May 12

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (about 454 – 30 August 526), also called the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patrician of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: CNG · Public domain

Gustav I of Sweden

Gustav Eriksson Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), also known as Gustav I, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. He was previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm (Riksföreståndare) from 1521, during the Swedish War of Liberation against King Christian II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jacob Binck · Public domain

Augustus II the Strong

Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony as Frederick Augustus I (German: Friedrich August I) from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Nicolas de Largillière · Public domain

Justus von Liebig

Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biological chemistry; he is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · CC BY 4.0

Edward Lear

Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised but which term he never used.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Henry Hering (1814-1893) · Public domain

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( rə-ZET-ee; Italian:), was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: W. & D. Downey · CC0

Jules Massenet

Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (French:; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Photographer: Eugène Pirou (1841-1909) Restorer: Adam Cuerden · Public domain

Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Eugène Pirou · Public domain

William Giauque

William Francis Giauque (May 12, 1895 – March 28, 1982) was a Canadian-born American chemist and Nobel laureate. He was recognized in 1949, for his studies in the properties of matter, at temperatures close to absolute zero.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose career as a leading lady on stage and screen spanned six decades.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios ; Restored by Adam Cuerden · Public domain

Enver Hoxha

Enver Halil Hoxha (16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was an Albanian politician, revolutionary, and communist political theorist who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what became the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: anonymous · Public domain

August Wilhelm von Schlegel

August Wilhelm von Schlegel ( SHLAY-gəl; German:; 8 September 1767 – 12 May 1845) was a German scholar, critic, Orientalist, Indologist, translator and poet. With his brother Friedrich Schlegel, he was a leading influence within Jena Romanticism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Adolf Hohneck · Public domain

Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Joris-Karl Huysmans

Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (US:, French:; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (French:, abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel À rebours (1884, published in English as Against the Grain and as Against Nature).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Frédéric Boissonnas / André Taponier · Public domain

James Connolly

James Connolly (Irish: Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish-born Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland. He remains an important figure both for the Irish labour movement and for Irish republicanism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: David Granville · Public domain

Józef Piłsudski

Józef Klemens Piłsudski (Polish:; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Erich von Stroheim

Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim, Austrian German:; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Uncredited. · Public domain

Nelly Sachs

Nelly Sachs (German pronunciation:; 10 December 1891 – 12 May 1970) was a German–Swedish poet and playwright. Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

Frances Marion

Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens; November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. During the course of her career, she wrote over 325 scripts.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Jean Dubuffet

Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (French pronunciation:; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor of the École de Paris (School of Paris).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Paolo Monti · CC BY-SA 4.0

Erik Erikson

Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Perry Como

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Walter Albertin, World Telegram staff photographer · Public domain