What happened on 12 August?

16 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1865 Lister introduces antiseptic surgery Joseph Lister applies carbolic acid in surgical operations at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary; transforms post-surgical mortality and is the foundation of modern surgical practice.
2. 30 BCE Death of Cleopatra Cleopatra dies after Actium.
3. 1765 Diwani of Bengal granted to East India Company Mughal emperor cedes revenue rights of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa to the EIC.
4. 1981 IBM PC launched IBM introduces the personal computer based on Intel 8088 and MS-DOS; sets industry standard; "PC compatible" emerges.
5. 1762 Born: George IV Regency-era king of conspicuous spending, fashion and the Royal Pavilion.
6. 1746 The Act of Proscription breaks the clans After the Culloden reprisals comes the legal demolition: tartan and Highland dress banned, weapons confiscated, the pipes treated as an instrument of war, and the chiefs' hereditar
7. 1919 Born: Vikram Sarabhai Father of the Indian space programme.
8. 1969 Battle of the Bogside sparks the crisis Three days of rioting between Derry's Catholic Bogside and the police explode across Northern Ireland — and the London government sends the British Army onto the streets to restore
9. 1969 Battle of the Bogside Three days of rioting in Derry that triggered British army deployment and the start of the Troubles.
10. 1887 Born: Erwin Schrödinger Austrian physicist whose wave equation is foundational to quantum theory.
11. 1759 Kunersdorf: Frederick's darkest day A combined Russian-Austrian army destroys half of Frederick's men in an afternoon; the king has two horses shot under him, is saved by a snuffbox that stops a bullet, and writes th
12. 1813 Austria tips the balance against Napoleon After Metternich's last interview with his son-in-law's conqueror ends in a thrown hat and a famous taunt — 'you are lost, Sire' — Austria declares war and joins Russia, Prussia, B
13. 1968 Joplin's Cheap Thrills Big Brother and the Holding Company's number-one album, carried by Joplin's shredded blues voice on 'Piece of My Heart'.
14. 1954 Born: François Hollande Socialist president of France 2012-2017.
15. 1099 Battle of Ascalon A month after Jerusalem, the crusaders surprise the Fatimid relief army in its camp at dawn and scatter it — securing the conquest just as most of the survivors sail home, their vo
16. 1851 Singer sewing machine introduced Practical, mass-produced sewing machine that reached middle-class homes.