February 12, 1961

1961David Graeber, American anthropologist and activist (died 2020)^[†]

David Rolfe Graeber was an American and British anthropologist, left-wing and anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in social and economic anthropology, particularly his books "Debt: The First 5,000 Years" (2011), "The Utopia of Rules" (2015) and "Bullshit Jobs" (2018), and his leading role in the Occupy movement, earned him recognition as one of the foremost anthropologists and left-wing thinkers of his time.

1961Jim Harris, Canadian environmentalist and politician^[†]

James R. M. Harris is a Canadian author, environmentalist, and politician. He was leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006, when he was succeeded by Elizabeth May.

1961Michel Martelly, Haitian singer and politician, 56th President of Haiti^[†]

Michel Joseph Martelly is a Haitian musician and politician who served as the 42nd president of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. On August 20, 2024, the United States sanctioned the former president for trafficking drugs, in particular cocaine, into the United States, and for sponsoring several gangs based in Haiti.

1961The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.^[†]

Venera 1, also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8, was the first spacecraft to perform an interplanetary flight and the first to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme. Launched in February 1961, it was intended as an impactor, but flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.