On this day

April 12, 1937

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from April 12, 1937

Notable Births

Dennis Banks

1937Dennis Banks, American author and activist (died 2017)[†]

Dennis J. Banks was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urban Indians. He was a pre-eminent spokesman for Native Americans. His protests won government concessions and created national attention and sympathy for the oppression and endemic social and economic conditions for Native Americans.

Igor Volk

1937Igor Volk, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 2017)[†]

Igor Petrovich Volk was a Russian test pilot and former Soviet cosmonaut in the Buran programme.

Notable Deaths

Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan

1937Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Turkish playwright and poet (born 1852)[†]

Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan was an early 20th-century Ottoman playwright and poet. He was one of the leading lights of the Turkish Romantic period. He is known in Turkish literature as "Şair-i Azam" and "Dahi-i Azam".

Historical Events

Frank Whittle

1937Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.[†]

Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with co-creating the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for a similar invention which was technically unfeasible at the time. Whittle's jet engines were developed some years earlier than those of Germany's Hans von Ohain, who designed the first-to-fly turbojet engine as well as Austria’s Anselm Franz.