What happened on September 12 ?

1492 - Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (d. 1519)

1494 - King Francis I of France (d. 1547)

1575 - Henry Hudson, English explorer

1605 - William Dugdale, English antiquarian (d. 1686)

1688 - Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1731)

1690 - Peter Dens, Belgian Catholic theologian (d. 1775)

1725 - Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (d. 1792)

1740 - Johann Heinrich Jung, German author (d. 1817)

1812 - Richard Hoe, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1886)

1818 - Richard Gatling, American weapons inventor (d. 1903)

1880 - H. L. Mencken, American journalist and author (d. 1956)

1888 - Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)

1891 - Don Pedro Albizu Campos, advocate for Puerto Rican independence (d. 1965)

1892 - Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (d. 1984)

1897 - Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1956)

1901 - Ben Blue, Canadian actor and comedian (d. 1975)

1902 - Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, President of Brazil (d. 1976)

1907 - Louis MacNeice, Northern Irish poet (d. 1963

1913 - Jesse Owens, American athlete (d. 1980)

1914 - Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (d. 1999)

1915 - Frank McGee, American journalist (d. 1974)

1916 - Tony Bettenhausen, American race car driver (d. 1961)

1921 - Stanis?aw Lem, Polish writer

1922 - Ellen Demming, American actress

1925 - Stan Lopata, American baseball player

1931 - Sir Ian Holm, English actor

1931 - George Jones, American country singer

1934 - Glenn Davis, American athlete

1937 - George Chuvalo, Canadian boxer

1940 - Mickey Lolich, baseball player

1942 - Linda Gray, American actress

1943 - Maria Muldaur, American singer

1943 - Michael Ondaatje, Sri Lankan-born writer

1944 - Leonard Peltier, Native American activist

1944 - Barry White, American singer (d. 2003)

1951 - Joe Pantoliano, American actor

1951 - Bertie Ahern, Irish politician

1952 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer and author (Rush)

1954 - Peter Scolari, American actor

1956 - Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer (d. 2003)

1956 - Ricky Rudd, American race car driver

1956 - Barry Andrews, British musician and songwriter

1957 - Rachel Ward, English actress

1958 - Wilfredo Benitez, American boxer

1962 - Dino Merlin, Bosnian singer/songwriter

1963 - Amy Yasbeck, American actress

1965 - John Norwood Fisher, American musician

1966 - Ben Folds, American musician

1967 - Pat Listach, baseball player

1968 - Ler LaLonde, American Guitarist (Primus)

1968 - John Stutz, American photographer

1968 - Paul F. Tompkins, American comedian

1973 - Darren Campbell, British athlete

1973 - Paul Walker, American actor

1974 - Nuno Valente, Portuguese footballer

1976 - Maciej Zurawski, Polish footballer

1977 - Nathan Bracken, Australian cricketer

1978 - Ruben Studdard, American singer

1978 - Benjamin McKenzie, American actor (The O.C.)

1980 - Gus G., Greek guitarist (Firewind, ex-Dream Evil)

1980 - Josef Vasicek, Czech ice hockey player

1980 - Sean Burroughs, baseball player

1980 - Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player

1986 - Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer