✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 285th day of the year

October 12

A look at October 12 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Pedro I of Brazil and Bode Miller, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♎ZodiacLibra ◈BirthstoneOpal ❀Birth flowerMarigold
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Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2013

    Collapse of the Space Building

    An apartment building collapse in Medellín, Colombia results in the deaths of twelve people.

    2013 building collapse in
  2. 1984

    Provisional Irish Republican Army

    The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.

    Paramilitary force active from
  3. 1979

    Typhoon Tip

    Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.

    Pacific typhoon in 1979
  4. 1960

    Nikita Khrushchev

    Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.

    Leader of the Soviet
  5. 1928

    Iron lung

    An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.

    Negative-pressure mechanical respirator
  6. 1915

    World War I

    World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium.

    1914–1918 global conflict
  7. 1892

    Pledge of Allegiance

    The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools.

    Loyalty oath to the
  8. 1890

    Uddevalla Suffrage Association

    Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed.

    Late-19th-century Swedish political movement
  9. 1799

    Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin

    Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute.

    French balloonist and parachutist
  10. 1798

    Peasants' War (1798)

    Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War.

    Part of the French
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Famous birthday twins

Born on October 12

Pedro I of Brazil

b. 1798

emperor of Brazil

Bode Miller

b. 1977

American skier

Dietrich von Hildebrand

b. 1889

German Catholic philosopher and author

Željko Milinovič

b. 1969

Slovenian footballer

Luciano Pavarotti

b. 1935

Italian tenor and actor

Arthur Nikisch

b. 1855

Hungarian conductor and academic

August Horch

b. 1868

German engineer and businessman, founded Audi

Christian Gmelin

b. 1792

German chemist and pharmacist

Deaths

  • 2024Alex Salmond, Scottish economist and politician, First Minister of Scotland
  • 2011Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language
  • 2006Gillo Pontecorvo, Italian director and screenwriter
  • 1924Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1492Piero della Francesca, Italian mathematician and painter
  • 1320Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Louis Brisson
  • —Christian feast day: Edith Cavell and Elizabeth Fry (Church of England)
  • —Christian feast day: Fiacc
  • —Christian feast day: Our Lady of the Pillar (Fiestas del Pilar)
  • —Christian feast day: Our Lady of Aparecida
  • —Christian feast day: Radim Gaudentius (Czech Republic)
  • —Christian feast day: Seraphin of Montegranaro
  • —Christian feast day: Wilfrid of Ripon

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