Date·Lore

On This Day · The 132nd day of the year

May 12

May 12 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1846 and 2017. The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

♉ZodiacTaurus ◈BirthstoneEmerald ❀Birth flowerLily of the Valley

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on May 12?

May 12 is the 132nd day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1846 and 2017. Famous people born on May 12 include Otto Frank, Dorothy Hodgkin and Justus von Liebig.

The shape of the day

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Norge (airship) — May 12 carries the weight of round numbers. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Taurus is the sign for May 12 — read more on the Taurus page, or see May's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on May 12

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Movie The Punisher: One Last Kill
  • Game Call of the Elder Gods
  • Game Directive 8020
  • Game Nitro Gen Omega

2023

  • Game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Game Bum Simulator

2022

  • Game The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1846

    Donner Party

    The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

  2. 1862

    American Civil War

    American Civil War: Union Army troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

  3. 1926

    Norge (airship)

    The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

  4. 1941

    Konrad Zuse

    Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

  5. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.

  6. 1968

    Vietnam War

    Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.

  7. 1982

    Mary, mother of Jesus

    During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.

  8. 2015

    May 2015 Nepal earthquake

    Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3,500.

  9. 2015

    2015 Philadelphia train derailment

    A train derailment in Philadelphia, United States, kills eight people and injures more than 200.

  10. 2017

    WannaCry ransomware attack

    The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400,000 computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefónica computers.

Famous birthday twins

Born on May 12

Otto Frank

b. 1889

German-Swiss businessman and Holocaust survivor; father of diarist Anne Frank

Dorothy Hodgkin

b. 1910

English biochemist, crystallographer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Justus von Liebig

b. 1803

German chemist and academic

Chris Patten

b. 1944

English academic and politician, 28th Governor of Hong Kong

Florence Nightingale

b. 1820

Italian-English nurse, social reformer, and statistician

Marcelo (footballer, born 1988)

b. 1988

Brazilian footballer

Gustav Vasa

b. 1496

King of Sweden from 1523 to 1560

Augustus II the Strong

b. 1670

Polish king

Deaths

  • 2017Mauno Koivisto
  • 1993Zeno Colò
  • 1970Nelly Sachs
  • 1966Felix Steiner
  • 1935Józef Piłsudski
  • 1884Bedřich Smetana

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Joan of Portugal
  • —Christian feast day: Crispoldus
  • —Christian feast day: Dominic de la Calzada
  • —Christian feast day: Epiphanius of Salamis
  • —Christian feast day: Gregory Dix (Church of England)
  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Imelda Lambertini
  • —Christian feast day: Modoald
  • —Christian feast day: Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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