, English footballer (d.
1993)
*
1944 -
John Kay, German-born musician (
Steppenwolf)
*
1945 -
Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization (d.
2006)
*
1946 -
Ed O'Neill, American actor
*
1947 -
Tom Clancy, American author
* 1947 -
David Letterman, American talk show host
* 1947 -
Woody Johnson, owner of the
New York Jets*
1948 -
Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter
* 1948 -
Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany
* 1948 -
Sandra "Lois" Reeves, American singer (
Martha & the Vandellas)
*
1949 -
Scott Turow, American writer
*
1950 -
David Cassidy, American singer and actor
* 1950 -
Kari Palaste, Finnish architect
*
1952 -
Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d.
2004)
*
1954 -
Pat Travers, Canadian musician
*
1956 -
Andy Garcia, Cuban-born actor
* 1956 -
Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer, pianist, and actor
*
1957 -
Vince Gill, American musician
*
1961 -
Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer and film composer
* 1961 -
D.D. Verni, American musician, (
Overkill)
*
1962 -
Art Alexakis, American musician (
Everclear)
* 1962 -
Takada Nobuhiko, Japanese professional wrestler
*
1964 -
Amy Ray, American musician (
Indigo Girls)
*
1970 -
Nick Hexum, American musician (
311)
*
1971 -
Nicholas Brendon, actor
* 1971 -
Shannen Doherty, American actress
*
1973 -
J. Scott Campbell, American comic book artist
*
1974 -
Marley Shelton, American actress
*
1976 -
Brad Miller, American Basketball player
*
1977 -
Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer
*
1978 -
Guy Berryman, British musician (
Coldplay)
* 1978 -
Riley Smith, American actor
*
1979 -
Claire Danes, American actress
* 1979 -
Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
*
1981 -
Nicolas Burdisso, Argentine footballer
*
1982 -
Deen, Bosnian singer
*
1985 -
Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer (
Morning Musume)
* 1985 -
Jeisa Chiminazzo, Brazilian supermodel
*
1987 -
Brendon Urie, American singer (
Panic! At the Disco)
*
65 -
Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist
*
238 -
Gordian I,
Roman Emperor (suicide)
* 238 -
Gordian II, heir to the Roman Empire (killed in battle)
*
352 - St.
Julius I, 35th
Pope*
434 -
Maximianus,
Patriarch of Constantinople*
1125 -
Vladislaus I of Bohemia*
1443 -
Henry Chichele,
Archbishop of Canterbury*
1550 -
Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b.
1496)
*
1555 -
Juana of Castile, wife of
Philip I of Castile (b.
1479)
*
1687 -
Ambrose Dixon, Virginia Colony pioneer
*
1704 -
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b.
1627)
*
1748 -
William Kent, English architect
*
1782 -
Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b.
1698)
*
1788 -
Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b.
1719)
*
1795 -
Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b.
1710)
*
1814 -
Charles Burney, English music historian (b.
1726)
*
1850 -
Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary (b.
1788)
*
1878 -
William Marcy Tweed, aka Boss Tweed,
American politician (b. 1823)
*
1902 -
Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist (b.
1842)
*
1912 -
Clara Barton, American nurse and Red Cross advocate (b.
1821)
*
1938 -
Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b.
1873)
*
1945 -
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd
President of the United States (b.
1882)
*
1962 -
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer (b.
1861)
*
1968 -
Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer, first managing director of
Volkswagen (b.
1899)
*
1971 -
Igor Tamm, Russian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1895)
* 1971 -
Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (b.
1871)
*
1975 -
Josephine Baker, American dancer (b.
1906)
*
1980 -
Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b.
1895)
* 1980 -
William R. Tolbert, Jr.,
President of Liberia (b.
1913)
*
1981 -
Joe Louis, American boxer (b.
1914)
*
1986 -
Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (b.
1897)
*
1987 -
Mike Von Erich, Professional wrestler
*
1988 -
Alan Paton, South African novelist (b.
1903)
*
1989 -
Gerald Flood, British actor (b.
1927)
* 1989 -
Abbie Hoffman, American radical leader (b.
1936)
* 1989 -
Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b.
1921)
*
1997 -
George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1903)
*
1999 -
Boxcar Willie, American singer (b.
1931)
*
2003 -
Cecil H. Green, American manufacturer (b.
1900)
*
2006 -
Dr. Rajkumar, Kannada language film actor/singer (b.
1928)
* 2006 -
Puggy Pearson, American professional poker player (b.
1929)
*The
Roman holiday of
Cerealia begins.
*
Yuri's Night, an international celebration of the first human in space,
Yuri Gagarin; in Russia (and formerly in USSR), the
Cosmonautics Day.
The Feast of St.
Basil the Confessor in the
Greek Orthodox Church.
In the
Roman Catholic Church:
*
Saint Damian*
Saint Erkembode*
Saint Julius I *
Saint Zeno of Verona*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: April 12*
Daily historical facts and eventsApril 11 -
April 13 -
March 12 -
May 12 --
listing of all days
