1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1912

January

thumb|right| [[January 6: Statehood for New Mexico.
February 14: Statehood for Arizona.]]

• January 1 – The Republic of China is established.

• January 4 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.

• January 5 – Prague Party Conference: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party break away from the rest of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.

• January 6 – New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.

• January 8 – The African National Congress is founded.

• January 17 – British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott and a team of 4 become the second expeditionary group to reach the South Pole.

• January 23 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

• January 27 – The city of Chandler, Quebec is founded.

February

• February 14 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

March

thumb|right| Cherry trees for D.C./" class="wiki">March 27: Cherry trees for D.C.

• March 1 – Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.

• 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 his success in reaching the South Pole.

• *French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first non-stop flight from Paris to London in three hours.

• March 12 – The Girl Scouts of the USA are founded.

• March 16 – Lawrence Oates, dying 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 big bum

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

right|thumb|The [[RMS Titanic|RMS Titanic sinking on April 15, 1912]]

• April 10 – The British ocean liner RMS Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage for New York City.

• April 11 – Titanic arrives at Queenstown, Ireland (today known as Cobh) picking up her final complement of passengers before steaming westward for New York.

• April 14 – Titanic strikes an iceberg in the northern Atlantic Ocean at 11:40 pm.

• April 15 – Titanic sinks at 2:20 am, taking with her the lives of more than 1,500 people.

• April 16

• *Harriet Quimby becomes first woman to fly across the English Channel.

• *The Royal Ontario Museum is established in Toronto, Ontario.

• April 17 – A solar eclipse is seen across Europe.

• April 18 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrives in New York with Titanic's 706 survivors.

• April 19 – The United States Senate initiates an official inquiry into the Titanic disaster, hastily issuing subpoenas for White Star personnel before they can return to the United Kingdom.

• April 20

• *Tiger Stadium opens in Detroit.

• *Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, opens.

• April 30 – The cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia carrying the bodies of 306 victims of the Titanic disaster recovered from the North Atlantic.

May

right|thumb| [[April 22: Fenway Park opens in Boston]]

• May 2 – The British Board of Trade inquiry into the Titanic disaster begins, presided over by Lord Mersey.

• May 5 – The 1912 Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden.

• May 6 – Suffragettes and their supporters parade in New York City.

• May 13 – In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (forerunner of the Royal Air Force) is established.

• May 18 – The Detroit Tigers go on strike to protest the suspension of Ty Cobb. A replacement team recruited from the coaching staff and local colleges is fielded to avoid a forfeiture to the Philadelphia A's in a lopsided loss.

• May 23 – HAPAG's SS Imperator is launched in Hamburg and is the world's largest ship.

• May 25 – After more than a month and thousands of hours of testimony, the American inquiry into the Titanic disaster concludes, placing the bulk of the blame upon the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay, and Captain Edward Smith.

• May 30 – Joe Dawson wins the second Indianapolis 500-Mile Race after Ralph DePalma's Mercedes breaks down within sight of the finish.

June

• June 4 – A fire in Constantinople destroys 1,120 buildings.

• June 5 – U.S. Marines land in Cuba.

• June 6–June 8 – Mount Novarupta erupts in Alaska.

• June 8 – Carl Laemmle incorporates 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.

• June 25 – The Democratic National Convention nominates New Jersey Gov. Thomas Woodrow Wilson in Baltimore.

July

• July 3 – The British inquiry into the Titanic disaster concludes.

• July 19 – A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing thousands of pieces of debris to rain down on the town.

• July 30 – Emperor Meiji of Japan dies. He is succeeded by his son Yoshihito who becomes Emperor Taishō. In Japanese History, the event marks the end of the Meiji era and the beginning of the Taishō era.

August

• August 1 – The Jungfraubahn rack railway is inaugurated in Switzerland.

• August 5 – Dissident U.S. 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 – The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.

thumb|right| [[March 7: Amundsen and South Pole]]

September

• September 25 – The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York City, New York.

October

• October 8 – The 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. After finishing his speech, he went to the hospital, where it was deduced that if he had not had his speech in his breast pocket when he was shot, he most likely would have died.

• 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.

• *The Boston Red Sox, assisted by a famous error, defeat the New York Giants in extra innings to win the 1912 World Series, in what is considered one of the greatest games of baseball ever played.

November

• November 5 – U.S. presidential election, 1912: Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. Taft's base is undercut by Progressive Party candidate (and former Republican) Theodore Roosevelt, who finishes second, ahead of Taft.

• November 28 – Albania declares independence from the Ottoman Empire.

December

• December 20 – Piltdown Man is presented in Britain.

• December 30 – The First Balkan War ends temporarily: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month long war.

Undated

thumb|right||1912 date-mark on the apex of a building at Springfield, Birmingham, England.

• MDMA (Ecstasy) was first synthesized in Germany.

• Sea Scouting begins under the aegis of the Boy Scouts of America.

• Casimir Funk identifies vitamins.

• The American Little Theatre Movement begins with the founding of the Toy Theatre in Boston and the Little Theatre of Chicago.

• The Memphis Blues is published.

• Alfred Wegener proposes the theory of continental drift.

• British treasure hunters try to drain Lake Guatavita to find gold; they find nothing.

• German trade unions have 3 million members.

• The Scoville Unit (used to measure the heat of peppers) is devised and tested by Wilbur Scoville.

• U.S. Marines intervene in Nicaragua to bolster the conservative government.

Ongoing

• Mexican Civil War

Births

January–February

• January 1 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)

• January 2 – Hans Leussink, German politician (d. 2008)

• 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 7 – Ivan Yakubovsky, Marshal of Soviet Union (d. 1976)

• January 8 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)

• January 8 – Lawrence E. Walsh, American jurist

• 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 27 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (d. 2009)

• January 27 – Francis Rogallo, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2009)

• January 28 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)

• January 30

• *Werner Hartmann, German physicist (d. 1988)

• *Barbara Tuchman, American historian (d. 1989)

• *Francis Schaeffer, American Evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor (d. 1984)

• February 2 – Millvina Dean, youngest passenger and survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster (d. 2009)

• February 3 – Mary Carlisle, American actress and singer

• February 4

• *Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)

• *Byron Nelson, American golfer (d. 2006)

• February 6 – Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress (d. 1945)

• February 7 – Roberta McCain, mother of John McCain.

• 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 1 – Boris Chertok, Polish-born Russian rocket designer

• March 4

• *Afro Basaldella, Italian painter (d. 1976)

• *Judith Furse, British character actress (d. 1974)

• *Carl Marzani, American documentarian (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)

• *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)

• *Art Gilmore, American radio and television announcer

• March 22 – Karl Malden, American actor (The Streets of San Francisco) (d. 2009)

• March 23 – Wernher von Braun, German-born American physicist and engineer (d. 1977)

• March 24 – Dorothy Height, American activist

• March 25 – Jean Vilar, French stage actor (d. 1971)

• March 27 – James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)

• March 31 – William Lederer, American writer

• April 2 – Herbert Mills, "Mills Brothers" tenor (d. 1989)

• April 7 – Jack Lawrence, American composer (d. 2009)

• April 8

• *Alois Brunner, German Nazi war criminal

• *Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (d. 1969)

• April 11 – Gusti Wolf, Austrian actress (d. 2007)

• 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)

• *David Langton, British actor, (d. 1994)

• April 17 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-born actress and singer, naturalized citizen of the United States

• 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 27 – Zohra Segal, Indian stage and film actress

• April 28 – Odette Sansom, French World War II heroine (d. 1995)

• *Kaneto Shindō, Japanese film director

May–June

• 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. 2004)

• May 14 – Ben Hogan, American golfer (d. 1997)

• May 16 – Studs Terkel, American writer and broadcaster (d. 2008)

• May 17 – Ace Parker, American baseball and football player

• May 18

• *Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)

• *Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)

• May 21 – Monty Stratton, American baseball player (d. 1982)

• May 22 – Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)

• May 23

• *Betty Astell, British actress (d. 2005)

• *Jean Françaix, French composer (d. 1997)

• *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)

• *Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (d. 1992)

• May 29 – Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (d. 1981)

• May 30 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)

• *Joseph Stein, American librettist

• May 31 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)

• June 4 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish artist (d. 1993)

• June 5 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (d. 2003)

• June 6 – Maria Montez, Dominican actress (d. 1951)

• June 8

• *Harry Holtzman, American artist (d. 1987)

• *J. Walter Kennedy, former NBA commissioner (d. 1977)

• June 9 – Philip Simmons, American ornamental ironworker (d. 2009)

• June 16 – Enoch Powell, British politician (d 1998)

• June 21 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer, fighter pilot, and intelligence and counter-intelligence officer (d. 2000)

• June 23 – Alan Turing, British mathematician (d. 1954)

• June 24 – Brian Johnston, British cricket commentator (d 1994)

• June 25 – William T. Cahill, American politician (d. 1996)

• June 26 – Jay Silverheels, American actor (The Lone Ranger) (d. 1980)

• June 27 – Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (d. 1990)

• June 30 – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (d. 2003)

July–August

• July 1

• *David R. Brower, American environmentalist (d. 2000)

• *Sally Kirkland, American fashion editor (d. 1989)

• July 4 – Said Akl, Lebanese poet and ideologue

• July 6 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer and explorer (d. 2006)

• July 11 – William F. Walsh, American politician

• July 14 – Woody Guthrie, American folk musician (This Land Is Your Land) (d. 1969)

• July 17 – Art Linkletter, American television host (House Party)

• July 18 – Max Rousié, French rugby footballer (d. 1950)

• July 31

• *Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)

• *Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (d. 2003)

• August 1 – Frank K. Edmondson, American astronomer (d. 2008)

• August 2 – Palle Huld, Danish actor

• August 3 – Fritz Hellwig, German politician (CDU) and former European Commissioner for Science & Research

• August 9 – Anne Brown, American soprano (d. 2009)

• 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 TV chef (d. 2004)

• August 15 – Ustad Amir Khan, Indian classical vocal singer (d. 1974)

• August 16

• *Ted Drake, English footballer (d. 1995)

• *Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)

• August 23 – Gene Kelly, American actor (d. 1996)

• August 25 – Erich Honecker, East German leader (d. 1994)

• August 27 – Gloria Guinness, Mexican-born English fashion icon (d. 1980)

• August 30

• *Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)

• *Nancy Wake, New Zealand World War II heroine

September–October

• September 5

• *John Cage, American composer (d. 1992)

• *Frank Thomas, American animator (d. 2004)

• September 10 – Mary Walter, Filipino actress (d. 1993)

• September 11 – David Packard, American electrical engineer (d. 1996)

• September 19 – Kurt Sanderling, German conductor

• September 21

• *Chuck Jones, American animator (Warner Brothers) (d. 2002)

• *György Sándor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)

• September 22

• *Herbert Mataré, German physicist and European co-inventor of the transistor

• *Martha Scott, American actress (d. 2003)

• September 24 – Don Porter, American actor (d. 1997)

• September 27 – Tauno Marttinen, Finnish composer (d. 2008)

• September 29 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian film director (d. 2007)

• October 1 – Kathleen Ollerenshaw, British mathematician

• October 5

• *Karl Hass, German Nazi war criminal (d. 2004)

• *Kristina Söderbaum, German actress (d. 2001)

• October 6 – Perkins Bass, American politician

• October 16 – Clifford Hansen, American politician (d. 2009)

• 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)

• October 31 – Ollie Johnston, American animator (d. 2008)

November–December

george o hanlon November 1

• November 1 – Gunther Plaut, German-born Canadian rabbi and writer

• November 3 – Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay (d. 2006)

• November 4 – Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (d. 1978)

• November 6 – Toke Townley, English actor (d. 1984)

• November 10

• *Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (d. 1999)

• *Jean-Hilaire Aubame, Gabonese politician (d. 1989)

• November 11 – Larry LaPrise, American songwriter (d. 1996)

• November 13 – Claude Pompidou, wife of French President Georges Pompidou (d. 2007)

• November 14

• *Barbara Hutton, American socialite (d. 1979)

• *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 (d. 2008)

• November 20 – Otto von Habsburg, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary

• November 21

• *Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (d. 1982)

• *Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1993 – 1999 (d. 1999)

• November 24 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (d. 1993)

• November 30 – Gordon Parks, African-American photographer and artist (d. 2006)

• December 10 – Philip Hart, Democratic United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 – 1976 (d. 1976)

• December 11 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (d. 2007)

• December 12 – Henry Armstrong, American boxer (d. 1988)

• December 22 – Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States (d. 2007)

• December 25

• *Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)

• *Tony Martin, American singer

• December 27 – Conroy Maddox, British painter (d. 2005)

Deaths

January–June

• January 28 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)

• February 4 – Franz Reichelt, Austrian Tailor/Inventor (b. 1800's)

• February 10 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon (b. 1827)

• 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 Robertson 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 – 11 out of 1,500 victims of the RMS Titanic sinking:

• *Thomas Andrews, Jr., Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)

• *John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864)

• *Archibald Butt, American presidential aide (b. 1865)

• *Thomas R.D. Byles, English-born Catholic priest (b. 1870)

• *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 5 Titanic First-class female fatalities) (b. 1849)

• *Jack Phillips, senior wireless officer of the Titanic (b. 1887)

• *Wallace Hartley, violinist and band leader of the Titanic (b. 1878)

• April 20 – Bram Stoker, Irish writer (Dracula) (b. 1847)

• May 14

• *August Strindberg, Swedish playwright and painter (b. 1849)

• *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 1 – Philip Parmalee, American aviator (b. 1887)

• June 12

• *Anton Aškerc, Slovene poet (b. 1856)

• *Frédéric Passy, French economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1822)

• Hubert Latham, French aviator, (b. 1883)

July–December

• July 1 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot (b. 1875)

• July 2 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (b. 1870)

• July 17 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)

• 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 13 – Jules Massenet, French composer (b. 1842)

• August 20

• *Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author (b. 1838)

• *William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)

• October 6 – Auguste Marie François Beernaert, Belgian statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1829)

• October 24 – Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian composer (b. 1842)

• October 30 – James S. Sherman, 27th 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 12 – Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, Prince Regent of Bavaria (b. 1821)

• December 18 – William McKendree Carleton, American poet (b. 1845)

• 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