May 12

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.

Events

• 254 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I as the 23rd pope.
• 304 – Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the beheading of the 14-year-old Pancras of Rome.
• 922 – After much hardship, Abbasid envoy Ahmad ibn Fadlan arrived in the lands of Volga Bulgars.
• 1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.
• 1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
• 1364 – Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków, Poland.
• 1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.
• 1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.
• 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 after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
• 1797 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
• 1821 – The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.
• 1862 – U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
• 1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
• 1865 – American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.
• 1870 – The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
• 1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
• 1885 – North-West Rebellion: the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
• 1926 – UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by trade unions ends.
• 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.
• 1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Jr., is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.
• 1933 – The Agricultural Adjustment Act is enacted to restrict agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies.
• 1935 – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith (founders of Alcoholics Anonymous) meet for the first time in Akron, Ohio, at the home of Henrietta Siberling.
• 1937 – The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey.
• 1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
• 1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: in eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.
• 1942 – World War II: The U.S. tanker Virginia was torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German U-Boat U-507.
• 1942 – Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
• 1945 – Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the Federación Obrera de la Industria de la Carne dissolved.
• 1948 – Wilhelmina, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands cedes throne.
• 1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.
• 1949 – The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 1952 – Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.
• 1955 – Nineteen days after bus workers went on strike in Singapore, rioting breaks out and seriously impacts Singapore's bid for independence.
• 1955 – Austria regains its independence as the Allied occupation following World War II ends.
• 1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• 1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral, east of Lai Khe in South Vietnam on the night of 12/13 May, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides and beginning the Battle of Coral-Balmoral.
• 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 (now known as Katanga). The local government asks the U.S.A., France and Belgium to restore order.
• 1981 – Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a Republican campaign for political prisoner status to be granted to Provisional IRA prisoners.
• 1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being an "agent of Moscow".
• 1989 – The San Bernardino train disaster kills 4 people. A week later an underground gasoline pipeline explodes killing 2 more people.
• 1998 – Four students are shot at Trisakti University, leading to widespread riots and the fall of Suharto
• 2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• 2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26 people.
• 2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.
• 2006 – Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.
• 2007 – Riots in which over 50 people are killed and over 100 are injured take place in Karachi upon the arrival in town of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
• 2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
• 2008 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

Births

• 1401 – Emperor Shōkō, Japanese emperor (d. 1428)
• 1496 – Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
• 1590 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
• 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France (d. 1698)
• 1626 – Louis Hennepin, Flemish missionary (d. 1705)
• 1670 – Augustus II the Strong (d. 1733)
• 1700 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian engineer and architect (d. 1773)
• 1725 – Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1785)
• 1739 – Johann Baptist Vanhal, Bohemian composer (d. 1813)
• 1754 – Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and publisher (d. 1812)
• 1755 – Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1824)
• 1767 – Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1851)
• 1803 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)
• 1804 – Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (d. 1858)
• 1806 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (d. 1881)
• 1812 – Edward Lear, English artist and poet (d. 1888)
• 1814 – Adolf von Henselt, German composer and pianist (d. 1889)
• 1820 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)
• 1825 – Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, French lawyer and adventurer (d. 1878)
• 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English painter (d. 1882)
• 1829 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (d. 1896)
• 1839 – Tôn Thất Thuyết, Vietnamese mandarin of the Nguyễn Dynasty (d. 1913)
• 1840 – Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean military officer (d. 1912)
• 1842 – Jules Massenet, French composer (d. 1912)
• 1845 – Gabriel Fauré, French composer (d. 1924)
• 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, American statesman (d. 1924)
• 1859 – William Alden Smith, American politician (d. 1932)
• 1867 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
• 1869 – Carl Schuhmann, German athlete (d. 1946)
• 1872 – Anton Korošec, Slovenian political leader (d. 1940)
• 1873 – J.E.H. Macdonald, English-Canadian artist (d. 1932)
• 1874 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (d. 1929)
• 1875 – Charles Holden; British architect (d. 1960)
• 1880 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (d. 1951)
• 1885 – Paltiel Daykan, Russian-Israeli jurist (d. 1969)
• 1886 – Ernst A. Lehmann, German zeppelin captain (d. 1937)
• 1889 – Yvonne de Bray, French actress (d. 1954)
• 1889 – Otto Frank, German businessman and Holocaust victim, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
• 1892 – Fritz Kortner, Austrian director (d. 1970)
• 1895 – William Giauque, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1982)
• 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Indra Devi, Latvian Yoga Instructor (d. 2002)
• 1900 – Helene Weigel, German actress (d. 1971)
• 1900 – Joseph Rochefort, American naval officer and cryptanalyst (d. 1976)
• 1903 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (d. 1991)
• 1905 – Édouard Rinfret, Canadian politician and judge (d. 1994)
• 1907 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (d. 1993)
• 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1910 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Johan Ferrier, Surinamese politician, 1st President of Suriname (d. 2010)
• 1910 – Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, English biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• 1910 – Gordon Jenkins, American conductor and composer (d. 1984)
• 1911 – Charles Biro, American cartoonist (d. 1972)
• 1914 – Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (d. 1993)
• 1914 – Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)
• 1914 – James Bacon, American author, columnist, and reporter (d. 2010)
• 1916 – Albert Murray, American writer
• 1917 – Frank Clair, American-Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
• 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, American atomic spy (d. 1953)
• 1918 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
• 1919 – Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
• 1921 – Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
• 1922 – Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Bob Goldham, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1991)
• 1922 – Roy Salvadori, English Formula One driver and winner of 1959 Le Mans 24 hour (d. 2012)
• 1924 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian mathematician
• 1924 – Tony Hancock, English comedian (d. 1968)
• 1924 – Maxine Cooper Gomberg, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player
• 1926 – Viren J. Shah, Indian politician, 21st Governor of West Bengal (d. 2013)
• 1928 – Burt Bacharach, American pianist, composer, and producer
• 1928 – Henry Cosby, American songwriter and producer (d. 2002)
• 1929 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1929 – Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia
• 1930 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Tom Umphlett, American baseball player (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet
• 1935 – Felipe Alou, Dominican baseball player and manager
• 1935 – Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1935 – Gary Peacock, American musician
• 1936 – Guillermo Endara, Panamanian politician, 32nd President of Panama (d. 2009)
• 1936 – Tom Snyder, American news anchor (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Frank Stella, American painter
• 1937 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (d. 1996)
• 1937 – George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2008)
• 1937 – Susan Hampshire, English actress
• 1938 – Millie Perkins, American actress
• 1939 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek politician
• 1939 – Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby player
• 1939 – Ron Ziegler, American White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
• 1939 – Jalal Dabagh, Kurdish politician
• 1940 – Norman Whitfield, American songwriter and producer (d. 2008)
• 1942 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter, bandleader, and actor (The Blockheads) (d. 2000)
• 1942 – Michel Fugain, French singer and composer
• 1942 – Billy Swan, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1943 – Linda Dano, American actress
• 1944 – Chris Patten, English politician
• 1945 – Alan Ball, Jr., English footballer (d. 2007)
• 1945 – Nicky Henson, English actor
• 1945 – Ian McLagan, English musician and songwriter (Small Faces Faces, and The New Barbarians)
• 1945 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman
• 1946 – L. Neil Smith, American author
• 1946 – Daniel Libeskind, American architect, designer, and artist
• 1947 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician
• 1947 – Micheline Lanctôt, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
• 1947 – Catherine Yronwode, American writer and editor
• 1948 – David Heineman, American politician, 39th governor of Nebraska
• 1948 – Richard Riehle, American actor
• 1948 – Joe Tasker, English mountaineer (d. 1982)
• 1948 – Steve Winwood, English musician and songwriter (The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith)
• 1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
• 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
• 1950 – Louise Portal, French-Canadian actress
• 1950 – Billy Squier, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1951 – George Karl, American basketball player and coach
• 1951 – Joe Nolan, American baseball player
• 1952 – Norbert Stolzenburg, German footballer
• 1953 – Kevin Grevey, American basketball player
• 1954 – Rafael Yglesias, American novelist and screenwriter
• 1955 – Kix Brooks, American singer-songwriter (Brooks & Dunn)
• 1956 – Bernie Federko, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1956 – Sergio Marchi, Canadian diplomat and politician
• 1956 – Glenn Robbins, Australian comedian
• 1956 – Asad Rauf, Pakistani cricket umpire
• 1957 – Lou Whitaker, American baseball player
• 1958 – Andreas Petroulakis, Greek artist
• 1958 – Eric Singer, American drummer and songwriter (Kiss, Avantasia, Badlands, and Eric Singer Project)
• 1959 – Ving Rhames, American actor
• 1959 – Ray Gillen, American singer-songwriter and musician (Badlands, Blue Murder, and Sun Red Sun) (d. 1993)
• 1960 – Paul Arcand, Canadian journalist and director
• 1960 – Ian Khan, English race car driver
• 1961 – Jennifer Armstrong, American writer
• 1961 – Paul Begala, American political commentator
• 1961 – Billy Duffy, English guitarist and songwriter (The Cult, Theatre of Hate, and The Nosebleeds)
• 1961 – Thomas Dooley, German-American soccer player
• 1961 – Lar Park Lincoln, American actress
• 1961 – Bruce McCulloch, Canadian actor
• 1962 – Emilio Estevez, American actor
• 1962 – Brett Gurewitz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Bad Religion, Daredevils, and Error)
• 1963 – Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player and politician, Mayor of Piraeus
• 1963 – Gavin Hood, South African director, screenwriter, actor, and producer
• 1963 – Stefano Modena, Italian race car driver
• 1963 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer (Charles and Eddie) (d. 2001)
• 1963 – Jerry Trimble, American actor
• 1963 – Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
• 1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
• 1964 – Geechy Guy, American comedian
• 1964 – Pierre Morel, French director
• 1966 – Stephen Baldwin, American actor
• 1966 – Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer-songwriter
• 1967 – Paul D'Amour, American singer and musician (Tool and Replicants)
• 1967 – Joe McKinney, Irish actor
• 1968 – Mark Clark, American baseball player
• 1968 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
• 1968 – Scott Schwartz, American actor
• 1968 – Catherine Tate, English comedian, actress, and writer
• 1969 – Kim Fields, American actress
• 1969 – Kevin Nalty, American comedian
• 1970 – Jim Furyk, American golfer
• 1970 – Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
• 1970 – Samantha Mathis, American actress
• 1970 – Steve Palframan, South African cricketer
• 1970 – Mark Foster, English swimmer
• 1971 – Doug Basham, American wrestler
• 1971 – Jamie Luner, American actress
• 1973 – Kendra Kassebaum, American actress
• 1973 – Bobby Kent, American murder victim (d. 1993)
• 1973 – Travis Lutter, American mixed martial artist
• 1973 – Lutz Pfannenstiel, German footballer
• 1973 – Robert Tinkler, Canadian voice actor
• 1974 – Marc Capdevila, Spanish swimmer
• 1975 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
• 1975 – Lawrence Phillips, American football player
• 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper, songwriter, and producer
• 1977 – Lorena Bernal, Argentine-Spanish model and actress
• 1977 – Graeme Dott, Scottish snooker player
• 1977 – Rebecca Herbst, American actress
• 1978 – Jason Biggs, American actor
• 1978 – Malin Åkerman, Swedish-Canadian actress and model
• 1978 – Wilfred Le Bouthillier, Canadian singer
• 1978 – Aya Ishiguro, Japanese singer, writer, and fashion designer (Morning Musume and Tanpopo)
• 1978 – Josh Phelps, American baseball player
• 1978 – Hossein Reza Zadeh, Iranian weightlifter
• 1979 – Andre Carter, American football player
• 1979 – Callum Chambers, Australian footballer
• 1979 – Robert Key, English cricketer
• 1979 – Erdinç Saçan, Turkish-Dutch politician
• 1979 – Steve Smith, American football player
• 1979 – Aaron Yoo, Korean-American actor
• 1979 – Dennis Trillo, Filipino model, actor, and singer
• 1980 – Keith Bogans, American basketball player
• 1980 – Felipe Lopez, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1981 – Kentaro Sato, Japanese-American composer and conductor
• 1981 – Rami Malek, American actor
• 1982 – David Thaxton, Welsh actor and singer
• 1982 – Chloe Sims, English actress, glamour model, and entrepreneur
• 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
• 1983 – Alina Kabayeva, Russian gymnast
• 1983 – Yujiro Kushida, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1983 – Virginie Razzano, French tennis player
• 1983 – Francisco Torres, Mexican footballer
• 1984 – Tommaso Reato, Italian rugby player
• 1985 – Tally Hall, American soccer player
• 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys, Belgian footballer
• 1986 – Im Dong-Hyun, South Korean archer
• 1986 – Jonathan Orozco, Mexican footballer
• 1986 – Mouhamed Sene, Senegalese basketball player
• 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
• 1987 – Gianluca Sansone, Italian footballer
• 1987 – Kieron Pollard, West Indies cricketer
• 1988 – Marky Cielo, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 2008)
• 1988 – Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
• 1990 – Florent Amodio, French figure skater
• 1990 – Jacory Harris, American football player
• 1990 – Oliver Kragl, German footballer
• 1990 – Tobias Strobl, German footballer
• 1992 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
• 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor
• 1995 – Kenton Duty, American actor
• 1995 – Irina Khromacheva, Russian tennis player
• 1995 – Sawyer Sweeten, American actor
• 1995 – Sullivan Sweeten, American actor

Deaths

• 1003 – Pope Silvester II (b. 946)
• 1012 – Pope Sergius IV
• 1382 – Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)
• 1465 – Thomas Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor (b. 1409)
• 1634 – George Chapman, English writer (b. 1559)
• 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)
• 1684 – Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest (b. 1620)
• 1699 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)
• 1700 – John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)
• 1708 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
• 1748 – Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer (b. 1692)
• 1759 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
• 1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
• 1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)
• 1796 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)
• 1801 – Nicholas Repnin, Russian statesman (b. 1734)
• 1842 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter (b. 1799)
• 1845 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)
• 1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)
• 1859 – Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)
• 1860 – Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)
• 1864 – J.E.B. Stuart, American soldier and Confederate Army general (b. 1833)
• 1867 – Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)
• 1878 – Anselme Payen, French chemist (b. 1795)
• 1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1843)
• 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
• 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Cadbury (b. 1801)
• 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)
• 1916 – James Connolly, Irish socialist and leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1868)
• 1925 – Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)
• 1931 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1858)
• 1935 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)
• 1944 – Max Brand, American author (b. 1892)
• 1944 – Arthur Quiller-Couch, English writer (b. 1863)
• 1956 – Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
• 1957 – Alfonso de Portago, Spanish bobsledder and race car driver (b. 1928)
• 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian director and actor (b. 1885)
• 1963 – Richard Girulatis, German football manager (b. 1878)
• 1963 – Robert Kerr, Canadian sprinter (b. 1882)
• 1966 – Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German Heer and Waffen-SS officer (b. 1896)
• 1967 – John Masefield, English writer (b. 1878)
• 1970 – Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• 1971 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)
• 1973 – Art Pollard, American race car driver (b. 1911)
• 1978 – Robert Coogan, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1979 – Ileana Sărăroiu, Romanian singer (b. 1936)
• 1985 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)
• 1986 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
• 1986 – Alicia Moreau de Justo, Argentine physician, politician, and activist (b. 1885)
• 1990 – Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Lenny Montana, American actor (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)
• 1993 – Omond Solandt, Canadian scientist (b. 1909)
• 1994 – Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)
• 1994 – John Smith, English politician (b. 1938)
• 1995 – Mia Martini, Italian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz, Saudi Arabian scholar (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (b. 1914)
• 2000 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
• 2001 – Perry Como, American singer and actor (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)
• 2002 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American gangster (b. 1905)
• 2003 – Khalid al-Juhani, Saudi Arabian terrorist (b. 1975)
• 2003 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Syd Hoff, American children's book author (b. 1912)
• 2005 – Martin Lings, English-Islamic scholar (b. 1909)
• 2005 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1937)
• 2006 – Hussein Maziq, Libyan politician, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1918)
• 2006 – Gillespie V. Montgomery, American politician (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Dadullah, Afghan-Taliban military commander
• 2007 – Teddy Infuhr, American actor (b. 1936)
• 2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, American artist (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Irena Sendler, Polish social worker and humanitarian (b. 1910)
• 2009 – Antonio Vega, Spanish singer-songwriter (Nacha Pop) (b. 1957)
• 2012 – Tor Marius Gromstad, Norwegian footballer (b. 1989)
• 2012 – Neil McKenty, English-Canadian broadcaster and author (b. 1924)
• 2012 – Eddy Paape, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Constantino Romero, Spanish voice actor, television and radio host (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Blessed Imelda
  • Blessed Joan of Portugal
  • Crispoldus
  • Dominic de la Calzada
  • Epiphanius of Salamis
  • Modoald
  • Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras
  • Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople (Eastern Church)
  • Philip of Agira
• May 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• International Nurses Day
• Florence Nightingale, Nurse, CE 1910 (commemoration, Anglicanism)
• Mother's Day (2013)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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