World history and facts

February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 322 days remain until the end of the year.

1404 The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.


1855 Michigan State University established.

1870 Official proclamation sets April 15 as last day of grace for US silver coins to circulate in Canada.

1870 Utah becomes the second territory in the United States to pass a law allowing women the vote, after Wyoming in 1869.

1877 US railroad builders strike against wage reduction.

1878 Harvard player Frederick Thayer patents baseball catcher's mask (pat # 200,358).

1879 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden, NYC).

1908 NY to Paris auto race (via Alaska & Siberia) begins in NYC George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel.

1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) forms.

1914 Dedication ceremony for the about to be constructed Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1937 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise.

1947 Daytime fireball & meteorite fall seen in eastern Siberia.

1949 Panic in Quito, Ecuador, after "War of the Worlds" played on radio.

1959 The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design.

1963  Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

1964 Beatles 1st NYC concerts, two shows at Carnegie Hall.

1964 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming.

1964 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Allen.

1982 Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking NHL record.


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