On This Day:
Friday July 12, 2013

This is the 193rd day of the year, with 172 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: stars

There are more stars than any other object in the universe. Each is a spinning ball of hot, luminous gas. Most are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. As these gases are converted to heaver elements, energy is produced. A star has a life cycle of billions of years; its mass dictates how it will develop and die.

Holidays

Northern Ireland: Orangeman's Day.
Feast day of St. John the Iberian, St. Jason, Saints Hermagoras and Fortunatus, St. John Gualbert, St. John Jones, St. Veronica, and St. Felix.
Kiribati: Independence Day.
Sao Tome and Principe: Independence Day.

Events

1690 - Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne inIreland. 
1862 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.
1912 - The first foreign-made film premiered in America, "Queen Elizabeth", starring Sarah Bernhardt and Lon Tellegen.
1960 - The first Etch-A-Sketch toy went on sale.
1970 - "Evening at Pops" premiered on PBS.
1976 - The game show "Family Feud" had its TV premiere.
1984 - Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro ofNew York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket. 
1990 - Russian republic president Boris Yeltsin shocked the Soviet Communist Party by announcing he was resigning his party membership.
1990 - "Northern Exposure" premiered on television.
1997 - A computer employee at Network Solutions, Inc. in Herndon, Virginia, ignored malfunction warnings and caused seven of the world's nine root servers to corrupt all the data sent to them, causing the Internet to break down.
2003 - The USS Ronald Reagan, the ninth Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was commissioned in Newport News,Virginia.
2005 - Prince Albert II is enthroned as ruler of the Principality of Monaco.

Births

100 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar, Roman dictator (traditionally accepted date).
1730 - Josiah Wedgwood, English pottery designer and manufacturer.
1817 - Henry David Thoreau, American author, philosopher, naturalist.
1854 - George Eastman, founded Eastman Kodak Company.
1861 - George Washington Carver, American botanist, scientist.
1895 - Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist, songwriter with Richard Rodgers.
1904 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet (1971) and politician.
1908 - Milton Berle (Berlinger), American comedian.
1917 - Andrew Wyeth, American artist.
1937 - Bill Cosby, American comedian, actor.
1943 - Christine McVie, British singer, musician, and songwriter.
1948 - Richard Simmons (born born Milton Teagle Simmons), American fitness trainer.
1971 - Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater.

Deaths

1804 - Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father, American statesman, financier, and political theorist.
1910 - Charles Stewart Rolls, British engineer, aviator, and automobile manufacturer.
1996 - John Chancellor, American television reporter.
2005 - John Leonard King, Baron King of Wartnaby, chief executive of British Airways since its privatization.