The Birthday Gazette

Born on April 12

April 12 birthdays & history

If you were born on April 12, you share a birthday with Jacob Zuma, Montserrat Caballé and Tom Clancy. April 12 babies are Aries, with diamond as their birthstone and the daisy as their birth flower. April 12 is the 103rd day of the year in leap years (102nd in other years).

Famous people born on April 12

  • 1942Jacob Zuma, South African politician, 4th President of South Africa
  • 1933Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano and actress
  • 1947Tom Clancy, American historian and author
  • 1947David Letterman, American comedian and talk show host
  • 1994Saoirse Ronan, American-born Irish actress
  • 1979Claire Danes, American actress
  • 1903Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1979Jennifer Morrison, American actress
  • 1956Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor, director, and producer
  • 1823Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright and translator

What happened on April 12

  • 1776American Revolution: The North Carolina Provincial Congress passed the Halifax Resolves, the first official action in the American colonies calling for independence from Great Britain.
  • 1900One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
  • 1928The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
  • 1937Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
  • 1955The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
  • 1961Aboard Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin performed the first human spaceflight, completing one orbit of Earth in 108 minutes.
  • 1961Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
  • 1981The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
  • 1983Harold Washington was elected as the first African-American mayor of Chicago.
  • 1985Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites.
  • 1990Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.
  • 1992The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Resort Paris.

Also observed on April 12

  • Children's Day (Bolivia)
  • Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin: Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
  • Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin: International Day of Human Space Flight
  • Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin: Yuri's Night (International observance)
  • Halifax Day (North Carolina)
  • National Redemption Day (Liberia)

Questions, answered

What star sign is April 12?

People born on April 12 are Aries. Their birthstone is diamond and their birth flower is the daisy.

Which famous people were born on April 12?

Jacob Zuma (1942), Montserrat Caballé (1933), Tom Clancy (1947), David Letterman (1947), Saoirse Ronan (1994), Claire Danes (1979) were all born on April 12.

What happened on April 12 in history?

Among other things: in 1985, Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites; in 1990, Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there; in 1992, The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Resort Paris.

Can I get a newspaper front page from April 12?

Yes. The Birthday Gazette makes a personalised vintage-style front page for any April 12 birth year, with their name in the headline, events, famous birthdays and typical US prices. The preview is free and the print files cost $9.

Events, birthdays and observances are adapted from Wikipedia contributors, “April 12”, English Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (shortened and filtered). Ranking uses Wikidata (CC0). Sources.