On This Day for January 12 - Haiti severely damaged by earthquake, John Hancock is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, [click here to view](. January 12 [Hancock, John]( FEATURED BIOGRAPHY 1737 John Hancock [John Hancock]( born this day in 1737, was a leader of the [American Revolution]( the first signer of the U.S. [Declaration of Independence]( and president of the [Continental Congress]( from May 1775 to October 1777. [SEE ALL BORN ON THIS DAY]( [Members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Search and Rescue Team rescuing a woman from a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 17, 2010.]( FEATURED EVENT 2010 Haiti severely damaged by earthquake On this day in 2010, a magnitude-7.0 [earthquake]( devastated [Haiti]( especially [Port-au-Prince]( killing more than 200,000 people and leaving more than one million homeless and touching off a massive international relief effort. [SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY]( Advertisement Advertisement MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY [A camera aboard the Deep Impact spacecraft captured this image of the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 and the flash of light that was produced by the high-speed collision with an impactor probe.] 2005: The U.S. space probe [Deep Impact]( was launched, and in July it shot a 370-kg (810-pound) mass into the nucleus of the [comet]( Tempel 1 in order to study its cometary structure. [(Clockwise from top right) Carroll O'Connor, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, and Jean Stapleton, the cast of the television series All in the Family.] 1971: The groundbreaking television series [All in the Family]( debuted on [CBS]( the sitcom became known for its frank and satirical treatment of sensitive or important topics. [Bezos, Jeff] 1964: American entrepreneur [Jeff Bezos]( who played a key role in the growth of [e-commerce]( as the founder of [Amazon.com]( was born. 1951: American radio personality and author [Rush Limbaugh]( who was known for his conservative and often controversial opinions, was born. [Caraway, Hattie Ophelia] 1932: [Hattie Ophelia Caraway]( became the first woman elected to the [U.S. Senate](. [South Africa] 1916: [P.W. Botha]( prime minister (1978–84) and president (1984–89) of [South Africa]( was born. [SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY]( ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1628 [Charles Perrault]( French author 1863 [Vivekananda]( Hindu leader 1964 [Jeff Bezos]( American entrepreneur 1954 [Howard Stern]( American radio host 1893 [Hermann Göring]( German minister 1949 [Haruki Murakami]( Japanese author [SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY]( Advertisement FOLLOW: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, [click here](. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2019 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. [Privacy Policy]( • [Help](