May 12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 233 days remaining until the end of the year.
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Births [change]
- 1401 – Emperor Shoko of Japan (d. 1428)
- 1496 – King Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
- 1590 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
- 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor-General of New France (d. 1698)
- 1670 – Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland (d. 1733)
- 1700 - Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian engineer and architect (d. 1773)
- 1725 - Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (d. 1785)
- 1754 - Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and publisher (d. 1812)
- 1755 - Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist (d. 1824)
- 1767 – Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (d. 1851)
- 1803 – Justus Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)
- 1806 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (d. 1881)
- 1809 - Robert Charles Winthrop, American politician (d. 1894)
- 1812 – Edward Lear, English author, artist and poet (d. 1888)
- 1814 – Adolf von Henselt, German composer and pianist (d. 1889)
- 1820 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)
- 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British painter (d. 1882)
- 1840 - Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean military officer (d. 1912)
- 1845 – Gabriel Faure, French composer (d. 1924)
- 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, American statesman (d. 1924)
- 1851 - Joseph Toole, Governor of Montana (d. 1929)
- 1880 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American polar explorer and pilot (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Mario Sironi, Italian painter (d. 1961)
- 1889 – Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
- 1889 - Abelardo L. Rodriguez, President of Mexico (d. 1967)
- 1892 - William Preston Lane, Jr., Governor of Maryland (d. 1967)
- 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher, author and spiritual teacher (d. 1986)
- 1895 – William Giauque, American chemist (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Indra Devi, Latvian-born Yoga teacher (d. 2002)
- 1900 – Helene Weigel, Austrian-German actress (d. 1971)
- 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1908 - Alejandro Scopelli, Argentine-born Italian footballer (d. 1987)
- 1910 – Johan Ferrier, first President of Suriname (d. 2010)
- 1910 – Dorothy Hodgkin, British biochemist (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Giulietta Simionato, Italian opera singer (d. 2010)
- 1913 - Igor Bondarevsky, Russian chess player (d. 1979)
- 1915 – Frere Roger, Swiss religious leader (d. 2005)
- 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, American, convicted of spying for the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- 1921 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- 1922 - Roy Salvadori, English racing driver (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (d. 1968)
- 1925 - Yogi Berra, American baseball player and manager
- 1928 - Burt Bacharach, American pianist and composer
- 1929 – Sam Nujoma, first, and former, President of Namibia
- 1930 - Jesus Franco, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Manuel Marulanda, Colombian guerrilla (d. 2008)
- 1933 – Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet (d. 2010)
- 1935 – Gary Peacock, American jazz musician
- 1935 - Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936 – Frank Stella, American painter and sculptor
- 1936 – Tom Snyder, American television personality (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Guillermo Endara, President of Panama (d. 2009)
- 1937 – George Carlin, American comedian and actor (d. 2008)
- 1939 – Ron Ziegler, American White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
- 1939 – Jalal Dabagh, Kurdish politician, writer and journalist
- 1942 – Ian Dury, British singer (d. 2000)
- 1944 - Chris Patten, British politician, last British Governor of Hong Kong
- 1946 – Gareth Evans, British philosopher
- 1947 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician
- 1948 – Ivan Kral, Czech-American musician
- 1948 – Steve Winwood, British musician
- 1948 – David Heineman, American politician, 39th Governor of Nebraska
- 1948 - Joe Tasker, English mountaineer (d. 1982)
- 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
- 1954 – Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Icelandic film director
- 1958 – Eric Singer, American musician (KISS)
- 1961 - Billy Duffy, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1962 – Emilio Estevez, American actor
- 1962 - Brett Gurewitz, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1963 – Stefano Modena, Italian racing driver
- 1966 – Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer
- 1967 - Paul D'Amour, American singer and musician
- 1968 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
- 1968 – Catherine Tate, British comedienne
- 1970 – Mark Foster, British swimmer
- 1970 – Samantha Mathis, American actress
- 1974 - Marc Capdevila, Spanish swimmer
- 1975 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
- 1977 – Graeme Dott, Scottish snooker player
- 1978 – Aya Ishiguro, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1978 - Jason Biggs, American actor
- 1978 - Josh Phelps, American baseball player
- 1980 – Felipe Lopez, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1981 - Kentaro Sato, Japanese-American composer and conductor
- 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Alina Kabayeva, Russian gymnast
- 1983 - Yujiro Kushida, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1983 - Francisco Javier Torres, Mexican footballer
- 1986 - Jonathan Orozco, Mexican footballer
- 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
- 1988 – Marcelo Vieira, Brazilian footballer
- 1992 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
- 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor
- 1995 - Sawyer Sweeten, American actor
- 1995 - Sullivan Sweeten, American actor
- 2003 – Madeleine McCann, missing since 2007
Deaths [change]
- 1003 – Pope Silvester II
- 1012 – Pope Sergius IV
- 1182 – Valdemar I of Denmark (b. 1131)
- 1382 – Queen Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)
- 1465 – Thomas Palaeologus, titular Byzantine Emperor (b. 1409)
- 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (b. 1593)
- 1684 – Edme Mariotte (b. 1620), French physicist and priest
- 1700 – John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)
- 1708 – Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
- 1784 - Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
- 1796 - Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)
- 1845 – János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)
- 1859 – Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)
- 1867 – Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)
- 1876 - Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1843)
- 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
- 1889 – John Cadbury, English chocolate entrepreneur (b. 1801)
- 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)
- 1916 – James Connolly, Irish socialist and Easter Rising leader (b. 1868)
- 1925 – Amy Lowell, poet (b. 1874)
- 1935 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Max Brand, author (b. 1892)
- 1944 – Q, British writer (b. 1863)
- 1956 – Louis Calhern, film actor (b. 1895)
- 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, film director and actor (b. 1885)
- 1963 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)
- 1966 - Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German SS officer (b. 1896)
- 1967 – John Masefield, British writer (b. 1878)
- 1970 – Nelly Sachs, German writer (b. 1891)
- 1971 – Heinie Manush, American Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Frances Marion, American screenwriter and director (b. 1888)
- 1978 - Robert Coogan, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1985 – Jean Dubuffet, painter (b. 1901)
- 1986 – Elisabeth Bergner, actress (b. 1897)
- 1986 – Alicia Moreau de Justo, Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and activist (b. 1885)
- 1992 – Robert Reed, actor (b. 1932)
- 1994 – John Smith, British politician (b. 1938)
- 1994 - Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)
- 1995 - Mia Martini, Italian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1942)
- 2000 – Adam Petty, race car driver (b. 1980)
- 2001 – Perry Como, singer (b. 1912)
- 2001 - Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)
- 2002 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American gangster (b. 1905)
- 2003 – Sadruddin Aga Khan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1965 – 1977
- 2005 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1937)
- 2006 - Hussein Maziq, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Irena Sendler, Polish humanitarian (b. 1910)
- 2009 – Antonio Vega, Spanish singer (b. 1957)
- 2013 - Gerd Langguth, German professor of political science (b. 1946)
- 2013 - Constantino Romero, Spanish actor (b. 1947)
Events [change]
- 254 - Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
- 1264 – The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.
- 1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
- 1364 – Jagiellonian University in Cracow, the oldest university in Poland, was founded in Cracow, Poland.
- 1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in South America, was founded in Lima, Peru.
- 1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.
- 1689 – King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
- 1743 - Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
- 1797 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch - The Confederacy wins the last major land battle of the war, despite being on the losing side in the war as a whole.
- 1870 – The Manitoba Act was given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
- 1873 – Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned King of Sweden.
- 1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
- 1885 – North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
- 1890 – The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.
- 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg becomes President of Germany.
- 1926 – UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by trade unions ends.
- 1926 - Italian airship Norge flies over the North Pole, as the first aircraft to do so.
- 1931 – The body of geologist Alfred Wegener is found in Greenland, more than six months after he went missing.
- 1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
- 1937 – Coronation of King George VI of Britain at Westminster Abbey.
- 1941 - Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first programmable, fully automatic, computer in Berlin.
- 1942 - World War II: US tanker Virginia is torpedoed at the mouth of the Mississippi River by German U-boat U-507.
- 1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
- 1943 – In Hunan, China, Japanese Imperial Army officers commit the massacre of Chiangjiang, killing 30,000 civilians.
- 1948 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands announces that she is to abdicate the throne in September, when her daughter becomes Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
- 1949 - Western occupying powers approve the basic law for the new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1949 – Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
- 1955 - Austria regains its independence after Allied occupation.
- 1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
- 1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at West Point.
- 1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
- 1966 – Busch Memorial Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals major league baseball team, opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1967 – At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.
- 1972 – The Rolling Stones release Exile On Main Street, often considered their best album.
- 1975 – Mayagüez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- 1978 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba. The government of Zaire asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
- 1989 A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train derails on Duffy Street on the very steep Cajon Pass in San Bernardino, California.
- 1990 - As the previous claim of Shigechiyo Izumi is no longer considered, Jeanne Calment is already considered to have become the oldest-recorded human ever on this date, more than five years earlier than previously thought.
- 1999 – David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
- 2000 – The Tate Modern art gallery opens in London.
- 2001 – In Copenhagen, Denmark, Tanel Padar & Dave Benton win the forty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia singing "Everybody".
- 2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
- 2003 – International Development Secretary Clare Short resigns from the British government over the Iraq War.
- 2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings are carried out by Al-Qaeda. 26 people are killed.
- 2006 - Mass unrest in the Primeiro Comando de Capital begins in Sao Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 150 people dead.
- 2007 - Riots in Karachi, Pakistan, kill at least 50 people.
- 2007 – Marija Serifovic wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Serbia in Helsinki, Finland.
- 2008 – A major earthquake occurs in China's Sichuan province, killing thousands of people.
- 2010 – An Afriqiyah Airlines plane crashes in Tripoli, Libya. 103 are killed, and only one survives.
Observances [change]
- International Nurses' Day, in honour of Florence Nightingale
- Johan Vilhelm Snellman Day (Finland)
