1912

1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events

January-March

• January 1 - Establishment of Republic of China.
• January 5 - Prague Party Conference
• January 6 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
• January 8 - African National Congress is founded.
• January 17 - British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four begin the second expedition to reach the South Pole.
• January 23 - The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
• January 28 - Jackson Pollock is born
• February 8 - Mexican Revolution - Military rebellion against the rule of Francisco Madero begins in Mexico City. Battles last for 10 days.
• February 12 - End of Qing Dynasty in China.
• February 12 - Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar
• February 14 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
• February 14 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
• February 18 - Francisco Madero is forced to resign - battle ends. All members of Madero's government are arrested.
• February 19 - Prizes are included in Cracker Jack candy boxes for the first time
• February 22 - Francisco Madero and Pino Suarez are shot, allegedly when they "tried to escape"
• March 1 - Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
• March 1 - Georg Ritter von Trapp, head of the famous Austrian singing family memorialized in the musical The Sound of Music marries Agathe
• March 5 - Italian forces are the first to use airships for a military purpose by using them for reconnaissance west of Tripoli behind Turkish lines.
• March 7 - Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole
• March 7 - French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first non-stop flight from Paris to London in three hours
• March 12 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts) are founded.
• March 16 - Lawrence Oates, ill member of Scott's South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time"
• March 27 - Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gives 3,000 cherry blossom trees to be planted in Washington, D.C. to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.
• March 30 - France establishes a protectorate over Morocco.

April-September

Sinking of the Titanic.

• April 14/15 - Sinking of the RMS Titanic.
• April 16 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
• April 17 - Solar eclipse in Europe.
• April 17 - Lena execution in Russia.
• April 19 - United States Senate inquiry into the Titanic sinking begins.
• April 20 - Fenway Park home of the Boston Red Sox opens.
• May 2 - British Board of Trade inquiry into the sinking of Titanic begins.
• May 3 - The first victims of the RMS Titanic are buried in Halifax Nova Scotia.
• May 5 - The 1912 Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden.
• May 13 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (forerunner of the Royal Air Force) is established.
• May 30 - Joe Dawson wins the second Indianapolis 500-Mile Race after Ralph DePalma's Mercedes breaks down within sight of the finish.
• June 4 - Fire in Constantinople - 1120 buildings destroyed
• June 5 - U.S. Marines land on Cuba
• June 6-June 8 - Eruption of Novarupta in Alaska
• June 8 - Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.
• June 18 - The Republican National Convention nominates incumbent President William Howard Taft in Chicago, defeating a challenge by former President Theodore Roosevelt, whose delegates bolt the convention.
• July 12 - Greek island of Icana declares independence (Greece annexes it in November)
• July 19 - A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg exploded over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing thousands of pieces of debris to rain down on the town.
• July 30 - the Meiji Emperor of Japan, dies. He is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, the Taisho Emperor. In Japanese History, the event marks the end of the Meiji period and the beginning of the Taisho Era.
• August 5 - Dissident Republicans form the Progressive or Bull Moose Party, and nominate former President Theodore Roosevelt as their presidential candidate.
• August 12 - Sultan Abd Al-Hafid of Morocco abdicates.
• August 25 - Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party is founded.
• September 25 - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism founded in New York, New York.

October-November

• October 8 - First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against Turkey.
• October 14 - While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper John Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt delivers his scheduled speech.
• October 16 - Bulgarian pilots Radul Minkov and Prodan Toprakchiev perform the first bombing with an airplane in history at the railway station of Karaagac near Edirne against Turkey.
• November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1912: Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. Taft's base was undercut by Progressive Party candidate (and former Republican) Theodore Roosevelt, who finished second, ahead of Taft.
• November 7 - The Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opened in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg with a production of Beethoven's Fidelio.
• November 11 - Chios declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
• November 24 - Mine explosion in Hokkaido, Japan - 245 dead
• November 27 - Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.
• November 28 - Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

December

• December 3 - First Balkan War ends temporarily - Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month long war.

Unknown dates

• Sea Scouting begins under the aegis of the Boy Scouts of America.
• Kazimierz Funk identifies vitamins.
• The first blues song, "The Memphis Blues," is published.
• Alfred Wegener proposes the theory of continental drift.
• Mount Katmai in Alaska explodes.
• Piltdown Man presented in Britain.
• British treasure hunters try to drain Lake Guatavita to find gold – they find nothing.

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
• January 3 - Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d. 2005)
• January 6 - Jacques Ellul, French philosopher (d. 1994)
• January 7 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
• January 8 - José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)
• January 19 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• January 21 - Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2000)
• January 28 - Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
• January 30 - Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (d. 1989)
• February 3 - Mary Carlisle, American Actress and Singer
• February 4 - Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
• February 4 - Byron Nelson, American Golfer (d. 2006)
• February 6 - Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress (d. 1945)
• February 11 - Roy Fuller, English poet and novelist (d. 1991)
• February 20 - Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)
• February 27 - Lawrence Durrell, British writer (d. 1990)

March-April

• March 4 - Carl Marzani, American political documentary filmmaker, author, editor and publisher (d. 1994)
• March 5 - David Astor, British newspaper publisher (d. 2001)
• March 8 - Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (d. 2003)
• March 12 - Irving Layton, Canadian poet (d. 2006)
• March 14 - Les Brown, American band leader (d. 2001)
• March 14 - W. Willard Wirtz, American Administrator
• March 15 - Lightnin' Hopkins, American musician (d. 1982)
• March 16 - Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
• March 17 - Bayard Rustin, American civil rights activist (d. 1987)
• March 18 - Lucien Laurin, Canadian horse trainer (d. 2000)
• March 18 - Art Gilmore, American Radio and Television Announcer
• March 22 - Karl Malden, American actor
• March 23 - Betty Astell, British actress (d. 2005)
• March 23 - Wernher von Braun, German-born physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
• March 24 - Dorothy Height, American Activist
• March 27 - James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
• April 7 - Jack Lawrence, American Composer
• April 8 - Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (d. 1969)
• April 12 - Walt Gorney, American actor (d. 2004)
• April 15 - Kim Il Sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
• April 16 - Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (d. 1997)
• April 19 - Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• April 22 - Kathleen Ferrier, British contralto (d. 1953)
• April 26 - A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-born writer (d. 2000)
• April 28 - Odette Sansom, French World War II heroine (d. 1995)

May-July

• May 3 - Virgil Fox, American organist (d. 1980)
• May 9 - Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)
• May 11 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
• May 12 - Archibald Cox, American Watergate special prosecutor (d. 2001)
• May 14 - Ben Hogan, American golfer (d. 1997)
• May 16 - Studs Terkel, American writer and broadcaster
• May 18 - Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
• May 18 - Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)
• May 21 - Monty Stratton, baseball player (d. 1982)
• May 22 - Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• May 23 - Jean Françaix, French composer (d. 1997)
• May 23 - John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
• May 25 - Princess Dukhye of Korea (d. 1989)
• May 27 - Sam Snead, American golfer (d. 2002)
• May 28 - Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
• May 28 - Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (d. 1992)
• May 30 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
• May 31 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
• June 6 - Maria Montez, Dominican actress (d. 1951)
• June 8 - Harry Holtzman, American artist (d. 1987)
• June 23 - Alan Turing, British mathematician (d. 1954)
• June 25 - William T. Cahill, American politician (d. 1996)
• June 26 - Jay Silverheels, American actor (d. 1980)
• June 27 - Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (d. 1990)
• June 30 - Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (d. 2003)
• July 1 - David R. Brower, American environmentalist (d. 2000)
• July 1 - Sally Kirkland, American fashion editor (d. 1989)
• July 6 - Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer and explorer (d. 2006)
• July 14 - Woody Guthrie, American folk musician (d. 1969)
• July 17 - Art Linkletter, American television host
• July 31 - Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
• July 31 - Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (d. 2003)

August-November

• August 9 - Anne Brown, American soprano
• August 10 - Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian author (d. 2001)
• August 11 - Thanom Kittikachorn, Prime Minister of Thailand (d. 2004)
• August 11 - Norman Levinson, American mathematician (d. 1975)
• August 13 - Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)
• August 15 - Julia Child, American chef (d. 2004)
• August 16 - Ted Drake, English footballer (d. 1995)
• August 16 - Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)
• August 23 - Gene Kelly, American actor (d. 1996)
• August 25 - Erich Honecker, East German leader (d. 1994)
• August 30 - Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
• August 30 - Nancy Wake, New Zealand World War II heroine
• September 5 - John Cage, American composer (d. 1992)
• September 5 - Frank Thomas, American animator (d. 2004)
• September 11 - David Packard, American electrical engineer (d. 1996)
• September 19 - Kurt Sanderling, German conductor
• September 21 - Chuck Jones, American animator (d. 2002)
• September 21 - György Sándor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)
• September 22 - Martha Scott, American actress (d. 2003)
• September 24 - Don Porter, American actor (d. 1997)
• September 29 - Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian film director
• October 5 - Karl Hass, Nazi war criminal (d. 2004)
• October 5 - Kristina Söderbaum, German actress (d. 2001)
• October 17 - Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)
• October 21 - Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (d. 1997)
• October 22 - Johan Hendrik Weidner, Belgian World War II resistance fighter (d. 1994)
• October 25 - Minnie Pearl, American humorist (d. 1996)
• October 27 - Conlon Nancarrow, American composer (d. 1997)
• November 3 - Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay (d. 2006)
• November 4 - Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (d. 1978)
• November 10 - Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (d. 1999)
• November 11 - Larry LaPrise American songwriter (d. 1996)
• November 14 - Barbara Hutton, American socialite (d. 1979)
• November 14 - T. Y. Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (d. 2003)
• November 19 - George Emil Palade, Romanian microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• November 21 - Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (d. 1982)
• November 30 - Gordon Parks, American photographer and artist (d. 2006)

December

• December 11 - Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
• December 12 - Henry Armstrong, American boxer (d. 1988)
• December 22 - Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States
• December 25 - Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)
• December 27 - Conroy Maddox, British painter (d. 2005)

Deaths

• January 28 - Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)
• February 16 - Nikolai of Japan, Eastern Orthodox monk and saint (b. 1836)
• February 21 - Osborne Reynolds, Irish physicist (b. 1842)
• February 25 - Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1852)
• March 1 - George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer (b. 1847)
• March 29 - Members of the Scott Expedition to the South Pole:
  • Henry Robinson Bowers (b. 1883)
  • Edgar Evans, Welsh naval officer (b. 1876)
  • Lawrence Oates, English army officer (b. 1880)
  • Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer (b. 1868)
  • Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and naturalist (b. 1872)
• March 30 - Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
• April 12 - Clara Barton, American nurse (b. 1821)
• April 15 - Victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic:
  • Thomas Andrews, Jr., Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
  • John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864)
  • Archibald Butt, American presidential aide (b. 1865)
  • Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
  • Edward J. Smith, English ship's captain (b. 1850)
  • William Thomas Stead, English journalist (b. 1849)
  • Isidor Straus, German-born owner of Macy's (b. 1845)
  • Ida Straus, Wife of Isidor Straus (1 of only 4 Titanic First-class female fatalities) (b. 1849)
• April 20 - Bram Stoker, English writer (b. 1847)
• May 14 - August Strindberg, Swedish playwright and painter (b. 1849)
• May 14 - Frederick VIII, King of Denmark (b. 1843)
• May 25 - Austin Lane Crothers, American politician (b. 1860)
• May 30 - Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (b. 1867)
• June 12 - Frédéric Passy, French economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1822)
• July 1 - Harriet Quimby, American pilot (b. 1875)
• July 2 - Tom Richardson, English cricketer (b. 1870)
• July 30 - Meiji Emperor of Japan (b. 1852)
• August 7 - François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (b. 1841)
• August 8 - Ross Winn, American anarchist writer and publisher (b. 1871)
• August 20 - William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• October 6 - Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert, Belgian statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1829)
• October 24 - Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian composer (b. 1842)
• October 30 - James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (b. 1855)
• November 10 - Louis Cyr, Canadian strongman (b. 1863)
• November 28 - Walter Benona Sharp, American oil pioneer (b. 1870)
• December 23 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (b. 1850)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Nils Gustaf Dalén
• Chemistry - Victor Grignard, Paul Sabatier
• Medicine - Alexis Carrel
• Literature - Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann
• Peace - Elihu Root

External links

• 1912 Coin Pictures

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