On this day in history, May 27 carries the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, the founding of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the sinking of the Bismarck.
What happened on May 27 in history includes the launch of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, and India’s first Prime Minister, Nehru, dying in office.
Today in history, May 27 also marks the first night baseball game in the major leagues in 1935 and the birth of Rachel Carson. Famous birthdays on May 27 include Henry Kissinger, Vincent Price, and Peri Gilpin.
National days on May 27 include National Cellophane Tape Day and International Body Piercing Day.
This day in history, May 27, fun facts reveal a date of engineering wonders, naval warfare, and the birth of environmental science.
Table of Contents
May 27 on the Calendar
May 27 is the 147th day of the year in standard years and the 148th day in leap years. There are 218 days remaining.
The zodiac sign is Gemini (May 21 – June 20).
In the Northern Hemisphere, May 27 falls in late spring, with Pacific Ocean fog — a defining feature of the Golden Gate’s geography — typically present at dawn before burning off by mid-morning at San Francisco’s latitude of 37.8°N.
Major Historical Events on May 27
May 27 spans engineering milestones, naval warfare, political endings, and environmental science. The following 11 events are drawn from documented records spanning four centuries.
1679 — The Habeas Corpus Act is passed by the English Parliament, requiring that any person detained by government authorities must be brought before a court to determine the legality of their detention. The act, building on the original Magna Carta principle of 1215, became a foundational protection of individual liberty against arbitrary imprisonment and was adopted into law across the British Commonwealth and influenced the U.S. Constitution’s Suspension Clause.
1703 — Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg, laying the first stone of the Peter and Paul Fortress on a small island in the Neva River delta. The city was built by tens of thousands of conscripted laborers over two decades and became Russia’s imperial capital in 1712, a status it held until 1918. It is now Russia’s second-largest city with a population of approximately 5.6 million.
1813 — U.S. forces under General Henry Dearborn capture York (present-day Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada, during the War of 1812. American troops burned the Parliament buildings — an act that later motivated the British burning of Washington, D.C. in August 1814.
1907 — Rachel Carson is born in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Her book Silent Spring (1962) documented the harmful effects of pesticides — particularly DDT — on ecosystems and human health, launching the modern environmental movement. The book’s influence led directly to the U.S. ban on DDT in 1972 and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.
1937 — The Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrians for the first time after more than four years of construction. Approximately 200,000 people walked across it on opening day. The bridge connects San Francisco to Marin County across a 4,200-foot main span — at the time, the longest in the world. Its distinctive International Orange color was chosen by consulting architect Irving Morrow over the Navy’s preference for black and yellow stripes.
1941 — The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic by Royal Navy forces approximately 300 miles west of Brest, France. The Bismarck, one of the largest battleships ever built, had sunk HMS Hood on May 24 and was hunted for three days. 1,995 of approximately 2,200 crew members died. Only 114 were rescued by British ships, which broke off rescue operations after a U-boat alarm.
1964 — Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, dies in office in New Delhi at age 74. He had served as Prime Minister since independence on August 15, 1947, for 16 years and 286 days. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, later served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984.
1994 — Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia after 20 years in exile, arriving by train from Vladivostok after flying from Anchorage, Alaska. Solzhenitsyn had been expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 following the publication of The Gulag Archipelago. He settled near Moscow and remained critical of both Soviet-era government and post-Soviet oligarchic capitalism.
2002 — The Mars Odyssey spacecraft begins detecting water ice just below the surface of Mars’s south polar region, based on measurements of hydrogen concentration using its Gamma Ray Spectrometer. The finding was the first definitive evidence of water in significant quantities on Mars and transformed scientific understanding of Mars’s potential to support life.
2011 — The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for crimes against humanity committed during the Libyan civil war. Gaddafi was killed by rebel forces on October 20, 2011, without ever facing trial.
2016 — President Obama’s Hiroshima visit (which occurred May 27, 2016) made him the first sitting U.S. President to visit the city since the atomic bombing. He placed a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and delivered remarks calling for a “world without nuclear weapons” — language that fell short of an apology, in line with White House policy.
What’s Happening on May 27, 2026?
Golden Gate Bridge anniversary: May 27, 2026, marks the 89th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge’s opening to pedestrians on May 27, 1937. The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District typically holds commemorative events, and the bridge remains the most photographed structure in the United States.
Nehru death anniversary: India observes this date with tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru, whose legacy remains politically contested — celebrated by the Indian National Congress as the architect of modern India and criticized by Hindu nationalist groups for his secularist and socialist economic policies.
Bismarck sinking anniversary: The Royal Navy Museum and Imperial War Museum hold periodic commemorative events on the Bismarck’s anniversary, with the wreck — located in 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard — remaining a site of interest for maritime archaeology.
Famous Birthdays on May 27
| Name | Born–Died | Nationality | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Kissinger | 1923–2023 | German-American | U.S. National Security Adviser (1969–1975) and Secretary of State (1973–1977) who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He is also credited with the U.S.-China opening (1972) and criticized for authorizing covert operations in Cambodia, Chile, and Bangladesh. He died November 29, 2023, at age 100. |
| Vincent Price | 1911–1993 | American | Actor whose distinctive voice and dramatic presence defined American horror cinema from the 1950s to the 1980s, in films including House of Wax (1953), The Fly (1958), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), and Vincent (1982). He also narrated Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (1982). |
| Rachel Carson | 1907–1964 | American | Marine biologist and nature writer whose Silent Spring (1962) documented the environmental effects of pesticides and is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. She died April 14, 1964, of breast cancer, two years after the book’s publication. |
| Wild Bill Hickok | 1837–1876 | American | Folk hero, lawman, and gunfighter who served as a scout for General George Custer and as a marshal in Kansas cow towns including Abilene. He was shot from behind while playing poker in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, on August 2, 1876, holding aces and eights — a hand now known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.” |
| Louis Gossett Jr. | 1936–2024 | American | Actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) — the first Black man to win that award. He died March 28, 2024. |
| Peri Gilpin | born 1961 | American | Actress best known as Roz Doyle on the NBC comedy Frasier (1993–2004), which won 37 Emmy Awards — the most for a comedy series in television history. |
| Christopher Lee | 1922–2015 | British | [Note: confirmed death on May 21, 2015. Born May 27, 1922.] Actor who appeared in 282 films, including 9 Hammer Dracula films, The Lord of the Rings (as Saruman), and Star Wars Episodes II and III (as Count Dooku). He held multiple Guinness World Records. He was the last surviving cast member who had actually met J.R.R. Tolkien personally. |
| Paul Bettany | born 1971 | British | Actor known for roles as J.A.R.V.I.S./Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and as Silas in The Da Vinci Code (2006). He starred alongside his wife Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind (2001). |
Notable Deaths on May 27
| Name | Born–Died | Nationality | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jawaharlal Nehru | 1889–1964 | Indian | Died May 27, 1964, in New Delhi. India’s first Prime Minister served from independence in August 1947 until his death in office, a tenure of 16 years and 286 days. His non-aligned foreign policy positioned India as a leader of the decolonizing world, and his economic planning laid the foundation for India’s industrialization. |
| Rachel Carson | 1907–1964 | American | [Died April 14, 1964 — not May 27. Born May 27, 1907.] |
| Amelia Jenks Bloomer | 1818–1894 | American | Women’s rights advocate and dress reform activist. Died December 30, 1894. |
| Wild Bill Hickok | 1837–1876 | American | [Died August 2, 1876 — not May 27. Born May 27, 1837.] |
Confirmed May 27 deaths:
| Name | Born–Died | Nationality | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jawaharlal Nehru | 1889–1964 | Indian | Died May 27, 1964. His state funeral in New Delhi was attended by leaders from 84 countries. He was cremated on the banks of the Yamuna River at Shantivana, which remains a memorial site. His ashes were scattered over India’s mountains, rivers, and fields per his written wishes. |
| Christopher Marlowe | 1564–1593 | British | Died May 30, 1593. |
| John Calvin | 1509–1564 | French-Swiss | Protestant reformer who established Reformed (Calvinist) theology and founded the Reformed tradition in Geneva. He died May 27, 1564, in Geneva. His Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536, expanded 1559) remains the foundational systematic theology of Reformed Protestantism, influencing Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and the Dutch Reformed Church. |
National Days & Holidays on May 27
National Cellophane Tape Day (U.S.): Observed on May 27 in reference to the invention of transparent adhesive tape by Richard Gurley Drew of 3M, who invented it in 1930 under the brand name Scotch Tape. 3M produces approximately 50,000 miles of Scotch Tape annually. The Scotch brand name came from an insulting comment by an auto painter who told Drew to go back to his “Scotch bosses” and get more adhesive.
International Body Piercing Day (worldwide): Observed on May 27, coinciding with the birthday of Jim Ward, the founder of the modern body piercing industry and the original owner of Gauntlet Enterprises (1975), the first dedicated body piercing studio in the United States. The industry now generates approximately $1.2 billion in annual revenue in the United States.
National Grape Popsicle Day (U.S.): An informal food observance on May 27, celebrating the grape-flavored ice pop — the most popular Popsicle flavor in the United States according to consumer surveys. The Popsicle was invented by 11-year-old Frank Epperson in 1905 when he accidentally left a fruit drink with a mixing stick in it on his porch overnight during a cold San Francisco night.
International Observances on May 27
Obama’s Hiroshima Visit anniversary: May 27 marks the anniversary of the 2016 visit. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum hosts international events around this date each year, drawing delegates from nuclear-armed and non-nuclear states to discuss the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force on January 22, 2021.
John Calvin’s Death Anniversary: Reformed and Presbyterian churches worldwide mark May 27 as a commemoration date for John Calvin (d. 1564). The World Alliance of Reformed Churches — representing approximately 80 million Reformed Christians — uses the date for educational programming on Reformed theology.
Fun & Weird Facts About May 27
The Golden Gate Bridge was nearly painted with black and yellow stripes. The U.S. Navy initially requested that the bridge be painted black with yellow stripes to ensure visibility for naval vessels. Consulting architect Irving Morrow instead advocated for International Orange — a color he felt complemented the natural surroundings of the San Francisco Bay. Chief engineer Joseph Strauss agreed. The color was applied as a primer during construction and was universally loved, becoming permanent.
The Bismarck’s sinking was caused in part by its own crew. After sustaining damage to its rudder from a Swordfish biplane torpedo attack on May 26, 1941, the Bismarck was unable to maneuver and circled helplessly. Facing capture, the crew opened sea cocks and placed explosive charges to scuttle the ship before the Royal Navy sank it. When the wreck was located by Robert Ballard in 1989, his inspection supported the scuttling theory — the hull was intact where it should have been destroyed by external fire, and the interior was collapsed inward.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s death triggered a political dynasty. Within two years of Nehru’s death on May 27, 1964, his daughter Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister (1966–1977, 1980–1984). Her son Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister after her assassination (1984–1989), and Rajiv’s widow Sonia Gandhi led the Indian National Congress for over 20 years. The Nehru-Gandhi family has produced 3 of India’s first 14 prime ministers.
Scotch Tape’s name was an insult that became a brand. When 3M inventor Richard Drew developed a lightly adhesive tape for car painters in 1925 and brought it to a client, the painter reportedly said: “Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it.” The “Scotch” insult — implying cheap, miserly — became the product’s brand name. When Drew perfected transparent tape in 1930, it was marketed under the same Scotch brand.
Vincent Price was an art collector and gourmet who wrote cookbooks. Despite his public persona as a horror icon, Price held a fine arts degree from the University of London and donated over 100 works of art to the East Los Angeles College Foundation. He co-authored A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965) with his second wife, Mary, a cookbook that is now a collectible culinary artifact worth over $200 in its original edition.
FAQ – May 27 in History
What happened on May 27, 1937?
On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians for the first time after more than four years of construction. Approximately 200,000 people walked across the bridge on opening day. The bridge’s main span of 4,200 feet was the longest in the world at the time of opening.
What happened on May 27, 1941?
On May 27, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck was sunk in the North Atlantic by Royal Navy forces approximately 300 miles west of Brest, France, three days after it had sunk HMS Hood. Approximately 1,995 of the Bismarck’s 2,200 crew members died; only 114 were rescued.
Who was born on May 27 in history?
Notable people born on May 27 include statesman Henry Kissinger (1923), actor Vincent Price (1911), environmental scientist Rachel Carson (1907), actor Christopher Lee (1922), and lawman Wild Bill Hickok (1837).
What happened to Jawaharlal Nehru?
Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, died on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi, from a heart attack. He had been in declining health following a stroke in January 1964. He served as Prime Minister for 16 years and 286 days, from India’s independence on August 15, 1947, until his death.
What is National Cellophane Tape Day?
National Cellophane Tape Day is observed on May 27 to mark the invention of transparent adhesive tape (Scotch Tape) by Richard Gurley Drew of 3M in 1930. The Scotch brand name originated from a workplace insult about the tape’s initial lack of adhesive. 3M now produces approximately 50,000 miles of Scotch Tape annually.
