Anniversaries 12 June

Birth

Harriet Martineau6

English writer and sociologist 1802–1876

Charles Kingsley50

English clergyman, historian and novelist 1819–1875

Johanna Spyri6

author of children's stories, best known for her book Heidi 1827–1901

Oliver Lodge19

British physicist 1851–1940

Harry Johnston3

British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administr… 1858–1927

James Oliver Curwood1

Novelist, conservationist 1878–1927

Egon Schiele3

austrian painter 1890–1918

Djuna Barnes39

American Modernist writer, poet and artist 1892–1982

Anthony Eden18

British Conservative politician, prime minister 1897–1977

Otto Skorzeny7

Austrian SS-Standartenführer (colonel) in the German Waffen… 1908–1975

David Rockefeller10

American banker and philanthropist 1915–2017

Uta Hagen1

German-born American actress and drama teacher 1919–2004

Margherita Hack2

Italian astrophysicist and popular science writer 1922–2013

George H. W. Bush51

American politician, 41st President of the United States 1924–2018

Paul Shepard2

American human ecologist 1925–1996

Richard M. Sherman2

American songwriter 1928

Anne Frank110

victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary 1929–1945

Brigid Brophy6

novelist, essayist 1929–1995

Trevanian1

American writer 1931–2005

Robin Cook3

English crime writer 1931–1994

Ervin László46

Hungarian musician and philosopher 1932

Vladimir I. Arnold8

Russian mathematician 1937–2010

Chick Corea4

American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer 1941

Roy Harper (singer)6

British musician 1941

John Bura1

Ukrainian Catholic bishop in the United States 1944–2023

Christie Macaluso1

Catholic bishop 1945

Catherine Bréchignac1

French physicist 1946

Yossi Beilin1

Israeli politician 1948

Len Wein2

American comic book writer and editor 1948–2017

Tess Gerritsen14

Chinese-American novelist 1953

Melanie Rawn1

novel by Melanie Rawn 1954

Ho Iat Seng3

Chief Executive of Macau 1957

Hilary McKay4

English children's writer 1959

Alber Elbaz4

Israeli fashion designer 1961–2021

Jim Goad22

Author, publisher 1961

John C. Baez4

American mathematician and mathematical physicist 1961

Jordan Peterson202

Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and profes… 1962

T. B. Joshua68

Nigerian Christian leader 1963

Christian Drosten1

German virologist and university teacher 1972

Jason Mewes4

American actor 1974

Bryan Alvarez2

Professional wrestler, editor and publisher 1975

Justin Heazlewood2

Australian musician and comedian 1980

Blake Ross2

Software developer 1985

Death

William Collins19

English poet, born 1721 1721–1759

William Cullen Bryant41

American romantic poet and journalist 1794–1878

Thomas Arnold5

English headmaster of Rugby School 1795–1842

Gerald Griffin2

Irish novelist, poet and playwright 1803–1840

M. R. James4

British writer 1862–1936

Michael von Faulhaber15

German Roman Catholic Cardinal 1869–1952

William Ernest Hocking31

American philosopher 1873–1966

Karl Kraus94

Czech playwright and publicist 1874–1936

Herbert Read42

English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art 1893–1968

Mikhail Tukhachevsky3

Marshal of the Soviet Union 1893–1937

Edmund Wilson6

American writer, literary and social critic, and noted man … 1895–1972

Ludwig von Bertalanffy65

austrian biologist and philosopher 1901–1972

Menachem Mendel Schneerson5

Hasidic rabbi 1902–1994

Saul D. Alinsky28

American community organizer and writer 1909–1972

Veikko Vennamo4

Finnish politician 1913–1997

Gregory Peck14

American actor 1916–2003

J. F. Powers1

American writer 1917–1999

John Hospers7

American philosopher and politician 1918–2011

José Leite Lopes1

Brazilian physicist 1918–2006

Philip Selznick20

American sociologist 1919–2010

P. L. Deshpande7

Marathi writer, humourist, actor, dramatist 1919–2000

Leo Buscaglia84

Motivational speaker, writer 1924–1998

Elinor Ostrom4

American political economist 1933–2012

Henry Hill2

Mobster 1943–2012

Monte Melkonian16

National Hero of Armenia 1957–1993