On this day in history

December 5

26 births · 22 deaths · 5 events

Prev Sagittarius Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Budapest Memorandum

31 years ago

Born this day

1901

Walt Disney

Would be 124

Oldest record

582nd

Julius II

birth anniversary

Famous births26

1443 · 582 yrs

Julius II

Pope Julius II (Latin: Iulius II; Italian: Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 1443 – 21 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 582

Photo: Raphael · Public domain

1782 · 243 yrs

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. He co-founded the Democratic Party with Andrew Jackson and became Jackson's vice president from 1833 to 1837.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 243

Photo: Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain

1830 · 195 yrs

Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic and devotional poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She was the youngest sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and features in several of his paintings, including Ecce Ancilla Domini!

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 195

Photo: Dante Gabriel Rossetti · Public domain

1839 · 186 yrs

George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated in 1861 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, last in his class.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 186

Photo: George L. Andrews · Public domain

1867 · 158 yrs

Józef Piłsudski

Józef Klemens Piłsudski (Polish:; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 158

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1868 · 157 yrs

Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld (German:; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in both atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical physics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 157

Photo: Collection(s) W. F. Meggers Collection Copyright Holder American Institute of Physics (AIP) · Attribution

1890 · 135 yrs

Fritz Lang

Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (Austrian German:; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (Austrian German:), was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked in Germany and later the United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 135

Photo: Joost Evers / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0

1896 · 129 yrs

Carl Ferdinand Cori

Carl Ferdinand Cori, ForMemRS (December 5, 1896 – October 20, 1984) was an Austrian-American biochemist and pharmacologist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 129

Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1901 · 124 yrs

Werner Heisenberg

Werner Karl Heisenberg (German:; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 124

Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1901 · 124 yrs

Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney ( DIZ-nee; December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 124

Photo: Boy Scouts of America · Public domain

1903 · 122 yrs

Cecil Frank Powell

Cecil Frank Powell (5 December 1903 – 9 August 1969) was a British experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950 for heading the team that developed the photographic method of studying nuclear processes, and for the resulting discovery of the pion (pi-meson).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 122

Photo: Nobel foundation · Public domain

1903 · 122 yrs100 Club

Johannes Heesters

Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters (5 December 1903 – 24 December 2011), known professionally as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch-German actor of stage, television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and performer on the concert stage with a career dating back to the 1920s.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 122

Photo: Harry Pot · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Showing 12 of 26

Famous deaths22

1560 · 465 yrs

Francis II of France

Francis II (French: François II; 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King of Scotland as the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 482

Photo: Attributed to François Clouet · Public domain

1686 · 339 yrs

Nicolas Steno

Niels Steensen (Danish: Niels Steensen; Latinized to Nicolas Steno or Nicolaus Stenonius; 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686) was a Danish scientist, a pioneer in both anatomy and geology who became a Catholic bishop in his later years. He has been beatified by the Catholic Church.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 388

Photo: Niels_stensen.jpg : J. P. Trap 1868 derivative work: nagualdesign ( talk ) · Public domain

1791 · 234 yrs

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a Classical composer and musician.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 270

Photo: Barbara Krafft · Public domain

1870 · 155 yrs

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie; 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père, was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 224

Photo: Nadar · Public domain

1891 · 134 yrs

Pedro II of Brazil

Dom Pedro II (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), known as "the Magnanimous" (Portuguese: O Magnânimo), was the second and final emperor of the Empire of Brazil.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 200

Photo: Alphonse Liébert · Public domain

1925 · 100 yrs

Władysław Reymont

Władysław Stanisław Reymont (Polish:; born Rejment; 7 May 1867 – 5 December 1925) was a Polish novelist and the laureate of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known work is the award-winning four-volume novel Chłopi (The Peasants).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 159

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1926 · 99 yrs

Claude Monet

Oscar-Claude Monet (UK:, US:; French:; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 185

Photo: Nadar · Public domain

1941 · 84 yrs

Amrita Sher-Gil

Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian–Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 113

Photo: Unknown author Unknown author probably Umrao Singh Sher-Gil (1870–1954) · Public domain

1950 · 75 yrs

Aurobindo Ghosh

Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghosh; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi and nationalist who is noted for his participation in the movement for India's independence from British rule; he advocated for complete autonomy through his writings and political activity.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyWould be 154

Photo: Rudolf 1922 · Public domain

1965 · 60 yrs

Joseph Erlanger

Joseph Erlanger (January 5, 1874 – December 5, 1965) was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 152

Photo: The Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1977 · 48 yrs

Aleksandr Vasilevsky

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky (30 September 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 131

Photo: Unknown author · CC BY 4.0

2007 · 18 yrs

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen (German:; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 98

Photo: Kathinka Pasveer · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 22

Events5

1918 · 107 yrs

Latvian War of Independence

The Latvian War of Independence (Latvian: Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles (Latvijas brīvības cīņas) or the Latvian War of Liberation (Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1936 · 89 yrs

1936 Soviet Constitution

The 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, also known as the Stalin Constitution, was the basic law of the USSR adopted on 5 December 1936.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1952 · 73 yrs

Great Smog of London

The Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

1955 · 70 yrs

Montgomery bus boycott

The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1994 · 31 yrs

Budapest Memorandum

The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances comprises four substantially identical political agreements signed at the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 December 1994, to provide security assurances by its signatories relating to the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan,…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

Nearby dates

Born on December 5? Find your birthday twins →

Share December 5

Living room with framed Who Shares My Birthday poster

Close-up

FrameShown to scale · framed 34 × 46 cmThis is the frame we'll deliver, with a white mount

Printable keepsake

Your birthday twins poster

A personalised A3 framed print of everyone famous born on December 5, what happened on your birthday in history and your zodiac sign. We print and frame it for you and deliver it to your door (UK only).

Name on poster

Your photo

Kept private and only used to make your poster.