August 2

Leo XII

Pope Leo XII (Italian: Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829.

Photo: Charles Picqué · Public domain

Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres ( shee-MOHN PERR-ess, -⁠ez; Hebrew: שמעון פרס; born Szymon Perski, Polish:; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 to 2014.

Photo: Avi Ohayon · CC BY-SA 3.0

James Baldwin

James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels.

Photo: Allan warren · CC BY-SA 3.0

Jorge Rafael Videla

General Jorge Rafael Videla ( vid-EL-ə; Spanish:; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine general, politician and dictator who served as the president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 during the National Reorganization Process. He came to power in a March 1976 coup d'état that deposed Isabel Perón.

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Peter O'Toole

Peter James O'Toole (2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was an English and Irish actor.

Photo: ABC TV · Public domain

Isabel Allende

Isabel Angélica Allende Llona (Spanish:; born 2 August 1942) is a Chilean-American writer.

Photo: Lesekreis · CC BY-SA 4.0

JD Vance

James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman; August 2, 1984) is an American politician, author, and venture capitalist serving as the 50th vice president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the state of Ohio in the United States Senate from 2023 to 2025.

Photo: Emily J. Higgins · Public domain

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Arabic: أحمد ابن حنبل, romanized: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal; 780 – 855) was an Arab jurist and founder of the Hanbali school who is widely recognized as the scholar who memorized the most Hadiths in Islamic history.

Henry III of France

Henry III of France (French: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589 and, as Henry of Valois (Polish: Henryk Walezy; Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.

Photo: Attributed to Étienne Dumonstier · Public domain

Enrico Caruso

Enrico Caruso (25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic tenor, who sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic.

Photo: Copyright by Laveccha Studio, Chicago (no. 3). · Public domain

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.

Photo: Moffett Studio · Public domain

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular presidents at the time of his death.

Photo: Copyright by Moffett, Chicago. J241772 U.S. Copyright Office. · Public domain

Paul von Hindenburg

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military officer and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.

Photo: Codexbox1 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Fritz Lang

Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (Austrian German:; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (Austrian German:), was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked in Germany and later the United States.

Photo: Joost Evers / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, visual artist and music theorist.

Photo: Rob Bogaerts for Anefo · CC0

William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a postmodern author who influenced underground and popular culture and literature.

Photo: Revista Panorama Número 297 de Enero, 1973. · Public domain

Ahmed Zewail

Ahmed Hassan Zewail (Arabic: أَحْمَد حَسَن زُوَيْل; February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an Egyptian-American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry".

Photo: Douglas A. Lockard · CC BY-SA 3.0