From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (134th in leap years). There are 232 days remaining.
[edit] Events
- 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
- 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
- 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.
- 1648 - Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed.
- 1765 - The first historical performance of the Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands in C major, K. 19d by Mozart in The Great Room, accompanied by his sister.
- 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from them (the Innviertel).
- 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts (First Fleet) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
- 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
- 1861 - Great Comet of 1861 discovered in Australia.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
- 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- 1888 - With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery.
- 1909 - The first Giro d'Italia took place in Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna was the winner.
- 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) was established.
- 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft.
- 1917 - Three peasant children report seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal.[1]
- 1917 - The Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.
- 1939 - The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later became WDRC-FM.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
- 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
- 1941 - World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
- 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.
- 1952 - The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, held its first sitting.
- 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 - Velcro's trade mark is registered.
- 1967 - Dr. Zakir Hussain became 3rd President of India. He was the first Muslim President of Indian Union. He held this position till August 24, 1969.
- 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.
- 1972 - Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka. Blocked exits and nonfunctional elevators cause 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
- 1976 - The final game in the history of the American Basketball Association is played as the New York Nets defeat the Denver Nuggets 112-106 in New York to win the 1976 ABA Championship.
- 1980 - An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
- 1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope was rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery, and managed to survive.
- 1985 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police storm MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
- 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
- 1998 - India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, in addition to the three conducted on May 11. United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
- 2000 - Lara Dutta (21), who said beauty pageants give women a platform to voice our choices and opinions is named Miss Universe 2000 in the Cyprus capital Nicosia.
- 2000 - In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.
- 2001 - Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition wins the Italian general elections.
- 2005 - Malcolm Glazer completes a hostile takeover of the world's biggest sports club Manchester United Football Club for $1.4 billion.
- 2005 - The Andijan Massacre occurs in Uzbekistan.
- 2006 - 2006 São Paulo violence: A major rebellion occurs in several prisons of the state.
[edit] Births
- 1588 - Ole Worm, Danish physician (d. 1654)
- 1638 - Richard Simon, French Biblical critic (d. 1712)
- 1655 - Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
- 1699 - Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)
- 1712 - Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (d. 1772)
- 1717 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (d. 1780)
- 1730 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)
- 1753 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (d. 1823)
- 1792 - Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)
- 1794 - Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)
- 1795 - Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (d. 1875)
- 1826 - Christian Kramp, French mathematician (b. 1760)
- 1830 - Zebulon Baird Vance, three-time governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
- 1840 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist (d. 1897)
- 1842 - Arthur Sullivan, English composer (d. 1900)
- 1857 - Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1932)
- 1882 - Georges Braque, French painter (d. 1963)
- 1883 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (d. 1962)
- 1894 - Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
- 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, English author (d. 1989)
- 1913 - Gil Evans, Canadian musician (d. 1988)
- 1913 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian president (d. 1980)
- 1913 - Lambros Konstantaras, Greek actor (d. 1985)
- 1914 - Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
- 1920 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)
- 1922 - Michael Ainsworth, British cricketer (d. 1978)
- 1923 - Beatrice Arthur, American actress
- 1926 - Wallace Breem, British author
- 1927 - Herbert Ross, American director (d. 2001)
- 1928 - Jim Shoulders, Champion Rodeo Cowboy
- 1931 - Jim Jones, American cult leader (d. 1978)
- 1934 - Leon Wagner, baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1937 - Madeleine Albright, 64th American Secretary of State
- 1937 - Roch Carrier, Canadian novelist
- 1937 - Roger Zelazny, American author (d. 1995)
- 1937 - Trevor Baylis, English inventor of the wind-up radio
- 1939 - Harvey Keitel, American actor
- 1940 - Bruce Chatwin, British writer (d. 1989)
- 1941 - Senta Berger, Austrian actress
- 1941 - Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1944 - Armistead Maupin, American author
- 1947 - Stephen R. Donaldson, American author
- 1949 - Zoë Wanamaker, English-American actress
- 1950 - Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician
- 1951 - Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 1951 - Paul Thompson, British rock drummer (Roxy Music)
- 1954 - Johnny Logan, Irish singer and songwriter]]
- 1956 - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of the Art of Living Foundation
- 1957 - Alan Ball, American screenwriter, director, producer
- 1957 - Koji Suzuki, Japanese writer (Ring, Dark Water)
- 1961 - Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor
- 1962 - Eduardo Palomo, Mexican actor (d. 2003)
- 1962 - Kathleen Jamie, Scottish poet
- 1964 - Stephen Colbert, American comedian and actor
- 1964 - Ronnie Coleman, American bodybuilder and an eight-time Mr. Olympia title winner
- 1964 - Tom Verica, American actor
- 1965 - José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountain climber (d. 2006)
- 1965 - Hikari Ota, Japanese comedian
- 1965 - Tasmin Little, English violinist
- 1966 - Darius Rucker, American singer (Hootie & the Blowfish)
- 1966 - Kamen Vodenicharov, Bulgarian entertainer
- 1967 - Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (Death, Control Denied) (d. 2001)
- 1968 - Alison Goldfrapp, English musician
- 1969 - André Schmechta, German musician (X Marks the Pedwalk)
- 1973 - Steffen Fischlein, German footballer
- 1976 - Mark Delaney, Welsh footballer
- 1977 - Ilse DeLange, Dutch singer
- 1977 - Neil Hopkins, American actor
- 1977 - Samantha Morton, English actress
- 1978 - Barry Zito, American baseball player
- 1978 - Mike Bibby, American basketball player
- 1979 - Prince Carl Philip of Sweden
- 1980 - Waka Inoue, Japanese gravure idol and actress
- 1981 - Jimmy Yang, American professional wrestler
- 1981 - Sunny Leone, Canadian model
- 1982 - Yoko Kumada, Japanese gravure idol
- 1982 - Oguchi Onyewu, American footballer
- 1983 - Grégory Lemarchal, French singer, winner of Star Academy 4
- 1983 - Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer
- 1985 - Travis Zajac, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 - Robert Pattinson, English actor
- 1987 - Hunter Parrish, American actor
- 1988 - Casey Donovan, Australian singer
[edit] Deaths
- 1162 - Géza II of Hungary
- 1176 - Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
- 1312 - Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
- 1573 - Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (b. 1521)
- 1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (b. 1547)
- 1704 - Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (b. 1632)
- 1742 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
- 1807 - Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (b. 1721)
- 1832 - Georges Cuvier, French naturalist (b. 1769)
- 1835 - John Nash, English architect (b. 1752)
- 1866 - Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician (b. 1796)
- 1871 - Daniel Auber, French composer (b. 1782)
- 1884 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809)
- 1885 - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (b. 1809)
- 1916 - Sholom Aleichem, Russian author (b. 1859)
- 1925 - Boris Savinkov, Russian writer and terrorist (b. 1879)
- 1926 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian Catholic prelate (b. 1857)
- 1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1861)
- 1937 - Ekaterina Geladze, mother of Joseph Stalin (b. 1858)
- 1938 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- 1945 - Tubby Hall, American musician (b. 1895)
- 1961 - Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1962 - Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (b. 1893)
- 1974 - Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican writer (b. 1902)
- 1975 - Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)
- 1985 - Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1988 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929)
- 1992 - F. E. McWilliam, Northern Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
- 1999 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)
- 2000 - Paul Bartel, American actor (b. 1938)
- 2001 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
- 2001 - Jason Miller, American playwright (b. 1939)
- 2005 - George Dantzig, American mathematician (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Michael Ross, American serial killer (b. 1959)
- 2006 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian (b. 1923)
- 2006 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
[edit] Holidays and observances
saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
[edit] External links
