Discover · History

On this day — May 25

A hand-curated thread of what happened on this date, across centuries.

Observed today

Public holiday

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is observed in United States. Recognized nationally.

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Pop culture

Towel Day

Carry a towel in honor of Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide. A hoopy frood always knows where their towel is.

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2018

Milestone

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes enforceable in the European Union.

2018

Milestone

Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution that prohibits abortion in all but a few cases, choosing to replace it with the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.

2013

Milestone

Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.

2012

Milestone

The SpaceX Dragon 1 becomes the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station.

2011

Milestone

Oprah Winfrey airs her last show

ending her 25-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

2009

Milestone

North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device

after which Pyongyang also conducts several missile tests, building tensions in the international community.

2008

Milestone

NASA's Phoenix lander touches down in the Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.

2002

Milestone

China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait

with the loss of all 225 people on board.

2001

Milestone

Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest

in the Himalayas, with Dr. Sherman Bull.

2000

Milestone

Liberation Day of Lebanon

Israel withdraws its army from Lebanese territory (with the exception of the disputed Shebaa farms zone) 18 years after the invasion of 1982.

1999

Milestone

The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.

1997

Politics

A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.

1986

Milestone

The Hands Across America event takes place.

1985

Milestone

Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge

which kills approximately 10,000 people.

1982

Politics

Falklands War

HMS Coventry is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks.