What are the important events that happened on February 12? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

February 12: Facts & Myths About This Day

February 12 is the 43^rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 322 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 30, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,739,318,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘tetracontatrigon’ day.

Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 370 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,436 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

February 12 Historical Events

• 1429 –
  English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Comte de Clermont and Sir John Stewart of Darnley in the Battle of Rouvray (also known as the Battle of the Herrings).
• 1502 –
  Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
• 1541 –
  Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
• 1816 –
  The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.
• 1818 –
  Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
• 1825 –
  The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
• 1946 –
  African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
• 1956 –
  New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Fire Monkey in Chinese astrology.
• 1974 –
  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
• 1994 –
  Four men break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edward Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.

Who were born on February 12?

• 1857 –
  Bobby Peel, English cricketer (d. 1943)
• 1939 –
  Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (The Doors)
• 1945 –
  Maud Adams, Swedish actress
• 1955 –
  Chet Lemon, American baseball player
• 1963 –
  Ed Lover, American radio personality
• 1968 –
  Christopher McCandless, American nomad, subject of biography Into the Wild (d. 1992)
• 1970 –
  Judd Winick, writer and artist
• 1976 –
  Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby union footballer
• 1978 –
  Douglas Fisher, American high school security guard and musician
• 1988 –
  Nana Eikura, Japanese actress

Who died on February 12?

• 1538 –
  Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter
• 1554 –
  Lord Guilford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey (b. 1536)
• 1612 –
  Christopher Clavius, German astronomer (b. 1538)
• 1804 –
  Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b. 1724)
• 1969 –
  Paltiel Daykan, Russian-born Israeli jurist (b. 1885)
• 1971 –
  James C. Penney, American department store founder (b. 1875)
• 1984 –
  Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
• 1996 –
  Bob Shaw, Northern Irish novelist (b. 1931)
• 2000 –
  Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
• 2011 –
  Mato Damjanović, Croatian chess grandmaster (b. 1927)