- 330 – Constantinople is consecrated.
- 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.
- 912 – Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch–Hanoverian army.
- 1792 – Robert Gray commands the first expedition to sail into the Columbia River.
- 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
- 1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
- 1833 – The Lady of the Lake strikes an iceberg off Newfoundland and sinks with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.
- 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.
- 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
- 1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd state of the United States.
- 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
- 1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
- 1894 – Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.
- 1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
- 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes.
- 1960 – Adolf Eichmann is captured by the Mossad in Argentina.
- 1963 – Racist bombings in Birmingham, Alabama, disrupt nonviolence in the Birmingham campaign and precipitate a crisis involving federal troops.
- 1970 – The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
- 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg’s charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
- 1985 – Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
- 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
- 1996 – After the aircraft’s departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
- 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
- 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
- 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
- 2010 – David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country’s first coalition government since the Second World War.
- 2011 – An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
- 2013 – Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
- 2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
- 2016 – One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.
Births on May 11
- 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (d. 1637)
- 1715 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (d. 1739)
- 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840)
- 1797 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (d. 1867)
- 1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1893)
- 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
- 1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
- 1869 – Archibald Warden, English tennis player (d. 1943)
- 1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (d. 1943)
- 1875 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (d. 1912)
- 1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
- 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
- 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1963)
- 1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
- 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945)
- 1889 – Paul Nash, British painter (d. 1946)
- 1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958)
- 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984)
- 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
- 1895 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (d. 1978)
- 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (d. 1978)
- 1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer and academic (d. 1955)
- 1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
- 1901 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-English poet and author (d. 1988):7
- 1901 – Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Edna Ernestine Kramer, American mathematician (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
- 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
- 1905 – Lise de Baissac, Mauritian-born SOE agent, war hero (d. 2004)
- 1905 – Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (d. 1964)
- 1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989
- 1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Indian-Pakistani author and screenwriter (d. 1955)
- 1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- 1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1921 – Robin Barbour, Scottish minister and author (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician (d. 2016)
- 1924 – Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1925 – Edward J. King, American football player and politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Bernard Fox, British actor (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
- 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
- 1934 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Jack Twyman, American basketball player (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1937 – Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian Olympic and world champion foil fencer
- 1938 – Narendra Patel, Baron Patel, Tanzanian-English obstetrician, academic, and politician
- 1941 – Eric Burdon, English musician
- 1941 – Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
- 1944 – John Benaud, Australian cricketer
- 1948 – Jack Cantoni, French rugby player (d. 2013)
- 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-English politician
- 1950 – Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
- 1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
- 1954 – John Gregory, English footballer and manager
- 1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician, 49th Mayor of New Haven
- 1957 – Mike Nesbitt, Northern Irish journalist and politician
- 1962 – Steve Bono, American football player
- 1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
- 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1967 – Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
- 1969 – Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
- 1970 – Harold Ford, Jr., American lawyer and politician
- 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist
- 1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach
- 1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner
- 1974 – Darren Ward, English-Welsh footballer and coach
- 1974 – Tony Warner, English born Trinidadian international footballer and coach
- 1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, American rapper and record producer/executive
- 1977 – Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
- 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1977 – Bobby Roode, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1978 – Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
- 1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2013)
- 1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
- 1983 – Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (d. 2014)
- 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model
- 1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
- 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
- 1987 – Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor
- 1987 – Monica Roșu, Romanian gymnast
- 1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
- 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Alyssa Brown, Canadian artistic gymnast
- 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican international footballer
- 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
- 1992 – Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
- 1992 – Pablo Sarabia, Spanish footballer
- 1993 – Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
- 1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
- 1995 – Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
- 1999 – Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress
- 1999 – Kaitlyn Dias, American actress and voice artist
Deaths on May 11
- 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)
- 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
- 1779 – John Hart, American lawyer and politician (b. 1711)
- 1812 – Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
- 1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
- 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (b. 1777)
- 1882 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1816)
- 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801)
- 1908 – Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
- 1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873):xix
- 1918 – George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (b. 1861)
- 1920 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1878)
- 1920 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (b. 1837)
- 1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
- 1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (b. 1864)
- 1938 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (b. 1858)
- 1955 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- 1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)
- 1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888):169
- 1967 – James E. Brewton, American painter (b. 1930)
- 1979 – Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
- 1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
- 1983 – Zenna Henderson, American writer (b. 1917)
- 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (b. 1900)
- 1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (b. 1894)
- 1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912)
- 1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952)
- 2002 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1912)
- 2002 – Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 2003 – Noel Redding, English bass player (b. 1945)
- 2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)
- 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (b. 1913)
- 2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (b. 1953)
- 2009 – Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915)
- 2010 – Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (b. 1904)
- 2011 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (b. 1977)
Holidays and observances on May 11
- Christian feast day:
- Anthimus of Rome
- Gangulphus of Burgundy
- Majolus of Cluny
- Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints
- May 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Technology Day (India)
- Statehood Day (Minnesota)
- Vietnam Human Rights Day (Vietnam)