What are the important events that happened on May 12? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 12: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 233 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 29, 2025 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,747,008,000 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 ‘hectatriacontadigon’ day.
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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 281 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 4,525 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 12 Historical Events
- 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.
- 1916 –James Connolly was sat on a chair and shot dead in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, after his role in the Easter Uprising
- 1941 –Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
- 1942 –Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
- 1949 –The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1962 –Douglas MacArthur delivers his Duty, Honor, Country valedictory speech at the United States Military Academy.
- 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.
- 2003 –The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26 people.
Who were born on May 12?
- 1622 –Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of New France (d. 1698)
- 1803 –Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)
- 1912 –Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General (d. 2004)
- 1925 –Yogi Berra, American baseball player
- 1935 –Felipe Alou, Dominican baseball player and manager
- 1937 –Beryl Burton, British cyclist (d. 1996)
- 1963 –Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player, Mayor of Piraeus
- 1978 –Wilfred Le Bouthillier, Canadian singer
- 1980 –Keith Bogans, American basketball player
- 1982 –David Thaxton, British stage actor and singer
Who died on May 12?
- 1634 –George Chapman, English writer
- 1784 –Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
- 1792 –Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)
- 1935 –Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)
- 1957 –Alfonso de Portago, Spanish bobsledder and race car driver (b. 1928)
- 1971 –Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)
- 1985 –Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)
- 1999 –Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia 1993-1999 (b. 1910)
- 2000 –Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- 2006 –Gillespie V. Montgomery, U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)
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