Today is Wednesday, Aug. 12, the 224th day of 2026. There are 141 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Aug. 12, 1990, fossil collector Sue Hendrickson found one of the largest and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex skeletons ever discovered; nicknamed “Sue” after Hendrickson, the skeleton, found in South Dakota, is now on display at Chicago’s Field Museum.
Field Museum head of geological collections Bill Simpson puts on a cast of the bone that was removed from Sue the T. Rex dinosaur, Feb. 19, 2019, at the Field Museum. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)
Bill Simpson, head of geological collections at the Field Museum, removes bones from Sue the T. rex dinosaur, on Feb. 19, 2019, at the Field Museum. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)
A video screen shows Sue the T. rex during an unveiling on the second floor, now made part of the "Evolving Planet" exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago on Dec. 18, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Sue the T. rex skull is on display on the second floor in the "Evolving Planet" exhibition at the Field Museum, Dec. 18, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Sue the T. rex skeleton is unveiled on the second floor, now made part of the "Evolving Planet" exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago on Dec. 18, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Sue the T. rex skull is on display on the second floor in the "Evolving Planet" exhibition at the Field Museum, Dec. 18, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Visitors to the Field Museum peer through a window at Sue the T. rex in its new home, still being remodeled, on May 23, 2018. Chris Walker/baiduhai)
Lisa Geiger, with exhibitions, carefully lays the bones from Sue's feet that have been dismantled for her move to the second floor of the Field Museum on Feb. 5, 2018. (Nancy Stone/baiduhai)
Garth Dallman, with Research Casting International, helps navigate the Field Museum's most popular tyrannosaurus rex, Sue, as her head is removed at the Field Museum in Chicago on Feb. 12, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
The Field Museum's most popular tyrannosaurus rex, Sue, is readied for her head removal at the Field Museum in Chicago on Feb. 12, 2018. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Bill Kochie, left, and Garth Dallman carefully take the feet off the Field Museum's most popular T. rex, Sue, on Feb. 5, 2018. (Nancy Stone/baiduhai)
Children from Taft Elementary School in South Holland pose for their teacher following the removal of the forelimb of Sue the T. rex on display at the Field Museum, Oct. 6, 2016. (Antonio Perez/ baiduhai)
The removed forelimb of Sue the T. rex at the Field Museum on Oct. 6, 2016. The limb will be examined by an advanced CT scanner at Argonne National Laboratory to help scientist discover more about the creatures, including why their arms were so short. (Antonio Perez/ baiduhai)
Children and an adult come up close to view the removed forelimb from Sue the T. rex at the Field Museum, on Oct. 6, 2016. The limb will be examined by an advanced CT scanner at Argonne National Laboratory to help scientist discover more about the creatures, including why their arms were so short. (Antonio Perez/ baiduhai)
Museum goers, including Melissa Steuart of River North, at right, stop to to view Sue, the largest, most extensive and most well preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found and the subject of the 2014 documentary Dinosaur 13, on Jan. 12, 2016, at the Field Museum in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle/baiduhai)
Crowds filter by Sue the T. rex on Aug. 16, 2012, at the Field Museum. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)
Visitors gather around Sue at the Field Museum on July 31, 2014. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
William Simpson, Field Museum collections manager of the Department of Geology, uses a long feather duster to clean Sue, the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered on Sept. 6, 2006, in Chicago. It takes about two hours to clean the dinosaur, who gets cleaned twice a year. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Tim and Kathy Goodhart, of Cortland, Ohio, look at a guide while having a coffee next to Sue at the Field Museum on Oct. 5, 2002. (Alex Garcia/baiduhai)
Jessicalynn McVicker, of Antioch, and her son, Max, get face to face with Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex on Jan. 27, 2009, as McVicker's uncle Rick Albrecht takes photos. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
The dinosaur named Sue dominates the main floor of the Field Museum on Aug. 1, 2001. (Charles Osgood/baiduhai)
Field Museum President and Chief Executive John W. McCarter, left, and Mayor Richard M. Daley, right, drop the curtain at the Field Museum on May 17, 2000, to unveil Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
President Bill Clinton looks up at the skeleton of Sue during a stop at the Field Museum on May 19, 2000, the night after a Senate campaign fundraiser in Lincoln Park. (John Lee/baiduhai)
Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is unveiled at the Field Museum on May 17, 2000. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Erin Downs, left, of Chicago and her mother, Marilyn of Clearwater, Florida, hug in front of the exhibit of the skull of the Sue the dinosaur at the Field Museum in May 2000. (Nancy Stone/baiduhai)
Dever Elementary School sixth-graders look at a model head of Sue the T. rex on May 25, 1999, at a press preview of the Field Museum's new exhibit: "SUE: The Inside Story." The Sue head is a 1/3 of the scale of the real one, which is 5-foot long. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Visitors get a first ever look at Sue the T.rex on May 16, 2000 at Chicago's Field Museum. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Sue Hendrickson, the woman who found the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, autographs Dever Elementary School sixth-grader Saul Labra's tee shirt on May 25, 1999. Hendrickson wrote "Rex Wishes! Sue." (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Sue the dinosaur has been a big hit at the Field Museum, inspiring a line of products that can be found in the newly re-designed gift shop at the museum. (Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai)
Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, is hidden by a curtain, on May 16, 2000, the day before being unveiled to the public. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Paul Zawisha, left, and Larry Lee attach supports for Sue's ribcage on April 25, 2000. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Phil Fraley watches as Sue's lower jaw is put into place by Petro Hul in April 2000 at Chicago's Field Museum. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
The Sue the T. rex team puts the dinosaur's skeletal pieces together in Stanley Hall at the Field Museum on April 25, 2000. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Petro Hul, inside Sue's skull, locks the lower jaw into place as Larry Lee makes sure the alignment is correct on April 25, 2000. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
Fossil preparator Matthew Groves, left, reviews procedures for reattaching Sue's bone fragments that dislodged during handling on April 26, 1999. (Carl Wagner/baiduhai)
Larry Lee works on the support system that will hold Sue's ribs in place on April 25, 2000. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
The jaw bone mold of Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex, is displayed in the McDonald's Fossil Preparation Lab at the Field Museum on May 25, 1999. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Sue Hendrickson, second from right, the woman who discovered the T. rex dinosaur, watches as the jaw bone is released from a mold at the McDonald's Fossil Preparation Lab at the Field Museum on May 25, 1999. With Hendrickson are Lorie Barber, from left, Bob Masek, both fossil preparers, Hendrickson and Bill Simpson, chief fossil preparer. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Scientists from the Field Museum brought bones from the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex, known as "Sue," to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers on July 17, 1999, for CAT scans to gain more information about the prehistoric creature. (John Dziekan/baiduhai)
Scott Burstein and CT scan technician Pam Carlson look over one of Sue's bone before scanning it on July 17, 1999. (John Dziekan/baiduhai)
Christopher Brochu, right, heading the Field Museum's team of scientists recovering the bones of Sue, checks the wooden travel case containing Sue's polyurethane foam-covered skull on Aug. 20, 1998. (Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai)
Sue the T. rex is excavated near Faith, South Dakota in 1990 by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. (Black Hills Institute)
Sue Hendrickson stands on discovery day, Aug. 12, 1990, with the exposed cross-section of Tyrannosaurus Rex bones she discovered. She's standing 7 to 8 feet above the base of a cliff. Excavation began 2 days later. (Black Hills Institute)
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Field Museum head of geological collections Bill Simpson puts on a cast of the bone that was removed from Sue the T. Rex dinosaur, Feb. 19, 2019, at the Field Museum. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)
In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, with whom he had clashed over Reconstruction policies. (Johnson was acquitted by the Senate.)
In 1898, fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.
In 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis 500, first opened.
In 1944, during World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.
In 1953, the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.
In 1960, the first balloon communications satellite — the Echo 1 — was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.
In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150, at a press conference in New York.
In 1985, the world’s worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people. Four passengers survived.
In 1994, in baseball’s eighth work stoppage since 1972, players went on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries.
In 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea.
In 2013, James “Whitey” Bulger, the feared Boston mob boss who became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives, was convicted in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes, many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant. (Bulger was sentenced to life; he was fatally beaten at a West Virginia prison in 2018, hours after being transferred from a facility in Florida.)
In 2017, a driver sped into a crowd of people peacefully protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring more than a dozen others. (The attacker, James Alex Fields, was sentenced to life in prison on 29 federal hate crime charges, and life plus 419 years on state charges.)
In 2022, Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
Today’s Birthdays: Investor and philanthropist George Soros is 96. Actor George Hamilton is 87. Singer-musician Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 77. Singer Kid Creole (Kid Creole and the Coconuts) is 76. Film director Chen Kaige is 74. Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny is 72. Actor Bruce Greenwood is 70. Basketball Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard is 67. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 63. Actor Peter Krause is 61. Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras is 55. Actor-comedian Michael Ian Black is 55. Actor Yvette Nicole Brown is 55. Actor Casey Affleck is 51. Boxer Tyson Fury is 38. Actor Lakeith Stanfield is 35. NBA All-Star Khris Middleton is 35. Actor Cara Delevingne is 34. Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas is 28.
