Dashed left edge = started before May 2025 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond May 2025
Events in May 2025 18
1926 – 2025Peter Lax (1926-2025)Died 16 May 2025, aged 99Hungarian-born American mathematician awarded the 2005 Abel Prize for his contributions to the theory and applications of partial differential equations.
1927 – 2025Yuri Grigorovich (1927-2025)Died 19 May 2025, aged 98Russian dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995.
1930 – 2025George E. Smith (1930-2025)Died 28 May 2025, aged 95American physicist who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics for co-inventing the charge-coupled device, the sensor behind digital photography.
1932 – 2025Robert Benton (1932-2025)Died 11 May 2025, aged 92American filmmaker who won Academy Awards for directing and adapting Kramer vs. Kramer and for the original screenplay of Places in the Heart.
1935 – 2025Jose Mujica (1935-2025)Died 13 May 2025, aged 89Uruguayan politician who was president from 2010 to 2015, having spent years imprisoned for his guerrilla activity with the Tupamaros. He became known worldwide for his austere personal life.
1937 – 2025Loretta Swit (1937-2025)Died 28 May 2025, aged 87American actress best known as Major Margaret Houlihan in the television series M*A*S*H.
1938 – 2025Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1938-2025)Died 28 May 2025, aged 87Kenyan writer regarded as East Africa's leading novelist. Weep Not, Child was the first major English-language novel by an East African.
1944 – 2025Paul Durcan (1944-2025)Died 17 May 2025, aged 80Irish poet whose work set out to surprise the reader through surrealist eccentricity.
1944 – 2025Sebastiao Salgado (1944-2025)Died 23 May 2025, aged 81Brazilian photojournalist whose black-and-white work documented the beauty and destruction of the planet and the lives of the world's poorest.
20252025 World Snooker ChampionshipThe Most Recent EditionWinner: Mark Williams; Runner-up: Ali Carter. Score: 18–14.
2025Nuggets eliminated in Game 7 vs OKC ThunderThe Nuggets push the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the second round of the 2025 playoffs before falling. Jokic averages a triple-double in the series, his excellence undiminished in defeat.
2025Publishes "We All Want to Change the World"At 78, Abdul-Jabbar publishes a new memoir tracing his journey through social justice movements from the 1960s to the present, cementing his legacy as one of sport and culture's most enduring voices.
2025Re-elected to the Senate for the ACTA Second Term SecuredAt the May 2025 federal election, Pocock was re-elected to the Senate representing the Australian Capital Territory, securing a second term as an independent. The result confirmed his durability as a crossbench figure beyond a single election cycle and extended his ability to influence national legislation on climate, integrity, and social policy. It capped a remarkable transition from champion rugby flanker to established Australian political figure.
2025Friedrich Merz becomes chancellor of GermanyLeader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2022Friedrich Merz became chancellor of Germany on 6 May 2025, having led the Christian Democratic Union since 2022.
2025India and Pakistan exchange missile strikesA four-day escalation ended by ceasefireIndia launched missile strikes on bases in Pakistan on 7 May 2025, prompting exchanges from both sides. The conflict followed an attack on tourists near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April that killed 26 people. A ceasefire was agreed on 10 May.
2025Leo XIV elected the first American popeCardinal Robert Francis Prevost takes the name LeoCardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope on 8 May 2025 and took the name Leo XIV, the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
2025FDA approves the first at-home cervical cancer testScreening without a clinic visitThe US Food and Drug Administration approved the first in-home cervical cancer test on 9 May 2025.
2025Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningLatest blockbuster 2025Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, starring Tom Cruise. The conclusion of the Mission: Impossible saga.