What are the important events that happened on May 8? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 8: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 8 is the 129th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 237 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 25, 2024 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 476,424 hours 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 ‘hectaicosaenneagon’ 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 266 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 4,156 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 8 Historical Events
- 1794 –Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
- 1821 –Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia.
- 1877 –At Gilmore’s Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
- 1919 –Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
- 1924 –the Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
- 1941 –The German Luftwaffe launch a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
- 1942 –World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1946 –Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
- 1972 –Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
- 1988 –A fire at Illinois Bell‘s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history’and still the worst to occur on Mother’s Day.
Who were born on May 8?
- 1925 –Ali Hassan Mwinyi, President of Tanzania
- 1932 –Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970)
- 1937 –Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian politician
- 1940 –Emilio Delgado, American actor
- 1940 –Peter Benchley, American author (d. 2006)
- 1942 –Norman Lamont, British politician
- 1954 –Stephen Furst, American actor
- 1961 –Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1964 –Melissa Gilbert, American actress
- 1981 –Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian athlete
Who died on May 8?
- 1278 –Emperor Duanzong of China (b. 1268)
- 1819 –King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii
- 1944 –Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
- 1982 –Neil Bogart, American record executive (b. 1943)
- 1984 –Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1916)
- 1996 –Larry Levis, American poet (b. 1946)
- 1998 –Bebe Rebozo, American banker and Watergate figure (b. 1912)
- 1999 –Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1999 –Sir Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921)
- 2001 –Koby Mandell, Israeli-American terror victim (b. 1987)
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