On this day in history

August 12

7 births · 8 deaths · 4 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

106

Battle of Warsaw

106 years ago

Born this day

1954

François Hollande

Turns 72

Oldest record

542nd

Sixtus IV

death anniversary

Famous births7

1762 · 264 yrs

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830.

RoyaltyWould be 264

Photo: Thomas Lawrence · Public domain

1866 · 160 yrs

Jacinto Benavente

Jacinto Benavente y Martínez (Spanish pronunciation:; 12 August 1866 – 14 July 1954) was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama".

LiteratureWould be 160

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1887 · 139 yrs

Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes anglicised as Schroedinger or Schrodinger, was an Austrian theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum theory.

ScienceWould be 139

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

1930 · 96 yrs

George Soros

George Soros (born Schwartz György; August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian and American investor and philanthropist. As of September 2026, he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion.

BusinessAge 96

Photo: Aris Oikonomou - European Commission · CC BY 4.0

1954 · 72 yrs

François Hollande

François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (French:; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017.

PoliticsAge 72

Photo: Web Summit · CC BY 2.0

1971 · 55 yrs

Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No.

SportsAge 55

Photo: Craig ONeal · CC BY-SA 2.0

1990 · 36 yrs

Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli Barwuah (Italian pronunciation:; né Barwuah; born 12 August 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for UAE First Division club Al-Ittifaq. Regarded as a highly promising player in his youth, Balotelli is a versatile forward with strength, pace and an eye for goal.

SportsAge 36

Photo: Kamran Hussain · CC BY-SA 2.0

Famous deaths8

1484 · 542 yrs

Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, Italian: Sisto IV; born Francesco da Savona later della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484.

ReligionWould be 612

Photo: Pedro Berruguete · Public domain

1689 · 337 yrs

Innocent XI

Pope Innocent XI (Latin: Innocentius XI; Italian: Innocenzo XI; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death on 12 August 1689.

ReligionWould be 415

Photo: Jacob Ferdinand Voet · Public domain

1827 · 199 yrs

William Blake

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age.

ArtWould be 268

Photo: Thomas Phillips · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

Thomas Mann

Paul Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual.

LiteratureWould be 151

Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1964 · 62 yrs

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels.

LiteratureWould be 118

Photo: Erich Hartmann · Public domain

1982 · 44 yrs

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. Known for his work on screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image.

FilmWould be 121

Photo: Studio publicity still · Public domain

1989 · 37 yrs

William Shockley

William Bradford Shockley (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain.

ScienceWould be 116

Photo: Chuck Painter / Stanford News Service · CC BY 3.0

2014 · 12 yrs

Lauren Bacall

Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), known professionally as Lauren Bacall, was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

FilmWould be 102

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

Events4

1920 · 106 yrs

Battle of Warsaw

The Battle of Warsaw (Polish: Bitwa Warszawska; Russian: Варшавская битва, Varshavskaya bitva), also known as the Miracle on the Vistula (Polish: Cud nad Wisłą), was a series of battles that resulted in a decisive Polish victory and complete disintegration of the Red Army in August 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War.

War

1949 · 77 yrs

Fourth Geneva Convention

The Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (French: Convention relative à la protection des personnes civiles en temps de guerre), more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention or Geneva Convention IV (abbreviated as GCIV), is one of the four treaties of the…

Politics

2015 · 11 yrs

2015 Tianjin explosions

On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions at the Port of Tianjin in Tianjin, Northern China, killed 173 people, according to official reports, and injured hundreds of others. The explosions occurred at a container storage station in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China.

Disaster

2026 · 0 yrs

Solar eclipse of 12 August 2026

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, with a magnitude of 1.0386. Totality occurred in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.

Science

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