Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Today is the 193rd day of 2026. There are 172 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1493
Hartmann Schedel's <i>Nuremberg Chronicle</i>, one of the best-documented early printed books, is published.
1543
England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, who outlived him.
1543
King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.
1690
Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
1776
Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.
1789
In response to the dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, the radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gives a speech which results in the storming of the Bastille two days later.
1790
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly.
1799
Ranjit Singh conquers Lahore and becomes Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
1801
British ships inflict heavy damage on Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
1812
The American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now at Windsor, Ontario.
1862
The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
1909
Congress passed the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for Congress to implement a federal income tax.
1918
The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship <i>Kawachi</i> blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
1920
The Soviet-Lithuanian Peace Treaty is signed, by which Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of Lithuania.
1943
German and Soviet forces engage in the Battle of Prokhorovka, one of the largest armored engagements of all time.
1948
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.
1961
Indian city Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams, killing at least two thousand people.
1961
CSA Flight 511 crashes at Casablanca-Anfa Airport in Morocco, killing 72.
1962
The Rolling Stones perform for the first time at London's Marquee Club.
1963
Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.
1967
The Newark Riots began in Newark, New Jersey after a Black cab driver was beaten in police custody. During five days of rioting, 26 people would be killed and over 700 were injured.
1972
George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Miami Beach.
1973
A fire destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.
1974
John Ehrlichman, a former aide to President Nixon, and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg's former psychiatrist.
1976
The game show "Family Feud" debuted on ABC, with Richard Dawson as its host.
1977
President Carter defended Supreme Court decisions limiting government payments for poor women's abortions, saying, ''There are many things in life that are not fair.''
1984
Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced he had chosen U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.
1990
Russian republic president Boris N. Yeltsin shocked the 28th congress of the Soviet Communist Party by announcing he was resigning his party membership.
1993
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck northern Japan, killing 196 people.
1994
President Clinton visited the eastern sector of Berlin, the first president to do so since Harry Truman.
1995
Chinese seismologists successfully predict the 1995 Myanmar-China earthquake, reducing the number of casualties to 11.
1998
The Ulster Volunteer Force attacked a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a petrol bomb. The 3 young Quinn brothers who had been asleep in their beds burned to death in the attack.
2000
New Hampshire Chief Justice David Brock was impeached by the Legislature, the first such action against an official in the state since 1790. (He was later acquitted in a state Senate trial.)
2001
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-104, carrying the Quest Joint Airlock to the International Space Station.
2007
U.S. Army Apache helicopters engage in airstrikes against armed insurgents in Baghdad, Iraq, where civilians are killed; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.
2012
A tank truck explosion kills more than 100 people in Okobie, Nigeria.
2019
Nearly half a million people on Facebook pledged to raid the Area 51 facility, a highly classified U.S. Air Force installation in the Nevada desert. This led to additional security around the area and threats of arrest to anyone who tried to trespass.
Notable Births
1817
Naturalist-author Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.
1817
Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (d. 1862)
1854
George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera, was born in Waterville, N.Y.
1854
George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (d. 1933)
1861
Anton Arensky, Russian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1906)
1863
Albert Calmette, French physician, bacteriologist, and immunologist (d. 1933)
1884
Louis B. Mayer, Russian-born American film producer, co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (d. 1957)
1895
Oscar Hammerstein II, American director, producer, and songwriter (d. 1960)
1895
Buckminster Fuller, American architect and engineer, designed the Montreal Biosphere (d. 1983)
1908
Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (d. 2002)
1917
Andrew Wyeth, American artist (d. 2009)
1918
Rusty Dedrick, American swing and bebop jazz trumpeter (d. 2009)
1923
James E. Gunn, American science fiction author (d. 2020)
1933
Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (d. 2012)
1933
Donald E. Westlake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1934
Thomas Charlton, American competition rower and Olympic champion
1934
Van Cliburn, American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
1935
Satoshi Omura, Japanese biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1937
Bill Cosby, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1937
Lionel Jospin, French civil servant and politician, 165th Prime Minister of France
1937
Robert McFarlane, American colonel and diplomat, 13th United States National Security Advisor (d. 2022)
1939
Arlen Ness, American motorcycle designer and entrepreneur (d. 2019)
1942
Swamp Dogg, American R&B singer-songwriter and musician
1942
Steve Young, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1943
Christine McVie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2022)
1945
Butch Hancock, American country-folk singer-songwriter and musician
1947
Wilko Johnson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2022)
1948
Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer and actor
1949
Rick Hendrick, American businessman, founded Hendrick Motorsports
1951
Brian Grazer, American screenwriter and producer, founded Imagine Entertainment
1951
Cheryl Ladd, American actress
1952
Voja Antonic, Serbian computer scientist and journalist, designed the Galaksija computer
1954
Eric Adams, American singer-songwriter
1955
Jimmy LaFave, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1956
Mel Harris, American actress
1956
Sandi Patty, American singer and pianist
1957
Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
1959
Tupou VI, King of Tonga
1959
Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
1976
Tracie Spencer, American singer-songwriter and actress
1977
Steve Howey, American actor
1977
Brock Lesnar, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
1978
Topher Grace, American actor
1979
Brooke Baldwin, American journalist and television news anchor
1980
Kristen Connolly, American actress
1981
Adrienne Camp, South African singer-songwriter
1990
Rachel Brosnahan, American actress
1996
Jordan Romero, American mountaineer
Notable Deaths
1682
Jean Picard, French priest and astronomer (b. 1620)
1712
Richard Cromwell, English academic and politician (b. 1626)
1804
Alexander Hamilton, American general, economist, and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1755)
1892
Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter, invented baseball (b. 1820)
1908
William D. Coleman, 13th President of Liberia (b. 1842)
1910
Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1877)
1926
Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist and spy (b. 1868)
1934
Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor and businessman, invented the outboard motor (b. 1877)
1935
Alfred Dreyfus, French colonel (b. 1859)
1944
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., American general and politician, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1887)
1973
Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (b. 1906)
1975
James Ormsbee Chapin, American painter and illustrator (b. 1887)
1979
Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
1998
Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1907)
2008
Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
2008
Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (b. 1955)
2013
Amar Gopal Bose was an American entrepreneur, academic, electrical engineer, and sound engineer. He founded the Bose Corporation (b. 1929)
2015
D'Army Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and actor (b. 1941)
2020
Kelly Preston (born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith), was an American actress. She appeared in more than 60 television and film productions. She married John Travolta in 1991.
2024
Ruth Westheimer, better known as Dr. Ruth, was a German American sex therapist and talk show host. (b. 1928)