August 12th in History

Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra. The historical Cleopatra died August 12, 30 BCE.

Today in History

  • Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine (1851)
  • Joseph Lister performs the first antiseptic surgery (1865)
  • The Soviet Union performs the first test of a real thermonuclear weapon (1853)
  • NASA launches its first successful communications satellite (1960)
  • The IBM PC is released (1981)
  • The Tyrannosaurus.Rex known as “Sue” is discovered (1990)
  • Major League Baseball players go on strike (1994)

Birthdays

  • Helena Blavatsky, theosophist (1831)
  • Diamond Jim Brady, businessman and philanthropist (1856)
  • Edith Hamilton, mythologist (1867)
  • Mary Roberts Rinehart, writer (1876)
  • Cecil B. DeMille, filmmaker (1881)
  • Erwin Schrödinger, physicist (1887)
  • Jane Wyatt, actress (1910)
  • Cantinflas, actor (1911)
  • Percy Mayfield, musician (1920)
  • Porter Wagoner, country musician (1927)
  • Buck Owens, country musician (1929)
  • George Soros, investor and activist (1930)
  • William Goldman, author and screenwriter (1931)
  • George Hamilton, actor (1939)
  • Mark Knopfler, guitarist and singer for Dire Straits (1949)
  • Pat Metheny, jazz musician (1954)
  • Sir Mix-a-Lot, rapper (1963)
  •  Pete Sampras, tennis player (1971)
  • Dominique Swain, actress (1980)

Deaths

  • Cleopatra, Egyptian queen (30 BCE)
  • William Blake, poet and painter (1827)
  • George Stephenson, engineer known as the “father of railways” (1848)
  • Eliphalet Remington, gun manufacturer (1861)
  • James Russell Lowell, poet (1891)
  • Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., elder brother of US President John F. Kennedy (1944)
  • Thomas Mann, writer (1955)
  • Ian Fleming, writer (1964)
  • Henry Fonda, actor (1982)
  • John Cage, composer (1992)
  • Loretta Young, actress (2000)
  • Merv Griffin, talk show host and game show producer (2007)
  • Les Paul, guitarist (2009)
  • Lauren Bacall, actress (2014)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Air Force Day (Russia)
  • Glorious Twelfth (Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
  • International Youth Day
  • Mother’s Day (Thailand)
  • World Elephant Day
  • Julienne Fries Day (US)
  • Sea Org Day (Scientology)
  • Milkman Day

August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years). There are 141 days remaining until the end of the year.