Important Events From This day in History – 12 April

Today in History

• 1988 The Last Emperor receives nine Academy Awards

  The last Chinese Emperor Puyi was the subject of Bernardo Bertolucci’s biography, which became the first movie to win every Oscar for which it was nominated.

• 1981 The Space Shuttle blasts off into space for the first time

  Two astronauts took off for Space Shuttle Columbia’s first orbital test flight.

• 1961 Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space

  The Vostok-3KA spacecraft carried the Soviet Cosmonaut into Earth orbit. (Vostok 1 mission). From launch to landing, the first human spaceflight took 108 minutes.

• 1937 The first aircraft jet engine is successfully tested

  Only a few months before German engineer Hans von Ohain successfully tested his jet engine, which would power the first-ever all-jet aircraft, Sir Frank Whittle created and tested the engine.

• 1861 The American Civil War begins

  The start of hostilities was signaled by the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina. Deepening political, social, and economic divides between the southern and northern states—best manifested in the argument over the legality of slavery—were what ultimately led to war. The conflict was over when the southern (pro-slavery) states capitulated in 1865.