On this day: 21 May
Events, births and deaths on 21 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Gerry Connolly
- Deaths · Andriy Portnov
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Nick Menza
100 years ago1926
- Births · Robert Creeley
- Deaths · Ronald Firbank
- Births · Albert Grossman
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1086 · Deaths · Wang Anshi
- 1075 · Deaths · Richeza of Poland, Queen of Hungary
- 954 · Deaths · Feng Dao
Events · 25
- 1725(Julian date)Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky — single-grade order of chivalry of the Russian Empire (1725–1917)
- 17921792 eruption of Mount Unzen — natural disaster in Japan
- 1809Battle of Aspern-Essling — 1809 battle during the War of the Fifth Coalition
- 1856Sacking of Lawrence — 1856 destruction of the Kansas Territory town
- 1863Seventh-day Adventist Church — Christian denomination
- 1863Battle of Plains Store — 1863 battle of the American Civil War
- 1871Semaine sanglante — 1871 weeklong siege of Paris by the Versailles government to recapture it from the Paris Commune
- 1879Battle of Iquique — 1879 naval battle between Chile and Peru
- 1881
- 1904FIFA — international governing body of association football
- 1939National War Memorial — Canadian national war memorial in Ottawa
- 1946demon core — historical subcritical mass of plutonium
- 19601960 Valdivia earthquake — 9.4–9.6 magnitude earthquake in Chile
- 1982Operation Sutton — British landings during the Falklands War
- 1991assassination of Rajiv Gandhi — 1991 assassination of the 6th Prime Minister of India
- 1994Democratic Republic of Yemen — 1994 breakaway state in South Yemen
- 20002000 East Coast Aviation Services British Aerospace Jetstream crash — plane crash near Wilkes-Barre
- 20032003 Boumerdès earthquake — May 21, 2003 earthquake in Algeria
- 2006Montenegrin independence referendum — independence referendum
- 20112011 end times prediction — False prediction of Christian apocalypse
- 20122012 Sana'a bombing — terrorist attack in Yemen
- 2012Qafa e Vishës bus accident — 2012 motor vehicle incident in Albania
- 2014Taipei Metro massacre — mass stabbing spree on 21 May 2014 on a Taipei Metro train near Jiangzicui Station, resulting in 4 deaths and 24 injuries, whose suspect, Cheng Chieh, then 21, was arrested after the attack, sentenced to death, and executed on 10 May 2016
- 20242024 Greenfield tornado — 2024 EF4 tornado in southwestern Iowa
- 20242024 Taichung Metro attack — stabbing spree in Taiwan
Births · 60
- 554(Julian date)Suiko — Empress of Japan from 592 to 628
- 1471(Julian date)Albrecht Dürer — German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist (1471-1528)
- 1527(Julian date)Philip II of Spain — King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily; King consort of England, lived 1527-1598
- 1653Eleonore of Austria — Queen of Poland and Duchess of Lorraine
- 1688(Julian date)Alexander Pope — English poet (1688–1744)
- 1759Joseph Fouché — French statesman (1759-1820)
- 1775Lucien Bonaparte — 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (1775–1840)
- 1780Elizabeth Fry — social reformer from England (1780-1845)
- 1799Mary Anning — British fossil collector and palaeontologist (1799–1847)
- 1843Charles Albert Gobat — Swiss politician and lawyer (1843-1914)
- 1843
- 1844Henri Rousseau — French painter (1844–1910)
- 1849Édouard-Henri Avril — French painter (1849-1928)
- 1856José Batlle y Ordóñez — president of Uruguay in 1903-1907 and 1911-1915 (1856-1929)
- 1860Willem Einthoven — Dutch physiologist
- 1864Princess Stéphanie of Belgium — Archduchess of Austria (1864–1945)
- 1880Tudor Arghezi — Romanian writer and political figure (1880–1967)
- 1895Lázaro Cárdenas — 51st President of Mexico
- 1902Marcel Breuer — Hungarian-American architect (1902-1981)
- 1902(Julian date)Anatole Litvak — Ukrainian-American filmmaker (1902–1974)
- 1904Fats Waller — American jazz pianist and composer (1904–1943)
- 1904Robert Montgomery — American actor (1904-1981)
- 1914Romain Gary — French writer and diplomat (1914–1980)
- 1916Harold Robbins — American novelist (1916–1997)
- 1917Raymond Burr — Canadian actor (1917–1993)
Deaths · 60
- 252(Julian date)Sun Quan — Emperor of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period
- 1075(Julian date)Richeza of Poland, Queen of Hungary — Queen consort of Hungary (1013–1075)
- 1086(Julian date)Wang Anshi — Song Dynasty chancellor and poet (1021-1086)
- 1254Conrad IV of Germany — King of Germany, Sicily and Jerusalem
- 1416(Julian date)Anna of Cilli — Queen consort of Poland
- 1471(Julian date)Henry VI of England — King of England from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471, disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453
- 1481(Julian date)Christian I of Denmark — Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union (1426-1481)
- 1524(Julian date)Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk — English nobleman and statesman
- 1542Hernando de Soto — Spanish explorer and conquistador
- 1619Hieronymus Fabricius — Italian physician, anatomist and surgeon (1533–1619)
- 1639Tommaso Campanella — Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet (1568-1639)
- 1647Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft — Dutch historian and writer (1581–1647)
- 1650James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose — Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1612-1650)
- 1686Otto von Guericke — German scientist, inventor, and politician (1602-1686)
- 1690John Eliot — Puritan missionary to the American Indians
- 1771Christopher Smart — English poet, hymnwriter, editor
- 1786Carl Wilhelm Scheele — Swedish German chemist who discovered oxygen
- 1790Thomas Warton — English literary historian, critic, poet (1728-1790)
- 1810Chevalier d'Éon — French diplomat, spy and soldier. d’Éon lived openly as a trans woman while in exile in England. (1728–1810)
- 1829Asaf Jah III of Hyderabad — Nizam of Hyderabad
- 1858José de la Riva Agüero — President of Peru
- 1894August Kundt — German physicist (1839–1894)
- 1894Émile Henry — sentenced to death in France
- 1895Franz von Suppè — Austrian composer and conductor (1819–1895)
- 1911Williamina Fleming — astronoma escocesa (1857-1911)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.