April, 12th in History

[Spiritus Temporis]

Events

Tuesday 12, 2005:
In Canada, a motion by the opposition Conservative Party to kill legislation opening the door for legalized same sex marriage is defeated 164-132.

Friday 12, 2002:
Coup d'Etat against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela

Sunday 12, 1998:
Catastrophical earthquake in Slovenia in Poso?je 5,6 on the Richter scale.

Tuesday 12, 1994:
Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam.

Sunday 12, 1992:
EuroDisney opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France.

Thursday 12, 1990:
Christian Bernard, F.R.C., becomes Imperator of AMORC

Sunday 12, 1981:
1989 - T.V Show Fast Forward starts on The ATN-7 Network (Australia)

Saturday 12, 1980:
Terry Fox began his trans-Canada marathon to raise money for cancer research (Marathon of Hope) by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland, aiming to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia.

Saturday 12, 1975:
Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Friday 12, 1968:
Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah

Wednesday 12, 1961:
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space.

Tuesday 12, 1955:
1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk is declared safe and effective.

Monday 12, 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.

Friday 12, 1946:
Syria gains independence from France

Thursday 12, 1945:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.

Monday 12, 1937:
Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England

Monday 12, 1926:
By a vote of 45 to 41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.

Thursday 12, 1923:
Kandersteg International Scout Centre came into existence.

Thursday 12, 1877:
The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.

Wednesday 12, 1865:
American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama falls to the Union Army

Tuesday 12, 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

Friday 12, 1861:
American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina

Tuesday 12, 1633:
The formal interrogation by the Inquisition of Galileo Galilei begins.

Wednesday 12, 1606:
The Union Flag is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain.

Tuesday 12, 467:
Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/12-april/on-this-day.html


People born on April 12

1982:
Deen, Bosnian singer (b: April 12, 1982) (Biography of Deen)

1979:
Mateja Ke?man, Serbian footballer (b: April 12, 1979) (Biography of Mateja Ke?man)
Claire Danes, American actress (b: April 12, 1979) (Biography of Claire Danes)

1978:
Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay) (b: April 12, 1978) (Biography of Guy Berryman)
Riley Smith, American actor (b: April 12, 1978) (Biography of Riley Smith)

1971:
Shannen Doherty, American actress (b: April 12, 1971) (Biography of Shannen Doherty)
Nicholas Brendon, actor (b: April 12, 1971) (Biography of Nicholas Brendon)

1970:
Nick Hexum, American musician (311) (b: April 12, 1970) (Biography of Nick Hexum)

1964:
Amy Ray, American musician (Indigo Girls) (b: April 12, 1964) (Biography of Amy Ray)

1962:
Art Alexakis, American musician (Everclear) (b: April 12, 1962) (Biography of Art Alexakis)

1961:
Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer and film composer (b: April 12, 1961) (Biography of Lisa Gerrard)

1957:
Vince Gill, American musician (b: April 12, 1957) (Biography of Vince Gill)

1956:
Andy Garcia, Cuban-born actor (b: April 12, 1956) (Biography of Andy Garcia)
Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer, pianist, and actor (b: April 12, 1956) (Biography of Herbert Grönemeyer)

1954:
Pat Travers, Canadian musician (b: April 12, 1954) (Biography of Pat Travers)

1952:
Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (b: April 12, 1952 ; d: June 13, 2004) (Biography of Ralph Wiley)

1950:
David Cassidy, American singer and actor (b: April 12, 1950) (Biography of David Cassidy)

1949:
Scott Turow, American writer (b: April 12, 1949) (Biography of Scott Turow)

1948:
Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany (b: April 12, 1948) (Biography of Joschka Fischer)
Sandra "Lois" Reeves, singer (Martha & the Vandellas) (b: April 12, 1948) (Biography of Sandra "Lois" Reeves)
Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter (b: April 12, 1948) (Biography of Jeremy Beadle)

1947:
Tom Clancy, American author (b: April 12, 1947) (Biography of Tom Clancy)
David Letterman, American talk show host (b: April 12, 1947) (Biography of David Letterman)

1946:
Ed O'Neill, American actor (b: April 12, 1946) (Biography of Ed O'Neill)

1944:
John Kay, German-born musician (Steppenwolf) (b: April 12, 1944) (Biography of John Kay (musician))

1941:
Bobby Moore, English footballer (b: April 12, 1941 ; d: February 24, 1993) (Biography of Bobby Moore)

1940:
Herbie Hancock, American pianist and composer (b: April 12, 1940) (Biography of Herbie Hancock)

1939:
Alan Ayckbourn, English writer (b: April 12, 1939) (Biography of Alan Ayckbourn)

1933:
Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano (b: April 12, 1933) (Biography of Montserrat Caballe)

1932:
Dennis Banks, American activist (b: April 12, 1932) (Biography of Dennis Banks)
Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan Politician (b: April 12, 1932 ; d: August 13, 2005) (Biography of Lakshman Kadirgamar)

1928:
Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (b: April 12, 1928) (Biography of Jean-François Paillard)
Hardy Krüger, German actor (b: April 12, 1928) (Biography of Hardy Krüger)

1923:
Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (b: April 12, 1923 ; d: January 22, 2004) (Biography of Ann Miller)

1922:
Tiny Tim, American musician (b: April 12, 1922) (Biography of Tiny Tim)

1917:
Helen Forrest, American singer (b: April 12, 1917 ; d: July 11, 1999) (Biography of Helen Forrest)

1916:
Beverly Cleary, American writer (b: April 12, 1916) (Biography of Beverly Cleary)

1907:
Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (b: April 12, 1907) (Biography of Felix de Weldon)

1903:
Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (b: April 12, 1903 ; d: August 31, 1979) (Biography of Sally Rand)

1902:
Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b: April 12, 1902 ; d: February 11, 1977) (Biography of Louis Beel)

1898:
Lily Pons, American soprano (b: April 12, 1898 ; d: February 13, 1976) (Biography of Lily Pons)

1892:
Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist (b: April 12, 1892 ; d: August 8, 1940) (Biography of Johnny Dodds)

1887:
Harold Lockwood, American silent film actor (b: April 12, 1887 ; d: October 19, 1918) (Biography of Harold Lockwood)

1884:
Otto Meyerhof, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b: April 12, 1884) (Biography of Otto Meyerhof)

1856:
William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (b: April 12, 1856 ; d: April 19, 1937) (Biography of William Martin Conway)

1839:
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalskiy, Russian explorer (b: April 12, 1839 ; d: November 1, 1888) (Biography of Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalskiy)

1799:
Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (b: April 12, 1799 ; d: March 29, 1855) (Biography of Henri Druey)

1777:
Henry Clay, American statesman and five-time Presidential candidate (b: April 12, 1777 ; d: June 29, 1852) (Biography of Henry Clay)

1748:
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (b: April 12, 1748 ; d: September 17, 1836) (Biography of Antoine Laurent de Jussieu)

1550:
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (b: April 12, 1550 ; d: June 24, 1604) (Biography of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford)

1526:
Muretus, French humanist (b: April 12, 1526 ; d: June 4, 1585) (Biography of Muretus)

1500:
Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (b: April 12, 1500 ; d: April 17, 1574) (Biography of Joachim Camerarius)

1484:
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (b: April 12, 1484 ; d: August 3, 1546) (Biography of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger)

812:
Muhammad at-Taqi, Arabian Shia Imam (b: April 12, 812 ; d: November 27, 835) (Biography of Muhammad at-Taqi)

-599:
Mahavira, Indian founder of Jainism (b: April 12, -599) (Biography of Mahavira)

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/12-april/births.html

[Spiritus Temporis]

People who died on April 12

2003:
Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist and businessman (b: August 6, 1900 ; d: April 12, 2003) (Biography of Cecil H. Green)

1999:
Boxcar Willie (d: April 12, 1999) (Biography of Boxcar Willie)

1989:
Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b: May 3, 1921 ; d: April 12, 1989) (Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson)
Abbie Hoffman, American activist (b: November 30, 1936 ; d: April 12, 1989) (Biography of Abbie Hoffman)
Gerald Flood, British actor (b: April 21, 1927 ; d: April 12, 1989) (Biography of Gerald Flood)

1988:
Alan Paton, South African writer (b: January 11, 1903 ; d: April 12, 1988) (Biography of Alan Paton)

1981:
Joe Louis, American boxer (b: May 13, 1914 ; d: April 12, 1981) (Biography of Joe Louis)

1980:
Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b: April 15, 1895 ; d: April 12, 1980) (Biography of Clark McConachy)
William R. Tolbert, Jr. (d: April 12, 1980) (Biography of William R. Tolbert, Jr.)

1975:
Josephine Baker, American dancer, singer, and actress (b: June 3, 1906 ; d: April 12, 1975) (Biography of Josephine Baker)

1971:
Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b: July 8, 1895 ; d: April 12, 1971) (Biography of Igor Tamm)

1962:
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (d: April 12, 1962) (Biography of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya)

1945:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States (b: January 30, 1882 ; d: April 12, 1945) (Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt)

1938:
Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b: February 13, 1873 ; d: April 12, 1938) (Biography of Feodor Chaliapin)

1912:
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (b: December 25, 1821 ; d: April 12, 1912) (Biography of Clara Barton)

1850:
Adoniram Judson (d: April 12, 1850) (Biography of Adoniram Judson)

1782:
Metastasio (d: April 12, 1782) (Biography of Metastasio)

1748:
William Kent (d: April 12, 1748) (Biography of William Kent)

1704:
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (d: April 12, 1704) (Biography of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet)

1687:
Ambrose Dixon (d: April 12, 1687) (Biography of Ambrose Dixon)

1555:
Juana of Castile (d: April 12, 1555) (Biography of Juana of Castile)

1550:
Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b: October 20, 1496 ; d: April 12, 1550) (Biography of Claude, Duke of Guise)

1443:
Henry Chichele (d: April 12, 1443) (Biography of Henry Chichele)

238:
Roman Emperor Domitian (b: October 24, 51 ; d: April 12, 238) (Biography of Roman emperor)
Gordian II (d: April 12, 238) (Biography of Gordian II)

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/12-april/deaths.html