September 12

September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 110 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

Events

• 490 BC – Battle of Marathon: The conventionally accepted date for the Battle of Marathon. The Athenians and their Plataean allies, defeat the first Persian invasion force of Greece.
• 372 – Sixteen Kingdoms: Jin Xiaowudi, age 10, succeeds his father Jin Jianwendi as Emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
• 1185 – Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos brutally put to death in Constantinople.
• 1213 – Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, defeats Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Muret.
• 1229 – Battle of Portopí: The Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Ponça, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.
• 1309 – The First Siege of Gibraltar takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista pitting the forces of the Kingdom of Castile against the Emirate of Granada resulting in a Castilian victory.
• 1609 – Henry Hudson begins his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen.
• 1683 – Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna: Several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
• 1814 – Battle of North Point: an American detachment halts the British land advance to Baltimore in the War of 1812.
• 1846 – Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning.
• 1847 – Mexican–American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins.
• 1848 – Switzerland becomes a Federal state.
• 1857 – The SS Central America sinks about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13–15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush.
• 1885 – Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord, a world record scoreline in professional Association football.
• 1890 – Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded.
• 1897 – Tirah Campaign: Battle of Saragarhi.
• 1906 – The Newport Transporter Bridge is opened in Newport, South Wales by Viscount Tredegar.
• 1910 – Premiere performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Munich (with a chorus of 852 singers and an orchestra of 171 players. Mahler's rehearsal assistant conductor was Bruno Walter)
• 1919 – Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers' Party (later the Nazi Party).
• 1923 – Southern Rhodesia, today called Zimbabwe, is annexed by the United Kingdom.
• 1933 – Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
• 1938 – Adolf Hitler demands autonomy and self-determination for the Germans of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
• 1940 – Cave paintings are discovered in Lascaux, France.
• 1940 – An explosion at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey kills 51 people and injures over 200.
• 1942 – World War II: RMS Laconia, carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs is torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks with a heavy loss of life.
• 1942 – World War II: First day of the Battle of Edson's Ridge during the Guadalcanal Campaign. U.S. Marines protecting Henderson Field on Guadalcanal are attacked by Imperial Japanese Army forces.
• 1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, is rescued from house arrest on the Gran Sasso in Abruzzi, by German commando forces led by Otto Skorzeny.
• 1944 – World War II: The liberation of Serbia from Nazi Germany continues. Bajina Bašta in western Serbia is among the liberated cities.
• 1952 – Strange occurrences, including a monster sighting, take place in Flatwoods, West Virginia.
• 1953 – U.S. Senator and future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1959 – The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon.
• 1961 – The African and Malagasy Union is founded.
• 1962 – President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
• 1964 – Canyonlands National Park is designated as a National Park.
• 1966 – Gemini 11, the penultimate mission of NASA's Gemini program, and the current human altitude record holder (except for the Apollo lunar missions)
• 1970 – Dawson's Field hijackings: Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
• 1974 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, 'Messiah' of the Rastafari movement, is deposed following a military coup by the Derg, ending a reign of 58 years.
• 1974 – Juventude Africana Amílcar Cabral is founded in Guinea-Bissau.
• 1977 – South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody.
• 1980 – Military coup in Turkey.
• 1983 – A Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, is robbed of approximately US$7 million by Los Macheteros.
• 1983 – The USSR vetoes a United Nations Security Council Resolution deploring the Soviet destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.
• 1984 – Dwight Gooden sets the baseball record for strikeouts in a season by a rookie with 246, previously set by Herb Score in 1954. Gooden's 276 strikeouts that season, pitched in 218 innings, set the current record.
• 1988 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula two days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
• 1990 – The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification.
• 1992 – NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47 which marked the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spaceship, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space.
• 1992 – Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, is captured by Peruvian special forces; shortly thereafter the rest of Shining Path's leadership fell as well.
• 1994 – Frank Eugene Corder fatally crashes a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing. There were no other casualties.
• 1999 – Indonesia announces it will allow international peace-keepers into East Timor.
• 2001 – Ansett Australia, Australia's first commercial interstate airline, collapses due to increased strain on the international airline industry, leaving 10,000 people unemployed.
• 2003 – The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
• 2003 – Iraq War: In Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
• 2007 – Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of plunder.
• 2008 – The 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train kills 25 people.
• 2011 – The 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City opens to the public.
• 2015 – A series of explosions involving propane triggering nearby illegally stored mining detonators in the Indian town of Petlawad in the state of Madhya Pradesh kills at least 105 people with over 150 injured.

Births

• 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (d. 1519)
• 1494 – Francis I of France (d. 1547)
• 1605 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (d. 1686)
• 1690 – Peter Dens, Flemish theologian and academic (d. 1775)
• 1725 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (d. 1792)
• 1736 – Hsinbyushin, Burmese king (d. 1776)
• 1740 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author and academic (d. 1817)
• 1768 – Benjamin Carr, English-American singer-songwriter, educator, and publisher (d. 1831)
• 1797 – Samuel Joseph May, American activist (d. 1871)
• 1812 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (d. 1878)
• 1812 – Richard March Hoe, American engineer and businessman, invented the Rotary printing press (d. 1886)
• 1818 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor, invented the Gatling gun (d. 1903)
• 1818 – Theodor Kullak, German pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1882)
• 1829 – Anselm Feuerbach, German painter (d. 1880)
• 1830 – William Sprague, American businessman and politician, 27th Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1915)
• 1837 – Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse (d. 1892)
• 1852 – H. H. Asquith, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1928)
• 1855 – Simon-Napoléon Parent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Quebec (d. 1920)
• 1856 – Johann Heinrich Beck, American composer and conductor (d. 1924)
• 1857 – Manuel Espinosa Batista, Colombian pharmacist and politician (d. 1919)
• 1862 – Carl Eytel, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1925)
• 1866 – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon, English cricketer and politician, 13th Governor General of Canada (d. 1941)
• 1869 – Paweł Owerłło, Polish actor (d, 1957)
• 1875 – Matsunosuke Onoe, Japanese actor and director (d. 1926)
• 1880 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (d. 1956)
• 1882 – Ion Agârbiceanu, Romanian journalist, politician, and archbishop (d. 1963)
• 1884 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler and coach (d. 1947)
• 1885 – Heinrich Hoffmann, German photographer and art dealer (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1972)
• 1889 – Ugo Pasquale Mifsud, Maltese politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1942)
• 1891 – Pedro Albizu Campos, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
• 1891 – Jean-François Martial, Belgian actor (d. 1977)
• 1891 – Arthur Hays Sulzberger, American publisher (d. 1968)
• 1892 – Alfred A. Knopf, Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf Inc. (d. 1984)
• 1894 – Kyuichi Tokuda, Japanese lawyer and politician (d. 1953)
• 1895 – Freymóður Jóhannsson, Icelandic painter and composer (d. 1973)
• 1897 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1956)
• 1897 – Walter B. Gibson, American magician and author (d. 1985)
• 1898 – Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer (d. 1963)
• 1898 – Alma Moodie, Australian violinist and educator (d. 1943)
• 1898 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American painter and photographer (d. 1969)
• 1900 – Haskell Curry, American mathematician, logician, and academic (d. 1982)
• 1901 – Shmuel Horowitz, Israeli agronomist and academic (d. 1999)
• 1902 – Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazilian physician and politician, 21st President of Brazil (d. 1976)
• 1902 – Marya Zaturenska, Ukrainian-American poet and author (d. 1982)
• 1904 – István Horthy, Hungarian fighter pilot and deputy regent (d. 1942)
• 1904 – John Courtney Murray, American priest and theologian (d. 1967)
• 1904 – Lou Moore, American race car driver (d. 1956)
• 1907 – Louis MacNeice, Irish poet and playwright (d. 1963)
• 1909 – Donald MacDonald, Canadian trade union leader and politician (d. 1986)
• 1913 – Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper (d. 1980)
• 1914 – Rais Amrohvi, Pakistani psychoanalyst, poet, and scholar (d. 1988)
• 1914 – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh-English soldier and actor (d. 1999)
• 1915 – Billy Daniels, American singer (d. 1988)
• 1916 – Tony Bettenhausen, American race car driver (d. 1961)
• 1917 – Pierre Sévigny, Canadian colonel, academic, and politician (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Han Suyin, Chinese-Swiss physician and author (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Irene Dailey, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1921 – Frank McGee, American journalist (d. 1974)
• 1921 – Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish philosopher and author (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Turgut Cansever, Turkish Architect, city planner, thinker (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Antonio Cafiero, Argentinian accountant and politician, Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Jackson Mac Low, American poet, playwright, and composer (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (d. 2009)
• 1924 – Amílcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissauan political leader (d. 1973)
• 1925 – Stan Lopata, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Dickie Moore, American actor (d. 2015)
• 1927 – Mathé Altéry, French soprano and actress
• 1928 – Robert Irwin, American painter and gardener
• 1928 – Muriel Siebert, American businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
• 1928 – Ernie Vandeweghe, Canadian-American basketball player and physician (d. 2014)
• 1929 – Harvey Schmidt, American composer and illustrator
• 1930 – Larry Austin, American composer and educator
• 1931 – Ian Holm, English actor
• 1931 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Atli Dam, Faroese engineer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2005)
• 1934 – Glenn Davis, American hurdler, sprinter, and football player (d. 2009)
• 1934 – Jaegwon Kim, South Korean-American philosopher and academic
• 1935 – Richard Hunt, American sculptor
• 1937 – George Chuvalo, Canadian boxer
• 1937 – Wes Hall, Barbadian cricketer and politician
• 1938 – Judy Clay, American soul and gospel singer (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Claude Ruel, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
• 1938 – Tatiana Troyanos, American operatic soprano (d. 1993)
• 1939 – Phillip Ramey, American pianist and composer
• 1939 – Henry Waxman, American lawyer and politician
• 1940 – Linda Gray, American model and actress
• 1940 – Mickey Lolich, American baseball player
• 1940 – Stephen J. Solarz, American academic and politician (d. 2010)
• 1942 – Michel Drucker, French journalist
• 1942 – Tomás Marco, Spanish composer
• 1942 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (d. 2004)
• 1943 – Leonard Peltier, American political activist and convicted criminal
• 1944 – Vladimir Spivakov, Russian violinist and conductor
• 1944 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1945 – Milo Manara, Italian author and illustrator
• 1945 – John Mauceri, American conductor and producer
• 1946 – Tony Bellamy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
• 1947 – David Grant, English engineer and academic
• 1947 – Gerald Howarth, English soldier, pilot, and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
• 1948 – Steve Turre, American trombonist and educator
• 1948 – Max Walker, Australian cricketer, sportscaster, and architect
• 1949 – Charles Burlingame, American captain and pilot (d. 2001)
• 1949 – Irina Rodnina, Russian figure skater and politician
• 1950 – Marguerite Blais, Canadian journalist and politician
• 1950 – Gustav Brunner, Austrian engineer
• 1950 – Bruce Mahler, American actor and screenwriter
• 1950 – Mike Murphy, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1951 – Bertie Ahern, Irish accountant and politician, 11th Taoiseach of Ireland
• 1951 – Norm Dubé, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1951 – Ray Gravell, Welsh rugby player and actor (d. 2007)
• 1951 – Joe Pantoliano, American actor and producer
• 1951 – Ali-Ollie Woodson, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2010)
• 1952 – Gerry Beckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1952 – Neil Peart, Canadian drummer, songwriter, and producer
• 1953 – Nan Goldin, American photographer
• 1953 – Fiona Mactaggart, Scottish educator and politician
• 1954 – Robert Gober, American sculptor
• 1954 – Scott Hamilton, American saxophonist
• 1954 – Peeter Volkonski, Estonian singer-songwriter and actor
• 1955 – Brian Smith, English footballer (d. 2013)
• 1956 – Barry Andrews, English singer and keyboard player
• 1956 – Chip Beck, American golfer
• 1956 – Sam Brownback, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of Kansas
• 1956 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2003)
• 1956 – David Goodhart, English journalist and author
• 1956 – Brian Robertson, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1956 – Ricky Rudd, American race car driver and sportscaster
• 1956 – Walter Woon, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 7th Attorney-General of Singapore
• 1957 – Paul M. Sharp, British academic and educator
• 1957 – Rachel Ward, English-Australian actress
• 1957 – Hans Zimmer, German composer and producer
• 1958 – Wilfred Benítez, American boxer
• 1958 – Gregg Edelman, American actor and singer
• 1959 – Scott Brown, American colonel and politician
• 1959 – Deron Cherry, American football player and sportscaster
• 1959 – Sigmar Gabriel, German educator and politician, 17th Vice-Chancellor of Germany
• 1960 – Evan Jenkins, American academic and politician
• 1960 – Stefanos Korkolis, Greek pianist and composer
• 1961 – Mylène Farmer, Canadian-French singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1962 – Sunay Akın, Turkish poet, journalist, and philanthropist
• 1962 – Amy Yasbeck, American actress
• 1964 – Greg Gutfeld, American television journalist and author
• 1964 – Dieter Hecking, German footballer and manager
• 1965 – Einstein Kristiansen, Norwegian animator and producer
• 1965 – Vernon Maxwell, American basketball player
• 1966 – Ben Folds, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1966 – Vezio Sacratini, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – Louis C.K., American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1967 – Pat Listach, American baseball player, coach, and manager
• 1968 – Larry LaLonde, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1968 – Nicholas Russell, 6th Earl Russell, English politician (d. 2014)
• 1968 – Richard Snell, South African cricketer and physiotherapist
• 1969 – Max Boot, Russian-American historian and author
• 1969 – Ángel Cabrera, Argentinian golfer
• 1969 – James Frey, American author and screenwriter
• 1969 – Shigeki Maruyama, Japanese golfer
• 1970 – Nathan Larson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1971 – Younes El Aynaoui, Moroccan tennis player
• 1972 – Gideon Emery, English-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 – Paul Green, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1972 – Sidney Souza, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 – Martin Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1973 – Paul Walker, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
• 1974 – Caroline Aigle, French soldier and pilot (d. 2007)
• 1974 – Jennifer Nettles, American singer-songwriter
• 1974 – Guy Smith, English race car driver
• 1974 – Kenichi Suzumura, Japanese voice actor and singer-songwriter
• 1974 – Nuno Valente, Portuguese footballer and coach
• 1975 – Luis Castillo, Dominican baseball player
• 1975 – Bill Kirby, Australian swimmer and coach
• 1976 – Bizzy Bone, American rapper
• 1976 – Maciej Żurawski, Polish footballer
• 1977 – Nathan Bracken, Australian cricketer
• 1977 – Grant Denyer, Australian race car driver and journalist
• 1977 – Jeff Irwin, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1977 – James McCartney, English singer-songwriter
• 1977 – David Thompson, English footballer
• 1978 – Elisabetta Canalis, Italian model and actress
• 1978 – Benjamin McKenzie, American actor
• 1980 – Sean Burroughs, American baseball player
• 1980 – Fernando César de Souza, Brazilian footballer
• 1980 – Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player
• 1980 – Kevin Sinfield, English rugby player
• 1980 – Josef Vašíček, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2011)
• 1981 – Marty Adams, Canadian actor and screenwriter
• 1981 – Alan Arruda, Brazilian footballer
• 1981 – Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
• 1981 – Staciana Stitts, American swimmer
• 1982 – Zoran Planinić, Croatian basketball player
• 1983 – Tom Geißler, German footballer
• 1983 – Rami Haikal, Jordanian guitarist
• 1983 – Sebastian Hofmann, German footballer
• 1983 – Daniel Muir, American football player
• 1983 – Sergio Parisse, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
• 1983 – Clayton Richard, American baseball player
• 1983 – Carly Smithson, Irish singer-songwriter
• 1984 – Nashat Akram, Iraqi footballer
• 1984 – Chelsea Carey, Canadian curler
• 1985 – Burak Aksak, Turkish actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1986 – Kamila Chudzik, Polish heptathlete
• 1986 – Akwasi Fobi-Edusei, English footballer
• 1986 – Joanne Jackson, English swimmer
• 1986 – Yuto Nagatomo, Japanese footballer
• 1986 – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter
• 1986 – Emmy Rossum, American singer and actress
• 1988 – Amanda Jenssen, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1989 – Freddie Freeman, American-Canadian baseball player
• 1989 – Andrew Luck, American football player
• 1991 – Mike Towell, Scottish professional boxer (d. 2016)
• 1991 – Scott Wootton, English footballer
• 1992 – Sviatlana Pirazhenka, Belarusian tennis player
• 1992 – Connor Franta, American YouTube personality
• 1993 – Kelsea Ballerini, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1996 – Colin Ford, American actor and voice actor

Deaths

• 640 – Sak K'uk', Mayan queen
• 1185 – Andronikos I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1118)
• 1213 – Peter II of Aragon (b. 1174)
• 1362 – Pope Innocent VI (b. 1295)
• 1368 – Blanche of Lancaster (b. 1345/1347)
• 1500 – Albert III, Duke of Saxony (b. 1443)
• 1612 – Vasili IV of Russia (b. 1552)
• 1642 – Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, French conspirator (b. 1620)
• 1660 – Jacob Cats, Dutch poet, jurist, and politician (b. 1577)
• 1665 – Jean Bolland, Belgian priest and hagiographer (b. 1596)
• 1672 – Tanneguy Le Fèvre, French scholar and author (b. 1615)
• 1683 – Afonso VI of Portugal (b. 1643)
• 1712 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1637)
• 1764 – Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer and theorist (b. 1683)
• 1779 – Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (b. 1711)
• 1810 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (b. 1740)
• 1814 – Robert Ross, Irish general (b. 1766)
• 1819 – Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian general (b. 1742)
• 1836 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German playwright (b. 1801)
• 1869 – Peter Mark Roget, English physician, theologian, and lexicographer (b. 1779)
• 1870 – Fitz Hugh Ludlow, American journalist, explorer, and author (b. 1836)
• 1874 – François Guizot, French historian and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1787)
• 1903 – Duncan Gillies, Scottish-Australia businessman and politician, 14th Premier of Victoria (b. 1834)
• 1907 – Ilia Chavchavadze, Georgian poet, journalist, and lawyer (b. 1837)
• 1912 – Pierre-Hector Coullié, French cardinal (b. 1829)
• 1918 – George Reid, Australian accountant and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1845)
• 1919 – Leonid Andreyev, Russian author and playwright (b. 1871)
• 1923 – Jules Violle, French physicist and academic (b. 1841)
• 1927 – Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1847)
• 1942 – Valentine Baker, Welsh co-founder of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
• 1945 – Hajime Sugiyama, Japanese field marshal and politician, 44th Japanese Minister of War (b. 1880)
• 1953 – James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, English politician, Governor of Northern Ireland (b. 1869)
• 1953 – Hugo Schmeisser, German engineer (b. 1884)
• 1953 – Lewis Stone, American actor (b. 1879)
• 1956 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Carl Hermann, German physicist and academic (b. 1898)
• 1962 – Spot Poles, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1887)
• 1962 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (b. 1923)
• 1967 – Vladimir Bartol, Italian-Slovene author and playwright (b. 1903)
• 1968 – Tommy Armour, Scottish-American golfer and journalist (b. 1894)
• 1971 – Walter Egan, American golfer (b. 1881)
• 1972 – William Boyd, American actor and producer (b. 1895)
• 1977 – Steve Biko, South African activist (b. 1946)
• 1977 – Les Haylen, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1898)
• 1977 – Robert Lowell, American poet (b. 1917)
• 1978 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (b. 1896)
• 1981 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, essayist and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
• 1982 – Federico Moreno Torroba, Spanish composer and conductor (b. 1891)
• 1986 – Jacques Henri Lartigue, French painter and photographer (b. 1894)
• 1986 – Charlotte Wolff, German-English psychotherapist and physician (b. 1897)
• 1987 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (b. 1899)
• 1990 – Athene Seyler, English actress (b. 1889)
• 1991 – Bruce Matthews, Canadian general and businessman (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Anthony Perkins, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1932)
• 1993 – Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Tom Ewell, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1994 – Boris Yegorov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1937)
• 1995 – Jeremy Brett, English actor (b. 1933)
• 1995 – Yasutomo Nagai, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1965)
• 1996 – Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general and politician, 29th President of Brazil (b. 1907)
• 1997 – Idel Jakobson, Latvian NKVD officer (b. 1904)
• 1999 – Bill Quackenbush, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1922)
• 2000 – Konrad Kujau, German illustrator (b. 1938)
• 2000 – Stanley Turrentine, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1934)
• 2003 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1932)
• 2004 – Kenny Buttrey, American drummer (b. 1945)
• 2005 – Serge Lang, French-American mathematician, author and academic (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Bobby Byrd, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1934)
• 2008 – Bob Quinn, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1915)
• 2008 – David Foster Wallace, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1962)
• 2009 – Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
• 2009 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Willy Ronis, French photographer and author (b. 1910)
• 2010 – Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Giulio Zignoli, Italian footballer (b. 1946)
• 2011 – Alexander Galimov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1985)
• 2012 – Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Russian poet and author (b. 1946)
• 2012 – Jon Finlayson, Australian actor and screenwriter (b. 1938)
• 2012 – Derek Jameson, English journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Tom Sims, American skateboarder and snowboarder, founded Sims Snowboards (b. 1950)
• 2013 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Warren Giese, American football player, coach, and politician (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Erich Loest, German author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (b. 1946)
• 2014 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1932)
• 2014 – John Gustafson, English singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1942)
• 2014 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical pastor (Free Presbyterian Church) and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Hugh Royer, Jr., American golfer (b. 1936)
• 2015 – Claudia Card, American philosopher and academic (b. 1940)
• 2015 – Frank D. Gilroy, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Al Monchak, American baseball player and coach (b. 1917)
• 2015 – Aronda Nyakairima, Ugandan general and politician (b. 1959)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Ailbe of Emly
  • Guy of Anderlecht
  • The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • John Henry Hobart (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Laisrén mac Nad Froích
  • Sacerdos of Lyon
  • September 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Commemoration of the mass hanging of the Saint Patrick's Battalion. (Mexico)
• Day of Conception (Russia)
• Defenders Day (Maryland, United States)
• Earliest date on which Programmers' Day can fall, while September 13 is the latest; celebrated on the 256th day of the year (Russia and programmers around the world. It falls on this date during leap years)
• Enkutatash falls on this day if it is a leap year. Celebrated on the first day of Mäskäräm. (Ethiopia)
• Mindfulness Day (International observance)
• Nayrouz (Coptic Orthodox Church) (leap years only, September 11 on normal years)
• National Day (Cape Verde)
• National Day of Encouragement (United States)
• National Chocolate Milkshake Day (United States)
• Saragarhi Day (Sikhism)
• United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation (International)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to September 12.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada