What are the important events that happened on May 21? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 21: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 21 is the 142nd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 224 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 8, 2024 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,716,249,600 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatetracontadigon’ day.
Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 253 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,169 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 21 Historical Events
- 1674 –The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
- 1758 –Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
- 1911 –Mexican President Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, and thus concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
- 1934 –Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
- 1936 –Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover’s severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon becomes one of Japan’s most notorious scandals.
- 1951 –The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
- 1966 –The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
- 1981 –Irish Republican hunger strikers Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara die on hunger strike in Maze prison.
- 1981 –The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
- 1996 –The MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.
Who were born on May 21?
- 1853 –Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
- 1856 –José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan politician (d. 1929)
- 1904 –Fats Waller, American pianist (d. 1943)
- 1912 –Akiva Vroman, Dutch-born Israeli geologist (d. 1989)
- 1923 –Vernon Biever, American photographer (d. 2010)
- 1943 –Hilton Valentine, British guitarist (The Animals)
- 1975 –Lee Gaze, Welsh guitarist (Lostprophets)
- 1976 –Aditi Gowitrikar, Indian model, actress and physician
- 1980 –Chris Raab, American television personality
- 1992 –Olivia Olson, American singer and actress
Who died on May 21?
- 1742 –Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
- 1790 –Thomas Warton, English poet (b. 1728)
- 1844 –Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (b. 1775)
- 1895 –Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (b. 1819)
- 1911 –Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (b. 1857)
- 1952 –John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1991 –Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
- 1996 –Lash LaRue, American actor (b. 1917)
- 1996 –Paul Delph, American singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1957)
- 2000 –Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
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