| 54541 | May.12 | Birth | 1997 – Odeya Rush, Israeli-American actress |
| 54542 | May.12 | Death | 1003 – Pope Sylvester II (b. 946) |
| 54543 | May.12 | Death | 1012 – Pope Sergius IV |
| 54544 | May.12 | Death | 1465 – Thomas Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1409) |
| 54545 | May.12 | Death | 1634 – George Chapman, English poet and playwright (b. 1559) |
| 54546 | May.12 | Death | 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1593) |
| 54547 | May.12 | Death | 1684 – Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest (b. 1620) |
| 54548 | May.12 | Death | 1699 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626) |
| 54549 | May.12 | Death | 1700 – John Dryden, English poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1631) |
| 54550 | May.12 | Death | 1708 – Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658) |
| 54551 | May.12 | Death | 1748 – Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer and academic (b. 1692) |
| 54552 | May.12 | Death | 1759 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700) |
| 54553 | May.12 | Death | 1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss zoologist and academic (b. 1710) |
| 54554 | May.12 | Death | 1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French playwright and composer (b. 1710) |
| 54555 | May.12 | Death | 1796 – Johann Uz, German poet and author (b. 1720) |
| 54556 | May.12 | Death | 1801 – Nicholas Repnin, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1734) |
| 54557 | May.12 | Death | 1842 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Belarusian-Polish painter (b. 1799) |
| 54558 | May.12 | Death | 1845 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet and academic (b. 1763) |
| 54559 | May.12 | Death | 1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1786) |
| 54560 | May.12 | Death | 1859 – Sergey Aksakov, Russian author and academic (b. 1791) |
| 54561 | May.12 | Death | 1860 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed Upper Brook Street Chapel and the Palace of Westminster (b. 1795) |
| 54562 | May.12 | Death | 1864 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (b. 1833) |
| 54563 | May.12 | Death | 1867 – Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist and academic (b. 1795) |
| 54564 | May.12 | Death | 1878 – Anselme Payen, French chemist and academic (b. 1795) |
| 54565 | May.12 | Death | 1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian activist (b. 1843) |
| 54566 | May.12 | Death | 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer and educator (b. 1824) |
| 54567 | May.12 | Death | 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (b. 1848) |
| 54568 | May.12 | Death | 1916 – James Connolly, Scottish-Irish general (b. 1868 executed) |
| 54569 | May.12 | Death | 1925 – Amy Lowell, American poet and author (b. 1874) |
| 54570 | May.12 | Death | 1931 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1858) |