On this day in history

July 12

30 births · 8 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

2006 Lebanon War

20 years ago

Born this day

1997

Malala Yousafzai

Turns 29

Photo (modified): flowcomm · CC BY 2.0

Oldest record

490th

Erasmus

death anniversary

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Famous births30

1596 · 430 yrs

Michael I of Russia

Michael I (Russian: Михаил Фёдорович Романов, romanized: Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov; 22 July 1596 – 23 July 1645) was Tsar of all Russia from 1613 after being elected by the Zemsky Sobor of 1613 until his death in 1645.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Художники Ф. Зубов, В. Кандаков и другие · CC BY-SA 4.0

1813 · 213 yrs

Claude Bernard

Claude Bernard (French:; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1817 · 209 yrs

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher.

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LiteratureDied aged 44

View profile Photo (modified): B. D. Maxham · Public domain

1828 · 198 yrs

Nikolay Chernyshevsky

Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (24 July 1828 – 29 October 1889) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism and the Narodniks.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 61

View profile Photo (modified): Studio fotografico di S. I. Klimaševkaja · Public domain

1854 · 172 yrs

George Eastman

George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

BusinessDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1884 · 142 yrs

Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (US:; Italian:; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 142

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1892 · 134 yrs

Bruno Schulz

Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a Polish-Jewish writer, literary critic, visual artist, and art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great 20th-century Polish-language prose stylists.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1895 · 131 yrs

Buckminster Fuller

Richard Buckminster Fuller Jr. (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 131

View profile Photo (modified): en:User:Edgy01 (Dan Lindsay) · CC BY 3.0

1904 · 122 yrs

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda ( nə-ROO-də; Spanish:; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 122

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1913 · 113 yrs

Willis Lamb

Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. (July 12, 1913 – May 15, 2008) was an American physicist who was able to precisely determine a surprising shift in electron energies in a hydrogen atom, known as the Lamb shift.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 113

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel foundation · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (née Belova; 12 July 1916 – 10 October 1974) was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army during World War II. She is the deadliest female sniper, and one of the deadliest snipers in history, with 309 confirmed kills.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 110

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1928 · 98 yrs

Elias James Corey

Elias James Corey (born July 12, 1928) is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 98

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Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths8

1536 · 490 yrs

Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( DEZ-i-DEER-ee-əs irr-AZ-məs; Dutch:; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch humanist, theologian, and philosopher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Hans Holbein the Younger · Public domain

1804 · 222 yrs

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755, or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 under the presidency of George Washington.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): John Trumbull · Public domain

1926 · 100 yrs

Gertrude Bell

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 57

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1931 · 95 yrs

Nathan Söderblom

Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom (Swedish pronunciation:; 15 January 1866 – 12 July 1931) was a Swedish bishop. He was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala from 1914 to 1931, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Emil Finn · Public domain

1935 · 91 yrs

Alfred Dreyfus

Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair.

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MilitaryDied aged 75

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2013 · 13 yrs

Pran

Pran Krishan Sikand (pronounced; 12 February 1920 – 12 July 2013), better known mononymously as Pran, was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 106

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2020 · 6 yrs

Kelly Preston

Kelly Kamalelehua Smith (October 13, 1962 – July 12, 2020), known professionally as Kelly Preston, was an American actress. She appeared in more than 60 television and film productions, including Mischief (1985), Twins (1988), Jerry Maguire (1996), and For Love of the Game (1999).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 64

View profile Photo (modified): Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 4.0

2026 · 0 yrs

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Arabic: حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني; 1 January 1952 – 12 July 2026) was Emir of Qatar from 1995 until his abdication in 2013. He was also prime minister of Qatar from 1995 to 1996.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 74

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Events5

1943 · 83 yrs

Battle of Prokhorovka

The Battle of Prokhorovka was fought on 12 July 1943 near Prokhorovka, 87 kilometres (54 mi) southeast of Kursk, in the Soviet Union, during the Second World War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1977 · 49 yrs

Ogaden War

The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (Somali: Dagaalkii Xoraynta Soomaali Galbeed, Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, romanized: ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orinet), was a military conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1998 · 28 yrs

1998 FIFA World Cup Final

The final match of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th edition of the quadrennial football competition organised by FIFA for the men's national teams of its member associations, was played at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 12 July 1998, and was contested by defending champions Brazil and hosts France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2006 · 20 yrs

2006 Lebanon War

The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2021 · 5 yrs

2021 European floods

In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

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