August 12

Birthday:

1971~ Michael Ian Black (né Michael Ian Schwartz), American comedian.

1971~ Pete Sampras (né Petros Sampras), American tennis player.

1954~ François Hollande (né François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande), 24^th President of France.  He was elected on May 6, 2012 and sworn in on the 15^th of May, succeeding Nicolas Sarkozy.  He was President until May 2017.

1949~ Mark Knopfler (né Mark Freuder Knopfler), British singer-songwriter and lead singer for the band, Dire Straits.

1948~ Sue Monk Kidd, American author best known for her novel, The Secret Live of Bees.

1939~ George Hamilton (né George Stevens Hamilton), American actor.

1936~ Evelyn Lauder (née Evelyn Hausner; d. Nov. 12, 2011), American breast cancer survivor who campaigned with pink ribbons.  She was the daughter-in-law of cosmetics magnate Estée Lauder.  She died at age 75.

1931~ William Goldman (d. Nov. 16, 2018), American author, playwright and screenwriter who had the best lines.  He is best known for his comedy-fantasy novel, The Princess Bride, which was also adapted to film.  He died from complications of colon cancer at age 87.

1930~ Jacques Tits, Belgian-French mathematician.

1929~ Buck Owens (né Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.; d. Mar. 25, 2006), American singer and television personality.  He died of a heart attack at age 76.

1926~ John Derek (né Derek Delevans Harris; d. May 22, 1998), American actor, director and photographer.  He was married several times.  His last wife was actress Bo Derek.  He died at age 71 of cardiovascular disease.

1925~ Dale Bumpers (né Dale Leon Bumpers; d. Jan. 1, 2016), United States Senator from Arkansas.  He served in the Senate from January 1975 until January 1999.  He had previously served as the 38^th Governor of Arkansas from January 1971 until January 1975.  He died at age 90.

1919~ Margaret Burbidge (née Eleanor Margaret Peachey), British-born American astrophysicist.

1910~ Jane Wyatt (née Jane Waddington; d. Oct. 20, 2006), American actress who played TV’s ideal suburban mom in her role in Father Knows Best.  She died at age 96.

1904~ Alexei Nikolaevich (d. July 17, 1918).  He was the only son of, and heir apparent to, Tsar Nicholas II.  He was assassinated less than a month before his 14^thbirthday.

1892~ S.R. Ranganathan (né Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan; d. Sept. 27, 1972), Indian mathematician.  He died at age 80.

1887~ Erwin Schrödinger (né Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger; d. Jan. 4, 1961), Austrian physicist and recipient of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He is best known for his thought experiment, or paradox, of Schrödinger’s cat, which illustrated the problem of an interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects.  Under this theory, a cat is randomly put into a box where it being both alive and dead are possibilities.  He died at age 73.

1882~ George Bellows (né George Wesley Bellows; d. Jan. 8, 1825), American artist.  He was known for his realistic paintings.  The exact date of his birth is in question.  He may actually have been born on August 19^th.  He died at age 42 of a ruptured appendix.

1881~ Cecil B. DeMille (né Cecil Blount DeMille; d. Jan. 21, 1959), American film director.  He is best known for his epic The Ten Commandments.  He was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts.  He died of heart failure at age 77.

1880~ Christy Mathewson (né Christopher Mathewson; d. Oct. 7, 1925), American baseball player.  In 1936, he was elected as one of the first members into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  He died of tuberculosis at age 45.

1866~ Jacinto Benavente (né Jacinto Benavente y Martínez; d. July 14, 1954), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died a month before his 88^thbirthday.

1862~ Julius Rosenwald (d. Jan. 6, 1932), American businessman and philanthropist.  He was an early president of Sears and Roebuck Company.  He established the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  In addition, he contributed millions of dollars to support black education and Jewish philanthropies.  There is still a Rosenwald school in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He died at age 69.

1859~ Katharine Lee Bates (d. Mar. 28, 1929), American songwriter.  She composed America the Beautiful in 1893 while admiring the view from the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado.  She was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts and died in Wellesley, Massachusetts at age 69.

1856~ Diamond Jim Brady (né James Buchanan Brady; d. Apr. 13, 1917), American businessman and financier.  He died of an apparent heart attack at age 60.

1844~ John A. Roche (d. Feb. 10, 1904), 30^th Mayor of Chicago.  He was Mayor from 1887 until 1889.  He died at age 59 of uremic poisoning.

1801~ John Cadbury (d. May 11, 1889), English businessman and founder of the Cadbury Chocolate company.  He died at age 87.

1774~ Robert Southey (d. Mar. 21, 1843), British poet and writer.  He died at age 68.

1762~ King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. June 26, 1830).  He ruled the United Kingdom from January 1820 until his death in June 1830.  He died at age 67.

1503~ King Christian III of Denmark (d. Jan. 1, 1559).  During his reign, he established Lutheranism as the state religion.  He was married to Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (1511 ~ 1571).  He died at age 55.

1452~ Abraham Zacuto (d. 1515), Jewish rabbi, astronomer and mathematician.  The crater Zagut on the moon is named in his honor.  The exact date of his death is unknown, but his is believed to have been about 63.

Events that Changed the World:

2016~ Historic flooding occurred in Southern Louisiana following a severe rainstorm.  Following the rain, backwater from all the nearby rivers and bayous contributed to additional flooding leaving thousands of people homeless.  Many of the flooded homes were in areas not designated as a floodplain, hence homeowners did not have flood insurance.  At least 10 people died in the flooding.

1994~ Major League Baseball players went on strike.  This ultimately forced the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

1992~ The terms and negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are completed between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

1990~ The largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found today was discovered by Susan Hendrickson (b. 1949) in South Dakota.  The dinosaur was given the name Sue in honor of its discoverer.

1981~ The IBM Personal Computer was first released.

1964~ South Africa was banned from allowing its athletes to compete in the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies.

1952~ The Night of the Murdered Poets was the execution of 13 Soviet Jewish intellectuals in Moscow.

1914~ The United Kingdom declared war on Austria-Hungary during World War I.  The other countries within the British Empire soon also declared war and entered into World War I.

1865~ Joseph Lister (1827 ~ 1912) performed the first antiseptic surgery.

1851~ Isaac Singer (1811 ~ 1875) was granted a patent for his sewing machine.

Good-Byes:

2014~ Lauren Bacall (née Betty Joan Perske; b. Sept. 16, 1924), American sultry actress who enchanted audiences and co-stars.  She died about a month before her 90^th birthday.

2009~ Les Paul (né Lester William Polsfuss; b. June 9, 1915), American guitarist.  He died at age 94.

2007~ Merv Griffin (né Mervyn Edward Griffin, Jr.; b. July 6, 1925), American producer best known for creating game shows such as Jeopardyand Wheel of Fortune.  He died at age 82.

2004~ Sir Godfrey Hounsfield (né Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield; b. Aug. 28, 1919), English electrical engineer and inventor.  He was the recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 2 weeks before his 85^th birthday.

2002~ Enos Slaughter (né Enos Bradsher Slaughter; b. Apr. 27, 1916), American baseball player.  He died at age 86.

1992~ John Cage (né John Milton Cage, Jr.; b. Sept. 5, 1912), American avant-garde composer.  He died 24 days before his 80^th birthday.

1990~ Bernard Kliban (b. Jan. 1, 1935), American cartoonist.  He signed his work simply B. Kliban.  He died at age 55 of a heart embolism.

1989~ William Shockley (né William Bradford Shockley, Jr.; b. Feb. 13, 1910), American physicist and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with transistors.  He died at age 79.

1988~ Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. Dec. 22, 1960) American artist.  He died at age 27 of a heroin overdose.

1982~ Henry Fonda (né Henry Jaynes Fonda, b. May 16, 1905), American actor.  He died of heart failure at age 77.

1979~ Sir Ernst Boris Chain (b. June 19, 1979), German biochemist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in penicillin.  Following the rise of Nazism in Germany, he fled to England in 1933.  He died at age 73.

1973~ Karl Ziegler (né Karl Walderman Ziegler; b. Nov. 26, 1898), German chemist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on polymers.  He died at age 74.

1973~ Walter Rudolf Hess (b. Mar. 17, 1881), Swiss physiologist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for mapping areas of the brain that control internal organs.  He died of heart failure at age 92.

1967~ Esther Forbes (née Esther Louise Forbes; b. June 28, 1891), (American historian and writer. She wrote children’s literature and is best known for her novel Johnny Tremain.  She was from Massachusetts.  She died of rheumatic heard disease at age 76.

1964~ Ian Fleming (né Ian Lancaster Fleming; b. May 28, 1908), British intelligence officer and author.  He was the creator of James Bond.  He died of heart disease at age 56.

1955~ James B. Sumner (né John Batcheller Sumner; b. Nov. 19, 1887), American chemist and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing that enzymes are proteins.  He was born in Canton, Massachusetts.  He died of cancer at age 67.

1955~ Thomas Mann (né Paul Thomas Mann; b. June 6, 1875), German novelist and recipient of the 1929 Nobel Prize for Literature.  He died at age 80.

1944~ Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (né Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.; b. July 25, 1915), the oldest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.  He was a pilot during World War II.  He was shot down and was killed 18 days after his 29^th birthday.

1935~ Friedrich Schottky (b. July 24, 1851), German mathematician.  He died 21 days after his 84^thbirthday.

1891~ James Russell Lowell (b. Feb. 22, 1819), American poet.  He was born and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He died at age 72.

1885~ Helen Hunt Jackson (née Helen Marie Fiske; b. Oct. 15, 1830), American writer and poet.  She was a social activist for Native Americans. She is best known for her novel Ramona, which depicted the Federal government’s mistreatment of Native Americans in the American Southwest.  She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts.  She died of stomach cancer at age 54.

1865~ Sir William Hooker (né William Jackson Hooker; b. July 6, 1785), English botanist.  He died at age 80.

1861~ Eliphalet Remington (b. Oct. 28, 1793), American inventor and designer of the Remington rifle.  He was the founder of the Remington Arms Company.  He was born in Suffield, Connecticut.  He died at age 67.

1849~ Albert Gallatin (né Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin; b. Jan. 29, 1761), Swiss-born 4^th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison from May 1801 until February 1814.  He died at age 88.

1827~ William Blake (b. Nov. 28, 1757), English poet.  He died at age 69.

1816~ Mary Katherine Goddard (b. June 16, 1738), American publisher and postmaster of Baltimore.  She was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence with the names of all the signatories.  She died at age 78.

1813~ Samuel Osgood (b. Feb. 3, 1747), United States Postmaster General.  He was appointed to this position by President George Washington. He served as Postmaster General from September 1789 until August 1791.  He was the 4^th Postmaster General in the United States, but the 1^st to hold this position under the United States Constitution. He was born in Andover, Massachusetts.  He died at age 66.

1689~ Pope Innocent XI (né Benedetto Odescalchi; b. May 16, 1611).  He was Pope from September 1676 until his death 13 years later.  He died at age 78.

1503~ Anna Jagiellon (b. Mar. 12, 1476), Duchess of Pomerania through her marriage to Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania.  She was the daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland.  She died at age 27 either in childbirth or tuberculosis.

1484~ Pope Sixtus IV (né Francesco della Rovere, d. July. 21, 1414).  He is best known for having had the Sistine Chapel build.  He was Pope from August 9, 1471 until his death 13 years later.  He died 22 days after his 70^th birthday.

1424~ Yongle (b. May 2, 1360), 3^rd Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He ruled from July 1402 until hi s death 22 years later. He died at age 64.

961~ Yaun Zong (b. 916), Chinese emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

875~ Louis II (b. 825), Holy Roman Emperor. He is also known as Louis the Younger.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

30 BCE~ Cleopatra VII (b. 69 BCE), traditional date attributed with Cleopatra’s suicide by an asp bite.  She is believed to have been about 39 at the time of her death.