Born on August 12
4 figures in our catalog were born on August 12, from the earliest to the most recent.
Antoine Parmentier
1737 — 1813
French military pharmacist and agronomist (1737-1813), famous for popularizing the potato as a food staple in France. A prisoner of war in Prussia, he discovered the nutritional value of the tuber and convinced Louis XVI to lift the ban on its cultivation.
Helena Blavatsky
1831 — 1891
Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) was a Russian occultist, philosopher, and writer who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. A tireless traveler, she synthesized Eastern spiritualities and Western esotericism in her major works.
Ci'an
1837 — 1881
Empress dowager of China under the Qing dynasty, Ci'an exercised a joint regency with Ci Xi following the death of Emperor Xianfeng in 1861. Known for her piety and gentleness, she was long overshadowed by the more ambitious Ci Xi in historical accounts.
Erwin Schrödinger
1887 — 1961
Austrian physicist (1887–1961), Nobel Prize in Physics 1933. He formulated the wave equation that bears his name, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and devised the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.
Only figures whose birth day is known for certain appear here. Dates are given as the sources record them.