On This Day: May 12

Updated May 11, 2012, 2:28 pm

On May 12, 1943, during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
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On May 12, 1820, Florence Nightingale, the Englishwoman who established nursing as a trained profession for women, was born. Following her death on Aug. 13, 1910, her obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

On This Date

By The Associated Press

1820 Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born in Florence, Italy.

1870 Manitoba entered the confederation as a Canadian province.

1907 Actress Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Conn.

1932 The body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, N.J.

1943 Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.

1949 The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin blockade.

1965 West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.

1970 The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.

1972 The album “Exile on Main St.” by the Rolling Stones was released.

1982 Pope John Paul II was assaulted by a knife-wielding Spanish priest while visiting the shrine of Fatima in Portugal. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff had been lightly wounded.)

2002 Jimmy Carter became the first present or former U.S. president to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959.

2003 Suicide bombers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 26 people, including nine U.S. citizens.

2003 Fifty-nine Texas House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to prevent passage of a congressional redistricting bill.

2008 An earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed some 70,000 people.

2009 Five Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago’s Sears Tower.

2011 A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard. (Demjanjuk, who maintained his innocence, died in March 2012 at age 91.)

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actress Malin Akerman turns 34 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

Skateboarder Tony Hawk turns 44 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

1925 Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 87

1928 Burt Bacharach, Singer, songwriter, turns 84

1938 Millie Perkins, Actress, turns 74

1948 Lindsay Crouse, Actress, turns 64

1948 Dave Heineman, Governor of Nebraska, turns 64

1948 Steve Winwood, Rock musician (Traffic), turns 64

1950 Bruce Boxleitner, Actor, turns 62

1950 Billy Squier, Rock musician, turns 62

1955 Kix Brooks, Country singer (Brooks and Dunn), turns 57

1959 Ving Rhames, Actor, turns 53

1962 Emilio Estevez, Actor, turns 50

1963 Vanessa Williams, Actress, turns 49

1966 Stephen Baldwin, Actor, turns 46

1969 Kim Fields, Actress (“The Facts of Life”), turns 43

1970 Samantha Mathis, Actress, turns 42

1978 Jason Biggs, Actor (“American Pie” movies), turns 34

1979 Steve Smith, Football player, turns 33

1992 Malcolm David Kelley, Actor (“Lost”), turns 20

Historic Birthdays

Florence Nightingale 5/12/1820 – 8/13/1910 English nurse; reformed nursing profession and medical care for soldiers.Go to obituary »

75 Edward Lear 5/12/1812 – 1/29/1888
English landscape painter and poet

53 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 5/12/1828 – 4/9/1882
English painter and poet

70 Jules Massenet 5/12/1842 – 8/13/1912
French composer; best remembered for his operas

79 Gabriel Faure 5/12/1845 – 11/4/1924
French composer

74 Henry Cabot Lodge 5/12/1850 – 11/9/1924
American statesman; Massachusetts senator from 1893 to 1924

54 Baron Clemens von Pirquet 5/12/1874 – 2/28/1929
Austrian physician; devised a skin test for tuberculosis

71 Lincoln Ellsworth 5/12/1880 – 5/26/1951
American explorer, engineer and scientist

85 Leslie Charteris 5/12/1907 – 4/15/1993
English novelist

84 Dorothy Hodgkin 5/12/1910 – 7/29/1994
English Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1964)

35 Julius Rosenberg 5/12/1918 – 6/19/1953
American engineer;executed with his wife for espionage in 1953

1820	Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born in Florence, Italy.
1870	Manitoba entered the confederation as a Canadian province.
1907	Actress Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Conn.
1932	The body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, N.J.
1943	Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.
1949	The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin blockade.
1965	West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.
1970	The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.
1972	The album “Exile on Main St.” by the Rolling Stones was released.
1982	Pope John Paul II was assaulted by a knife-wielding Spanish priest while visiting the shrine of Fatima in Portugal. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff had been lightly wounded.)
2002	Jimmy Carter became the first present or former U.S. president to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959.
2003	Suicide bombers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 26 people, including nine U.S. citizens.
2003	Fifty-nine Texas House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to prevent passage of a congressional redistricting bill.
2008	An earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed some 70,000 people.
2009	Five Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago’s Sears Tower.
2011	A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard. (Demjanjuk, who maintained his innocence, died in March 2012 at age 91.)

1925	Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 87
1928	Burt Bacharach, Singer, songwriter, turns 84
1938	Millie Perkins, Actress, turns 74
1948	Lindsay Crouse, Actress, turns 64
1948	Dave Heineman, Governor of Nebraska, turns 64
1948	Steve Winwood, Rock musician (Traffic), turns 64
1950	Bruce Boxleitner, Actor, turns 62
1950	Billy Squier, Rock musician, turns 62
1955	Kix Brooks, Country singer (Brooks and Dunn), turns 57
1959	Ving Rhames, Actor, turns 53
1962	Emilio Estevez, Actor, turns 50
1963	Vanessa Williams, Actress, turns 49
1966	Stephen Baldwin, Actor, turns 46
1969	Kim Fields, Actress (“The Facts of Life”), turns 43
1970	Samantha Mathis, Actress, turns 42
1978	Jason Biggs, Actor (“American Pie” movies), turns 34
1979	Steve Smith, Football player, turns 33
1992	Malcolm David Kelley, Actor (“Lost”), turns 20

75	Edward Lear 5/12/1812 – 1/29/1888 English landscape painter and poet
53	Dante Gabriel Rossetti 5/12/1828 – 4/9/1882 English painter and poet
70	Jules Massenet 5/12/1842 – 8/13/1912 French composer; best remembered for his operas
79	Gabriel Faure 5/12/1845 – 11/4/1924 French composer
74	Henry Cabot Lodge 5/12/1850 – 11/9/1924 American statesman; Massachusetts senator from 1893 to 1924
54	Baron Clemens von Pirquet 5/12/1874 – 2/28/1929 Austrian physician; devised a skin test for tuberculosis
71	Lincoln Ellsworth 5/12/1880 – 5/26/1951 American explorer, engineer and scientist
85	Leslie Charteris 5/12/1907 – 4/15/1993 English novelist
84	Dorothy Hodgkin 5/12/1910 – 7/29/1994 English Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1964)
35	Julius Rosenberg 5/12/1918 – 6/19/1953 American engineer;executed with his wife for espionage in 1953