On this day in history

May 13

30 births · 14 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Eurovision Song Contest 2025

1 years ago

Born this day

1717

Maria Theresa of Austria

Died aged 63

Photo (modified): Martin van Meytens · Public domain

Oldest record

806th

Alexander Nevsky

birth anniversary

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Famous births30

1220 · 806 yrs

Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (Russian: Александр Ярославич Невский; IPA:; monastic name: Aleksiy; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) was Prince of Novgorod (1236–1240; 1241–1256; 1258–1259) and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–1263).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 43

View profile Photo (modified): Collective of Kremlin Armory artists · Public domain

1335 · 691 yrs

Gregory XII

Pope Gregory XII (Latin: Gregorius XII; Italian: Gregorio XII; c. 1327 – 18 October 1417), born Angelo Corraro, Corario, or Correr, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 November 1406 to 4 July 1415.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Justus van Gent / Pedro Berruguete · Public domain

1655 · 371 yrs

Innocent XIII

Pope Innocent XIII (Latin: Innocentius XIII; Italian: Innocenzo XIII; 13 May 1655 – 7 March 1724), born as Michelangelo dei Conti, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 8 May 1721 to his death in March 1724. He remains the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Innocent".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Possibly Agostino Masucci · Public domain

1717 · 309 yrs

Maria Theresa of Austria

Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Martin van Meytens · Public domain

1753 · 273 yrs

Lazare Carnot

Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot (English: kar-NOH, French:; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist, military officer, politician and a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Louis-Léopold Boilly · Public domain

1792 · 234 yrs

Pius IX

Pope Pius IX (Italian: Pio IX; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 16 June 1846 until his death in February 1878.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 85

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

1808 · 218 yrs

Patrice de MacMahon

Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (French:; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893), was a French general and politician who served as President of France from 1873 to 1879. He was elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France by Napoleon III.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 85

View profile Photo (modified): Mayer et Pierson · Public domain

1840 · 186 yrs

Alphonse Daudet

Louis Marie Alphonse Daudet (French:; 13 May 1840 – 16 December 1897) was a French novelist and writer of short stories. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Étienne Carjat · Public domain

1857 · 169 yrs

Ronald Ross

Sir Ronald Ross (13 May 1857 – 16 September 1932) was a British medical doctor. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 75

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

1882 · 144 yrs

Georges Braque

Georges Braque ( BRA(H)K; French:; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he played in the development of Cubism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 144

View profile Photo (modified): Photographer non-identified, anonymous · Public domain

1905 · 121 yrs

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (Assamese pronunciation:; 13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1974 to 1977. Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the Inner Temple, London in 1928.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 121

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1907 · 119 yrs

Daphne du Maurier

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 119

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Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths14

1832 · 194 yrs

Georges Cuvier

Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (French:), was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): François-André Vincent · Public domain

1878 · 148 yrs

Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Henry Ulke (1821-1910) · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

Sholem Aleichem

Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich or Solomon Naumovych Rabinovych (2 March 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem, was a Ukrainian Jewish author and playwright who wrote in Yiddish and lived in the Russian Empire and later the United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 57

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1930 · 96 yrs

Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (Norwegian:; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, a scientist, a diplomat, a humanitarian, and the co-founder of the Fatherland League.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Henry Van der Weyde · Public domain

1938 · 88 yrs

Charles Édouard Guillaume

Charles-Édouard Guillaume (French:; 15 February 1861 – 13 June 1938) was a Swiss physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 "for the service he had rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel steel alloys." In 1919, he gave the fifth Guthrie Lecture at the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): Auguste Léon · Public domain

1961 · 65 yrs

Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent type of screen persona and understated acting style. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at number 11 on its list of the 50 greatest screen legends.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 125

View profile Photo (modified): Warner Bros. · Public domain

1984 · 42 yrs

Stanisław Ulam

Stanisław Marcin Ulam (Polish:; 13 April 1909 – 13 May 1984) was a Polish-American mathematician who made important contributions in advancing the understanding of nuclear physics and computer science.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 117

View profile Photo (modified): Los Alamos National Laboratory · Attribution

1988 · 38 yrs

Chet Baker

Chesney Henry Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 96

View profile Photo (modified): Studio Harcourt. · Public domain

2018 · 8 yrs

Margot Kidder

Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was a Canadian-American actress and activist. She amassed several film and television credits in her career spanning five decades, including her widely known role as Lois Lane in the original Superman films (1978–1987).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ActivismWould be 78

View profile Photo (modified): Eva Rinaldi · CC BY-SA 2.0

2019 · 7 yrs

Doris Day

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 104

View profile Photo (modified): Los Angeles Times · CC BY 4.0

2022 · 4 yrs

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Arabic: خليفة بن زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان‎; 7 September 1948 – 13 May 2022) was the second president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi from 2004 until his death in 2022.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 78

View profile Photo (modified): Casa Rosada Argentina · CC BY-SA 2.5

2022 · 4 yrs

Ben Roy Mottelson

Benjamin Roy Mottelson (9 July 1926 – 13 May 2022) was an American-Danish nuclear physicist. He won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the non-spherical geometry of atomic nuclei.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 100

View profile Photo (modified): GFHund · CC BY 3.0

Showing 12 of 14

Events5

1917 · 109 yrs

Our Lady of Fátima

Our Lady of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima, pronounced; formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1995 · 31 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1995

The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and presented by Mary Kennedy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2007 · 19 yrs

2007 Spanish Grand Prix

The 2007 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2007) was a Formula One motor race, the fourth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, won by Felipe Massa. It was held on 13 May 2007 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2014 · 12 yrs

Soma mine disaster

On 13 May 2014, a fire broke out at Eynez coal mine in Soma, Manisa, Turkey, killing 301 workers in the deadliest mining accident in the country's history. The mine was operated by Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş. under a contract with the state-owned Turkish Coal Operations Authority.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

2025 · 1 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 2025

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 13 and 15 May and a final on 17 May 2025, held at St.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

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