On this day: 12 May
Events, births and deaths on 12 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Susannah Mushatt Jones
- Deaths · Mike Agostini
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1935 · Deaths · Józef Piłsudski
- 1916 · Deaths · James Connolly
- 1921 · Births · Joseph Beuys
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1003 · Deaths · Sylvester II
- 1012 · Deaths · Sergius IV
- 940 · Deaths · Eutychius of Alexandria
Events · 25
- 1364Jagiellonian University — Polish higher education institution
- 1510(Julian date)Prince of Anhua rebellion — 1510 rebellion in China
- 1551National University of San Marcos — public research university in Lima, Peru
- 1588Day of the Barricades — public uprising in the French Wars of Religion
- 1809Second Battle of Porto — 1809 battle during the Peninsular War
- 1821Battle of Valtetsi — 1821 battle of the Greek War of Independence
- 1863Battle of Raymond — 1863 battle of the American Civil War
- 1865Battle of Palmito Ranch — 1865 American Civil War battle
- 1881French protectorate of Tunisia — 1881-1956 monarchy in Northern Africa
- 1881Treaty of Bardo — treaty between France and Tunisia
- 1933Federal Emergency Relief Administration — New Deal-era U.S. government agency
- 1937coronation of George VI and Elizabeth — initiation rite performed to crown George VI and Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Dominions of the British Commonwealth in 1937
- 1940Battle of Hannut — 1940 WWII battle in Belgium
- 1942Second Battle of Kharkov — May 1942 battle during World War II
- 1968Battle of Coral–Balmoral — series of actions in May and June 1968 during the Vietnam War
- 1975Mayaguez incident — Last battle of the Vietnam War
- 1989San Bernardino train disaster — 1989 train crash and subsequent oil pipeline rupture in California
- 1998Trisakti shootings — shootings of a student protest in Jakarta, Indonesia on 12 May 1998
- 2003
- 20082008 Sichuan earthquake — earthquake in China
- 2010Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 — aviation accident
- 2015May 2015 Nepal earthquake — a second earthquake in Nepal in May, 2015
- 20152015 Philadelphia train derailment — Amtrak train derailment
- 2017WannaCry ransomware attack — ransomware cyberattack
- 20182018 Paris knife attack — knife attack
Births · 60
- 1496(Julian date)Gustav I of Sweden — King of Sweden from 1523 to 1560
- 1590Cosimo II de' Medici — Grand Duke of Tuscany (1590-1621)
- 1670Augustus II the Strong — King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony (1670–1733)
- 1755Giovanni Battista Viotti — Italian violinist and composer of the classical period (1755–1824)
- 1767Manuel Godoy — Prime Minister of Spain (1767-1851)
- 1803Justus von Liebig — German chemist (1803-1873)
- 1806Johan Vilhelm Snellman — Finnish politician and author (1806-1881)
- 1812Edward Lear — British artist, illustrator, author and poet (1812-1888)
- 1820Florence Nightingale — English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing (1820–1910)
- 1828Dante Gabriel Rossetti — English poet, illustrator, painter, and translator (1828-1882)
- 1842Jules Massenet — French composer (1842–1912)
- 1845Gabriel Fauré — French composer, organist, pianist and teacher (1845–1924)
- 1869Carl Schuhmann — German athlete (1869-1946)
- 1880Lincoln Ellsworth — American explorer (1880–1951)
- 1889Otto Heinrich Frank — father of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank (1889–1980)
- 1890Kurt Student — German Luftwaffe general (1890–1978)
- 1895Jiddu Krishnamurti — Indian spiritual philosopher, mystic, speaker and writer (1895–1986)
- 1895William Giauque — American chemist (1895-1982)
- 1900Helene Weigel — German actress and artistic director (1900–1971)
- 1907Katharine Hepburn — American actress (1907–2003)
- 1908Nicholas Kaldor — Hungarian-British economist
- 1910Dorothy Hodgkin — British chemist
- 1910Johan Ferrier — Dutch-Surinamese politician (1910-2010)
- 1921Joseph Beuys — German artist, teacher, and theorist of art (1921–1986)
- 1925Yogi Berra — American baseball player, manager, and coach (1925–2015)
Deaths · 60
- 940(Julian date)Eutychius of Alexandria — Melkite Patriarch of Alexander (877-940) (r. 933-940)
- 1003(Julian date)Sylvester II — Pope of the Catholic Church from 999 to 1003
- 1012(Julian date)Sergius IV — Pope from 1009 to 1012
- 1182Valdemar I of Denmark — King of Denmark
- 1465(Julian date)Thomas Palaiologos — Despot of the Morea from 1428 to 1460
- 1634George Chapman — 16th/17th-century English dramatist, poet, and translator
- 1641Thomas Wentworth — 1st Earl of Strafford, English earl and politician (1593–1641)
- 1684Edme Mariotte — French physicist, chemist, botanist and priest
- 1708Duke Adolf Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz — first Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1658-1708)
- 1784Abraham Trembley — Genevan naturalist (1710-1784)
- 1792Charles Simon Favart — French writer (1710-1792)
- 1856Jacques Philippe Marie Binet — French mathematician (1786-1856)
- 1859Sergey Aksakov — Russian writer
- 1860Charles Barry — British architect (1795–1860)
- 1864J. E. B. Stuart — Confederate cavalry general (1833–1864)
- 1884Bedřich Smetana — Czech composer
- 1897Minna Canth — Finnish writer, editor (1844-1897)
- 1907Joris-Karl Huysmans — French novelist and art critic (1848–1907)
- 1910William Huggins — British astronomer (1824–1910)
- 1916James Connolly — Irish republican, trade unionist and socialist revolutionary
- 1916Seán Mac Diarmada — Irish revolutionary (1883-1916)
- 1925Amy Lawrence Lowell — US writer (1874-1925)
- 1931Eugène Ysaÿe — Belgian violinist, composer and conductor
- 1935Józef Piłsudski — Polish politician, First Marshall, and Prime Minister (1867–1935)
- 1936Hu Han-min — Chinese politician (1879-1936)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.