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

May 13: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 13 is the 133^rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 232 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

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

When this day started, 29,118,240 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 ‘hectatriacontatrigon’ 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 280 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 4,526 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 13 Historical Events

• 1373 –
  Julian of Norwich has visions which are later transcribed in her Revelations of Divine Love.
• 1865 –
  American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – in far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
• 1912 –
  The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom.
• 1943 –
  World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
• 1948 –
  1948 Arab-Israeli War: the Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
• 1960 –
  Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
• 1963 –
  The U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland is decided.
• 1980 –
  An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
• 1995 –
  A 33 years old British mother Alison Hargreaves, became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.
• 2011 –
  the 2011 Charsadda bombing in the Charsadda District of Pakistan two bombs exploded killing 98 and wounding 140.

Who were born on May 13?

• 1795 –
  Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (d. 1875)
• 1883 –
  Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the pap smear (d. 1962)
• 1922 –
  Michael Ainsworth, British cricketer (d. 1978)
• 1926 –
  Wallace Breem, British author (d. 1990)
• 1950 –
  Manning Marable, American academic and author (d. 2011)
• 1961 –
  Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor
• 1962 –
  Paul McDermott, Australian comedian
• 1981 –
  Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
• 1982 –
  Yoko Kumada, Japanese gravure idol
• 1985 –
  Iwan Rheon, Welsh stage/television actor and singer

Who died on May 13?

• 1901 –
  Leopoldo Alas y Ureña, a.k.a. “Clarín”, Spanish novelist and literary critic (b. 1851)
• 1903 –
  Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician and Prime Minister (b. 1864)
• 1961 –
  Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
• 1962 –
  Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (b. 1893)
• 1972 –
  Dan Blocker, American actor (b. 1928)
• 1992 –
  F. E. McWilliam, Northern Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
• 2002 –
  Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress (b. 1925)
• 2006 –
  Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
• 2008 –
  Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Sheikh of Kuwait (b. 1930)
• 2009 –
  Frank Aletter, American character actor (b. 1926)