What are the important events that happened on December 13? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 13: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 13 is the 347^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 18 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 30, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 29,426,400 minutes 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 ‘trihectatetracontaheptagon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 66 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 4,740 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 13 Historical Events

• 1294 –
  Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
• 1577 –
  Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
• 1809 –
  Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.
• 1867 –
  Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, killing six.
• 1941 –
  World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
• 1977 –
  A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.
• 1989 –
  Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch an attack on a British Army nonpermanent vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.
• 2000 –
  The “Texas 7” escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.
• 2002 –
  Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
• 2003 –
  Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).

Who were born on December 13?

• 1521 –
  Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
• 1860 –
  Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
• 1910 –
  Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1920 –
  George Shultz, American economist, statesman, and 60th United States Secretary of State
• 1935 –
  Ken Hall, American football player
• 1936 –
  J. C. Martin, American baseball player
• 1944 –
  Marti Webb, British actor and singer
• 1948 –
  Lester Bangs, Rock critic (d. 1982)
• 1950 –
  Tom Vilsack, 40th Governor of Iowa and 30th United States Secretary of Agriculture
• 1988 –
  Rickie Fowler, American golfer

Who died on December 13?

• 1048 –
  Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
• 1204 –
  Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
• 1466 –
  Donatello, Florentine artist and sculptor (b. 1386)
• 1754 –
  Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
• 1814 –
  Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, Belgian-born Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)
• 1883 –
  Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
• 1935 –
  Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
• 1940 –
  Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
• 1992 –
  K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (b. 1899)
• 2004 –
  Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball player (b. 1934)