On This Day: February 12

This is the 43rd day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin is best remembered for his books On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, of the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Darwin at first shocked religious Victorian society by suggesting that animals and humans shared a common ancestry. However, his nonreligious biology appealed to professional scientists and by the time of his death, his evolutionary ideas were acceptable. Darwin himself was an agnostic. His good friend Aldous Huxley (who coined the word "agnostic") convinced the canon of Westminster Abbey to bury his friend there.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Julian the Hospitaller, St. Ethelwald of Lindisfarne, St. Antony Kauleas, St. Marina or Pelagia, St. Meletius, and St. Ludan.

Myanmar: Union Day.

Events

1709 - Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish seaman whose adventures inspired the story of "Robinson Crusoe," was taken off Juan Fernandez Island after four years of being marooned.

1793 - Congress passed the first fugitive slave law, requiring all states, including those that forbad slavery, to forcibly return slaves who had escaped from other states to their original owners.

1818 - Chile gained independence from Spain.

1892 - President Abraham Lincoln's birthday was declared a national holiday.

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.

1912 - Hsüan-T'ung (Pu Yi), the last emperor of China, was forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution; he was six years old. China became a republic following the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty.

1924 - George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" premiered in New York.

1973 - The first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam War took place.

1999 - The U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton, after the five-week impeachment trial, on both articles of impeachment, perjury and obstruction of justice.

2004 - Mattel announced the split of Barbie and Ken.

2006 - The second Sydney Body Art Ride breaks a world record for the largest group of painted people, and raised more than $10,000 for Children's Cancer Institute of Australia.

Births

1567 - Thomas Campion, English composer and poet.

1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America.

1809 - Charles Darwin, British naturalist, theorist of evolution.

1880 - John L. Lewis, U.S. labor leader, United Mine Workers of America.

1904 - Ted Mack (William McGuiness), American TV host.

1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director.

1934 - Bill Russell, American basketball Hall of Famer.

1952 - Michael McDonald, American musician, known for his trademark husky baritone voice.

1970 - Jim Creeggan, Canadian bassist.

1974 - Toranosuke Takagi, Japanese race car driver.

Deaths

1789 - Ethan Allen, an early American revolutionary and guerrilla leader during the era of the Vermont Republic and the New Hampshire Grants.

1971 - James C. Penney, American department store founder.

2000 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip.

2000 - Tom Landry, Hall of Fame football coach who led the Dallas Cowboys to five Super Bowls.

2005 - Sammi Smith (born Jewel Fay Smith), a country music singer and songwriter, born in Orange County, California.