Sunday, 7th December 2025 in Lisbon

On this day, 196 notable people were born on 7th December — spanning from 521 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

07/12/2002

Torri Huske, American swimmer

Victoria Huske is an American competitive swimmer and the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter butterfly. She holds world records in two relays: the 4x100-meter medley and 4x100-meter mixed medley. She is the former American record holder in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly.

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07/12/2001

Jalen McMillan, American football player

Jalen McMillan is an American professional football wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies and was selected by the Buccaneers in the third round of the 2024 NFL draft.

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07/12/2000

Dane Belton, American football player

Dane Jacob Belton is an American professional football safety for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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07/12/1999

Boo Buie, American basketball player

Daniel Richard "Boo" Buie III is an American professional basketball player for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference, where he set the school career scoring record.

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Pavol Regenda, Slovak ice hockey player

Pavol Regenda is a Slovak professional ice hockey player who is a winger for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Regenda previously played for the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL and HK Dukla Michalovce of the Slovak Extraliga. He has represented Slovakia national team several times and won a bronze medal with them at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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07/12/1998

Tony Yike Yang, Canadian pianist

Tony Yike Yang is a Canadian-Chinese pianist.

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07/12/1997

Abi Harrison, Scottish footballer

Abigail Harrison is a Scottish footballer who plays as a forward for Glasgow City and the Scotland national team. She started her career at Celtic, and has also played for Hibernian and Bristol City.

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Tommy Nelson, American actor

Thomas Daniel Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for his performances as Neil in the biopic My Friend Dahmer and Russell in The Cat and the Moon.

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07/12/1994

Pete Alonso, American baseball player

Peter Morgan Alonso, nicknamed "Polar Bear", is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets. Internationally, Alonso represents the United States.

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Geno Chiarelli, American politician

Eugene "Geno" Chiarelli is an American politician serving as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 78th district.

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Yuzuru Hanyu, Japanese figure skater

Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater and ice show producer. Widely recognized as one of the greatest figure skaters in history for his well-rounded skills, achievements, innovations, longevity, popularity, and impact on the sport, he started skating at four years old and competed in the men's singles discipline from 2004 to 2022. Hanyu is the first men's singles skater in 66 years since Dick Button to win back-to-back Olympic titles, and the first Asian Olympic champion in that discipline. He is a two-time World champion, six-time Japanese national champion, and the first singles skater to win four consecutive Grand Prix Finals (2013–2016). With his win at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, he became the first skater in men's singles to complete the Super Slam, having won all major international junior and senior titles in the course of his career. He is also the only singles skater to be ranked first in the ISU World Standings for five consecutive seasons (2014–2018). Hanyu broke world records 19 times, the most in singles since the introduction of the ISU Judging System in 2003, and was the first skater to land a quadruple loop jump in international competition among other achievements.

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Hunter Henry, American football player

Hunter Mark Henry is an American professional football tight end for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2015. Henry was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft. He was a member of the Chargers for five seasons before joining the Patriots in 2021.

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07/12/1993

Rahama Sadau, Nigerian actress

Rahama Ibrahim Sadau is a Nigerian actress and filmmaker. She rose to prominence in late 2013 after joining the Kannywood film industry with her debut in the movie Gani ga Wane.

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Alex Singleton, American football player

Alex Reed Singleton is a Canadian-American professional football linebacker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Montana State Bobcats and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks after the 2015 NFL draft. He has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

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07/12/1992

Sean Couturier, American-Canadian ice hockey player

Sean Gerald Couturier is an American-born Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre and captain for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers selected him in the first round, eighth overall, in the 2011 NHL entry draft.

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07/12/1991

Eugenio Pisani, Italian race car driver

Eugenio Pisani is an Italian auto racing driver from Ravenna.

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Chris Wood, New Zealand footballer

Christopher Grant Wood is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Nottingham Forest and captains the New Zealand national team. Widely regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest ever footballers, Wood is one of just six New Zealanders to have played in the Premier League.

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07/12/1990

Cameron Bairstow, Australian basketball player

Cameron David Bairstow is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of New Mexico before being drafted 49th overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. He spent two seasons with the Bulls before playing five of next six years in the National Basketball League (NBL).

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David Goffin, Belgian tennis player

David Goffin is a Belgian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest-ranked Belgian male player in tennis history and also the first and only Belgian man to be ranked in the Top 10.

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Aleksandr Menkov, Russian long jumper

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Menkov is a Russian athlete who competes in the long jump.

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Yasiel Puig, Cuban baseball player

Yasiel Puig Valdés is a Cuban-born American professional baseball right fielder for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Canadian Baseball League. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland Indians, and in the KBO League for the Kiwoom Heroes. He also played in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. His nickname was "The Wild Horse", given to him by longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.

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Urszula Radwańska, Polish tennis player

Urszula Radwańska is a Polish professional tennis player.

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07/12/1989

Kyle Hendricks, American baseball player

Kyle Christian Hendricks is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels and is currently a special assistant inside the Detroit Tigers organization. He made his MLB debut in 2014 with the Cubs and led MLB in earned run average (ERA) in 2016, winning the World Series that same year.

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Philip Larsen, Danish ice hockey player

Philip Elzer Gade Larsen is a Danish professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently playing with Esbjerg Energy of the Metal Ligaen (DEN). He was originally drafted 149th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2008 NHL entry draft.

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Alessandro Marchi, Italian footballer

Alessandro Marchi is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie D club Roma City.

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Kevin Séraphin, French basketball player

Kevin Séraphin is a French former professional basketball player. Standing 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m) tall, Séraphin played at both the power forward and center positions in his playing career. Séraphin started his professional basketball career in Cholet Basket, and was drafted 17th overall in the 2010 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, but was later traded to the Washington Wizards.

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07/12/1988

Nathan Adrian, American swimmer

Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.

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Angelina Gabueva, Russian tennis player

Angelina Alexandrovna Gabueva is an inactive Russian tennis player. Gabueva has won two singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 17 June 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 423. On 26 September 2022, she peaked at No. 94 in the doubles rankings.

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Andrew Goudelock, American basketball player

Andrew Darius Goudelock is an American professional basketball player for APOEL of the Cypriot Division A. Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), he plays at the shooting guard position. He played college basketball for the Charleston Cougars and was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2011.

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07/12/1987

Aaron Carter, American singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and actor (died 2022)

Aaron Charles Carter was an American singer and rapper. He rose to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s and established himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the early 2000s.

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07/12/1986

Billy Horschel, American golfer

William John Horschel is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.

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Nita Strauss, American guitarist

Vinita Sandhya Strauss is an American rock musician. She is currently a guitarist for Alice Cooper, has also been a touring guitarist for Demi Lovato and has a successful career as a solo artist. Strauss is regularly featured on the covers of worldwide print magazines including Guitar World and Guitar Player, was the first female signature artist with Ibanez guitars, and became the first female rock solo artist in 32 years to hit number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.

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07/12/1985

Jon Moxley, American wrestler

Jonathan David Good, better known by his ring name Jon Moxley, is an American professional wrestler. As of May 2019, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AEW Continental Champion in his first reign, and is the leader of the Death Riders stable. He has also made appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Good won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated award for Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 2014, 2015, and 2022, and was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2019. He was also ranked first on the 2020 edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated's list of the top 500 wrestlers in the world.

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07/12/1984

Aaron Gray, American basketball player

Aaron Michael Gray is an American former professional basketball player who played seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A heart condition forced him into early retirement in 2015.

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Robert Kubica, Polish race car driver

Robert Józef Kubica is a Polish racing and rally driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. He competed in Formula One between 2006 and 2010, and again in 2019 and 2021, and the World Rally Championship from 2013 to 2016. He won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix with BMW Sauber, and remains the only Polish driver to compete in Formula One. In endurance racing, Kubica won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025 with AF Corse, and the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with WRT.

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Milan Michálek, Czech ice hockey player

Milan Michálek is a Czech former professional ice hockey left winger who most recently played under contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted sixth overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2003 NHL entry draft.

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Luca Rigoni, Italian footballer

Luca Rigoni is an Italian former footballer. He is the elder brother of Nicola Rigoni. He played as a right or central midfielder.

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07/12/1983

Mike Mucitelli, American mixed martial artist

Michael Mucitelli is an American professional mixed martial artist who competed in Bellator's Light Heavyweight division.

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Al Thornton, American basketball player

Willie Alford Thornton is an American professional basketball player for Peñarol Mar del Plata of the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB). He had formerly played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards and the Golden State Warriors. Collegiately, he played for Florida State University.

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07/12/1982

Lou Amundson, American basketball player

Louis Gabriel Amundson is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels and professionally for 12 years, including 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

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07/12/1980

Dan Bilzerian, American poker player and internet celebrity

Daniel Brandon Bilzerian is an American social media personality, businessman, and political activist. He initially gained widespread internet notability beginning in 2013 for documenting an extravagant playboy lifestyle on social media alongside models, firearms, and high-stakes poker.

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John Terry, English footballer

John George Terry is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of his generation, as well as one of the best English and Premier League defenders ever.

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07/12/1979

Lampros Choutos, Greek-Italian footballer

Lampros Choutos is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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Ayako Fujitani, Japanese actress and screenwriter

Ayako Fujitani is a Japanese actress and writer. She acts and writes in both Japanese and English.

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07/12/1978

Suzannah Lipscomb, English historian, academic and television presenter

Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb is a British historian and professor emerita at the University of Roehampton, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Higher Education Academy and the Society of Antiquaries, and has for many years contributed a regular column to History Today. She has written and edited a number of books, presented numerous historical documentaries on TV and is host of the Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit. She is also a royal historian for NBC.

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07/12/1977

Eric Chavez, American baseball player and sportscaster

Eric Cesar Chavez is an American professional baseball coach and former third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics (1998–2010), New York Yankees (2011–2012), and Arizona Diamondbacks (2013–2014). During his playing career, Chavez won six Gold Glove Awards (2001–2006) and a Silver Slugger Award (2002). Chavez served as the bench coach for the New York Mets during the 2023 season between stints as the hitting coach in 2022 and 2024-2025. In 2022, he was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame.

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Luke Donald, English golfer

Luke Campbell Donald is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour.

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Dominic Howard, English drummer and producer

Dominic James Howard is an English drummer and the co-founder of the rock band Muse.

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07/12/1976

Alan Faneca, American football player

Alan Joseph Faneca is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He played college football for Louisiana State University (LSU), and earned consensus All-America honors. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 1998 NFL draft, and played professionally for the Steelers, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals of the NFL. A six-time first-team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowl selection, Faneca won a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in Super Bowl XL, defeating the Seattle Seahawks. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021 and on May 10, 2021, he was introduced as the head football coach of Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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Ivan Franceschini, Italian footballer

Ivan Franceschini is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a defender.

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Georges Laraque, Canadian ice hockey player and politician

Georges Laraque is a Canadian politician, radio host, and former professional ice hockey player noted for being one the most successful hockey enforcers of his time. He was drafted 31st overall by the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1995, and spent the majority of his career as an Oiler.

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Derek Ramsay, Filipino-British actor, model and television personality

Derek Arthur Ramsay Jr. is a British-Filipino model, actor, and TV host. He has an exclusive contract with GMA Network. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramsay froze his contract with GMA Network. Ramsay is currently inactive in showbiz to focus on his personal and married life.

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Benoît Tréluyer, French race car driver

Benoît Jean-Marie Tréluyer is a French professional racing driver. Tréluyer won the 2007 Formula Nippon title and the 2008 Super GT season with NISMO, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times between 2011 and 2014 for Audi.

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Joris Vandenbroucke, Belgian politician

Joris J. J. Vandenbroucke is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, he has represented East Flanders since June 2019. He was a member of the Flemish Parliament from June 2005 to June 2009 and from June 2014 to May 2019.

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07/12/1975

Jamie Clapham, English footballer and coach

James Richard Clapham is an English former professional footballer and current head coach of Loughborough Students.

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Mia Love, American politician (died 2025)

Ludmya "Mia" Love was an American political commentator and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Utah's 4th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was the first Haitian American elected to Congress, the first Black person elected to Congress from Utah, and the first Republican Black woman elected to Congress.

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07/12/1974

Manuel Martínez Gutiérrez, Spanish shot putter and actor

Manuel "Manolo" Martínez Gutiérrez is a retired Spanish shot putter. Nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", his personal best throw outdoors is 21.47 metres and he has an indoor best of 21.26 m. These marks are the Spanish national records for the event. His international career lasted from 1992 to 2011 and he earned national selection on 84 occasions – the most by any Spanish athlete.

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07/12/1973

Hack Meyers, American wrestler and trainer (died 2015)

Donald Haviland was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Hack Meyers. He was best known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1993 to 1996.

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Fabien Pelous, French rugby player and coach

Fabien Pelous is a retired French rugby union player. A lock who also occasionally played as a number eight and flanker, he played the bulk of his professional career for Stade Toulousain, and is the all-time leader in appearances for the France national team. He retired as the most-capped lock for any nation in rugby history, with 100 of his 118 France appearances at that position, a record later broken by South Africa's Victor Matfield. Pelous was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2017.

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Damien Rice, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer

Damien George Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success in Ireland with two released singles, "The World is Dead" and "Weatherman." After leaving the band in 1998, Rice worked as a farmer in Tuscany and busked throughout Europe before returning to Ireland in 2001 and beginning a solo career. The rest of Juniper went on to perform under the name Bell X1.

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07/12/1972

Hermann Maier, Austrian skier

Hermann Maier is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and three World Championship titles. His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 67 victories. Until 2023 he held the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000 to 2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.

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Tammy Lynn Sytch, American wrestler and manager

Tamara Lynn Sytch is an American former professional wrestling personality. She is best known for her time at the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Sunny between 1995 and 1998.

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07/12/1971

Vladimir Akopian, Azerbaijani-Armenian chess player

Vladimir Eduardi Akopian is an Armenian-American chess Grandmaster.

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07/12/1967

Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster

Mark Bradley Geyer is an Australian radio host and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative second-rower, he is a rugby league media identity. Geyer's club career was played primarily with Penrith, with whom he won a premiership in 1991, as well as the Balmain Tigers and the Western Reds. He is the brother of fellow former professional rugby league footballer Matt Geyer and the father of current Penrith Panthers player Mavrik Geyer.

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Tino Martinez, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster

Constantino "Tino" Martinez is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1990 through 2005. He also served as a hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2013. He was also nicknamed "The Bam-tino" after his home run in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series. Formerly a third baseman, Martinez was the first round draft pick for the Seattle Mariners in 1988 out of the University of Tampa, where he starred during his time on campus. During his 16-year MLB career, he scored 1,009 runs, drove in 1,271 runs, and hit 339 home runs. He had 100 or more RBI in six different seasons and was twice named to the All-Star team.

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Nina Turner, American politician

Nina Turner is an American politician and television personality. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and served in the Ohio Senate from 2008 to 2014. Turner is a self-described democratic socialist whose politics have been variously described as progressive, left-wing, or far-left.

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07/12/1966

C. Thomas Howell, American actor, director,

Christopher Thomas Howell is an American actor, director and musician. After making his film debut with a supporting role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Howell had his breakout with a lead role as Ponyboy Curtis in the coming-of-age film The Outsiders (1983).

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Shinichi Ito, Japanese motorcycle racer

Shinichi Ito born December 7, 1966, in Kakuda, Miyagi, Japan) is a Japanese retired professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He has raced extensively in Japanese and International championships. Ito has competed in the All Japan Road Race Championship, and won the Japanese 500 cc Championship, and is also three-time Japanese Superbike Champion. In the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hour Endurance Race, he has qualified on pole five times and won the race four times. Ito has also raced in Superbike World Championship. His considerable experience on different types of racing machine has earned him a reputation as a premier development rider.

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Kazue Itoh, Japanese actress

Kazue Itō is a Japanese actress from Seya-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. She made her acting debut in 1978 as a Horipro talent and has also voiced Shura in the anime Rurouni Kenshin. She also performs as a singer, including the opening and ending theme songs for the tokusatsu series Morimori Bokkun. Itoh is best known for her portrayal of Miki Masaki in the 2007 Super Sentai Series Juken Sentai Gekiranger. She also portrayed Mako Shiraishi's mother in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

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Andres Kasekamp, Canadian-Estonian historian and academic

Andres Ilmar Kasekamp is the director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute and Professor of Baltic Politics at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

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Louise Post, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Louise Lightner Post is an American musician. She is best known for being a vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Veruca Salt, which she co-founded with Nina Gordon in 1992.

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07/12/1965

Deborah Bassett, Australian rower

Deborah Bassett is an Australian rower.

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Colin Hendry, Scottish footballer and manager

Edward Colin James Hendry is a Scottish football coach and former professional player.

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07/12/1964

Peter Laviolette, American ice hockey player and coach

Peter Philip Laviolette Jr. is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Originally undrafted by teams in the NHL, he played a total of 12 games with the Rangers in the 1988–89 season. Following retirement from active play, Laviolette also served as head coach of the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, and Washington Capitals. He led the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup win in 2006, and later coached the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, as well as the Predators in 2017. Laviolette is the fourth coach in NHL history to lead three teams to the Stanley Cup Final.

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07/12/1963

Theo Snelders, Dutch footballer and coach

Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

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Katsuya Terada, Japanese illustrator

Katsuya Terada , is a Japanese illustrator and cartoonist from the town of Tamano, Okayama. His alias is the portmanteau Rakugakingu . Terada's prolific visual arts practice uniquely straddles the lines between manga, fine art, and digital design. His work ranges widely from highly detailed comics and novel illustrations to expressive, futuristic character designs for video games and anime. Terada posts actively on Facebook as Katsuya "t e r r a" Terada, as well as on his web blog terra's book.

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Barbara Weathers, American R&B/soul singer

Barbara Weathers is an American R&B/soul singer, and former lead singer of R&B vocal group, Atlantic Starr.

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07/12/1962

Alain Blondel, French decathlete

Alain Blondel is a retired French decathlete. During his career he won the European title once.

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Jeffrey Donaldson, Northern Irish politician

Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson is a Northern Irish former politician who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024.

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Imad Mughniyah, Lebanese activist (died 2008)

Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Radwan, was a Lebanese militant leader who was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. He is believed to have been Hezbollah's chief of staff and overseer of its military, intelligence, and security apparatus. He has been described as a skilled military tactician and a highly elusive figure. He was often referred to as an ‘untraceable ghost’.

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07/12/1960

Craig Scanlon, English guitarist and songwriter

Craig Antony Scanlon is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the Fall between 1979 and 1995. During his tenure he was a stalwart member for 17 albums and co-wrote over 120 of the group's songs; singer Mark E. Smith and bass player Steve Hanley excepted, this tally is unmatched by any other musician to have passed through the group.

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07/12/1959

Saleem Yousuf, Pakistani cricketer

Saleem Yousuf is a Pakistani former international cricketer who played in 32 Test matches and 86 One Day Internationals between 1982 and 1990. As a wicketkeeper for the Pakistan national team, he was a "worthy successor" to Wasim Bari, and not only "proved his worth behind the wickets on innumerable occasions" but "also strengthened Pakistan's batting lower down the order through his powerful stroke play".

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07/12/1958

Rick Rude, American wrestler and sportscaster (died 1999)

Richard Erwin Rood, better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American professional wrestler who performed for various promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

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07/12/1957

Geoff Lawson, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster

Geoffrey Francis Lawson, is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer and the former coach of the Pakistan cricket team.

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Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigerian career-diplomat, President of the United Nations General Assembly (2019)

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande is a Nigerian diplomat, academic and political scientist who was the president of the United Nations General Assembly 74th session from 17 September 2019 to 15 September 2020. He previously served as vice president of the 71st session from September 2016 to September 2017. He served as Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2017 to 2024.

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Tom Winsor, English lawyer and civil servant

Sir Thomas Philip Winsor is a British arbitrator and mediator, lawyer, consultant and economic regulatory professional.

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07/12/1956

Chuy Bravo, Mexican-American comedian and actor (died 2019)

Chuy Bravo was a Mexican-American actor and entertainer. He was the sidekick of host Chelsea Handler on the talk show Chelsea Lately during its run from 2007 to 2014. He usually provided comedic relief to Handler's show, and was the topic of many of her jokes.

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Iveta Radičová, Slovak politician

Iveta Radičová is a Slovak sociologist and former politician who served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2010 to 2012. The first woman to hold the position, Radičová led a coalition government as a member of the SDKÚ-DS. As prime minister, she was responsible for managing the economy after the Great Recession, and she supported budget cuts to reduce the government deficit.

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Anna Soubry, British politician

Anna Mary Soubry is a British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe from 2010 to 2019. Known for her support of pro-European policies, she was originally elected as a Conservative but left the party to join Change UK in 2019.

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07/12/1955

John Watkins, Australian educator and politician, 14th Deputy Premier of New South Wales

John Arthur Watkins is a former Deputy Premier of New South Wales, serving between 2005 until his resignation from Parliament in 2008. Watkins was the chief executive officer of Alzheimer's Australia (NSW) from 2008 – 2017 when it merged into Dementia Australia; the Chairman of Calvary healthcare from 2011 – 2019; and the eighth Chancellor of the University of New England, serving between 2013 and 2014.

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07/12/1954

Mary Fallin, American businesswoman and politician, 27th Governor of Oklahoma

Mary Newt Fallin is an American politician and real estate broker who served as the 27th governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2011, and as lieutenant governor from 1995 to 2007. As of 2026, Fallin remains the only woman to have served as governor of Oklahoma.

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Mark Hofmann, a.k.a. the Mormon Murderer; American counterfeiter, forger of fake Mormon historical documents, and convicted murderer

Mark William Hofmann is an American counterfeiter, forger, and convicted murderer. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of fake documents related to the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. When his schemes began to unravel, he constructed bombs to murder three people in Salt Lake City, Utah. The first two bombs killed two people on October 15, 1985. On the following day, a third bomb exploded in Hofmann's car. He was arrested for the bombings three months later, and in 1987 pled guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, one count of theft by deception, and one count of fraud.

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07/12/1952

Susan Collins, American politician

Susan Margaret Collins is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator for Maine since 1997. A member of the Republican Party, she is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress and the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate. Collins has chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee since 2025.

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Eckhard Märzke, German footballer and manager

Eckhard Märzke is a former East German football player and currently manager of FC Pommern Greifswald in the Verbandsliga Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (VI).

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Davinder Singh, Indian field hockey player (died 2026)

Davinder Singh Garcha was an Indian hockey player. He was part of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics where he scored 8 goals in total of 6 Olympic matches and played more than 30 international matches playing just three tournaments scoring 19 goals. Singh died on 10 January 2026, at the age of 73.

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07/12/1950

Ron Hynes, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2015)

Ron Hynes was a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. He was especially known for his composition "Sonny's Dream", which has been recorded worldwide by many artists and was named the 41st greatest Canadian song of all time on the 2005 CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.

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07/12/1949

James Rivière, Italian sculptor and jeweler

James Rivière is an Italian artist, designer, and sculptor. His jewellery designs are held in private collections, and in museums including the Louvre, Victoria and Albert, and Vatican Museums.

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07/12/1948

Tony Thomas, American screenwriter and producer

Charles Anthony Thomas is an American television and film producer. He was a producer for the feature film Dead Poets Society for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989, and Insomnia, among other films.

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07/12/1947

Anne Fine, English author

Anne Fine is an English writer. She is best known for writing children's books, although she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was appointed an OBE in 2003.

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James Keach, American actor, producer, and director

James Keach is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach and son of actor Stacy Keach Sr.

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Garry Unger, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster

Garry Douglas Unger is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1967 until 1983.

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07/12/1944

Daniel Chorzempa, American organist and composer (died 2023)

Daniel Walter Chorzempa was an American organist, composer and architect.

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Miroslav Macek, Czech dentist and politician (died 2024)

Miroslav Macek was a Czech politician and writer. He served as a deputy prime minister of Czechoslovakia.

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07/12/1943

Susan Isaacs, American author and screenwriter

Susan Isaacs is an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. She adapted her 1978 debut novel into the film Compromising Positions.

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Jóhann Ársælsson, Icelandic politician

Jóhann Ársælsson is an Icelandic politician and former member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, he represented the Western constituency from May 1991 to April 1995 and from May 1999 to May 2003, and the Northwest constituency from May 2003 to May 2007.

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Nick Katz, American mathematician and academic

Nicholas Michael Katz is an American mathematician, working in arithmetic geometry, particularly on p-adic methods, monodromy and moduli problems, and number theory. He is currently a professor of Mathematics at Princeton University and an editor of the journal Annals of Mathematics.

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Bernard C. Parks, American police officer and politician

Bernard C. Parks is an American politician who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th district in South Los Angeles from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Parks served as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from August 1997 to May 2002.

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John Bennett Ramsey, American businessman and pilot

John Bennett Ramsey is an American businessman who is best known as the father of JonBenét Ramsey, the victim of an unsolved homicide.

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07/12/1942

Alex Johnson, American baseball player (died 2015)

Alex Johnson was an American professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1964 to 1976, for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Detroit Tigers. He was the National League Comeback Player of the Year in 1968 and an American League All-Star and batting champion in 1970. His brother, Ron, was an NFL running back, most notably for the New York Giants.

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Reginald F. Lewis, American businessman (died 1993)

Reginald Francis Lewis was an American businessman. He was one of the richest Black American men in the 1980s, and the first African-American to build a billion-dollar company: TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc.

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Peter Tomarken, American game show host and producer (died 2006)

Peter David Tomarken was an American television personality primarily known as the host of the game show Press Your Luck.

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07/12/1941

Melba Pattillo Beals, American journalist and activist

Melba Joy Patillo Beals is an American journalist and educator who was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students who were the first to racially integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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07/12/1940

Gerry Cheevers, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Gerald Michael Cheevers is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) between 1961 and 1980. Cheevers is best known for his two stints with the Boston Bruins, whom he helped win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972. Cheevers won more than 300 games between two professional leagues. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

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07/12/1937

Stan Boardman, English comedian

Stanley Boardman is an English comedian.

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Thad Cochran, American lawyer and politician (died 2019)

William Thad Cochran was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978.

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Kenneth Colley, English actor (died 2025)

Kenneth Colley was a British film and television actor whose career spanned over 60 years. He came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as his roles in the films of Ken Russell and as Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979).

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07/12/1936

Martha Layne Collins, American politician, 56th Governor of Kentucky (died 2025)

Martha Layne Collins was an American businesswoman and politician from Kentucky; she served as the state's 56th governor from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date. Prior to that, she served as the 48th lieutenant governor of Kentucky, under John Y. Brown Jr. Her election as governor made her the highest-ranking woman in the Democratic Party. She was considered as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, but Mondale chose Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro instead.

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07/12/1935

Armando Manzanero, Mexican musician, singer and composer (died 2020)

Armando Manzanero Canché was a Mexican musician, singer, composer, and music producer, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in the United States in 2014. He was the president of the Mexican Society of Authors and Composers.

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07/12/1933

Krsto Papić, Croatian director and screenwriter (died 2013)

Krsto Papić was a Croatian screenwriter and film director whose career spanned over five decades. He is generally considered among the best directors of former Yugoslavia, and counted among the Yugoslav Black Wave.

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07/12/1932

Oktay Ekşi, Turkish journalist and politician

Osman Oktay Ekşi is a Turkish journalist, author and politician. He has spent much of his career at the newspaper Hürriyet, and was its Chief Columnist from 1974 to 1983 and from 1985 to 2010. A founding member and vice chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SODEP), he was elected as a member of Parliament for the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the 2011 general election.

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Rosemary Rogers, American journalist and author (died 2019)

Rosemary Rogers was a Sri Lankan Burgher best-selling author of historical romance novels. Her first book, Sweet Savage Love, was published in 1974. She was the second romance author, after Kathleen Woodiwiss, to have her novels published in trade paperback format. Both writers found their initial success working with editor Nancy Coffey who was then with Avon Books. Rogers is considered to be one of the founders of the modern historical romance, and many of today's writers cite her writing as one of their biggest influences. She lived in California.

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J. B. Sumarlin, Indonesian economist and politician, 17th Indonesian Minister of Finance (died 2020)

Johannes Baptista Sumarlin was an Indonesian economist who served as Minister of Finance. Sometimes linked with the so-called Berkeley Mafia group of economic advisers which included senior Indonesian economists such as Widjojo Nitisastro, Emil Salim, and Ali Wardhana, Sumarlin held various important economics posts in the Indonesian government for many years until the late 1990s. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia (FEUI) in 1958. Positions held in government included, among others, Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency, Minister of Finance, Chairman of the National Planning Agency (Bappenas), and Minister for Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform.

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Bobby Whitton, Australian rugby league player (died 2008)

Bobby Whitton (1932-2008) was an Australian rugby league player who played in the 1950s.

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07/12/1931

Allan B. Calhamer, American game designer, created Diplomacy (died 2013)

Allan Brian Calhamer was an American board game designer, best known for his game Diplomacy.

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07/12/1930

Christopher Nicole, Guyanese-English author (died 2017)

Christopher Robin Nicole was a prolific British writer of over 200 novels and non-fiction books since 1957. He wrote as Christopher Nicole and also under several pseudonyms including Peter Grange, Andrew York, Robin Cade, Mark Logan, Christina Nicholson, Alison York, Leslie Arlen, Robin Nicholson, C.R. Nicholson, Daniel Adams, Simon McKay, Caroline Gray and Alan Savage. He also wrote under the pen name Max Marlow when co-authoring with his wife, fellow author Diana Bachmann.

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Hal Smith, American baseball player (died 2020)

Harold Wayne Smith was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 879 games in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1964 — mostly as a catcher, but also as a third baseman and first baseman. Smith played with five different MLB teams but is most notable for his integral role during the 1960 World Series as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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07/12/1928

Mickey Thompson, American race car driver (died 1988)

Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American auto racing builder and promoter.

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07/12/1927

Jack S. Blanton, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013)

Jack Sawtelle Blanton was an American oil industry executive, philanthropist, and civic leader.

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Helen Watts, Welsh opera singer (died 2009)

Helen Watts was a Welsh contralto.

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07/12/1926

William John McNaughton, American bishop (died 2020)

William John McNaughton, M.M. was an American-born Catholic missionary and bishop. As a member of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll) he was assigned to missions in South Korea. He served as the first Bishop of Incheon from 1961 to 2002.

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07/12/1925

Hermano da Silva Ramos, French-Brazilian race car driver (died 2026)

Hermano João "Nano" da Silva Ramos was a French-Brazilian racing driver. He had a French mother and a Brazilian father. He was the oldest living Formula One driver from April 2023 until his death.

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Max Zaslofsky, American basketball player and coach (died 1985)

Max "Slats" Zaslofsky was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was selected to the all-league first-team from 1947 to 1950. In the 1947–48 BAA season, at 21 years of age, he led the BAA in scoring, and in the 1949–50 NBA season, he led the league in free throw percentage (.843).

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07/12/1924

Bent Fabric, Danish pianist and composer (died 2020)

Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, better known internationally as Bent Fabric, was a Danish pianist and composer.

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John Love, Zimbabwean race car driver (died 2005)

John Maxwell Lineham Love was a Rhodesian racing driver. He participated in ten Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 29 December 1962. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of six championship points. He also won the 1962 British Saloon Car Championship, now known as the British Touring Car Championship. All but one of his Formula One entries were in races held within Africa, either as championship or non-championship rounds.

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Mary Ellen Rudin, American mathematician (died 2013)

Mary Ellen Rudin was an American mathematician known for her work in set-theoretic topology. In 2013, Elsevier established the Mary Ellen Rudin Young Researcher Award, which is awarded annually to a young researcher, mainly in fields adjacent to general topology.

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Mário Soares, Portuguese historian, lawyer, and politician, 17th President of Portugal (died 2017)

Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares was a Portuguese statesman who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985 and subsequently as the president of Portugal from 1986 to 1996. He was the first secretary-general of the Socialist Party, from its foundation in 1973 to 1986. A major political figure in Portugal, he is considered the father of Portuguese democracy.

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07/12/1923

Intizar Hussain, Indian-Pakistani author and scholar (died 2016)

Intizar Hussain or Intezar Hussain was a Pakistani writer of Urdu novels, short stories, poetry and nonfiction. He is widely recognised as a leading literary figure of Pakistan.

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07/12/1921

Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian guru and scholar (died 2016)

Pramukh Swami Maharaj was the guru and Pramukh, or president, of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a major branch of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, a Hindu denomination. BAPS regards him as the fifth spiritual successor of Swaminarayan, following Gunatitanand Swami, Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj, and Yogiji Maharaj. He was believed by his followers to be in constant communion with Swaminarayan, and ontologically, the manifestation of Akshar, the eternal abode of Swaminarayan.

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07/12/1920

Tatamkhulu Afrika, South African poet and author (died 2002)

Ismail Joubert, commonly known as Tatomkhulu Afrika, which is Xhosa for Grandfather Africa, was a South African poet and writer. His first novel, Broken Earth was published when he was seventeen, but it was over fifty years until his next publication, a collection of verse entitled Nine Lives.

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Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (died 2012)

Fiorenzo Magni was an Italian professional road racing cyclist.

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Walter Nowotny, Austrian-German soldier and pilot (died 1944)

Walter Nowotny was an Austrian-born fighter ace of the Luftwaffe in World War II. He is credited with 258 aerial victories—that is, 258 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—in 442 combat missions. Nowotny achieved 255 of these victories on the Eastern Front and three while flying one of the first jet fighters, the Messerschmitt Me 262, in the Defense of the Reich. He scored most of his victories in the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, and approximately 50 in the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Nowotny scored an "ace in a day" on multiple occasions, shooting down at least five airplanes on the same day, including two occurrences of "double-ace in a day" in mid-1943.

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07/12/1915

Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (died 1978)

Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production.

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Eli Wallach, American actor (died 2014)

Eli Herschel Wallach was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a BAFTA Award, a Tony Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. He also was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1988 and received the Academy Honorary Award in 2010.

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07/12/1913

Kersti Merilaas, Estonian author and poet (died 1986)

Kersti Merilaas was an Estonian poet and translator. In addition, she wrote poems and prose for children and plays.

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07/12/1912

Daniel Jones, Welsh captain and composer (died 1993)

Daniel Jenkyn Jones was a Welsh composer of classical music, who worked in Britain. He used both serial and tonal techniques. He is best known for his quartets and thirteen symphonies and for his song settings for Dylan Thomas's play Under Milk Wood.

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07/12/1910

Duncan McNaughton, Canadian high jumper and geologist (died 1998)

Duncan Anderson McNaughton was a Canadian athlete, who competed mainly in the high jump. He went on to a career in petroleum geology.

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Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (died 1978)

Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans–style jazz band in the late 1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band group in the 1940s, helped to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s, and performed frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s.

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07/12/1909

Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgarian poet and author (died 1942)

Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov was a Bulgarian poet and Bulgarian Communist Party activist. Working most of his life as a machinist, he only wrote in his spare time. Despite the fact that he only ever published one poetry book, he is considered one of the most important Bulgarian poets. In the latter part of his life, as a Macedonian nationalist, he was the driving force of the Macedonian Literary Circle until World War II when it was disbanded, and its attempts to awaken Macedonian identity were abandoned. Vaptsarov joined the resistance movement and because of his subversive activities in favor of the Soviet Union and against the Bulgarian government and the German troops in Bulgaria, he was arrested, tried, sentenced and executed the same night by a firing squad.

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07/12/1907

Fred Rose, Polish-Canadian politician and spy (died 1983)

Fred Rose was a Polish-Canadian politician and trade union organizer, best known for being the only member of the Canadian Parliament to ever be convicted of a charge related to spying for a foreign country. A member of the Communist Party of Canada and Labor-Progressive Party, he served as the MP for Cartier from 1943 to 1947. He was expelled from his seat after being found guilty of conspiring to steal weapons research for the Soviet Union.

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07/12/1906

Erika Fuchs, German translator (died 2005)

Erika Fuchs, née Petri, was a German translator. She is largely known in Germany for her major involvement in the localization process of American Disney comics, especially Carl Barks' stories about Duckburg and its inhabitants, as well the effects on the German language as a whole caused thereby.

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07/12/1905

Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (died 1973)

Gerard Peter Kuiper was a Dutch astronomer, planetary scientist, selenographer, author and professor. The Kuiper belt is named after him.

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07/12/1904

Clarence Nash, American voice actor and singer (died 1985)

Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and a street in that town is named in his honor. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney films.

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07/12/1903

Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician, physicist, and academic (died 1987)

Danilo Blanuša was a Croatian mathematician, physicist, engineer and a professor at the University of Zagreb.

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07/12/1902

Hilda Taba, Estonian architect, author, and educator (died 1967)

Hilda Taba was an architect, a curriculum theorist, a curriculum reformer, and a teacher educator. Taba was born in the small village of Kooraste, Estonia. Her mother's name was Liisa Leht, and her father was a schoolmaster whose name was Robert Taba. Hilda Taba began her education at the Kanepi Parish School. She then attended the Võru’s Girls’ Grammar School and earned her undergraduate degree in English and Philosophy at the University of Tartu. When Taba was given the opportunity to attend Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, she earned her master's degree. Following the completion of her degree at Bryn Mawr College, she attended Teachers College at Columbia University. She applied for a job at the University of Tartu but was turned down because she was female, so she became curriculum director at the Dalton School in New York City. In 1951, Taba accepted an invitation to become a professor at San Francisco State College, now known as San Francisco State University.

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07/12/1900

Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur, Ukrainian folk artist (died 1961)

Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur was a Ukrainian folk artist, painter and poet born in the Poltava Governorate. After an unpromising start, her works became known in the late 1930s and 1940s for their interest in nature. Her paintings have become famous for depictions of peasant life among Ukrainian women,. Above all it was Bilokur's flowers done in oil on canvas which brought her general recognition, with critics noting, "[s]he sees the souls of flowers."

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07/12/1894

Freddie Adkins, English author and illustrator (died 1986)

Frederick Thomas (Freddie) Adkins (1894–1986) was a British comics artist who worked for the Amalgamated Press from the 1920s to the 1950s.

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07/12/1893

Fay Bainter, American actress (died 1968)

Fay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Other notable films include Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Woman of the Year (1942), State Fair (1945), and The Children's Hour (1960)

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Hermann Balck, German general (died 1982)

Georg Otto Hermann Balck was a highly decorated officer of the German Army who served in both World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of General der Panzertruppe.

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07/12/1892

Stuart Davis, American painter and academic (died 1964)

Edward Stuart Davis was an American modernist painter. He was associated with early twentieth-century American modernism, including the Ashcan School, and later developed a style characterized by bold color, jazz references, and urban subject matter. In the 1930s, Davis became politically active and participated in federally sponsored art programs during the Great Depression.

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07/12/1888

Joyce Cary, Irish novelist (died 1957)

Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary, known as Joyce Cary, was an Anglo-Irish novelist and colonial official. His most notable novels include Mister Johnson and The Horse's Mouth.

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Hamilton Fish III, American captain and politician (died 1991)

Hamilton Fish III was an American soldier, author, politician and prominent isolationist from New York. He represented New York's 26th congressional district in the Hudson Valley region in the United States House of Representatives from 1920 to 1945. In the second half of his House career, Fish was a chief critic and opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, especially on matters of international affairs and American entry into World War II prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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07/12/1887

Ernst Toch, Austrian-American composer and songwriter (died 1964)

Ernst Toch was an Austrian composer of European classical music and film scores, who from 1933 worked as an émigré in Paris, London and New York. He sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music.

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07/12/1885

Mason Phelps, American golfer (died 1945)

Mason Elliott Phelps was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

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Peter Sturholdt, American boxer and painter (died 1919)

Peter Johnson Sturholdt was an American boxer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Sturholdt was born in Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1904, he finished fourth in the lightweight class after losing the bronze medal fight to Russell van Horn.

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07/12/1884

John Carpenter, American sprinter (died 1933)

John Condict Carpenter was an American sprinter. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, contributing to one of the many sporting controversies of the 1908 Games.

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07/12/1879

Rudolf Friml, Czech-American pianist, composer, and academic (died 1972)

Charles Rudolf Friml was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer. His best-known works are Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, both of which enjoyed success on Broadway and in London and were adapted for film.

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07/12/1878

Akiko Yosano, Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer (died 1942)

Yosano Shō , known by her pen name Yosano Akiko, was a Japanese author, poet, feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji era as well as the Taishō and early Shōwa eras of Japan. She is one of the most noted, and most controversial, post-classical female poets of Japan.

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07/12/1873

Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (died 1947)

Willa Sibert Cather was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I.

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07/12/1869

Frank Laver, Australian cricketer (died 1919)

Frank Jonas Laver was an Australian cricketer and baseball player. He played in 15 Test matches between 1899 and 1909 and visited England as a player and team manager on four occasions. An accomplished photographer and author, he wrote an illustrated account of his 1899 and 1905 tours of England, An Australian Cricketer on Tour.

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07/12/1863

Felix Calonder, Swiss soldier and politician, 36th President of the Swiss Confederation (died 1952)

Felix Louis Calonder was a Swiss politician who was President of the Swiss Confederation in 1918 and a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1913 to 1920. He was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party. During his tenure of office, he held the Department of Home Affairs from 1913 to 1917, and the Political Department from 1918 to 1919. As of 2025, Felix Calonder has been the Federal Council's only native Romansh speaker.

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Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer and conductor (died 1945)

Pietro Mascagni was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music. While it was often held that Mascagni, like Ruggero Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, L'amico Fritz and Iris have remained in the repertoire in Europe since their premieres.

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Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (died 1914)

Richard Warren Sears was an American businessman who co-founded the department store Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah Curtis Roebuck.

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07/12/1862

Paul Adam, French author (died 1920)

Paul Auguste Marie Adam was a French novelist who became an early proponent of Symbolism in France, and one of the founders of the Symbolist review Le Symboliste. He was a prominent writer in Montmartre's anarchist movement.

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07/12/1861

Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (died 1931)

Henri Mathias Berthelot was a French general during World War I. He held an important staff position under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, at the First Battle of the Marne, before later commanding a corps in the front line. In 1917 he helped to rebuild the Romanian Army following its disastrous defeat the previous autumn, then in summer 1918 he commanded French Fifth Army at the Second Battle of the Marne, with some British and Italian troops under his command. In the final days of the war he again returned to Romania, helping fight the Hungarians during the Hungarian–Romanian War and then briefly commanded French intervention forces in southern Russia in the Russian Civil War, fighting the Bolsheviks in Bessarabia (1918).

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07/12/1860

Joseph Cook, English-born Australian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1947)

Sir Joseph Cook was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the sixth prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party, having previously been leader of the Anti-Socialist Party from 1908 to 1909. His victory at the 1913 election marked the first time that a centre-right party had won a majority at an Australian federal election.

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07/12/1838

Thomas Bent, Australian businessman and politician, 22nd Premier of Victoria (died 1909)

Sir Thomas Bent was an Australian politician and the 22nd premier of Victoria.

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07/12/1823

Leopold Kronecker, Polish-German mathematician and academic (died 1891)

Leopold Kronecker was a German mathematician who worked on number theory, abstract algebra and logic, and criticized Georg Cantor's work on set theory. Heinrich Weber quoted Kronecker as having said, "Die ganzen Zahlen hat der liebe Gott gemacht, alles andere ist Menschenwerk" . Kronecker was a student and life-long friend of Ernst Kummer.

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07/12/1810

Josef Hyrtl, Hungarian-Austrian anatomist and biologist (died 1894)

Josef Hyrtl was an Austrian anatomist. His work in German, including the publication of Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen in 1846, which was considered the German equivalent of Gray's Anatomy.

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Theodor Schwann, German physiologist and biologist (died 1882)

Theodor Schwann was a German physician and physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term "metabolism".

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07/12/1801

Johann Nestroy, Austrian actor and playwright (died 1862)

Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the Biedermeier period and its immediate aftermath. He participated in the 1848 revolutions and his work reflects the new liberal spirit then spreading throughout Europe.

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07/12/1792

Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Dutch author and academic (died 1857)

Abraham Jacob van der Aa was a Dutch writer best known for his dictionaries, one of notable people and the other of notable places in the Netherlands.

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07/12/1791

Ferenc Novák, Hungarian-Slovene priest and poet (died 1836)

Ferenc Novák was a Hungarian Slovene Roman Catholic priest and writer.

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07/12/1784

Allan Cunningham, Scottish author and poet (died 1842)

Allan Cunningham was a Scottish poet and author.

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07/12/1764

Claude-Victor Perrin, French general and politician (died 1841)

Claude-Victor Perrin, Duke of Belluno was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1807 by Emperor Napoleon I.

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07/12/1756

John Littlejohn, American sheriff and Methodist preacher (died 1836)

John Littlejohn was an English-born American tradesman, Methodist preacher and politician. Born in Penrith, Cumberland, he briefly attended trade school in London before returning to Penrith. When Littlejohn was around twelve years old, he immigrated to British America to pursue various apprenticeships under tradesmen in Virginia and Maryland. While not particularly religious as a youth, he was inspired by Methodist revivalist sermons and began service as a circuit rider in 1776, after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

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07/12/1643

Giovanni Battista Falda, Italian architect and engraver (died 1678)

Giovanni Battista Falda was an Italian architect, engraver, and artist. He is known for his engravings of both contemporary and antique structures of Rome.

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07/12/1637

Bernardo Pasquini, Italian organist and composer (died 1710)

Bernardo Pasquini was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player, he was one of the most important Italian composers for harpsichord between Girolamo Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti, having also made substantial contributions to opera and oratorio.

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07/12/1598

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (died 1680)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian sculptor, architect, painter and city planner. Bernini's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as a uomo universale or Renaissance man. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture.

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07/12/1595

Injo of Joseon, Korean king (died 1649)

Injo, personal name Yi Jong, was the 16th monarch of Joseon. He was the eldest son of Prince Jeongwon and a grandson of King Seonjo, and ascended to the throne after leading a coup d'état against his uncle, Gwanghaegun. Today, he is considered a weak and incompetent king, as during his reign the country experienced Yi Kwal's Rebellion, the Later Jin invasion, the Qing invasion, and an economic recession, while the government was corrupt and ineffective.

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07/12/1561

Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyō (died 1625)

Kikkawa Hiroie was a Japanese daimyō of the Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Hiroie's father was Kikkawa Motoharu and his mother was a daughter of Kumagai Nobunao.

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07/12/1545

Henry Stuart, English-Scottish husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (died 1567)

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder. Darnley had one child with Mary, James VI of Scotland and I of England. Less than a year after the birth of his son, Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as simply Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.

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07/12/1532

Louis I, German nobleman and politician (died 1605)

Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein, nicknamed "the Elder", formally "Louis I of Sayn, Count at Wittgenstein" ruled the County of Wittgenstein, on the upper reaches of the rivers Lahn and Eder, from 1558 until his death. He converted his county to Calvinism and was an influential politician in the service to the Electoral Palatinate.

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07/12/1302

Azzone Visconti, Italian nobleman (died 1339)

Azzone Visconti was lord of Milan from 1329 until his death. After the death of his uncle, Marco Visconti, he was threatened with excommunication and had to submit to Pope John XXII. Azzone reconstituted his family's land holdings, taking numerous cities. He died in 1339.

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07/12/0967

Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr, Persian Sufi poet (died 1049)

Abū Saʿīd Abū'l-Khayr or Abusa'id Abolkhayr, also known as Sheikh Abusaeid or Abu Sa'eed, was a famous Persian Sufi and poet who contributed extensively to the evolution of Sufi tradition.

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07/12/0903

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Persian astronomer and author (died 986)

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī was a Persian astronomer.

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07/12/0521

Columba, Irish missionary, monk, and saint (died 597)

Columba or Colmcille was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission in what became Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry and one of the patron saints of Ireland along with Patrick and Brigid. He was venerated by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

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