September 12

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 – 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).
 * 1930 – In cricket Wilfred Rhodes ends his 1110-game first-class career by taking 5 for 95 for H.D.G. Leveson Gower's XI against the Australians.
 * 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 those liberated cities. Near Trier, American troops enter Germany for the first time.
 * 1948 – Invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Indian Army on the day after the Pakistani leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah's death.
 * 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.
 * 1958 – Jack Kilby demonstrates the first integrated circuit.
 * 1959 – Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color.
 * 1959  – The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon.
 * 1961 – The African and Malagasy Union is founded.
 * 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.
 * 1979 – Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
 * 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 shooting down of a Korean civilian jetliner on September 1.
 * 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 2 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 crashes a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing himself.
 * 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.
 * 2005 – Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
 * 2007 – Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime 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.
 * 2014 – Oscar Pistorius is found guilty of the culpable homicide of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

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)
 * 1688 – Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1731)
 * 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)
 * 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 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)
 * 1875 – Matsunosuke Onoe, Japanese actor and director (d. 1926)
 * 1880 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and author (d. 1956)
 * 1884 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler (d. 1947)
 * 1885 – Heinrich Hoffmann, German photographer (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  – Arthur Hays Sulzberger, American publisher (d. 1968)
 * 1892 – Alfred A. Knopf, Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf Inc. (d. 1984)
 * 1894 – Billy Gilbert, American actor and singer (d. 1971)
 * 1895 – Freymóður Jóhannsson, Icelandic painter and composer (d. 1973)
 * 1897 – Grietje Jansen-Anker, Dutch super-centenarian (d. 2009)
 * 1897  – Irène Joliot-Curie, French chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1956)
 * 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)
 * 1901 – Ben Blue, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1975)
 * 1901  – Shmuel Horowitz, Belarusian-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 admiral (d. 1942)
 * 1904  – Lou Moore, American race car driver (d. 1956)
 * 1905 – Linda Agostini, Australian murder victim (d. 1934)
 * 1907 – Louis MacNeice, Irish poet and playwright (d. 1963)
 * 1909 – Donald MacDonald, Canadian union leader and politician (d. 1986)
 * 1913 – Jesse Owens, American sprinter (d. 1980)
 * 1913  – Eiji Toyoda, Japanese businessman (d. 2013)
 * 1914 – Rais Amrohvi, Pakistani psychoanalyst, poet, and scholar (d. 1988)
 * 1914  – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh-English actor (d. 1999)
 * 1915 – Billy Daniels, American singer and actor (d. 1988)
 * 1915  – Frank McGee, American journalist (d. 1974)
 * 1916 – Tony Bettenhausen, American race car driver (d. 1961)
 * 1916  – Edward Binns, American actor (d. 1990)
 * 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 and singer (d. 2008)
 * 1921 – Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish philosopher and author (d. 2006)
 * 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)
 * 1925 – Stan Lopata, American baseball player (d. 2013)
 * 1927 – Mathé Altéry, French soprano and actress
 * 1927  – Freddie Jones, English actor
 * 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 and singer
 * 1931  – Kristin Hunter, American author and educator (d. 2008)
 * 1931  – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
 * 1931  – Bill McKinney, American actor and singer (d. 2011)
 * 1932 – Atli Dam, Faroese politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2005)
 * 1932  – Kim Hamilton, American actress (d. 2013)
 * 1933 – Tatiana Doronina, Russian actress
 * 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 – Dick Hess, American politician (d. 2013)
 * 1938  – Claude Ruel, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1938  – Tatiana Troyanos, American soprano and actress (d. 1993)
 * 1939 – Phillip Ramey, American pianist and composer
 * 1939  – Henry Waxman, American lawyer and politician
 * 1940 – Linda Gray, American actress, director, and producer
 * 1940  – Skip Hinnant, American actor
 * 1940  – Mickey Lolich, American baseball player
 * 1940  – Patrick Mower, English actor
 * 1940  – Stephen J. Solarz, American academic and politician (d. 2010)
 * 1941 – Heino Kurvet, Estonian canoe racer
 * 1942 – Michel Drucker, French journalist
 * 1942  – Tomás Marco, Spanish composer
 * 1942  – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (d. 2004)
 * 1943 – Maria Muldaur, American singer (Jerry Garcia Band and Even Dozen Jug Band)
 * 1943  – Michael Ondaatje, Sri Lankan-Canadian author and poet
 * 1944 – Fred Fay, American activist (d. 2011)
 * 1944  – Leonard Peltier, American activist
 * 1944  – Vladimir Spivakov, Russian violinist and conductor
 * 1944  – Barry White, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2003)
 * 1944  – Colin Young, Barbadian-English singer (The Foundations)
 * 1945 – Maria Aitken, Irish-English actress, director, and producer
 * 1945  – David Garrick, English singer (d. 2013)
 * 1945  – Milo Manara, Italian author and illustrator
 * 1945  – John Mauceri, American conductor and producer
 * 1946 – Tony Bellamy, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Redbone) (d. 2009)
 * 1947 – Bjørn Floberg, Norwegian actor
 * 1947  – David Grant, English engineer and academic
 * 1947  – Gerald Howarth, English soldier, pilot, and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
 * 1948 – Luis Lima, Argentinian tenor
 * 1948  – Steve Turre, American trombonist and educator
 * 1948  – Max Walker, Australian cricketer, sportscaster, and architect
 * 1949 – Charles Burlingame, American soldier and pilot (d. 2001)
 * 1949  – Irina Rodnina, Russian figure skater
 * 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
 * 1950  – Cynthia Myers, American model and actress (d. 2011)
 * 1951 – Bertie Ahern, Irish 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  – Gerald Stano, American serial killer (d. 1998)
 * 1951  – Ali-Ollie Woodson, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and actor (The Temptations) (d. 2010)
 * 1952 – Gerry Beckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (America)
 * 1952  – Neil Peart, Canadian drummer, songwriter, and producer (Rush)
 * 1953 – Fiona Mactaggart, Scottish educator and politician
 * 1954 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (d. 1988)
 * 1954  – Scott Hamilton, American saxophonist
 * 1954  – Peeter Volkonski, Estonian singer-songwriter and actor (Propeller)
 * 1955 – Peter Scolari, American actor and director
 * 1955  – Brian Smith, English footballer (d. 2013)
 * 1956 – Barry Andrews, English singer and keyboard player (XTC, Shriekback, and The League of Gentlemen)
 * 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 (Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, and Wild Horses)
 * 1956  – Ricky Rudd, American race car driver
 * 1956  – Walter Woon, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 7th Attorney-General of Singapore
 * 1957 – Rachel Ward, English-Australian actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1957  – Hans Zimmer, German composer and producer
 * 1958 – Wilfred Benítez, American boxer
 * 1958  – Gregg Edelman, American actor
 * 1959 – Scott Brown, American colonel and politician
 * 1959  – Sigmar Gabriel, German politician, 17th Vice-Chancellor of Germany
 * 1960 – Evan Jenkins, American politician
 * 1960  – Stefanos Korkolis, Greek pianist and composer
 * 1961 – Kadim Al Sahir, Iraqi singer-songwriter
 * 1961  – Mylène Farmer, Canadian-French singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
 * 1962 – Dino Merlin, Bosnian singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1962  – Amy Yasbeck, American actress
 * 1963 – Paul Bellini, Canadian actor and screenwriter
 * 1964 – Simon Bowthorpe, English businessman
 * 1964  – Greg Gutfeld, American journalist and author
 * 1964  – Dieter Hecking, German footballer and manager
 * 1965 – Einstein Kristiansen, Norwegian animator and producer
 * 1965  – Vernon Maxwell, American basketball player
 * 1966 – Darren E. Burrows, American actor and director
 * 1966  – Ben Folds, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Ben Folds Five, The Bens, Fear of Pop, and 8in8)
 * 1966  – Vezio Sacratini, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1967 – Louis C.K., Mexican-American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1967  – Pat Listach, American baseball player, coach, and manager
 * 1968 – Larry LaLonde, American guitarist and songwriter (Primus, Possessed, and Blind Illusion)
 * 1968  – Nicholas Russell, 6th Earl Russell, English politician (d. 2014)
 * 1968  – Richard Snell, South African cricketer
 * 1968  – Paul F. Tompkins, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1969 – Max Boot, Russian-American historian and author
 * 1969  – Ángel Cabrera, Argentinian golfer
 * 1969  – James Frey, American author
 * 1969  – Shigeki Maruyama, Japanese golfer
 * 1970 – Josh Hopkins, American actor
 * 1970  – Nathan Larson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Shudder To Think, Hot One, and A Camp)
 * 1971 – Ahn Jae-wook, South Korean actor and singer
 * 1972 – Gideon Emery, English-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1972  – Sidney Souza, Brazilian footballer
 * 1973 – Said Ali al-Shihri, Saudi Arabian terrorist (d. 2013)
 * 1973  – Darren Campbell, English sprinter
 * 1973  – Ki-Jana Carter, American football player
 * 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 (Sugarland)
 * 1974  – Guy Smith, English race car driver
 * 1974  – Nuno Valente, Portuguese footballer
 * 1975 – Luis Castillo, Dominican baseball player
 * 1976 – Bizzy Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Bone Brothers)
 * 1976  – 2 Chainz, American rapper (Playaz Circle)
 * 1976  – Lauren Stamile, American actress
 * 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  – Idan Raichel, Israeli singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
 * 1977  – David Thompson, English footballer
 * 1978 – Elisabetta Canalis, Italian model and actress
 * 1978  – Benjamin McKenzie, American actor
 * 1978  – Ruben Studdard, German-American singer and actor
 * 1980 – Roda Antar, Sierra Leonean-Lebanese footballer
 * 1980  – Sean Burroughs, American baseball player
 * 1980  – Fernando César de Souza, Brazilian footballer
 * 1980  – Gus G, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist (Firewind, Dream Evil, and Mystic Prophecy)
 * 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
 * 1981  – Alan Arruda, Brazilian footballer
 * 1981  – Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
 * 1981  – Staciana Stitts, American swimmer
 * 1981  – Hosea Chanchez, American actor
 * 1982 – Nana Ozaki, Japanese model
 * 1982  – Zoran Planinić, Croatian basketball player
 * 1983 – Tom Geißler, German footballer
 * 1983  – Rami Haikal, Jordanian guitarist (Bilocate)
 * 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 and actress (We Are the Fallen)
 * 1984 – Nashat Akram, Iraqi footballer
 * 1984  – Chelsea Carey, Canadian curler
 * 1984  – Petra Marklund, Swedish singer-songwriter
 * 1985 – Jonatan Cerrada, Belgian singer
 * 1986 – Kamila Chudzik, Polish heptathlete
 * 1986  – Joanne Jackson, English swimmer
 * 1986  – Yang Mi, Chinese actress and singer
 * 1986  – Yuto Nagatomo, Japanese footballer
 * 1986  – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter
 * 1986  – Emmy Rossum, American singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1987 – Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstani tennis player
 * 1988 – Amanda Jenssen, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1989 – Freddie Freeman, American baseball player
 * 1989  – Andrew Luck, American football player
 * 1991 – Scott Wootton, English footballer
 * 1992 – Sviatlana Pirazhenka, Belarusian tennis player
 * 1994 – Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian tennis player
 * 1996 – Colin Ford, American 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)
 * 1369 – Blanche of Lancaster (b. 1345)
 * 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 (b. 1615)
 * 1683 – Afonso VI of Portugal (b. 1643)
 * 1691 – John George III, Elector of Saxony (b. 1647)
 * 1695 – Jacob Abendana, Spanish-English rabbi and scholar (b. 1630)
 * 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 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 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)
 * 1929 – Rainis, Latvian poet and playwright (b. 1865)
 * 1938 – Prince Arthur of Connaught (b. 1883)
 * 1944 – William Stickney, American golfer (b. 1879)
 * 1945 – Hajime Sugiyama, Japanese general (b. 1880)
 * 1953 – Hugo Schmeisser, German engineer (b. 1884)
 * 1953  – Lewis Stone, American actor (b. 1879)
 * 1956 – Hans Carossa, German author and poet (b. 1878)
 * 1956  – Noëlle, Countess of Rothes (b. 1878)
 * 1956  – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Minister of War of Hungary (b. 1882)
 * 1960 – Dino Borgioli, Italian tenor (b. 1891)
 * 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 and academic (b. 1917)
 * 1978 – Frank Ferguson, American actor (b. 1899)
 * 1978  – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (b. 1896)
 * 1981 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
 * 1982 – Federico Moreno Torroba, Spanish composer (b. 1891)
 * 1986 – Jacques Henri Lartigue, French painter and photographer (b. 1894)
 * 1987 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor and singer (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)
 * 1992  – Ed Peck, American actor (b. 1917)
 * 1993 – Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (b. 1917)
 * 1994 – Tom Ewell, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
 * 1994  – Boris Yegorov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1937)
 * 1995 – Jeremy Brett, English actor (b. 1933)
 * 1995  – Katherine Locke, American actress and singer (b. 1910)
 * 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)
 * 2001 – Victor Wong, American actor (b. 1927)
 * 2003 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Tennessee Three and The Highwaymen) (b. 1932)
 * 2004 – Kenny Buttrey, American drummer (Barefoot Jerry and Area Code 615) (b. 1945)
 * 2007 – Bobby Byrd, American singer-songwriter (The Famous Flames) (b. 1934)
 * 2008 – Bob Quinn, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1915)
 * 2008  – David Foster Wallace, American author and educator (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 (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 – Whobegotyou, Australian race horse (b. 2005)
 * 2012  – Radoslav Brzobohatý, Czech actor (b. 1932)
 * 2012  – Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Russian poet and author (b. 1946)
 * 2012  – Jon Finlayson, Australian actor and screenwriter (b. 1938)
 * 2012  – Derek Jameson, English journalist (b. 1929)
 * 2012  – Tom Sims, American skateboarder and snowboarder, founded Sims Snowboards (b. 1950)
 * 2012  – Sid Watkins, English surgeon and academic (b. 1928)
 * 2013 – Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, American-Somali terrorist (b. 1984)
 * 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  – Rod Masterson, American actor (b. 1945)
 * 2013  – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (b. 1946)
 * 2013  – Joan Regan, English singer and actress (b. 1928)
 * 2013  – Otto Sander, German actor (b. 1941)
 * 2014 – John Bardon, English actor (b. 1939)
 * 2014  – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1932)
 * 2014  – Theodore J. Flicker, actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
 * 2014  – John Gustafson, English singer-songwriter and bass player (Roxy Music, Ian Gillan Band, The Big Three, Quatermass, and Episode Six) (b. 1942)
 * 2014  – Ian Paisley, Irish minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (b. 1926)
 * 2014  – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (The Crusaders) (b. 1939)
 * 2014  – Hugh Royer, Jr., American professional golfer (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Ailbe of Emly
 * Guy of Anderlecht
 * Holy Name of 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)
 * 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)
 * National Day (Cape Verde)
 * National Day of Encouragement (United States)
 * United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation (International)