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, 1,765,584,000 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 ‘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

• 1769 –
  Dartmouth College is founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, with a Royal Charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.
• 1867 –
  Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, killing six.
• 1937 –
  Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.
• 1938 –
  The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
• 1939 –
  World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.
• 1941 –
  World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
• 1972 –
  Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
• 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.
• 1988 –
  Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in the Swiss city of Geneva after the United States authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.
• 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.

Who were born on December 13?

• 1678 –
  Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
• 1797 –
  Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
• 1902 –
  Talcott Parsons, American sociologist, (d. 1979)
• 1938 –
  Heino, German folk singer
• 1947 –
  Darlene Cates, American actress
• 1948 –
  Brian Wilson, Scottish politician
• 1967 –
  Bo Pelini, American football coach
• 1969 –
  Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer (d. 2007)
• 1984 –
  Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish swimmer
• 1988 –
  Rickie Fowler, American golfer

Who died on December 13?

• 1404 –
  Albert, Count of Holland (b. 1336)
• 1516 –
  Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (b. 1462)
• 1754 –
  Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
• 1837 –
  Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)
• 1893 –
  Georg August Rudolph, German politician (b. 1816)
• 1924 –
  Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (b. 1850)
• 1940 –
  Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
• 1945 –
  Josef Kramer, German concentration camp commandant (b. 1906)
• 1954 –
  John Raymond Hubbell, American writer (b. 1879)
• 1979 –
  Jon Hall, American actor (b. 1915)