On this day in history

December 13

28 births · 17 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

480

Council of Trent

480 years ago

Born this day

1989

Taylor Swift

Turns 36

Photo (modified): iHeartRadioCA · CC BY 3.0

Oldest record

821st

Moshe ben Maimon

death anniversary

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Famous births28

1520 · 505 yrs

Sixtus V

Pope Sixtus V (Italian: Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Didier Descouens · Public domain

1533 · 492 yrs

Eric XIV of Sweden

Erik XIV or Eric XIV (13 December 1533 – 26 February 1577) became King of Sweden following the death of his father, Gustav I, on 29 September 1560.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 38

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Domenicus Verwilt · Public domain

1553 · 472 yrs

Henry IV of France

Henry IV (French: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (le Bon Roi Henri) or Henry the Great (Henri le Grand), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): Frans Pourbus the Younger · Public domain

1678 · 347 yrs

Yongzheng Emperor

The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, personal name Yinzhen, was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): anonymous · Public domain

1780 · 245 yrs

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (13 December 1780 – 24 March 1849) was a German chemist who is known best for work that was suggestive of the periodic law for the chemical elements, and for inventing the first lighter, which was known as the Döbereiner's lamp.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Schmidt, Weimar · Public domain

1797 · 228 yrs

Heinrich Heine

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Moritz Daniel Oppenheim · Public domain

1816 · 209 yrs

Werner von Siemens

Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; SEEM-ənz; German:; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph · Public domain

1818 · 207 yrs

Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Ann Lincoln (née Todd; December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Mary_Todd_Lincoln2.jpg : Mathew Brady derivative work: Materialscientist ( talk ) · Public domain

1887 · 138 yrs

George Pólya

George Pólya (Hungarian: Pólya György; December 13, 1887 – September 7, 1985) was a Hungarian-American mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Thane Plambeck from Palo Alto, California · CC BY 2.0

1902 · 123 yrs

Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociology in the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1911 · 114 yrs

Trygve Haavelmo

Trygve Magnus Haavelmo (13 December 1911 – 28 July 1999), born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an economist whose research interests centered on econometrics. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1989.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 114

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1920 · 105 yrs100 Club

George Shultz

George Pratt Shultz ( SHUULTS; December 13, 1920 – February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat, and statesman who served in various positions under presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 105

View profile Photo (modified): U.S. Department of State · Public domain

Showing 12 of 28

Famous deaths17

1204 · 821 yrs

Moshe ben Maimon

Moses Ben Maimon (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־מַיְמוֹן, Moshe Ben Maimon, died 12 December 1204), commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi who is widely acknowledged as one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): No machine-readable author provided. Makinal~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0

1250 · 775 yrs

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II (Italian: Federico, Sicilian: Fidiricu, German: Friedrich, Latin: Fridericus; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220, and King of Jerusalem from 1225 to 1228.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 55

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1521 · 504 yrs

Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I (European Portuguese:; 31 May 1469 – 13 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (Portuguese: O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 52

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Colijn de Coter · Public domain

1565 · 460 yrs

Conrad Gessner

Conrad Gessner (Latin: Conradus Gesnerus; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Tobias Stimmer · Public domain

1574 · 451 yrs

Selim II

Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى, romanized: Selīm-i sānī; Turkish: II. Selim; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond (Turkish: Sarı Selim) or Selim the Drunkard (Sarhoş Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 50

View profile Photo (modified): 16th century artist · Public domain

1754 · 271 yrs

Mahmud I

Mahmud I (Ottoman Turkish: محمود اول, Turkish: I. Mahmud; 2 August 1696 – 13 December 1754), known as Mahmud the Hunchback, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754. He took over the throne after the quelling of the Patrona Halil rebellion.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1784 · 241 yrs

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer (creator of dictionaries).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1863 · 162 yrs

Friedrich Hebbel

Christian Friedrich Hebbel (18 March 1813 – 13 December 1863) was a German poet and dramatist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 50

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Ledl · CC BY-SA 4.0

1930 · 95 yrs

Fritz Pregl

Fritz Pregl (Slovene: Friderik Pregl; 3 September 1869 – 13 December 1930), was a Slovenian-Austrian chemist and physician from a mixed Slovene-German-speaking background.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 61

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1931 · 94 yrs

Gustave Le Bon

Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon (7 May 1841 – 13 December 1931) was a leading French polymath whose areas of interest included anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, invention, and physics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 90

View profile Photo (modified): Arnopeters · CC BY-SA 3.0

1935 · 90 yrs

Victor Grignard

François Auguste Victor Grignard (6 May 1871 – 13 December 1935) was a French chemist who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the eponymously named Grignard reagent and Grignard reaction, both of which are important in the formation of carbon–carbon bonds.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Fotograv. - Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalt Stockholm · Public domain

1944 · 81 yrs

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (16 December 1866 – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist active in Germany during the late Belle Époque and Interwar eras. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): 未知上傳者 · Public domain

Showing 12 of 17

Events5

1545 · 480 yrs

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), in Northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1937 · 88 yrs

Nanjing Massacre

The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking) was the mass rape and murder, between December 1937 and March 1938, of Chinese civilians, noncombatants, and prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1939 · 86 yrs

Battle of the River Plate

The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first British naval battle of the Second World War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2006 · 19 yrs

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2007 · 18 yrs

Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states on 13 December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

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