1876

  • May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
    • 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
    • 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
    • 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.
    • 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
    • 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV.
    • 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
    • 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host.
    • 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
    • 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
    • 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
    • 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
    • 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.
    • 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.
    • 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
    • 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
    • 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
    • 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day.
    • 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
    • 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
    • 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
    • 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
    • 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.
    • 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ends in failure.
    • 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
    • 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
    • 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
    • 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.
    • 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246.
    • 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.
    • 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world’s most destructive earthquakes.
    • 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
    • 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
    • 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
    • 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
    • 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.
    • 1957 – South Africa’s government approves of racial separation in universities.
    • 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.
    • 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
    • 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
    • 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later.
    • 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
    • 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
    • 1967 – L’Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.
    • 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
    • 1969 – Apollo 10’s lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon’s surface.
    • 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
    • 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.
    • 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
    • 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
    • 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
    • 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
    • 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
    • 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.
    • 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
    • 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.
    • 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
    • 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737.
    • 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).
    • 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
    • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
    • 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d’état, following six months of political turmoil.
    • 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
    • 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
    • 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
    • 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.

    Births on May 22

    • 626 – Itzam K’an Ahk I, Mayan king (d. 686)
    • 1009 – Su Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1066)
    • 1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
    • 1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)
    • 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
    • 1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
    • 1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
    • 1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
    • 1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
    • 1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter (d. 1808)
    • 1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
    • 1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
    • 1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
    • 1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
    • 1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
    • 1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
    • 1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
    • 1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
    • 1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
    • 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
    • 1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
    • 1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
    • 1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
    • 1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
    • 1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1895)
    • 1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
    • 1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
    • 1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
    • 1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
    • 1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
    • 1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
    • 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
    • 1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
    • 1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
    • 1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
    • 1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
    • 1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
    • 1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
    • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
    • 1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
    • 1887 – A. W. Sandberg, Danish film director and screenwriter (d. 1938)
    • 1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
    • 1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
    • 1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
    • 1900 – Juan Arvizu, Mexican lyric opera tenor and bolero vocalist (d.1985)
    • 1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
    • 1902 – Jack Lambert, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
    • 1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
    • 1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
    • 1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
    • 1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
    • 1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (d. 1989)
    • 1908 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
    • 1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
    • 1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
    • 1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
    • 1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
    • 1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
    • 1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
    • 1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
    • 1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – George S. Hammond, American scientist (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
    • 1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
    • 1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
    • 1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Kenny Ball, English jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and bandleader (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
    • 1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
    • 1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
    • 1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
    • 1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
    • 1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
    • 1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
    • 1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
    • 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
    • 1940 – Mick Tingelhoff, American Pro Football Hall of Famer
    • 1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
    • 1942 – Roger Brown, American basketball player (d. 1997)
    • 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
    • 1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
    • 1942 – Richard Oakes, Native American civil rights activist (d. 1972)
    • 1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
    • 1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player
    • 1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
    • 1945 – Bob Katter, Australian politician
    • 1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
    • 1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
    • 1946 – Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Russian-Ukrainian astronomer
    • 1948 – Tomás Sánchez, Cuban painter and engraver
    • 1948 – Nedumudi Venu, Indian actor and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Cheryl Campbell, English actress
    • 1949 – Valentin Inzko, Austrian diplomat
    • 1950 – Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
    • 1953 – François Bon, French writer
    • 1953 – Cha Bum-kun, South Korean footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Paul Mariner, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1954 – Barbara May Cameron, Native American human rights activist (d. 2002)
    • 1954 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1956 – Lucie Brock-Broido, American poet (d. 2018)
    • 1957 – Lisa Murkowski, American lawyer and politician
    • 1959 – David Blatt, Israeli-American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and performer
    • 1959 – Kwak Jae-yong, South Korean director and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Mehbooba Mufti, Indian politician
    • 1960 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Brian Pillman, American football player and wrestler (d. 1997)
    • 1963 – Claude Closky, French contemporary artist
    • 1965 – Jay Carney, American journalist, 29th White House Press Secretary
    • 1966 – Johnny Gill, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1966 – Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese director and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Graham Linehan, Irish comedian, actor, and author
    • 1969 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, American lawyer and politician
    • 1970 – Naomi Campbell, English model
    • 1970 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
    • 1972 – Max Brooks, American author and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Danish actor
    • 1974 – Garba Lawal, Nigerian footballer
    • 1974 – Henrietta Ónodi, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
    • 1974 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian politician
    • 1975 – Salva Ballesta, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Christian Vande Velde, American cyclist
    • 1978 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
    • 1978 – Katie Price, English television personality and glamour model
    • 1979 – Maggie Q, American actress
    • 1979 – Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-American actress
    • 1980 – Sharice Davids, American politician
    • 1980 – Lucy Gordon, British actress and model (d. 2009)
    • 1981 – Daniel Bryan, American wrestler
    • 1981 – Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer (d. 2015)
    • 1981 – Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
    • 1982 – Erin McNaught, Australian model and actress
    • 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater
    • 1982 – Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer
    • 1983 – Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist
    • 1984 – Karoline Herfurth, German actress
    • 1984 – Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer
    • 1984 – Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
    • 1985 – Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
    • 1985 – Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress
    • 1986 – Julian Edelman, American football player
    • 1986 – Matt Jarvis, English footballer
    • 1986 – Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater
    • 1987 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
    • 1987 – Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
    • 1988 – Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress
    • 1989 – Corey Dickerson, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Wyatt Roy, Australian politician
    • 1991 – Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer
    • 1991 – Suho, South Korean singer and actor
    • 1992 – Anna Baryshnikov, American actress
    • 1994 – Florian Luger, Austrian male model
    • 1998 – Samile Bermannelli, Brazilian fashion model
    • 1999 – Camren Bicondova, American actress
    • 1999 – Femke Huijzer, Dutch model

    Deaths on May 22

    • 192 – Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (b. 138)
    • 337 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (b. 272)
    • 748 – Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 683)
    • 1067 – Constantine X, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1006)
    • 1068 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
    • 1310 – Saint Humility, founder of the Vallumbrosan religious order of nuns (b. c.1226)
    • 1409 – Blanche of England, sister of King Henry V (b. 1392)
    • 1455 – Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
    • 1455 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, Lancastrian commander (b. 1414)
    • 1455 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English commander (b. 1393)
    • 1457 – Rita of Cascia, Italian nun and saint (b. 1381)
    • 1490 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English administrator, nobleman and magnate (b. 1416)
    • 1538 – John Forest, English friar and martyr (b. 1471)
    • 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (b. 1483)
    • 1545 – Sher Shah Suri, Indian ruler (b. 1486)
    • 1553 – Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1495)
    • 1602 – Renata of Lorraine (b. 1544)
    • 1609 – Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff, Dutch captain (b. 1573)
    • 1666 – Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
    • 1667 – Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
    • 1745 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general (b. 1671)
    • 1760 – Baal Shem Tov, Polish rabbi and author (b. 1700)
    • 1772 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian and academic (b. 1687)
    • 1795 – Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (b. 1725)
    • 1802 – Martha Washington, First, First Lady of the United States (b. 1731)
    • 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist and diplomat (b. 1755)
    • 1859 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
    • 1861 – Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
    • 1868 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
    • 1885 – Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1802)
    • 1901 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (b. 1869)
    • 1910 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (b. 1864)
    • 1932 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish activist, landlord, and playwright, co-founded the Abbey Theatre (b. 1852)
    • 1933 – Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Mongolian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
    • 1938 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
    • 1939 – Ernst Toller, German playwright and author (b. 1893)
    • 1939 – Jiří Mahen, Czech author and playwright (b. 1882)
    • 1954 – Chief Bender, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1884)
    • 1965 – Christopher Stone, English radio host (b. 1882)
    • 1966 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
    • 1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (b. 1902)
    • 1967 – Charlotte Serber, American Librarian of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site (b. 1911)
    • 1972 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (b. 1904)
    • 1972 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
    • 1974 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (b. 1903)
    • 1975 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
    • 1982 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (b. 1899)
    • 1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
    • 1985 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (b. 1909)
    • 1988 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1914)
    • 1989 – Steven De Groote, South African pianist and educator (b. 1953)
    • 1990 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)
    • 1991 – Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1899)
    • 1991 – Stan Mortensen, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 1992 – Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (b. 1909)
    • 1993 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
    • 1997 – Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
    • 1998 – John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (b. 1926)
    • 1998 – José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1910)
    • 2000 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
    • 2004 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
    • 2005 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
    • 2005 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
    • 2006 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
    • 2008 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1970)
    • 2012 – Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Velimir “Bata” Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (b. 1981)
    • 2019 – Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (b. 1923)
    • 2020 – Denise Cronenberg, Canadian costume designer (b. 1938)

    Holidays and observances on May 22

    • Abolition Day (Martinique)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Castus and Emilius
      • Fulk
      • Humilita
      • Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
      • Quiteria
      • Rita of Cascia
      • Romanus of Subiaco
      • May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Harvey Milk Day (California)
    • International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
    • United States National Maritime Day
    • National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
    • Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
    • Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine)
    • Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.
    • World Goth Day

  • May 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 639 – Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assaulted Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace.
    • 715 – Pope Gregory II is elected.
    • 1051 – Henry I of France marries the Russian princess, Anne of Kiev.
    • 1445 – John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo.
    • 1499 – Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
    • 1535 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona’s two sons (whom Cartier had kidnapped during his first voyage).
    • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
    • 1542 – The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Myanmar.
    • 1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots.
    • 1643 – Thirty Years’ War: French forces under the duc d’Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
    • 1649 – An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
    • 1655 – The Invasion of Jamaica begins during the Anglo-Spanish War.
    • 1743 – Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale.
    • 1749 – King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
    • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of The Cedars.
    • 1780 – New England’s Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.
    • 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.
    • 1828 – U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
    • 1845 – Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.
    • 1848 – Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.
    • 1911 – Parks Canada, the world’s first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.
    • 1917 – The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded.
    • 1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.
    • 1921 – The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
    • 1922 – The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.
    • 1934 – Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d’état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
    • 1942 – World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor.
    • 1950 – A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.
    • 1950 – Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce.
    • 1959 – The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.
    • 1961 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
    • 1961 – At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.
    • 1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.
    • 1963 – The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
    • 1971 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
    • 1986 – The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
    • 1991 – Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
    • 1997 – The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.
    • 2007 – President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.
    • 2010 – The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.
    • 2012 – Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.
    • 2012 – A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.
    • 2015 – The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast.
    • 2016 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.
    • 2018 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.

    Births on May 19

    • 1400 – John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton, English soldier and politician (d. 1462)
    • 1462 – Baccio D’Agnolo, Italian woodcarver, sculptor and architect (d. 1543)
    • 1476 (or 1474) – Helena of Moscow, Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania and Queen consort of Poland (d. 1513)
    • 1593 – Claude Vignon, French painter (d. 1670)
    • 1616 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer (d. 1667)
    • 1639 – Charles Weston, 3rd Earl of Portland, English soldier and noble (d. 1665)
    • 1700 – José de Escandón, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, Spanish sergeant and politician (d. 1770)
    • 1724 – Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, English admiral and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (d. 1779)
    • 1744 – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German-born Queen to George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1818)
    • 1762 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (d. 1814)
    • 1773 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (d. 1854)
    • 1795 – Johns Hopkins, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1873)
    • 1827 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French academic and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1896)
    • 1832 – James Watney, Jr., English politician, brewer and cricketer (d. 1886)
    • 1857 – John Jacob Abel, American biochemist and pharmacologist (d. 1938)
    • 1861 – Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (d. 1931)
    • 1871 – Walter Russell, American painter, sculptor, and author (d. 1963)
    • 1874 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1955)
    • 1878 – Alfred Laliberté, Canadian sculptor and painter (d. 1953)
    • 1879 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (d. 1964)
    • 1880 – Albert Richardson, English architect and educator, designed the Manchester Opera House (d. 1964)
    • 1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (official birthday), Turkish field marshal and statesman, 1st President of Turkey (d. 1938)
    • 1884 – David Munson, American runner (d. 1953)
    • 1886 – Francis Biddle, American lawyer and judge, 58th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
    • 1887 – Ion Jalea, Romanian soldier and sculptor (d. 1983)
    • 1889 – Tản Đà, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1939)
    • 1889 – Henry B. Richardson, American archer (d. 1963)
    • 1890 – Eveline Adelheid von Maydell, German-American illustrator (d. 1962)
    • 1890 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese politician, 1st President of Vietnam (d. 1969)
    • 1891 – Oswald Boelcke, German captain and pilot (d. 1916)
    • 1893 – H. Bonciu, Romanian author, poet, and journalist (d. 1950)
    • 1897 – Frank Luke, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
    • 1898 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and painter (d. 1974)
    • 1899 – Lothar Rădăceanu, Romanian journalist, linguist, and politician (d. 1955)
    • 1902 – Lubka Kolessa, Ukrainian-Canadian pianist and educator (d. 1997)
    • 1903 – Ruth Ella Moore, American scientist (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – Bruce Bennett, American shot putter and actor (d. 2007)
    • 1908 – Manik Bandopadhyay, Indian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
    • 1908 – Merriam Modell, American author (d. 1994)
    • 1908 – Percy Williams, Canadian sprinter (d. 1982)
    • 1909 – Nicholas Winton, English banker and humanitarian (d. 2015)
    • 1910 – Alan Melville, South African cricketer (d. 1983)
    • 1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th President of India (d. 1996)
    • 1914 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
    • 1914 – Alex Shibicky, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
    • 1914 – John Vachon, American photographer and journalist (d. 1975)
    • 1915 – Renée Asherson, English actress (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Abraham Pais, Dutch-American physicist, historian, and academic (d. 2000)
    • 1919 – Georgie Auld, Canadian-American saxophonist, clarinet player, and bandleader (d. 1990)
    • 1919 – Mitja Ribičič, Italian-Slovenian soldier and politician, 25th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Tina Strobos, Dutch psychiatrist known for rescuing Jews during World War II (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Leslie Broderick, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
    • 1921 – Harry W. Brown, American colonel and pilot (d. 1991)
    • 1921 – Daniel Gélin, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Yuri Kochiyama, American activist (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Karel van het Reve, Dutch historian and author (d. 1999)
    • 1922 – Arthur Gorrie, Australian hobby shop proprietor (d. 1992)
    • 1924 – Sandy Wilson, English composer and songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (d. 1965)
    • 1926 – Edward Parkes, English engineer and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1926 – Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Serge Lang, French-American mathematician, author and academic (d. 2005)
    • 1928 – Colin Chapman, English engineer and businessman, founded Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
    • 1928 – Thomas Kennedy, English air marshal (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Gil McDougald, American baseball player and coach (d. 2010)
    • 1928 – Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Helmut Braunlich, German-American violinist and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Richard Larter, Australian painter (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – John Stroger, American politician (d. 2008)
    • 1930 – Eugene Genovese, American historian and author (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright and director (d. 1965)
    • 1931 – Bob Anderson, English race car driver (d. 1967)
    • 1931 – Trevor Peacock, English actor, screenwriter and songwriter
    • 1932 – Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)
    • 1932 – Paul Erdman, American economist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1932 – Bill Fitch, American basketball player and coach
    • 1932 – Elena Poniatowska, Mexican intellectual and journalist
    • 1933 – Edward de Bono, Maltese physician, author, and academic
    • 1934 – Ruskin Bond, Indian author and poet
    • 1934 – Jim Lehrer, American journalist and author (d. 2020)
    • 1935 – David Hartman, American journalist and television personality
    • 1937 – Pat Roach, English wrestler (d. 2004)
    • 1938 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese politician (d. 1989)
    • 1938 – Herbie Flowers, English musician
    • 1938 – Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, Ukrainian long jumper and coach
    • 1939 – Livio Berruti, Italian sprinter
    • 1939 – James Fox, English actor
    • 1939 – Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong-American actress and makeup artist
    • 1939 – Jānis Lūsis, Latvian javelin thrower and coach (d. 2020)
    • 1939 – Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
    • 1940 – Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
    • 1940 – Mickey Newbury, American country/pop singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1941 – Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Igor Judge, Baron Judge, Maltese-English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
    • 1942 – Gary Kildall, American computer scientist, founded Digital Research Inc. (d. 1994)
    • 1942 – Robert Kilroy-Silk, English television host and politician
    • 1943 – Eddie May, English footballer and manager (d. 2012)
    • 1943 – Shirrel Rhoades, American author, publisher, and academic
    • 1944 – Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1945 – Pete Townshend, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Claude Lelièvre, Belgian activist
    • 1946 – Michele Placido, Italian actor and director
    • 1946 – André the Giant, French-American wrestler and actor (d. 1993)
    • 1947 – Paul Brady, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1947 – Christopher Chope, English lawyer and politician
    • 1947 – David Helfgott, Australian pianist
    • 1948 – Grace Jones, Jamaican-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1949 – Dusty Hill, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1949 – Philip Hunt, Baron Hunt of Kings Heath, English politician
    • 1949 – Archie Manning, American football player
    • 1950 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (d. 1998)
    • 1951 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1951 – Dick Slater, American wrestler
    • 1952 – Charlie Spedding, English runner
    • 1952 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1953 – Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1953 – Shavarsh Karapetyan, Armenian finswimmer
    • 1953 – Florin Marin, Romanian footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Victoria Wood, English actress, singer, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1954 – Rick Cerone, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Hōchū Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor
    • 1954 – Phil Rudd, Australian-New Zealand drummer
    • 1955 – James Gosling, Canadian-American computer scientist, created Java
    • 1956 – Oliver Letwin, English philosopher and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
    • 1956 – Martyn Ware, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1957 – Bill Laimbeer, American basketball player and coach
    • 1957 – James Reyne, Nigerian-Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1961 – Vadim Cojocaru, Moldovan politician
    • 1961 – Gregory Poirier, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Wayne Van Dorp, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1963 – Filippo Galli, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Peter Jackson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
    • 1964 – John Lee, South Korean-American football player
    • 1964 – Miloslav Mečíř, Slovak tennis player
    • 1965 – Maile Flanagan, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Marc Bureau, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Jodi Picoult, American author and educator
    • 1966 – Polly Walker, English actress
    • 1967 – Alexia, Italian singer
    • 1967 – Geraldine Somerville, Irish-born English actress
    • 1968 – Kyle Eastwood, American actor and bass player
    • 1970 – Stuart Cable, Welsh drummer (d. 2010)
    • 1970 – K. J. Choi, South Korean golfer
    • 1970 – Regina Narva, Estonian chess player
    • 1970 – Nia Zulkarnaen, Indonesian actress, singer and producer
    • 1971 – Ross Katz, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Andres Salumets, Estonian biologist, biochemist, and educator
    • 1972 – Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1972 – Claudia Karvan, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
    • 1974 – Andrew Johns, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1974 – Emma Shapplin, French soprano
    • 1974 – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Indian actor
    • 1975 – Pretinha, Brazilian footballer
    • 1975 – London Fletcher, American football player
    • 1975 – Josh Paul, American baseball player and manager
    • 1975 – Jonas Renkse, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1976 – Ed Cota, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer
    • 1977 – Wouter Hamel, Dutch singer and guitarist
    • 1977 – Brandon Inge, American baseball player
    • 1977 – Natalia Oreiro, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1978 – Marcus Bent, English footballer
    • 1978 – Dave Bus, Dutch footballer
    • 1979 – Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
    • 1979 – Diego Forlan, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1980 – Tony Hackworth, English footballer
    • 1981 – Luciano Figueroa, Argentinian footballer
    • 1981 – Yo Gotti, American rapper
    • 1981 – Michael Leighton, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Sina Schielke, German sprinter
    • 1981 – Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
    • 1982 – Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer
    • 1982 – Pål Steffen Andresen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1982 – Klaas Vantornout, Belgian cyclist
    • 1983 – Michael Che, American comedian
    • 1983 – Jessica Fox, English actress
    • 1984 – Marcedes Lewis, American football player
    • 1985 – Aleister Black, Dutch professional wrestler
    • 1986 – Mario Chalmers, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Michael Angelakos, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1987 – David Edgar, Canadian soccer player
    • 1987 – Mariano Torres, Argentinian footballer
    • 1987 – Jayne Wisener, Northern Irish actress
    • 1991 – Jordan Pruitt, American singer-songwriter
    • 1992 – Marshmello, American electronic music producer and DJ
    • 1992 – Michele Camporese, Italian footballer
    • 1992 – Ola John, Dutch footballer
    • 1992 – Felise Kaufusi, New Zealand-Tongan rugby league player
    • 1992 – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Sam Smith, English singer-songwriter
    • 1994 – Carlos Guzmán, Mexican footballer
    • 1995 – Taane Milne, New Zealand rugby league player

    Deaths on May 19

    • 804 – Alcuin, English monk and scholar (b. 735)
    • 956 – Robert, archbishop of Trier
    • 988 – Dunstan, English archbishop and saint (b. 909)
    • 1102 – Stephen, Count of Blois (b. 1045)
    • 1125 – Vladimir II Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kiev
    • 1164 – Saint Bashnouna, Egyptian saint and martyr
    • 1218 – Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
    • 1296 – Pope Celestine V (b. 1215)
    • 1303 – Saint Ivo of Kermartin, French canon lawyer (b. 1253)
    • 1319 – Louis, Count of Évreux (b. 1276)
    • 1389 – Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
    • 1396 – John I of Aragon (b. 1350)
    • 1526 – Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)
    • 1531 – Jan Łaski, Polish archbishop and diplomat (b. 1456)
    • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England (1533–1536); second wife of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1501)
    • 1601 – Costanzo Porta, Italian composer (b. 1528)
    • 1609 – García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete (b. 1535)
    • 1610 – Thomas Sanchez, Spanish priest and theologian (b. 1550)
    • 1623 – Mariam-uz-Zamani, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1542)
    • 1637 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
    • 1715 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
    • 1786 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (b. 1712)
    • 1795 – Josiah Bartlett, American physician and politician, 4th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1729)
    • 1795 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)
    • 1798 – William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1722)
    • 1821 – Camille Jordan, French lawyer and politician (b. 1771)
    • 1825 – Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, French philosopher and theorist (b. 1760)
    • 1831 – Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, Estonian-German physician, botanist, and entomologist (b. 1793)
    • 1864 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1804)
    • 1865 – Sengge Rinchen, Mongolian general (b. 1811)
    • 1872 – John Baker, English-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of South Australia (b. 1813)
    • 1876 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch historian and politician (b. 1801)
    • 1885 – Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
    • 1895 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1853)
    • 1898 – William Ewart Gladstone, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)
    • 1901 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, South African general and politician, 1st President of the South African Republic (b. 1819)
    • 1903 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer (b. 1856)
    • 1904 – Auguste Molinier, French librarian and historian (b. 1851)
    • 1904 – Jamsetji Tata, Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (b. 1839)
    • 1906 – Gabriel Dumont, Canadian Métis leader (b. 1837)
    • 1907 – Benjamin Baker, English engineer, designed the Forth Bridge (b. 1840)
    • 1912 – Bolesław Prus, Polish journalist and author (b. 1847)
    • 1915 – John Simpson Kirkpatrick, English-Australian soldier (b. 1892)
    • 1918 – Gervais Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (b. 1885)
    • 1935 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel and archaeologist (b. 1888)
    • 1936 – Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, British Islamic scholar (b. 1875)
    • 1939 – Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Azerbaijani-Turkish journalist and publicist (b. 1869)
    • 1943 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and illustrator (b. 1865)
    • 1945 – Philipp Bouhler, German soldier and politician (b. 1889)
    • 1946 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (b. 1869)
    • 1950 – Daniel Ciugureanu, Romanian physician and politician, Prime Minister of Moldova (b. 1884)
    • 1954 – Charles Ives, American composer and educator (b. 1874)
    • 1958 – Jadunath Sarkar, Indian historian (b. 1870)
    • 1958 – Archie Scott Brown, Scottish race car driver (b. 1927)
    • 1958 – Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
    • 1963 – Walter Russell, American painter, sculptor, and author (b. 1871)
    • 1969 – Coleman Hawkins, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1901)
    • 1971 – Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)
    • 1978 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian-Swedish journalist and author (b. 1898)
    • 1980 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (b. 1906)
    • 1983 – Jean Rey, Belgian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
    • 1984 – John Betjeman, English poet and academic (b. 1906)
    • 1986 – Jimmy Lyons, American saxophonist (b. 1931)
    • 1987 – James Tiptree, Jr., American psychologist and author (b. 1915)
    • 1989 – Yiannis Papaioannou, Greek composer and educator (b. 1910)
    • 1994 – Jacques Ellul, French sociologist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1994 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)
    • 1994 – Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)
    • 1996 – John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (b. 1917)
    • 1998 – Sōsuke Uno, Japanese soldier and politician, 75th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922)
    • 2001 – Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1916)
    • 2001 – Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
    • 2002 – John Gorton, Australian lieutenant and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
    • 2002 – Walter Lord, American historian and author (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress and screenwriter (b. 1907)
    • 2007 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Dean Eyre, New Zealand politician (b. 1914)
    • 2008 – Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright and screenwriter (b. 1928)
    • 2009 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
    • 2009 – Nicholas Maw, English composer and academic (b. 1935)
    • 2009 – Clint Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1913)
    • 2011 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 8th Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Jeffrey Catherine Jones, American artist (b.1944)
    • 2012 – Bob Boozer, American basketball player (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Tamara Brooks, American conductor and educator (b. 1941)
    • 2012 – Ian Burgess, English race car driver (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Gerhard Hetz, German-Mexican swimmer (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Phil Lamason, New Zealand soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – G. Sarsfield Ford, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Robin Harrison, English-Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – Neil Reynolds, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Simon Andrews, English motorcycle racer (b. 1982)
    • 2014 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Terry W. Gee, American businessman and politician (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Sam Greenlee, American author and poet (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Vincent Harding, American historian and scholar (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Gabriel Kolko, American historian and author (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, Polish boxer (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Bruce Lundvall, American businessman (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Ted McWhinney, Australian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Happy Rockefeller, American philanthropist, socialite; 31st Second Lady of the United States (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Robert S. Wistrich, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Alan Young, English-born Canadian-American actor (b. 1919)
    • 2016 – Morley Safer, Canadian-born American journalist (b. 1931)
    • 2017 – Nawshirwan Mustafa, General coordinator of the Movement for Change (Gorran) (b. 1944)
    • 2018 – Zhengzhang Shangfang, Chinese linguist (b. 1933)

    Holidays and observances on May 19

    • Christian feast day:
      • Calocerus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Crispin of Viterbo
      • Dunstan (Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church; commemoration, Anglicanism)
      • Ivo of Kermartin
      • Joaquina Vedruna de Mas
      • Maria Bernarda Bütler
      • Peter Celestine
      • Pudentiana (Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church)
      • May 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Turkey, Northern Cyprus)
    • Greek Genocide Remembrance Day (Greece)
    • Hồ Chí Minh’s Birthday (Vietnam)
    • Malcolm X Day (United States of America)
    • National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
    • Hepatitis Testing Day (United States)
    • Mother’s Day (Kyrgyzstan)

  • May 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
    • 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
    • 1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.
    • 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
    • 1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
    • 1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
    • 1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
    • 1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
    • 1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
    • 1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
    • 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
    • 1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
    • 1652 – Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.
    • 1756 – The Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
    • 1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
    • 1794 – Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
    • 1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
    • 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
    • 1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
    • 1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
    • 1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
    • 1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
    • 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
    • 1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the “separate but equal” doctrine is constitutional.
    • 1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
    • 1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
    • 1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
    • 1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.
    • 1927 – The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
    • 1927 – After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
    • 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
    • 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.
    • 1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
    • 1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
    • 1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
    • 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
    • 1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.
    • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
    • 1973 – Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker’s bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.
    • 1974 – Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
    • 1977 – Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
    • 1980 – Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
    • 1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
    • 1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
    • 1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
    • 1993 – Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
    • 1994 – Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
    • 2005 – A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
    • 2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
    • 2009 – The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
    • 2015 – At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
    • 2018 – A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills 10 people.

    Births on May 18

    • 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
    • 1186 – Konstantin of Rostov (d. 1218)
    • 1450 – Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (d. 1513)
    • 1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
    • 1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest (d. 1701)
    • 1662 – George Smalridge, English bishop (d. 1719)
    • 1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
    • 1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)
    • 1777 – John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (d. 1852)
    • 1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (d. 1854)
    • 1785 – John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (d. 1854)
    • 1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
    • 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (d. 1896)
    • 1835 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
    • 1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
    • 1851 – James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (d. 1908)
    • 1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
    • 1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1924)
    • 1855 – Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (d. 1931)
    • 1862 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948)
    • 1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (d. 1941)
    • 1868 – Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
    • 1869 – Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (d. 1937)
    • 1871 – Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (d. 1922)
    • 1872 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
    • 1876 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
    • 1878 – Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (d. 1977)
    • 1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (d. 1968)
    • 1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (d. 1974)
    • 1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
    • 1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
    • 1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and engineer (d. 1944)
    • 1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1957)
    • 1895 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934)
    • 1896 – Eric Backman, Swedish runner (d. 1965)
    • 1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
    • 1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (d. 1973)
    • 1901 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
    • 1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (d. 1984)
    • 1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
    • 1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (d. 1986)
    • 1905 – Ruth Alexander, pioneering American pilot (d. 1930)
    • 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1943)
    • 1907 – Irene Hunt, American author and educator (d. 2001)
    • 1909 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player and academic (d. 1995)
    • 1910 – Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)
    • 1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African politician (d. 2003)
    • 1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (d. 2000)
    • 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (d. 1982)
    • 1914 – Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (d. 1993)
    • 1917 – Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
    • 1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (d. 1991)
    • 1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
    • 1921 – Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic
    • 1922 – Bill Macy, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
    • 1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
    • 1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
    • 1927 – Richard Body, English politician (d. 2018)
    • 1927 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
    • 1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
    • 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
    • 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
    • 1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
    • 1931 – Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France
    • 1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
    • 1933 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (d. 1985)
    • 1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director
    • 1936 – Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic
    • 1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg
    • 1938 – Janet Fish, American painter and academic
    • 1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician
    • 1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
    • 1939 – Gordon O’Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence
    • 1940 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter
    • 1941 – Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic
    • 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer
    • 1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1944 – Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1944 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2001)
    • 1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China
    • 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1946 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1947 – John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland
    • 1947 – Gail Strickland, American actress
    • 1948 – Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer
    • 1948 – Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic
    • 1948 – Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic
    • 1948 – Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico
    • 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
    • 1949 – Walter Hawkins, American gospel music singer and pastor (d. 2010)
    • 1950 – Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (d. 1997)
    • 1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter
    • 1951 – Richard Clapton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1951 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
    • 1952 – Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter
    • 1952 – David Leakey, English general and politician
    • 1952 – George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer
    • 1952 – Jeana Yeager, American pilot
    • 1953 – Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
    • 1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager
    • 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter
    • 1956 – John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer
    • 1957 – Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic
    • 1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach
    • 1958 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1960 – Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager
    • 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
    • 1961 – Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach
    • 1964 – Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician
    • 1966 – Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach
    • 1966 – Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
    • 1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver
    • 1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films
    • 1967 – Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity
    • 1968 – Philippe Benetton, French rugby player
    • 1968 – Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver
    • 1969 – Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
    • 1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1970 – Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter
    • 1970 – Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player
    • 1971 – Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, goalkeeper, manager and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
    • 1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver
    • 1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach
    • 1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (d. 2011)
    • 1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1975 – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
    • 1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer
    • 1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
    • 1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager
    • 1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
    • 1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
    • 1978 – Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner
    • 1979 – Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft
    • 1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
    • 1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist
    • 1979 – Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer
    • 1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer
    • 1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Michaël Llodra, French tennis player
    • 1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer
    • 1981 – Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
    • 1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player
    • 1983 – Gary O’Neil, English footballer
    • 1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
    • 1983 – Vince Young, American football player
    • 1984 – Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
    • 1984 – Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver
    • 1984 – Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
    • 1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
    • 1985 – Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter
    • 1985 – Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer
    • 1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian race car driver
    • 1986 – Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
    • 1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer
    • 1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
    • 1990 – Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
    • 1990 – Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
    • 1993 – Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
    • 1998 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
    • 1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
    • 2000 – Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
    • 2000 – Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
    • 2002 – Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater

    Deaths on May 18

    • 526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
    • 893 – Stephen I of Constantinople (b. 867)
    • 932 – Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang
    • 947 – Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty
    • 978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine
    • 1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (b. c. 1003)
    • 1096 – Minna of Worms, Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096)
    • 1160 – Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (b. circa 1120)
    • 1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury
    • 1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
    • 1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1352)
    • 1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
    • 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
    • 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (b. 1623)
    • 1675 – Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
    • 1692 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (b. 1617)
    • 1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (b.1625)
    • 1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (b. 1761)
    • 1780 – Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1714)
    • 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
    • 1792 – Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (b. 1730)
    • 1795 – Robert Rogers, English colonel (b. 1731)
    • 1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (b. 1732)
    • 1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
    • 1807 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (b. 1721)
    • 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
    • 1844 – Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (b. 1780)
    • 1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (b. 1806)
    • 1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (b. 1793)
    • 1889 – Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (b. 1823)
    • 1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (b. 1813)
    • 1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1823)
    • 1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
    • 1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
    • 1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (b. 1841)
    • 1910 – Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (b. 1821)
    • 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1860)
    • 1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
    • 1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
    • 1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
    • 1947 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
    • 1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
    • 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
    • 1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (b. 1881)
    • 1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1939)
    • 1968 – Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (b. 1897)
    • 1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1908)
    • 1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (b. 1880)
    • 1974 – Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (b. 1885)
    • 1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
    • 1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
      • Reid Blackburn, American photographer and journalist (b. 1952)
      • David A. Johnston, American volcanologist and geologist (b. 1949)
    • 1980 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
    • 1981 – Arthur O’Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1981 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (b. 1908)
    • 1987 – Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (b. 1936)
    • 1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (b. 1921)
    • 1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
    • 1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
    • 1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
    • 1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (b. 1911)
    • 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
    • 1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1939)
    • 1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1954)
    • 1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
    • 2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (b. 1946)
    • 2001 – Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
    • 2004 – Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
    • 2008 – Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (b. 1911)
    • 2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (b. 1942)
    • 2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
    • 2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (b. 1967)
    • 2012 – Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1959)
    • 2013 – Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – David McMillan, American football player (b. 1981)
    • 2013 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
    • 2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – T. J. Moran, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (b. 1946)
    • 2017 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (b. 1940)
    • 2017 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (b. 1916)
    • 2017 – Chris Cornell, American singer (b. 1964)
    • 2020 – Ken Osmond, American actor and the police officer (b. 1943)

    Holidays and observances on May 18

    • Christian feast day:
      • Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
      • Eric IX of Sweden
      • Felix of Cantalice
      • Pope John I
      • Venantius of Camerino
      • May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Victoria Day (Canada) (Earliest possible date of the last Monday preceding May 25)
    • Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
    • Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
    • Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
    • Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
    • Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
    • International Museum Day
    • Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
    • Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
    • Teacher’s Day (Syria)
    • Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
    • World AIDS Vaccine Day

  • May 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
    • 1204 – Having been elected on May 9, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
    • 1426 – Gov. Thado of Mohnyin becomes king of Ava.
    • 1527 – The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
    • 1532 – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
    • 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
    • 1584 – Santiago de Vera becomes sixth Governor-General of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
    • 1739 – The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army.
    • 1770 – The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France.
    • 1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The “Regulators”, occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
    • 1811 – Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
    • 1812 – Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia.
    • 1822 – Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
    • 1832 – Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.
    • 1834 – The Battle of Asseiceira is fought, the last and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.
    • 1842 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
    • 1866 – The United States Congress establishes the nickel.
    • 1868 – The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.
    • 1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
    • 1877 – The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France.
    • 1888 – Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.
    • 1891 – The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world’s first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).
    • 1916 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.
    • 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.
    • 1919 – A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
    • 1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
    • 1929 – In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.
    • 1943 – The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
    • 1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
    • 1959 – The Triton Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.
    • 1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
    • 1961 – Park Chung-hee leads a coup d’état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
    • 1966 – The Communist Party of China issues the “May 16 Notice”, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
    • 1969 – Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.
    • 1974 – Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.
    • 1988 – A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
    • 1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
    • 1997 – Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
    • 2003 – In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
    • 2005 – Kuwait permits women’s suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.
    • 2011 – STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.
    • 2014 – Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.

    Births on May 16

    • 1418 – John II of Cyprus, King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458 (probable; d. 1458)
    • 1455 – Wolfgang I of Oettingen, German count (d. 1522)
    • 1542 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman (d. 1580)
    • 1606 – John Bulwer, British doctor (d. 1656)
    • 1611 – Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
    • 1641 – Dudley North, English economist and politician (d. 1691)
    • 1710 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (d. 1782)
    • 1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1799)
    • 1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist and chemist (d. 1829)
    • 1788 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet and translator (d. 1866)
    • 1801 – William H. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (d. 1872)
    • 1804 – Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, American educator who founded the first U.S. kindergarten (d. 1894)
    • 1819 – Johann Voldemar Jannsen, Estonian journalist and poet (d. 1890)
    • 1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and statistician (d. 1894)
    • 1824 – Levi P. Morton, American banker and politician, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)
    • 1824 – Edmund Kirby Smith, American general (d. 1893)
    • 1827 – Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect, designed the Amsterdam Centraal railway station and Rijksmuseum (d. 1921)
    • 1831 – David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (d. 1900)
    • 1862 – Margaret Fountaine, English lepidopterist and diarist (d.1940)
    • 1876 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (d. 1948)
    • 1879 – Pierre Gilliard, Swiss author and academic (d. 1962)
    • 1882 – Simeon Price, American golfer (d. 1945)
    • 1883 – Celâl Bayar, Turkish politician, 3rd President of Turkey (d. 1986)
    • 1888 – Royal Rife, American microbiologist and instrument maker (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Edith Grace White, American ichthyologist (d. 1975)
    • 1892 – Osgood Perkins, American actor (d. 1937)
    • 1894 – Walter Yust, American journalist and writer (d. 1960)
    • 1897 – Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist and academic (d. 1994)
    • 1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (d. 1980)
    • 1898 – Desanka Maksimović, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1993)
    • 1898 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (d. 1956)
    • 1903 – Charles F. Brannock, American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1992)
    • 1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
    • 1906 – Ernie McCormick, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
    • 1906 – Alfred Pellan, Canadian painter and educator (d. 1988)
    • 1906 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan lawyer, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
    • 1906 – Margret Rey, German author and illustrator (d. 1996)
    • 1907 – Bob Tisdall, Irish hurdler (d. 2004)
    • 1909 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress and singer (d. 1960)
    • 1909 – Luigi Villoresi, Italian race car driver (d. 1997)
    • 1910 – Olga Bergholz, Russian poet and author (d. 1975)
    • 1910 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1910 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1972)
    • 1912 – Studs Terkel, American historian and author (d. 2008)
    • 1913 – Gordon Chalk, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Queensland (d. 1991)
    • 1913 – Woody Herman, American singer, saxophonist, and clarinet player (d. 1987)
    • 1914 – Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
    • 1915 – Mario Monicelli, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1916 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (d. 2009)
    • 1917 – Ben Kuroki, American sergeant and pilot (d. 2015)
    • 1917 – James C. Murray, American lawyer and politician (d. 1999)
    • 1917 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author and photographer (d. 1986)
    • 1918 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
    • 1919 – Liberace, American pianist and entertainer (d. 1987)
    • 1919 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish ecologist and biologist (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
    • 1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Victoria Fromkin, American linguist and academic (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Dawda Jawara, 1st President of the Gambia (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Nancy Roman, American astronomer (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Ola Vincent, Nigerian banker and economist (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
    • 1929 – Betty Carter, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1929 – John Conyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1929 – Claude Morin, Canadian academic and politician
    • 1929 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist, and feminist (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 2000)
    • 1931 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1931 – Hana Brady, Jewish-Czech Holocaust victim (d.1944)
    • 1931 – K. Natwar Singh, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs
    • 1931 – Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American soldier and politician, 85th Governor of Connecticut
    • 1934 – Kenneth O. Morgan, Welsh historian and author
    • 1934 – Antony Walker, English general
    • 1935 – Floyd Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1936 – Karl Lehmann, German cardinal (d. 2018)
    • 1937 – Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1938 – Stuart Bell, English lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1938 – Ivan Sutherland, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1938 – Marco Aurelio Denegri, Peruvian television host and sexologist (d. 2018)
    • 1941 – Denis Hart, Australian archbishop
    • 1942 – David Penry-Davey, English lawyer and judge (d. 2015)
    • 1943 – Kay Andrews, Baroness Andrews, English politician
    • 1943 – Dan Coats, American politician and diplomat, 29th United States Ambassador to Germany
    • 1943 – Wieteke van Dort, Dutch actress, comedian, singer, writer and artist
    • 1944 – Billy Cobham, Panamanian-American drummer, composer, and bandleader
    • 1944 – Antal Nagy, Hungarian footballer
    • 1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor
    • 1946 – John Law, English sociologist and academic
    • 1946 – Robert Fripp, English guitarist, songwriter and producer
    • 1947 – Cheryl Clarke, American writer
    • 1947 – Darrell Sweet, Scottish drummer (d. 1999)
    • 1947 – Roch Thériault, Canadian religious leader (d. 2011)
    • 1948 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor, director, and producer
    • 1948 – Judy Finnigan, English talk show host and author
    • 1948 – Enrico Fumia, Italian automobile and product designer
    • 1948 – Emma Georgina Rothschild, English historian and academic
    • 1948 – Staf Van Roosbroeck, Belgian cyclist
    • 1949 – Rick Reuschel, American baseball player
    • 1950 – Georg Bednorz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1950 – Ray Condo, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
    • 1950 – Bruce Coville, American author
    • 1951 – Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer
    • 1951 – Jonathan Richman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – Janet Soskice, Canadian philosopher and theologian
    • 1952 – James Herndon, American psychologist and academic
    • 1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor and producer
    • 1953 – Peter Onorati, American actor
    • 1953 – Richard Page, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1953 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna (d. 2015)
    • 1953 – David Maclean, Scottish politician
    • 1953 – Stephen Woolman, Lord Woolman, Scottish judge and academic
    • 1954 – Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut
    • 1955 – Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast
    • 1955 – Jack Morris, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1955 – Hazel O’Connor, English-born Irish singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1955 – Páidí Ó Sé, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2012)
    • 1955 – Debra Winger, American actress
    • 1956 – Loretta Schrijver, Dutch television host, news anchor
    • 1957 – Joan Benoit, American runner
    • 1957 – Benjamin Mancroft, 3rd Baron Mancroft, English politician
    • 1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1957 – Anthony St John, 22nd Baron St John of Bletso, English lawyer and businessman
    • 1957 – Bob Suter, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1959 – Mitch Webster, American baseball player
    • 1959 – Mare Winningham, American actress and singer-songwriter
    • 1960 – Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician, Nauruan Speaker of Parliament
    • 1960 – S. Shanmuganathan, Sri Lankan commander and politician (d. 1998)
    • 1961 – Kevin McDonald, Canadian actor and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Charles Wright, American wrestler
    • 1962 – Jimmy Hood, Scottish engineer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1962 – Helga Radtke, German long jumper
    • 1963 – Rachel Griffith, Anglo-American economist
    • 1963 – David Wilkinson, English theologian and academic
    • 1964 – John Salley, American basketball player and actor
    • 1964 – Boyd Tinsley, American singer-songwriter and violinist
    • 1964 – Milton Jones, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Krist Novoselic, American bass player, songwriter, author, and activist
    • 1965 – Tanel Tammet, Estonian computer scientist, engineer, and academic
    • 1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress
    • 1966 – Scott Reeves, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1966 – Thurman Thomas, American football player
    • 1967 – Doug Brocail, American baseball player and coach
    • 1967 – Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford, British politician
    • 1968 – Ralph Tresvant, American singer and producer
    • 1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor
    • 1969 – Tucker Carlson, American journalist, co-founded The Daily Caller
    • 1969 – Steve Lewis, American sprinter
    • 1970 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1970 – Danielle Spencer, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1971 – Phil Clarke, English rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Rachel Goswell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1972 – Christian Califano, French rugby player
    • 1972 – Matthew Hart, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress, reality television personality, and author
    • 1974 – Laura Pausini, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Sonny Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and rapper
    • 1975 – Tony Kakko, Finnish musician, composer, and vocalist
    • 1975 – Simon Whitfield, Canadian triathlete
    • 1976 – Dirk Nannes, Australian-Dutch cricketer
    • 1977 – Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
    • 1977 – Emilíana Torrini, Icelandic singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Scott Nicholls, English motorcycle racer
    • 1978 – Lionel Scaloni, Argentinian footballer
    • 1980 – Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spanish tennis player
    • 1981 – Ricardo Costa, Portuguese footballer
    • 1982 – Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player
    • 1983 – Daniel Kerr, Australian footballer
    • 1983 – Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Darío Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer
    • 1984 – Tomáš Fleischmann, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Jensen Lewis, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
    • 1985 – Anja Mittag, German footballer
    • 1985 – Rodrigo Peters Marques, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Megan Fox, American actress
    • 1986 – Andy Keogh, Irish footballer
    • 1986 – Shamcey Supsup, Filipino model and architect
    • 1987 – Tom Onslow-Cole, English race car driver
    • 1988 – Jesús Castillo, Mexican footballer
    • 1988 – Martynas Gecevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1988 – Jaak Põldma, Estonian tennis player
    • 1989 – Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model
    • 1990 – Amanda Carreras, Gibraltarian tennis player
    • 1990 – Thomas Brodie-Sangster, English actor
    • 1990 – Darko Šarović, Serbian sprinter
    • 1990 – Omar Strong, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player
    • 1991 – Joey Graceffa, American internet celebrity
    • 1991 – Ashley Wagner, American figure skater
    • 1992 – Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Kirstin Maldonado, American singer and songwriter
    • 1993 – Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norwegian biathlete
    • 1993 – Karol Mets, Estonian footballer
    • 1993 – IU, Korean singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1995 – Elizabeth Ralston, Australian footballer
    • 1996 – Louisa Chirico, an American tennis player

    Deaths on May 16

    • 290 – Emperor Wu of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 236)
    • 895 – Qian Kuan, Chinese nobleman
    • 934 – Meng Hanqiong, eunuch official of Later Tang
    • 995 – Fujiwara no Michitaka, Japanese nobleman (b. 953)
    • 1182 – John Komnenos Vatatzes, Byzantine general (b. 1132)
    • 1265 – Simon Stock, English-French saint (b. 1165)
    • 1375 – Liu Bowen, Chinese military strategist, officer, statesman and poet (b. 1311)
    • 1412 – Gian Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan (b. 1388)
    • 1561 – Jan Tarnowski, Polish noble and statesman (b. 1488)
    • 1620 – William Adams, English sailor and navigator (b. 1564)
    • 1657 – Andrew Bobola, Polish missionary and martyr (b. 1591)
    • 1667 – Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1607)
    • 1669 – Pietro da Cortona, Italian painter and architect, designed the Santi Luca e Martina (b. 1596)
    • 1691 – Jacob Leisler, German-American politician, 8th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1640)
    • 1696 – Mariana of Austria, Queen consort of Spain (b. 1634)
    • 1703 – Charles Perrault, French author and academic (b. 1628)
    • 1778 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1718)
    • 1790 – Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire (b. 1720)
    • 1818 – Matthew Lewis, English author and playwright (b. 1775)
    • 1823 – Grace Elliott, Scottish courtesan and spy (b. c.1754)
    • 1830 – Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1768)
    • 1862 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (b. 1796)
    • 1882 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of Alabama (b. 1799)
    • 1890 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet, linguist and theologist (b. 1843)
    • 1891 – Ion C. Brătianu, Romanian politician, 14th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1821)
    • 1910 – Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (b. 1856)
    • 1913 – Louis Perrier, Swiss architect and politician (b. 1849)
    • 1920 – Levi P. Morton, American politician, 22nd United States Vice President (b. 1824)
    • 1926 – Mehmed VI, Ottoman sultan (b. 1861)
    • 1936 – Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Greek general and politician (b. 1860)
    • 1938 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co designed The Golden Gate Bridge (b. 1870)
    • 1943 – Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1865)
    • 1944 – George Ade, American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1866)
    • 1946 – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and businessman (b. 1890)
    • 1947 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
    • 1947 – Zhang Lingfu, Chinese general (b. 1903)
    • 1953 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (b. 1910)
    • 1954 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor and manager (b. 1893)
    • 1955 – James Agee, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic(b. 1909)
    • 1955 – Manny Ayulo, American race car driver (b. 1921)
    • 1956 – H. B. Reese, American candy-maker and businessman, created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (b. 1876)
    • 1957 – Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)
    • 1961 – George A. Malcolm, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1881)
    • 1973 – Jacques Lipchitz, Lithuanian-American sculptor (b. 1891)
    • 1977 – Modibo Keïta, Malian politician, 1st President of Mali (b. 1915)
    • 1979 – A. Philip Randolph, American union leader and activist (b. 1889)
    • 1981 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1922)
    • 1981 – Willy Hartner, German physician and academic (b. 1905)
    • 1984 – Andy Kaufman, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
    • 1984 – Irwin Shaw, American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1913)
    • 1985 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
    • 1989 – Leila Kasra, Iranian poet and songwriter (b. 1939)
    • 1990 – Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, and actor (b. 1925)
    • 1990 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, director, producer, and screenwriter, created The Muppets (b. 1936)
    • 1993 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1938)
    • 1994 – Alain Cuny, French actor (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Jeremy Michael Boorda, American admiral (b. 1939)
    • 1997 – Elbridge Durbrow, American diplomat (b. 1903)
    • 2002 – Alec Campbell, Australian soldier (b. 1899)
    • 2003 – Mark McCormack, American lawyer and sports agent, founded IMG (b. 1930)
    • 2005 – Andrew Goodpaster, American general (b. 1915)
    • 2008 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker, co-founded the Opus One Winery (b. 1913)
    • 2010 – Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942)
    • 2010 – Hank Jones, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1918)
    • 2011 – Ralph Barker, English author (b. 1917)
    • 2011 – Bob Davis, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1932)
    • 2011 – Kiyoshi Kodama, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Patricia Aakhus, American author and academic (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – James Abdnor, American soldier and politician, 30th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Chuck Brown, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Ernie Chan, Filipino-American illustrator (b. 1940)
    • 2012 – Kevin Hickey, American baseball player (b. 1956)
    • 2013 – Angelo Errichetti, American politician (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Bryan Illerbrun, Canadian football player (b. 1957)
    • 2013 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Dick Trickle, American race car driver (b. 1941)
    • 2013 – Bernard Waber, American author and illustrator (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Chris Duckworth, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Vito Favero, Italian cyclist (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Bud Hollowell, American baseball player and manager (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Clyde Snow, American anthropologist and author (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Prashant Bhargava, American director and producer (b. 1973)
    • 2015 – Moshe Levinger, Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Flora MacNeil, Scottish Gaelic singer (b. 1928)
    • 2019 – Piet Blauw, Dutch politician (b. 1937)
    • 2019 – Bob Hawke, Australian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1929)
    • 2019 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect (b. 1917)

    Holidays and observances on May 16

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron (Coptic Church)
      • Abda and Abdjesus, and companions:
        • Abdas of Susa
      • Andrew Bobola
      • Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Caroline Chisholm (Church of England)
      • Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar)
      • Germerius
      • Honoratus of Amiens
      • John of Nepomuk
      • Margaret of Cortona
      • Peregrine of Auxerre
      • Simon Stock
      • Ubald (see Saint Ubaldo Day)
    • Martyrs of Sudan (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Mass Graves Day (Iraq)
    • National Day, declared by Salva Kiir Mayardit (South Sudan)
    • Teachers’ Day (Malaysia)

  • May 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
    • 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
    • 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.
    • 1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
    • 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
    • 1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.
    • 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
    • 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
    • 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
    • 1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the U.S. Government from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.
    • 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition‘s historic journey up the Missouri River.
    • 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
    • 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place.
    • 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
    • 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
    • 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.
    • 1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
    • 1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
    • 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence.
    • 1925 – Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
    • 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
    • 1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.
    • 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
    • 1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.
    • 1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
    • 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
    • 1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
    • 1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
    • 1961 – Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
    • 1970 – Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
    • 1973 – Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.
    • 1977 – A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport (now Kenneth Kaunda International Airport) in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.
    • 1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
    • 1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
    • 2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
    • 2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.
    • 2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.
    • 2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.

    Births on May 14

    • 1316 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1378)
    • 1553 – Margaret of Valois (d. 1615)
    • 1574 – Francesco Rasi, Italian singer-songwriter, theorbo player, and poet (d. 1621)
    • 1592 – Alice Barnham, wife of statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)
    • 1630 – Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (d. 1681)
    • 1652 – Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (d. 1732)
    • 1657 – Sambhaji, Indian emperor (d. 1689)
    • 1666 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
    • 1679 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1764)
    • 1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (d. 1786)
    • 1701 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (d. 1782)
    • 1710 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (d. 1771)
    • 1725 – Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (d. 1802)
    • 1727 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (d. 1788)
    • 1737 – George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Irish-English politician and diplomat, Governor of Grenada (d. 1806)
    • 1752 – Timothy Dwight IV, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1817)
    • 1752 – Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist and author (d. 1828)
    • 1761 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1816)
    • 1771 – Robert Owen, Welsh businessman and social reformer (d. 1858)
    • 1771 – Thomas Wedgwood, English photographer (d. 1805)
    • 1781 – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian and academic (d. 1873)
    • 1794 – Fanny Imlay, daughter of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1816)
    • 1814 – Charles Beyer, German-English engineer, co-founded Beyer, Peacock and Company (d. 1876)
    • 1817 – Alexander Kaufmann, German poet and educator (d. 1893)
    • 1820 – James Martin, Irish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1886)
    • 1830 – Antonio Annetto Caruana, Maltese archaeologist and author (d. 1905)
    • 1832 – Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1903)
    • 1851 – Anna Laurens Dawes, American author and suffragist (d. 1938)
    • 1852 – Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (d. 1908)
    • 1863 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (d. 1932)
    • 1867 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Bavaria (d. 1919)
    • 1868 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (d. 1935)
    • 1869 – Arthur Rostron, English captain (d. 1940)
    • 1872 – Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinal (d. 1961)
    • 1878 – J. L. Wilkinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
    • 1879 – Fred Englehardt, American jumper (d. 1942)
    • 1880 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
    • 1881 – Lionel Hill, Australian politician, 30th Premier of South Australia (d. 1963)
    • 1881 – George Murray Hulbert, American judge and politician (d. 1950)
    • 1885 – Otto Klemperer, German composer and conductor (d. 1973)
    • 1887 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
    • 1888 – Archie Alexander, American mathematician and engineer (d. 1958)
    • 1893 – Louis Verneuil, French actor and playwright (d. 1952)
    • 1897 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1959)
    • 1897 – Ed Ricketts, American biologist and ecologist (d. 1948)
    • 1899 – Charlotte Auerbach, German-Jewish Scottish folklorist, geneticist, and zoologist. (d.1994)
    • 1899 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (d. 1993)
    • 1899 – Earle Combs, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Hal Borland, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
    • 1900 – Walter Rehberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1957)
    • 1900 – Cai Chang, Chinese first leader of All-China Women’s Federation (d. 1990)
    • 1900 – Leo Smit, Dutch pianist and composer (d. 1943)
    • 1900 – Edgar Wind, German-English historian, author, and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – Robert Ritter, German psychologist and physician (d. 1951)
    • 1903 – Billie Dove, American actress (d. 1997)
    • 1904 – Hans Albert Einstein, Swiss-American engineer and educator (d. 1973)
    • 1904 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (d. 1961)
    • 1905 – Jean Daniélou, French cardinal and theologian (d. 1974)
    • 1905 – Herbert Morrison, American soldier and journalist (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (d. 1981)
    • 1907 – Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (d. 1974)
    • 1907 – Hans von der Groeben, German journalist and diplomat (d. 2005)
    • 1908 – Betty Jeffrey, Australian nurse and author (d. 2000)
    • 1909 – Godfrey Rampling, English sprinter and colonel (d. 2009)
    • 1910 – Ken Viljoen, South African cricketer (d. 1974)
    • 1910 – Ne Win, Prime Minister and President of Burma (d. 2002)
    • 1914 – Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1983)
    • 1914 – William Thomas Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Robert F. Christy, Canadian-American physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
    • 1916 – Lance Dossor, English-Australian pianist and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (d. 2001)
    • 1917 – Lou Harrison, American composer and critic (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Norman Luboff, American composer and conductor (d. 1987)
    • 1919 – Solange Chaput-Rolland, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2001)
    • 1919 – John Hope, American soldier and meteorologist (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Richard Deacon, American actor (d. 1984)
    • 1922 – Franjo Tuđman, Yugoslav historian; later 1st President of Croatia (d. 1999)
    • 1923 – Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Mrinal Sen, Bangladeshi-Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Patrice Munsel, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (d. 1997)
    • 1925 – Al Porcino, American trumpet player (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Ninian Sanderson, Scottish race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1926 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and actor (d. 1984)
    • 1927 – Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist and author
    • 1928 – Dub Jones, American R&B bass singer (d. 2000)
    • 1928 – Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch engineer, author, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Brian Macdonald, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Henry McGee, English actor and singer (d. 2006)
    • 1929 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – William James, Australian general and physician (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Alvin Lucier, American composer and academic
    • 1932 – Robert Bechtle, American lithographer and painter
    • 1933 – Siân Phillips, Welsh actress and singer
    • 1935 – Ethel Johnson, American professional wrestler (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Rudi Šeligo, Slovenian playwright and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1936 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1973)
    • 1936 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1987)
    • 1938 – Robert Boyd, English pediatrician and academic
    • 1939 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (d. 2016)
    • 1939 – Troy Shondell, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1940 – Chay Blyth, Scottish sailor and rower
    • 1940 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
    • 1940 – George Mathewson, Scottish banker and businessman
    • 1941 – Ada den Haan, Dutch swimmer
    • 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (d. 2003)
    • 1942 – Byron Dorgan, American lawyer and politician
    • 1942 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Tony Pérez, Cuban-American baseball player and manager
    • 1942 – Malise Ruthven, Irish author and academic
    • 1943 – Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
    • 1943 – L. Denis Desautels, Canadian accountant and civil servant
    • 1943 – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland
    • 1943 – Derek Leckenby, English pop-rock guitarist (d. 1994)
    • 1943 – Richard Peto, English statistician and epidemiologist
    • 1944 – Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist
    • 1944 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm
    • 1944 – David Kelly, Welsh scientist (d. 2003)
    • 1945 – Francesca Annis, English actress
    • 1945 – George Nicholls, English rugby player
    • 1945 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer
    • 1946 – Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, English economist and journalist
    • 1947 – Al Ciner, American pop-rock guitarist
    • 1947 – Ana Martín, Mexican actress, singer producer and former model (Miss Mexico 1963)
    • 1948 – Timothy Stevenson, English lawyer and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
    • 1948 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer and coach (d. 2007)
    • 1949 – Sverre Årnes, Norwegian author, screenwriter, and director
    • 1949 – Walter Day, American game designer and businessman, founded Twin Galaxies
    • 1949 – Johan Schans, Dutch swimmer
    • 1949 – Klaus-Peter Thaler, German cyclist
    • 1951 – Jay Beckenstein, American saxophonist
    • 1952 – David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1952 – Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1952 – Orna Grumberg, Israeli computer scientist and academic
    • 1952 – Raul Mälk, Estonian politician, 22nd Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1952 – Wim Mertens, Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.
    • 1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1952 – Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Tom Cochrane, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Hywel Williams, Welsh politician
    • 1955 – Marie Chouinard, Canadian dancer and choreographer
    • 1955 – Alasdair Fraser, Scottish fiddler
    • 1955 – Peter Kirsten, South African cricketer and rugby player
    • 1955 – Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach
    • 1955 – Jens Sparschuh, German author and playwright
    • 1956 – Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
    • 1956 – Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist
    • 1958 – Christine Brennan, American journalist and author
    • 1958 – Chris Evans, English-Australian politician, 26th Australian Minister for Employment
    • 1958 – Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer
    • 1958 – Wilma Rusman, Dutch runner
    • 1959 – Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer
    • 1959 – Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player
    • 1959 – Markus Büchel, Liechtensteiner politician, 9th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein (d. 2013)
    • 1959 – Robert Greene, American author and translator
    • 1959 – John Holt, American football player (d. 2013)
    • 1959 – Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Heather Wheeler, English politician
    • 1960 – Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet
    • 1960 – Alec Dankworth, English bassist and composer
    • 1960 – Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer
    • 1960 – Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
    • 1961 – David Quantick, English journalist and critic
    • 1961 – Tommy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 2015)
    • 1961 – Tim Roth, English actor and director
    • 1961 – Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1962 – Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1962 – C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor
    • 1962 – Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director
    • 1963 – Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach
    • 1963 – David Yelland, English journalist and author
    • 1964 – James M. Kelly, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1964 – Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer
    • 1964 – Alan McIndoe, Australian rugby league player
    • 1964 – Eric Peterson, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1965 – Eoin Colfer, Irish author
    • 1966 – Marianne Denicourt, French actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter
    • 1966 – Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model
    • 1966 – Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1967 – Natasha Kaiser-Brown, American sprinter and coach
    • 1967 – Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist
    • 1968 – Mary DePiero, Canadian diver
    • 1969 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
    • 1969 – Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Henry Smith, English politician
    • 1969 – Danny Wood, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and choreographer
    • 1971 – Deanne Bray, American actress
    • 1971 – Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security
    • 1973 – Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress
    • 1973 – Voshon Lenard, American basketball player
    • 1973 – Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist
    • 1973 – Hakan Ünsal, Turkish footballer and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Julian White, English rugby player
    • 1974 – Anu Välba, Estonian journalist
    • 1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist
    • 1976 – Hunter Burgan, American bass player
    • 1976 – Brian Lawrence, American baseball player and coach
    • 1976 – Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer
    • 1977 – Sophie Anderton, English model and actress
    • 1977 – Roy Halladay, American baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Ada Nicodemou, Cypriot-Australian actress
    • 1978 – Brent Harvey, Australian footballer
    • 1978 – Eddie House, American basketball player
    • 1978 – André Macanga, Angolan footballer and manager
    • 1978 – Gustavo Varela, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1979 – Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1979 – Edwige Lawson-Wade, French basketball player
    • 1979 – Clinton Morrison, English-Irish footballer
    • 1979 – Carlos Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1980 – Zdeněk Grygera, Czech footballer
    • 1980 – Pavel Londak, Estonian footballer
    • 1980 – Eugene Martineau, Dutch decathlete
    • 1980 – Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater
    • 1980 – Hugo Southwell, English-Scottish rugby player
    • 1980 – Joe van Niekerk, South African rugby player
    • 1981 – Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense
    • 1983 – Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1983 – Keeley Donovan, English journalist
    • 1983 – Frank Gore, American football player
    • 1983 – Uroš Slokar, Slovenian basketball player
    • 1983 – Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1983 – Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director
    • 1984 – Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer
    • 1984 – Luke Gregerson, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Michael Rensing, German footballer
    • 1984 – Indrek Siska, Estonian footballer
    • 1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook
    • 1985 – Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter
    • 1985 – Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1985 – Simona Peycheva, Bulgarian gymnast
    • 1985 – Zack Ryder, American wrestler
    • 1986 – Andrea Bovo, Italian footballer
    • 1986 – Clay Matthews III, American football player
    • 1986 – Marco Motta, Italian footballer
    • 1987 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1987 – Franck Songo’o, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1987 – François Steyn, South African rugby player
    • 1988 – Jayne Appel, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Rob Gronkowski, American football player
    • 1989 – Alina Talay, Belorussian hurdler
    • 1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer
    • 1993 – Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player
    • 1993 – Bence Rakaczki, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1994 – Marcos Aoás Corrêa, Brazilian footballer
    • 1994 – Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer
    • 1994 – Bronte Campbell, Australian swimmer
    • 1994 – Dennis Praet, Belgian footballer
    • 1995 – Bernardo Fernandes da Silva Junior, Brazilian footballer
    • 1995 – Jonah Placid, Australian rugby player
    • 1996 – Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ
    • 2001 – Jack Hughes, American hockey player

    Deaths on May 14

    • 649 – Pope Theodore I
    • 934 – Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor
    • 964 – Pope John XII (b. 927)
    • 1080 – William Walcher, Bishop of Durham
    • 1219 – William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (b. 1147)
    • 1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
    • 1576 – Tahmasp I, Shah of Persia (b. 1514)
    • 1603 – Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1543)
    • 1608 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
    • 1610 – Henry IV of France (b. 1553)
    • 1643 – Louis XIII of France (b. 1601)
    • 1649 – Friedrich Spanheim, Swiss theologian and academic (b. 1600)
    • 1667 – Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1601)
    • 1688 – Antoine Furetière, French scholar, lexicographer, and author (b. 1619)
    • 1754 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French playwright and producer (b. 1692)
    • 1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1710)
    • 1847 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German pianist and composer (b. 1805)
    • 1860 – Ludwig Bechstein, German author (b. 1801)
    • 1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (b. 1797)
    • 1878 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (b. 1830)
    • 1881 – Mary Seacole, Jamaican-English nurse and author (b. 1805)
    • 1889 – Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1809)
    • 1893 – Ernst Kummer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1810)
    • 1906 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1829)
    • 1912 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (b. 1843)
    • 1912 – August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (b. 1849)
    • 1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1841)
    • 1919 – Henry J. Heinz, American businessman, founded the H. J. Heinz Company (b. 1844)
    • 1923 – N. G. Chandavarkar, Indian jurist and politician (b. 1855)
    • 1923 – Charles de Freycinet, French engineer and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
    • 1931 – David Belasco, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1853)
    • 1934 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (b. 1872)
    • 1935 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (b. 1868)
    • 1936 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (b. 1861)
    • 1940 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian author and activist (b. 1869)
    • 1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (b. 1902)
    • 1943 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
    • 1945 – Heber J. Grant, American religious leader, 7th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
    • 1945 – Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (b. 1913)
    • 1945 – Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist (b. 1852)
    • 1953 – Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American painter and photographer (b. 1893)
    • 1954 – Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (b. 1888)
    • 1956 – Joan Malleson, English physician (b. 1889)
    • 1957 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (b. 1884)
    • 1959 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (b. 1897)
    • 1959 – Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (b. 1862)
    • 1960 – Lucrezia Bori, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1887)
    • 1962 – Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1880)
    • 1968 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
    • 1969 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (b. 1893)
    • 1969 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)
    • 1970 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (b. 1884)
    • 1973 – Jean Gebser, German linguist, philosopher, and poet (b. 1905)
    • 1976 – Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and producer (b. 1943)
    • 1979 – Jean Rhys, Dominican-English novelist (b. 1890)
    • 1980 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (b. 1912)
    • 1982 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor (b. 1909)
    • 1983 – Roger J. Traynor, American academic and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (b. 1900)
    • 1983 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican politician, 46th President of Mexico (b. 1900)
    • 1984 – Ted Hicks, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (b. 1906)
    • 1987 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer (b. 1918)
    • 1987 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovenian poet and playwright (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958) (b. 1886)
    • 1991 – Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (b. 1910)
    • 1992 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (b. 1899)
    • 1993 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1908)
    • 1994 – Cihat Arman, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1915)
    • 1994 – W. Graham Claytor Jr., American businessman, lieutenant, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
    • 1997 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (b. 1934)
    • 1997 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (b. 1925)
    • 1998 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
    • 1998 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (b. 1915)
    • 2000 – Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 84th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
    • 2001 – Paul Bénichou, French writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian (b. 1908)
    • 2001 – Gil Langley, Australian cricketer, footballer, and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2003 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2003 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
    • 2003 – Robert Stack, American actor and producer (b. 1919)
    • 2004 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – Jimmy Martin, American musician (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Lew Anderson, American actor and saxophonist (b. 1922)
    • 2006 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (b. 1905)
    • 2006 – Eva Norvind, Mexican actress, director, and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2007 – Mary Scheier, American sculptor and educator (b. 1908)
    • 2007 – Ülo Jõgi, Estonian historian and author (b. 1921)
    • 2010 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (b. 1938)
    • 2010 – Norman Hand, American football player (b. 1972)
    • 2010 – Goh Keng Swee, Singaporean soldier and politician, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Mario Trejo, Argentinian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Wayne Brown, American accountant and politician, 14th Mayor of Mesa (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Arsen Chilingaryan, Armenian footballer and manager (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Asghar Ali Engineer, Indian author and activist (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Ray Guy, Canadian journalist (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Jeffrey Kruger, English-American businessman (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Emanuel Raymond Lewis, American librarian and author (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Morvin Simon, New Zealand historian, composer, and conductor (b. 1944)
    • 2015 – B.B. King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Micheál O’Brien, Irish footballer and hurler (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Stanton J. Peale, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (b. 1953)
    • 2016 – Darwyn Cooke, American comic book writer and artist (b. 1962)
    • 2017 – Powers Boothe, American actor (b. 1948)
    • 2018 – Tom Wolfe, American author (b. 1931)
    • 2019 – Tim Conway, American actor, writer (b. 1933)

    Holidays and observances on May 14

    • Christian feast day:
      • Boniface of Tarsus
      • Engelmund of Velsen
      • Matthias the Apostle (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion)
      • Michael Garicoïts
      • Mo Chutu of Lismore (Roman Catholic Church)
      • Victor and Corona
      • May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which the first day of Sanja Matsuri can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third weekend of May. (Sensō-ji, Tokyo)
    • Flag Day (Paraguay)
    • Hastings Banda’s Birthday (Malawi)
    • National Unification Day (Liberia)
    • The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival. (Izumo-taisha)

  • May 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 254 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church.
    • 907 – Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule.
    • 1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.
    • 1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
    • 1364 – Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków.
    • 1510 – The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to a banquet and declares his intent on ousting the powerful Ming dynasty eunuch Liu Jin during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.
    • 1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.
    • 1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise, enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.
    • 1593 – London playwright Thomas Kyd is arrested and tortured by the Privy Council for libel.
    • 1743 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1778 – Heinrich XI, count of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, is elevated to Prince by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
    • 1797 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
    • 1821 – The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.
    • 1846 – The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: Two divisions of James B. McPherson’s XVII Corps turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton’s defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Union troops assault a Confederate salient known as the “Mule Shoe”, with the fiercest fighting of the war, much of it hand-to-hand combat, occurring at “the Bloody Angle” on the northwest.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.
    • 1870 – The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
    • 1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
    • 1885 – North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
    • 1888 – In Southeast Asia, the North Borneo Chartered Company’s territories become the British protectorate of North Borneo.
    • 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.
    • 1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, Charles Jr., the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, is found dead near Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs’ home.
    • 1933 – The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
    • 1937 – The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Westminster Abbey.
    • 1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
    • 1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.
    • 1942 – World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507.
    • 1948 – Wilhelmina, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, cedes the throne.
    • 1949 – Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.
    • 1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
    • 1968 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.
    • 1978 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.
    • 1981 – Francis Hughes, Provisional IRA hunger striker, dies in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.
    • 1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.
    • 1989 – The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people. A week later an underground gasoline pipeline explodes killing two more people.
    • 1998 – Four students are shot at Trisakti University, leading to widespread riots and the fall of Suharto.
    • 2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.
    • 2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by al-Qaeda, kill 26 people.
    • 2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.
    • 2006 – Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.
    • 2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
    • 2008 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.
    • 2010 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.
    • 2015 – A train derailment in Philadelphia kills eight people and injures more than 200.
    • 2015 – Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3500.
    • 2017 – The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400 thousand computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom’s National Health Services and Telefónica computers.
    • 2018 – Paris knife attack: A man was fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others.

    Births on May 13

    1401 – Emperor Shōkō of Japan (d. 1428)

    • 1479 – Pompeo Colonna, Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)
    • 1496 – Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
    • 1590 – Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
    • 1606 – Joachim von Sandrart, German art-historian and painter (d. 1688)
    • 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French-Canadian soldier and politician, 3rd Governor General of New France (d. 1698)
    • 1626 – Louis Hennepin, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1705)
    • 1670 – Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (d. 1733)
    • 1700 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect and engineer, designed the Palace of Caserta and Royal Palace of Milan (d. 1773)
    • 1725 – Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1785)
    • 1739 – Johann Baptist Wanhal, Czech-Austrian organist and composer (d. 1813)
    • 1754 – Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and publisher (d. 1812)
    • 1755 – Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1824)
    • 1767 – Manuel Godoy, Spanish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1851)
    • 1774 – Ellis Cunliffe Lister, English politician (d. 1853)
    • 1777 – Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman (d. 1855)
    • 1803 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (d. 1873)
    • 1804 – Robert Baldwin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Premier of West Canada (d. 1858)
    • 1806 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (d. 1881)
    • 1812 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (d. 1888)
    • 1814 – Adolf von Henselt, German pianist and composer (d. 1889)
    • 1820 – Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse, social reformer, and statistician (d. 1910)
    • 1825 – Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, French lawyer and explorer (d. 1878)
    • 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (d. 1882)
    • 1829 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer and educator (d. 1896)
    • 1839 – Tôn Thất Thuyết, Vietnamese mandarin (d. 1913)
    • 1840 – Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean colonel (d. 1912)
    • 1842 – Jules Massenet, French composer (d. 1912)
    • 1845 – Gabriel Fauré, French pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1924)
    • 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, American historian and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1850 – Frederick Holder, Australian politician, 19th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909)
    • 1859 – William Alden Smith, American lawyer and politician (d. 1932)
    • 1859 – Frank Wilson, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1918)
    • 1863 – Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, Bengali writer, painter, violin player and composer, technologist and entrepreneur. (d. 1915)
    • 1867 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer and accountant (d. 1938)
    • 1869 – Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, wrestler, and weightlifter (d. 1946)
    • 1872 – Anton Korošec, Slovenian priest and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 1940)
    • 1873 – J. E. H. MacDonald, English-Canadian painter (d. 1932)
    • 1874 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian pediatrician and immunologist (d. 1929)
    • 1875 – Charles Holden, English architect, designed the Bristol Central Library (d. 1960)
    • 1880 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (d. 1951)
    • 1885 – Paltiel Daykan, Lithuanian-Israeli lawyer and jurist (d. 1969)
    • 1885 – Saneatsu Mushanokōji, Japanese author (d. 1976)
    • 1886 – Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain and pilot (d. 1937)
    • 1899 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (d. 1967)
    • 1889 – Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman and Holocaust survivor; father of diarist Anne Frank (d. 1980)
    • 1892 – Fritz Kortner, Austrian-German actor and director (d. 1970)
    • 1895 – William Giauque, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1982)
    • 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian-American philosopher and author (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Helene Weigel, Austrian-German actress (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – The Duke of Paducah, American country comedian, radio host and banjo player (d. 1986)
    • 1903 – Faith Bennett, British actress and ATA pilot during WWII (d. 1969)
    • 1903 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Édouard Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and politician, Postmaster General of Canada (d. 1994)
    • 1907 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
    • 1908 – Nicholas Kaldor, Hungarian-English economist (d. 1986)
    • 1910 – James Dudley, American baseball player, wrestling manager and executive (d. 2004)
    • 1910 – Johan Ferrier, Surinamese educator and politician, 1st President of Suriname (d. 2010)
    • 1910 – Dorothy Hodgkin, English biochemist, crystallographer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
    • 1910 – Gordon Jenkins, American pianist and composer (d. 1984)
    • 1911 – Charles Biro, American author and illustrator (d. 1972)
    • 1912 – Henry Jonsson, Swedish runner (d. 2001)
    • 1912 – Marshal Royal, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1995)
    • 1914 – Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet and author (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Howard K. Smith, American journalist and actor (d. 2002)
    • 1915 – Tony Strobl, American comics artist and animator (d. 1991)
    • 1916 – Albert Murray, American author and critic (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
    • 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)
    • 1921 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and illustrator (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Farley Mowat, Canadian environmentalist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Marco Denevi, Argentinian lawyer and author (d. 1998)
    • 1922 – Murray Gershenz, American actor and businessman (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Bob Goldham, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 1991)
    • 1922 – Roy Salvadori, English race car driver and manager (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Maxine Cooper, American actress and photographer (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian-American mathematician and poet (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – Tony Hancock, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1925 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1926 – Paulette Poujol-Oriol, Hatian educator and writer (d. 2011)
    • 1926 – Viren J. Shah, Indian politician, 21st Governor of West Bengal (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Burt Bacharach, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
    • 1929 – Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia
    • 1929 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Joel Joffe, Baron Joffe, South African-English lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1933 – Andrei Voznesensky, Russian poet (d. 2010)
    • 1935 – Felipe Alou, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1935 – Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1936 – Guillermo Endara, Panamanian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Panama (d. 2009)
    • 1936 – Tom Snyder, American journalist and talk show host (d. 2007)
    • 1936 – Frank Stella, American painter and sculptor
    • 1937 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (d. 1996)
    • 1937 – George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2008)
    • 1937 – Susan Hampshire, English actress
    • 1937 – Miriam Stoppard, English physician and author
    • 1938 – Millie Perkins, American actress
    • 1939 – Cyril Chantler, English pediatrician and academic
    • 1939 – Jalal Dabagh, Kurdish journalist and politician
    • 1939 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek minister and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (d. 2011)
    • 1939 – Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2014)
    • 1939 – Ron Ziegler, American politician, White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
    • 1940 – Lill Lindfors, Swedish singer
    • 1940 – Norman Whitfield, American songwriter and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1941 – Ruud de Wolff, Dutch singer (d. 2000)
    • 1942 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
    • 1942 – Michel Fugain, French singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Billy Swan, American country singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Dragoljub Velimirović, Serbian chess player and theoretician (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Chris Patten, English academic and politician, 28th Governor of Hong Kong
    • 1945 – Alan Ball, Jr., English footballer and manager (d. 2007)
    • 1945 – Ian McLagan, English keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1945 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman (d. 2012)
    • 1946 – Daniel Libeskind, American architect, designed the Imperial War Museum North and Jewish Museum
    • 1947 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian journalist and politician
    • 1948 – Lindsay Crouse, American actress
    • 1948 – Dave Heineman, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of Nebraska
    • 1948 – Richard Riehle, American actor
    • 1948 – Steve Winwood, English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
    • 1949 – Ross Bleckner, American painter
    • 1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, American actor and author
    • 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor, director, and producer
    • 1950 – Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, Scottish lawyer, academic, and politician
    • 1950 – Billy Squier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – George Karl, American basketball player and coach
    • 1955 – Kix Brooks, American country music singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1956 – Bernie Federko, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
    • 1956 – Sergio Marchi, Argentinean-Canadian urban planner and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of International Trade
    • 1956 – Greg Phillinganes, American keyboardist
    • 1956 – Asad Rauf, Pakistani cricketer and umpire
    • 1957 – Ziya Onis, Turkish economist and academic
    • 1958 – Kim Greist, American actress
    • 1958 – Andreas Petroulakis, Greek cartoonist
    • 1958 – Dries van Noten, Belgian fashion designer
    • 1959 – Dave Christian, American ice hockey player
    • 1959 – Ray Gillen, American rock singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1959 – Ving Rhames, American actor
    • 1960 – Lisa Martin, Australian runner
    • 1961 – Thomas Dooley, German-American soccer player and manager
    • 1961 – Billy Duffy, English rock guitarist and songwriter
    • 1961 – Bruce McCulloch, Canadian actor and comedian
    • 1962 – Emilio Estevez, American actor
    • 1962 – Brett Gurewitz, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1962 – Gregory H. Johnson, English-born American astronaut
    • 1963 – Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player and politician
    • 1963 – Gavin Hood, South African actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Stefano Modena, Italian race car driver
    • 1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, American actress and producer
    • 1964 – Pierre Morel, French director and cinematographer
    • 1965 – Renée Simonsen, Danish model and writer
    • 1965 – Stacy Wilson, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1966 – Stephen Baldwin, American actor
    • 1966 – Bebel Gilberto, American-Brazilian singer-songwriter
    • 1966 – Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
    • 1967 – Mireille Bousquet-Mélou, French mathematician
    • 1967 – Bill Shorten, Australian politician
    • 1968 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder and actor
    • 1968 – Catherine Tate, English actress and screenwriter
    • 1969 – Suzanne Clément, Canadian actress
    • 1969 – Kim Fields, American actress
    • 1970 – Mark Foster, English swimmer
    • 1970 – Jim Furyk, American golfer
    • 1970 – Samantha Mathis, American actress
    • 1970 – Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
    • 1970 – David A. R. White, American actor and producer
    • 1971 – Doug Basham, American wrestler
    • 1971 – Jamie Luner, American actress
    • 1972 – Christian Campbell, Canadian-American actor, writer and photographer
    • 1973 – Mackenzie Astin, American actor
    • 1973 – Lutz Pfannenstiel, German footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2015)
    • 1975 – Ricky Ortiz, American professional wrestler and football player
    • 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rap musician and producer
    • 1977 – Graeme Dott, Scottish snooker player and coach
    • 1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Onur Saylak, Turkish actor, filmmaker and director
    • 1977 – Rachel Wilson, Canadian actress and voice actress
    • 1978 – Aaron Abrams, Canadian actor
    • 1978 – Malin Åkerman, Swedish-Canadian model, actress, and singer
    • 1978 – Jason Biggs, American actor and comedian
    • 1978 – Aya Ishiguro, Japanese singer and fashion designer
    • 1979 – Adrian Serioux,Canadian soccer player
    • 1979 – Aaron Yoo, American actor
    • 1980 – Keith Bogans, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Rami Malek, American actor
    • 1981 – Kentaro Sato, Japanese-American composer and conductor
    • 1981 – Dennis Trillo, Filipino actor and singer
    • 1982 – Donnie Nietes, Filipino boxer
    • 1983 – Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor
    • 1983 – Alina Kabaeva, Russian gymnast and politician
    • 1983 – Yujiro Kushida, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
    • 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
    • 1983 – Virginie Razzano, French tennis player
    • 1983 – Francisco Javier Torres, Mexican footballer
    • 1984 – Clare Bowen, Australian actress and singer
    • 1985 – Paolo Goltz, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Andrew Howe, Italian long jumper and sprinter
    • 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys, Belgian footballer
    • 1986 – Jonathan Orozco, Mexican footballer
    • 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
    • 1987 – Kieron Pollard, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1988 – Marcelo, Brazilian footballer
    • 1989 – Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Greek Cypriot singer, musician, and actress
    • 1990 – Florent Amodio, French figure skater
    • 1992 – Volha Khudzenka, Belarusian kayaker
    • 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor and singer
    • 1995 – Irina Khromacheva, Russian tennis player
    • 1997 – Morgan Lake, English athlete

    Deaths on May 12

    • 805 – Æthelhard, archbishop of Canterbury
    • 940 – Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria (b. 877)
    • 1003 – Sylvester II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 946)
    • 1012 – Sergius IV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 970)
    • 1090 – Liutold of Eppenstein, duke of Carinthia
    • 1161 – Fergus of Galloway, Scottish nobleman
    • 1182 – Valdemar I, king of Denmark (b. 1131)
    • 1331 – Engelbert of Admont, Benedictine abbot and scholar
    • 1382 – Joanna I, queen of Naples (b. 1328)
    • 1465 – Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of Morea (b. 1409)
    • 1490 – Joanna, Portuguese princess and regent (b. 1452)
    • 1529 – Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, English noblewoman (b. 1460)
    • 1599 – Murad Mirza, Mughal prince (b. 1570)
    • 1634 – George Chapman, English poet and playwright (b. 1559)
    • 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1593)
    • 1684 – Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest (b. 1620)
    • 1699 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)
    • 1700 – John Dryden, English poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1631)
    • 1708 – Adolphus Frederick II, duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
    • 1748 – Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer and academic (b. 1692)
    • 1759 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
    • 1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss zoologist and academic (b. 1710)
    • 1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French playwright and composer (b. 1710)
    • 1796 – Johann Uz, German poet and author (b. 1720)
    • 1801 – Nicholas Repnin, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1734)
    • 1842 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Belarusian-Polish painter (b. 1799)
    • 1845 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet and academic (b. 1763)
    • 1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1786)
    • 1859 – Sergey Aksakov, Russian author and academic (b. 1791)
    • 1860 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed Upper Brook Street Chapel and the Palace of Westminster (b. 1795)
    • 1864 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (b. 1833)
    • 1867 – Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist and academic (b. 1795)
    • 1878 – Anselme Payen, French chemist and academic (b. 1795)
    • 1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian activist (b. 1843)
    • 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer and educator (b. 1824)
    • 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (b. 1848)
    • 1916 – James Connolly, Scottish-born Irish socialist and rebel leader (b. 1868)
    • 1925 – Amy Lowell, American poet and critic (b. 1874)
    • 1931 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1858)
    • 1935 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1867)
    • 1944 – Max Brand, American journalist and author (b. 1892)
    • 1944 – Arthur Quiller-Couch, English author, poet, and critic (b. 1863)
    • 1956 – Louis Calhern, American actor and singer (b. 1895)
    • 1957 – Alfonso de Portago, Spanish bobsledder and race car driver (b. 1928)
    • 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1885)
    • 1963 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager (b. 1878)
    • 1963 – Robert Kerr, Irish-Canadian sprinter and coach (b. 1882)
    • 1964 – Agnes Forbes Blackadder, Scottish medical doctor (b. 1875)
    • 1966 – Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (b. 1896)
    • 1967 – John Masefield, English poet and author (b. 1878)
    • 1970 – Nelly Sachs, German poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
    • 1971 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player and coach (b. 1901)
    • 1973 – Frances Marion, American screenwriter, novelist and journalist (b. 1888)
    • 1973 – Art Pollard, American race car driver (b. 1927)
    • 1974 – Wayne Maki, Canadian National Hockey League player (b. 1944)
    • 1980 – Lillian Roth, American actress 9b. 1910)
    • 1985 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (b. 1901)
    • 1986 – Elisabeth Bergner, German actress (b. 1897)
    • 1992 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and songwriter (b. 1911)
    • 1992 – Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)
    • 1993 – Zeno Colò, Italian Olympic alpine skier (b.1920)
    • 1994 – Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1902)
    • 1994 – John Smith, Scottish-English lawyer and politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1938)
    • 1995 – Ștefan Kovács, Romanian football player and coach (b. 1920)
    • 1999 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American illustrator (b. 1914)
    • 2000 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
    • 2001 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (b. 1925)
    • 2003 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-American diplomat (b. 1933)
    • 2005 – Ömer Kavur, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
    • 2005 – Martin Lings, English author and scholar (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Hussein Maziq, Libyan politician, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1925)
    • 2008 – Irena Sendler, Polish nurse and humanitarian (b. 1910)
    • 2009 – Antonio Vega, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1957)
    • 2012 – Jan Bens, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Eddy Paape, Belgian illustrator (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist, author, and academic (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – Cornell Borchers, Lithuanian-German actress and singer (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Marco Cé, Italian cardinal (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Sarat Pujari, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Lorenzo Zambrano, Mexican businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
    • 2015 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – William Zinsser American journalist and critic (b. 1922)
    • 2016 – Mike Agostini, Trinidadian sprinter (b. 1935)
    • 2017 – Mauno Koivisto, Finnish banker and politician, 9th President of Finland (b. 1923)
    • 2018 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer (b. 1945)

    Holidays and observances on May 12

    • 2nd Amendment Day (Pennsylvania, United States)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Blessed Imelda
      • Blessed Joan of Portugal
      • Crispoldus
      • Dominic de la Calzada
      • Epiphanius of Salamis
      • Gregory Dix (Church of England)
      • Modoald
      • Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras
      • Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople (Eastern Church)
      • Philip of Agira
      • May 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the Finnish Identity (Finland)
    • International Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day
    • International Nurses Day
    • Saint Andrea the First Day (Georgia)

  • May 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
    • 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
    • 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
    • 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
    • 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
    • 1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
    • 1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
    • 1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
    • 1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
    • 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
    • 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
    • 1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
    • 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
    • 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
    • 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
    • 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
    • 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
    • 1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
    • 1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
    • 1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
    • 1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
    • 1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
    • 1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
    • 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
    • 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
    • 1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
    • 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
    • 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
    • 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
    • 1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
    • 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
    • 1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
    • 1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
    • 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
    • 1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
    • 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
    • 1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
    • 1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
    • 2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
    • 2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
    • 2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
    • 2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

    Births on May 10

    • 874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
    • 955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
    • 1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
    • 1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
    • 1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
    • 1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
    • 1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
    • 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
    • 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
    • 1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
    • 1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
    • 1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
    • 1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
    • 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
    • 1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
    • 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
    • 1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
    • 1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
    • 1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
    • 1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
    • 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
    • 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
    • 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
    • 1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
    • 1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
    • 1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
    • 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
    • 1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
    • 1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
    • 1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
    • 1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
    • 1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
    • 1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
    • 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
    • 1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
    • 1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
    • 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
    • 1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
    • 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
    • 1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
    • 1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
    • 1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
    • 1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
    • 1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
    • 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
    • 1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
    • 1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
    • 1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
    • 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
    • 1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
    • 1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
    • 1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
    • 1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
    • 1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
    • 1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
    • 1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
    • 1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
    • 1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
    • 1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
    • 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
    • 1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
    • 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
    • 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
    • 1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
    • 1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
    • 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
    • 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
    • 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
    • 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
    • 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
    • 1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
    • 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
    • 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
    • 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
    • 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
    • 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
    • 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
    • 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
    • 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
    • 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
    • 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
    • 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player

    Deaths on May 10

    • 1299 – Theingapati, heir to the Pagan Kingdom
    • 1403 – Katherine Swynford, widow of John of Gaunt
    • 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
    • 1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1433)
    • 1521 – Sebastian Brant, German author (b. 1457)
    • 1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
    • 1569 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (b. 1500)
    • 1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
    • 1717 – John Hathorne, American merchant and politician (b. 1641)
    • 1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1670)
    • 1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
    • 1787 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (b. 1715)
    • 1794 – Élisabeth of France, French princess and youngest sibling of Louis XVI (b.1764)
    • 1798 – George Vancouver, English navigator and explorer (b. 1757)
    • 1807 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (b. 1725)
    • 1818 – Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (b. 1735)
    • 1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
    • 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (b. 1760)
    • 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
    • 1868 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1826)
    • 1891 – Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (b. 1817)
    • 1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (b. 1863)
    • 1910 – Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
    • 1945 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1899)
    • 1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (b. 1881)
    • 1965 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1894)
    • 1968 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (b. 1929)
    • 1974 – Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (b. 1894)
    • 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
    • 1982 – Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (b. 1916)
    • 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1990 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (b. 1916)
    • 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (b. 1942)
    • 1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator
    • 2000 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
    • 2000 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
    • 2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
    • 2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
    • 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)
    • 2018 – David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (b. 1914)
    • 2019 – Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (b. 1951)

    Holidays and observances on May 10

    • Children’s Day (Maldives)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus
      • Calepodius
      • Catald
      • Comgall
      • Damien of Molokai
      • Gordianus and Epimachus
      • Job (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)
      • John of Ávila
      • May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
    • Constitution Day (Micronesia)
    • Earliest possible day on which Pentecost can fall, while June 13 is the latest; celebrated 50 days after Easter Day.(Christianity)
    • Golden Spike Day (Promontory, Utah)
    • Mother’s Day (Guatemala, and Mexico)

  • May 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.
    • 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.
    • 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
    • 1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
    • 1544 – The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.
    • 1664 – Louis XIV of France begins construction of the Palace of Versailles.
    • 1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.
    • 1697 – Stockholm’s royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.
    • 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
    • 1763 – Pontiac’s War begins with Pontiac’s attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.
    • 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
    • 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision.
    • 1832 – Greece’s independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.
    • 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
    • 1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America’s oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
    • 1864 – The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
    • 1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
    • 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
    • 1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan‘s control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.
    • 1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
    • 1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
    • 1920 – Morecambe Football Club was founded during a meeting at the West View Hotel on the town’s promenade.
    • 1930 – The 7.1 Mw  Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed.
    • 1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.
    • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco’s forces.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
    • 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
    • 1945 – World War II: Last German U boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland.
    • 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany’s participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
    • 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded
    • 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
    • 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.
    • 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).
    • 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
    • 1976 – The Honda Accord is officially launched.
    • 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
    • 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
    • 1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.
    • 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald’s Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first “fast-food murder” in Canada.
    • 1994 – Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.
    • 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
    • 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
    • 1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft apparently inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
    • 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
    • 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.
    • 2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.
    • 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
    • 2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.

    Births on May 7

    • Before 160 – Julia Maesa, Roman noblewoman (d. 224)
    • 1488 – John III of the Palatinate, archbishop of Regensburg (d. 1538)
    • 1530 – Louis, Prince of Condé (d. 1569)
    • 1553 – Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (d. 1618)
    • 1605 – Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (d. 1681)
    • 1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician, 10th Mayor of New York City (d. 1700)
    • 1700 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician (d. 1772)
    • 1701 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (d. 1759)
    • 1711 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1776)
    • 1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, French-Austrian field marshal (d. 1797)
    • 1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian police officer and general (d. 1814)
    • 1748 – Olympe de Gouges, French playwright and philosopher (d. 1793)
    • 1763 – Józef Poniatowski, Polish general (d. 1813)
    • 1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1820)
    • 1774 – William Bainbridge, American commodore (d. 1833)
    • 1787 – Jacques Viger, Canadian archaeologist and politician, 1st mayor of Montreal (d. 1858)
    • 1812 – Robert Browning, English poet and playwright (d. 1889)
    • 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (d. 1897)
    • 1836 – Joseph Gurney Cannon, American lawyer and politician, 40th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1926)
    • 1837 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (d. 1875)
    • 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and educator (d. 1893)
    • 1845 – Mary Eliza Mahoney, American nurse and activist (d. 1926)
    • 1847 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
    • 1857 – William A. MacCorkle, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
    • 1860 – Tom Norman, English businessman (d. 1930)
    • 1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
    • 1867 – Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
    • 1875 – Bill Hoyt, American pole vaulter (d. 1951)
    • 1880 – Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (d. 1972)
    • 1881 – George E. Wiley, American cyclist (d. 1954)
    • 1882 – Willem Elsschot, Belgian author and poet (d. 1960)
    • 1885 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor (d. 1969)
    • 1889 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (d. 1943)
    • 1891 – Harry McShane, Scottish engineer and activist (d. 1988)
    • 1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (d. 1982)
    • 1892 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
    • 1893 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey coach and manager (d. 1985)
    • 1896 – Kathleen McKane Godfree, English tennis and badminton player (d. 1992)
    • 1899 – Alfred Gerrard, English sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
    • 1903 – Jimmy Ball, Canadian sprinter (d. 1988)
    • 1904 – Kurt Weitzmann, German-American historian and author (d. 1993)
    • 1906 – Eric Krenz, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1931)
    • 1909 – Edwin H. Land, American scientist and inventor, co-founded the Polaroid Corporation (d. 1991)
    • 1909 – Dorothy Sunrise Lorentino, Native American teacher (d. 2005)
    • 1911 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1911 – Rıfat Ilgaz, Turkish author, poet, and educator (d. 1993)
    • 1912 – Pannalal Patel, Indian author (d. 1989)
    • 1913 – John Spencer Hardy, American general (d. 2012)
    • 1913 – Simon Ramo, American physicist and engineer (d. 2016)
    • 1914 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat. British Ambassador to South Africa (d. 1996)
    • 1916 – Huw Wheldon, Welsh-English broadcaster (d. 1986)
    • 1916 – W. B. Young, Scottish rugby player and physician (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Domenico Bartolucci, Italian cardinal and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (d. 2020)
    • 1917 – David Tomlinson, English actor (d. 2000)
    • 1919 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress, 25th First Lady of Argentina (d. 1952)
    • 1920 – Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (d. 1985)
    • 1921 – Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
    • 1921 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (d. 1985)
    • 1922 – Darren McGavin, American actor and director (d. 2006)
    • 1922 – Joe O’Donnell, American photographer and journalist (d. 2007)
    • 1923 – Anne Baxter, American actress (d. 1985)
    • 1923 – Jim Lowe, American singer-songwriter, disc jockey, and radio host (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Bülent Ulusu, Turkish admiral and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2015)
    • 1924 – Albert Band, French-American director and producer (d. 2002)
    • 1925 – Lauri Vaska, Estonian-American chemist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
    • 1930 – Totie Fields, American comedian and author (d. 1978)
    • 1930 – Babe Parilli, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – John Smith, Baron Kirkhill, English politician
    • 1931 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (d. 2007)
    • 1931 – Gene Wolfe, American author (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Jordi Bonet, Spanish-Canadian painter and sculptor (d. 1979)
    • 1932 – Alan Cuthbert, English pharmacologist and academic (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Pete Domenici, American lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Albuquerque (d. 2017)
    • 1932 – Derek Taylor, English journalist and author (d. 1997)
    • 1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
    • 1935 – Avraham Heffner, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1935 – Michael Hopkins, English architect
    • 1936 – Robin Hanbury-Tenison, English explorer and author
    • 1936 – Tony O’Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman
    • 1936 – Jimmy Ruffin, American soul singer (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – Eddie Clayton, English footballer
    • 1937 – Claude Raymond, Canadian baseball player and coach
    • 1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1939 – Ruggero Deodato, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1939 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch economist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
    • 1939 – Johnny Maestro, American pop/doo-wop singer (d. 2010)
    • 1939 – Clive Soley, Baron Soley, English politician
    • 1940 – Angela Carter, English novelist and short story writer (d. 1992)
    • 1940 – Dave Chambers, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1941 – Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury, English lawyer and judge
    • 1943 – Terry Allen, American singer and painter
    • 1943 – Harvey Andrews, English singer-songwriter and poet
    • 1943 – John Bannon, Australian academic and politician, 39th Premier of South Australia (d. 2015)
    • 1943 – Peter Carey, Australian novelist and short story writer
    • 1945 – Christy Moore, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Robin Strasser, American actress
    • 1946 – Thelma Houston, American R&B/disco singer and actress
    • 1946 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer
    • 1946 – Michael Rosen, English author and poet
    • 1946 – Brian Turner, English chef and television host
    • 1949 – Kathy Ahern, American golfer (d. 1996)
    • 1949 – Deborah Butterfield, American sculptor
    • 1950 – John Dowling Coates, Australian lawyer, sports administrator and businessman
    • 1950 – Randall “Tex” Cobb, American boxer and actor
    • 1950 – Tim Russert, American television journalist and lawyer (d. 2008)
    • 1953 – Pat McInally, American football player and coach
    • 1953 – Ian McKay, English sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
    • 1954 – Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
    • 1954 – Joanna Haigh, English meteorologist and physicist
    • 1954 – Amy Heckerling, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Clément Gignac, Canadian politician
    • 1955 – Ben Poquette, American basketball player
    • 1955 – Axel Zwingenberger, German pianist and songwriter
    • 1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch jurist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
    • 1956 – Anne Dudley, English pianist and composer
    • 1956 – Nicholas Hytner, English director and producer
    • 1956 – Jean Lapierre, Canadian talk show host and politician
    • 1956 – Calum MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician
    • 1957 – Kristina M. Johnson, American business executive, engineer, academic and government official
    • 1958 – Mikhail Biryukov, Russian footballer and manager
    • 1958 – Mark G. Kuzyk, American physicist and academic
    • 1958 – Anne Marie Rafferty, English nurse and academic
    • 1959 – Michael E. Knight, American actor
    • 1959 – Tony Sealy, English footballer, forward and manager
    • 1959 – Heiki Valk, Estonian archeologist and academic
    • 1960 – Adam Bernstein, American director and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, Iraqi-English surgeon and academic
    • 1960 – Almudena Grandes, Spanish author
    • 1961 – Hans-Peter Bartels, German politician
    • 1961 – Sue Black, Scottish anthropologist and academic
    • 1961 – Ivar Must, Estonian composer and producer
    • 1962 – Tony Campbell, American basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Judith Donath, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1963 – Johnny Lee Middleton, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1964 – Ronnie Harmon, American football player
    • 1964 – Denis Mandarino, Brazilian guitarist, composer, and painter
    • 1964 – Leslie O’Neal, American football player
    • 1965 – Reuben Davis, American football player
    • 1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1999)
    • 1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Huang Zhihong, Chinese shot putter
    • 1967 – Martin Bryant, Australian mass murderer
    • 1967 – Adam Price, Danish chef and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Joe Rice, American colonel and politician
    • 1968 – Traci Lords, American actress and singer
    • 1968 – Lisa Raitt, Canadian lawyer and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Transport
    • 1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1969 – Jun Falkenstein, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1969 – Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
    • 1971 – Reidar Horghagen, Norwegian drummer
    • 1971 – Dave Karpa, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1971 – Thomas Piketty, French economist
    • 1972 – Peter Dubovský, Czech-Slovak footballer (d. 2000)
    • 1972 – Frank Trigg, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
    • 1973 – Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter and producer
    • 1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
    • 1974 – Ian Pearce, English footballer and assistant manager
    • 1973 – Lawrence Johnson, American pole vaulter
    • 1975 – Ashley Cowan, English cricketer
    • 1976 – Calvin Booth, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Berke Hatipoğlu, Turkish guitarist and songwriter
    • 1976 – Stacey Jones, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1976 – Andrea Lo Cicero, Italian rugby player
    • 1976 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2005)
    • 1976 – Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Minister of Justice (2015-2019)
    • 1977 – Elton Flatley, Australian rugby player
    • 1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian guitarist, drummer, and songwriter
    • 1978 – James Carter, American hurdler
    • 1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
    • 1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Phionah Atuhebwe, Ugandan vaccinologist and immunization expert
    • 1984 – James Loney, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Alex Smith, American football player
    • 1984 – Kevin Owens, Canadian wrestler
    • 1985 – Jarrad Hickey, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Drew Neitzel, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Matt Helders, English drummer
    • 1987 – Asami Konno, Japanese singer
    • 1987 – Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
    • 1987 – Mark Reynolds, Scottish footballer
    • 1987 – David Schlemko, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Eino Puri, Estonian footballer
    • 1988 – Sander Puri, Estonian footballer
    • 1989 – Earl Thomas, American football player
    • 1995 – Seko Fofana, French born Ivorian international footballer
    • 1997 – Daria Kasatkina, Russian tennis player
    • 1998 – Jesse Puljujärvi, Finnish ice hockey player

    Deaths on May 7

    • 721 – John of Beverley, bishop of York
    • 833 – Ibn Hisham, Egyptian Muslim historian
    • 973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 912)
    • 1014 – Bagrat III, 1st King of Georgia (b. 960)
    • 1092 – Remigius de Fécamp, English monk and bishop
    • 1166 – William I of Sicily
    • 1202 – Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
    • 1205 – Ladislaus III of Hungary (b. 1201)
    • 1234 – Otto I, Duke of Merania (b. c. 1180)
    • 1243 – Hugh d’Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel
    • 1427 – Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English priest (b. 1352)
    • 1494 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1471)
    • 1523 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (b. 1481)
    • 1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
    • 1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer and theologian (b. 1564)
    • 1667 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer (b. 1616)
    • 1682 – Feodor III of Russia (b. 1661)
    • 1685 – Bajo Pivljanin (b. 1630)
    • 1718 – Mary of Modena (b. 1658)
    • 1793 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1722)
    • 1800 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer (b. 1728)
    • 1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English general and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1737)
    • 1815 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1739)
    • 1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1750)
    • 1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter and educator (b. 1774)
    • 1868 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1778)
    • 1872 – Alexander Loyd, American carpenter and politician, 4th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
    • 1876 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman, historian, and author (b. 1795)
    • 1887 – C. F. W. Walther, German-American religious leader and theologian (b. 1811)
    • 1896 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (b. 1861)
    • 1902 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest and saint (b. 1818)
    • 1917 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (b. 1896)
    • 1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German pianist and composer (b. 1857)
    • 1924 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (b. 1897/1898)
    • 1925 – William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, English businessman and politician (b. 1851)
    • 1937 – Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain and author (b. 1886)
    • 1938 – Octavian Goga, Romanian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1881)
    • 1940 – George Lansbury, English journalist and politician (b. 1859)
    • 1941 – James George Frazer, Scottish-English anthropologist and academic (b. 1854)
    • 1942 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
    • 1943 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish colonel and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1880)
    • 1946 – Herbert Macaulay, Nigerian journalist and politician (b. 1864)
    • 1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (b. 1889)
    • 1967 – Margaret Larkin, American writer and poet (b. 1899)
    • 1958 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1880)
    • 1976 – Alison Uttley, English children’s book writer (b. 1884)
    • 1978 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 1986 – Haldun Taner, Turkish playwright and author (b. 1915)
    • 1987 – Colin Blakely, Northern Irish actor (b. 1930)
    • 1987 – Paul Popham, American soldier and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (b. 1941)
    • 1990 – Sam Tambimuttu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
    • 1994 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (b. 1909)
    • 1995 – Ray McKinley, American drummer, singer, and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra) (b. 1910)
    • 1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
    • 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
    • 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American captain, actor, and producer (b. 1909)
    • 2001 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Waldemar Milewicz, Polish journalist (b. 1956)
    • 2005 – Tristan Egolf, American author and activist (b. 1971)
    • 2005 – Peter Rodino, American captain and politician (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1980)
    • 2006 – Richard Carleton, Australian journalist (b. 1943)
    • 2006 – Joan C. Edwards, American singer and philanthropist (b. 1918)
    • 2007 – Isabella Blow, English magazine editor (b. 1958)
    • 2007 – Diego Corrales, American boxer (b. 1977)
    • 2007 – Octavian Paler, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2007 – Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader, founded the Nation of Yahweh (b. 1935)
    • 2009 – David Mellor, English designer (b. 1930)
    • 2009 – Danny Ozark, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
    • 2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (b. 1957)
    • 2011 – Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Big George, English songwriter, producer, and radio host (b. 1957)
    • 2012 – Sammy Barr, Scottish trade union leader (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Ferenc Bartha, Hungarian economist and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Dennis E. Fitch, American captain and pilot (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – George Sauer, Jr., American football player (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Colin Pillinger, English astronomer, chemist, and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Dick Welteroth, American baseball player (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Frank DiPascali, American businessman (b. 1956)
    • 2015 – John Dixon, Australian-American author, and illustrator (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on May 7

    • Christian feast day:
      • Agathius of Byzantium
      • Agostino Roscelli
      • Pope Benedict II
      • Flavia Domitilla
      • Gisela of Hungary
      • Harriet Starr Cannon (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • John of Beverley
      • Rose Venerini
      • Stanislaus (Roman Martyrology)
      • May 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Defender of the Fatherland Day (Kazakhstan)
    • Dien Bien Phu Victory Day (Vietnam)
    • Radio Day, commemorating the work of Alexander Popov (Russia, Bulgaria)

  • May 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
    • 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
    • 1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
    • 1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
    • 1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
    • 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
    • 1686 – The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
    • 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
    • 1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.
    • 1814 – Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
    • 1814 – King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.
    • 1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
    • 1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.
    • 1869 – The Naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
    • 1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
    • 1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
    • 1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
    • 1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
    • 1912 – Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.
    • 1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
    • 1926 – The United Kingdom general strike begins.
    • 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.
    • 1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
    • 1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.
    • 1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.
    • 1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.
    • 1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
    • 1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.
    • 1961 – American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
    • 1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).
    • 1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
    • 1972 – The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
    • 1978 – The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.
    • 1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
    • 1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
    • 1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
    • 1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.
    • 1990 – Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation.
    • 1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
    • 1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
    • 2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).
    • 2007 – Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.
    • 2014 – Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.

    Births on May 4

    • 1006 – Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1088)
    • 1008 – Henry I, king of France (d. 1060)
    • 1559 – Alice Spencer, English noblewoman (d. 1637)
    • 1634 – Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (d. 1660)
    • 1649 – Chhatrasal, Indian ruler (d. 1731)
    • 1654 – Kangxi Emperor, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
    • 1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (d. 1731)
    • 1677 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d.1749)
    • 1715 – Richard Graves, English minister and author (d. 1804)
    • 1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, and sailor (d. 1799)
    • 1752 – John Brooks, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
    • 1757 – Manuel Tolsá, Spanish sculptor and first director of the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City (d. 1816)
    • 1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
    • 1770 – François Gérard, French painter (d. 1837)
    • 1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
    • 1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)
    • 1796 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1862)
    • 1796 – William H. Prescott, American historian and scholar (d. 1859)
    • 1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, American wife of John Tyler, 11th First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
    • 1820 – John Whiteaker, American soldier, judge, and politician, 1st Governor of Oregon (d. 1902)
    • 1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Canadian physician and politician, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
    • 1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist, anatomist, and academic (d. 1895)
    • 1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, English-American historian, photographer, and academic (d. 1908)
    • 1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
    • 1827 – John Hanning Speke, English soldier and explorer (d. 1864)
    • 1851 – Thomas Dewing, American painter (d. 1938)
    • 1852 – Alice Liddell, English model (d. 1934)
    • 1855 – Greyfriars Bobby, faithful dog (d. 1872)
    • 1883 – Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
    • 1884 – Richard Baggallay, English army officer and cricketer (d. 1975)
    • 1887 – Andrew Dasburg, French-American painter (d. 1979)
    • 1889 – Francis Spellman, American cardinal (d. 1967)
    • 1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian painter (d. 1945)
    • 1902 – Ronnie Aird, English cricketer and administrator (d. 1986)
    • 1902 – Cola Debrot, Dutch physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1981)
    • 1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (d. 1951)
    • 1905 – Al Dexter, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
    • 1906 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American soldier and playwright, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1996)
    • 1907 – Walter Walsh, American target shooter and FBI agent (d. 2014)
    • 1908 – Wolrad Eberle, German decathlete (d. 1949)
    • 1911 – Evald Seepere, Estonian boxer (d. 1990)
    • 1913 – John Broome, American author (d. 1999)
    • 1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
    • 1914 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
    • 1916 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Richard Proenneke, American soldier, carpenter, and meteorologist (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Edward T. Cone, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Nick Joaquin, Filipino writer, journalist and historian (d. 2004)
    • 1918 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese soldier and politician, 64th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
    • 1919 – Dory Funk, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1973)
    • 1919 – Basil Yamey, South African-English economist and academic
    • 1921 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – John van Kesteren, Dutch-American tenor and actor (d. 2008)
    • 1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Paul-Émile Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Ed Cassidy, American jazz and rock drummer (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and producer (d. 1986)
    • 1923 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – John Toner, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman and philanthropist
    • 1926 – David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, English politician
    • 1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)
    • 1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet, translator, and publisher
    • 1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (d. 2020)
    • 1928 – Betsy Rawls, American golfer
    • 1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German race car driver (d. 1961)
    • 1929 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)
    • 1930 – Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family
    • 1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano (d. 2017)
    • 1931 – Jan Pesman, Dutch speed skater (d. 2014)
    • 1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor and educator (d. 2018)
    • 1931 – Thomas Stuttaford, English physician, journalist, and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Harlon Hill, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Alexander MacAra, Scottish epidemiologist and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (d. 2007)
    • 1936 – El Cordobés, Spanish bullfighter
    • 1936 – Med Hondo, Mauritanian filmmaker and actor (d. 2019)
    • 1937 – Ron Carter, American bassist and educator
    • 1937 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (d. 2019)
    • 1937 – Wim Verstappen, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1938 – Tyrone Davis, American blues and soul singer (d. 2005)
    • 1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican journalist, author, and critic (d. 2010)
    • 1938 – Gillian Tindall, English historian and author
    • 1939 – Neil Fox, English rugby league player and coach
    • 1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2018)
    • 1939 – Leon Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1940 – Robin Cook, American physician and author
    • 1940 – Peter Gregg, American race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
    • 1941 – George Will, American journalist and author
    • 1942 – Nickolas Ashford, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
    • 1943 – Mihail Chemiakin, Russian painter and sculptor
    • 1943 – Prasanta Pattanaik, Indian economist and academic
    • 1944 – Steve Liebmann, Australian radio and television host
    • 1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (d. 2019)
    • 1945 – Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer and journalist
    • 1946 – John Barnard, English car designer
    • 1946 – Gary Bauer, American political activist
    • 1946 – John Watson, British race car driver
    • 1947 – John Bosley, Canadian businessman and politician, 31st Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons
    • 1947 – Ronald Sørensen, Dutch historian and politician
    • 1947 – Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician, 17th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1948 – Alison Britton, English sculptor and educator
    • 1948 – Hurley Haywood, American race car driver
    • 1948 – King George Tupou V of Tonga, (d. 2012)
    • 1949 – Graham Swift, English novelist and short story writer
    • 1950 – Darryl Hunt, English bass player
    • 1951 – Colin Bass, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1951 – Colleen Hanabusa, American lawyer and politician
    • 1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1952 – Belinda Green, Australian beauty queen and 1972 Miss World
    • 1953 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
    • 1954 – Ryan Cayabyab, Filipino pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American astronaut and engineer
    • 1956 – David Guterson, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
    • 1956 – Ken Oberkfell, American baseball player and coach
    • 1957 – Jaak Huimerind, Estonian architect
    • 1957 – Kathy Kreiner, Canadian skier
    • 1957 – Peter Sleep, Australian cricketer
    • 1957 – Marijke Vos, Dutch educator and politician
    • 1958 – Delbert Fowler, American football player
    • 1958 – Keith Haring, American painter (d. 1990)
    • 1958 – Jane Kennedy, English politician
    • 1958 – Caroline Spelman, English politician, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
    • 1959 – Valdemaras Chomičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1959 – Bob Tway, American golfer
    • 1960 – Werner Faymann, Austrian politician, 28th Chancellor of Austria
    • 1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1964 – Silvia Costa, Cuban high jumper
    • 1966 – Gary Elkins, English footballer and manager
    • 1966 – Jane McGrath, English-Australian activist, co-founded the McGrath Foundation (d. 2008)
    • 1967 – Kate Garraway, English journalist
    • 1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress and singer
    • 1969 – Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1969 – Franz Resch, Austrian footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Gregg Alexander, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1970 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor and producer
    • 1970 – Giovanni Mirabassi, Italian jazz musician
    • 1970 – Dawn Staley, American basketball player
    • 1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer and coach
    • 1971 – Joe Borowski, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Miles Stewart, Australian triathlete
    • 1972 – Manny Aybar, Dominican baseball player
    • 1972 – Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1973 – Matthew Barnaby, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1973 – John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1974 – Miguel Cairo, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
    • 1974 – Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Ben Grieve, American baseball player
    • 1976 – Rory Hamill, Northern Irish international footballer
    • 1976 – Jason Michaels, American baseball player
    • 1976 – Indrek Visnapuu, Estonian basketball player and coach
    • 1977 – John Tripp, Canadian-German ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist
    • 1978 – Igor Biscan, Croatian footballer
    • 1978 – Brett Burton, Australian footballer
    • 1978 – Vladimíra Uhlířová, Czech tennis player
    • 1979 – Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer
    • 1979 – Kristin Harmel, American journalist and author
    • 1979 – Marie Poissonnier, French pole vaulter
    • 1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player
    • 1980 – Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
    • 1981 – Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1982 – Kleopas Giannou, Greek footballer
    • 1982 – Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
    • 1982 – Giorgos Tsiaras, Greek basketball player
    • 1983 – Dan Christian, Australian cricketer
    • 1983 – Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Robert Zwinkels, Dutch footballer
    • 1984 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2007)
    • 1984 – Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee
    • 1984 – Sarah Meier, Swiss figure skater
    • 1984 – Montell Owens, American football player
    • 1984 – Kevin Slowey, American baseball player
    • 1985 – Ravi Bopara, English cricketer
    • 1985 – Anthony Fedorov, Ukrainian-born American singer and actor
    • 1985 – Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Lester “Bo” McCalebb, American-Macedonian professional basketball player
    • 1985 – Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper
    • 1986 – Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – George Hill, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
    • 1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
    • 1988 – Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer
    • 1989 – Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1989 – Henna Lindholm, Finnish figure skater
    • 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
    • 1989 – Aris Tatarounis, Greek basketball player
    • 1989 – James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Irina Falconi, American tennis player
    • 1990 – Ryan Morgan, Australian rugby league player
    • 1990 – Duvashen Padayachee, Australian race car driver
    • 1990 – Andrea Torres, Filipino actress and model
    • 1991 – Brianne Jenner, Canadian women’s ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Victor Oladipo, American basketball player
    • 1993 – Jānis Bērziņš, Latvian basketball player
    • 1994 – Abi Masatora, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1994 – Joseph Tapine, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1996 – Pelayo Roza, Spanish sprint canoeist

    Deaths on May 4

    • 408 – Venerius, archbishop of Milan
    • 784 – Arbeo, bishop of Freising
    • 1003 – Herman II, duke of Swabia
    • 1038 – Gotthard of Hildesheim, German bishop (b. 960)
    • 1406 – Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence (b. 1331)
    • 1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish rebel leader
    • 1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son and heir of Henry VI of England (b. 1453)
    • 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (b. 1438)
    • 1483 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford (b. 1457)
    • 1506 – Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
    • 1519 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
    • 1535 – John Houghton, Carthusian monk and saint
    • 1562 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (b. 1525)
    • 1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
    • 1571 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1511)
    • 1604 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
    • 1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)
    • 1615 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (b. 1561)
    • 1626 – Arthur Lake, English bishop and scholar (b. 1569)
    • 1677 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
    • 1684 – John Nevison, English criminal (b. 1639)
    • 1729 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
    • 1734 – James Thornhill, English painter and politician (b. 1675)
    • 1737 – Eustace Budgell, English journalist and politician (b. 1686)
    • 1774 – Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, Prussian nobleman (b. 1714)
    • 1776 – Jacques Saly, French painter and sculptor (b. 1717)
    • 1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American politician (b. 1718)
    • 1799 – Tipu, ruler of Mysore (b. 1750)
    • 1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
    • 1816 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
    • 1824 – Joseph Joubert, French author (b. 1754)
    • 1826 – Sebastián Kindelán y O’Regan, colonial governor of East Florida, Santo Domingo and Cuba (b. 1757)
    • 1839 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
    • 1858 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (b. 1773)
    • 1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1771)
    • 1880 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
    • 1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
    • 1903 – Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary IMRO (b. 1872)
    • 1912 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with discovering sex chromosomes (b. 1861)
    • 1916 – Ned Daly, Irish rebel commander (Easter Rising) (b. 1891)
    • 1916 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (b. 1851)
    • 1916 – Joseph Plunkett, Irish rebel and writer (b. 1887)
    • 1916 – Willie Pearse, Irish rebel (b. 1891)
    • 1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general and politician (b. 1880)
    • 1922 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (b. 1888)
    • 1923 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1877)
    • 1924 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (b. 1858)
    • 1938 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese founder of judo (b. 1860)
    • 1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
    • 1941 – Chris McKivat, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1880)
    • 1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880)
    • 1953 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (b. 1876)
    • 1955 – George Enescu, Romanian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1881)
    • 1964 – Karl Robert Pusta, Estonian politician, 4th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
    • 1969 – Osbert Sitwell, English-Italian author and poet (b. 1892)
    • 1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
    • 1973 – Jane Bowles, American author and playwright (b. 1917)
    • 1975 – Moe Howard, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1897)
    • 1976 – Frank Strahan, Australian public servant (b. 1886)
    • 1980 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
    • 1981 – C. Loganathan, Sri Lankan banker (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1911)
    • 1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
    • 1985 – Fikri Sönmez, Turkish tailor and politician (b. 1938)
    • 1985 – Clarence Wiseman, English-Canadian 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
    • 1987 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and harmonica player (b. 1942)
    • 1987 – Cathryn Damon, American actress (b. 1930)
    • 1988 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (b. 1891)
    • 1990 – Emily Remler, American guitarist (b. 1957)
    • 1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (b. 1902)
    • 1992 – Gregor Mackenzie, Scottish politician (b. 1927)
    • 1993 – France Štiglic, Slovenian film director and screenwriter (b. 1919)
    • 1995 – Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (b. 1922)
    • 2000 – Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist and academic (b. 1909)
    • 2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American model, wife of Robert Blake (b. 1956)
    • 2004 – David Reimer, Canadian victim of a botched circumcision and transgender reassignment surgery (b. 1965)
    • 2005 – David Hackworth, American colonel and journalist (b. 1930)
    • 2008 – Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (b. 1918)
    • 2009 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1933)
    • 2011 – Sammy McCrory, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (b. 1964)
    • 2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
    • 2013 – Otis R. Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (b. 1914)
    • 2013 – César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (b. 1983)
    • 2014 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1947)
    • 2014 – Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (b. 1913)
    • 2015 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (b. 1946)
    • 2016 – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundian politician (b. 1946)
    • 2020 – Don Shula, American football player and coach (b. 1930)
    • 2020 – Greg Zanis, American carpenter and activist (b. 1950)

    Holidays and observances on May 4

    • Anti-Bullying Day (United Nations)
    • Bird Day (United States)
    • Cassinga Day (Namibia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla
      • Blessed Michal Giedroyc
      • English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era (Church of England)
      • F. C. D. Wyneken (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
      • Florian
      • Gotthard of Hildesheim
      • José María Rubio
      • Judas Cyriacus
      • Monica of Hippo (1960 Roman Catholic Calendar)
      • Sacerdos of Limoges
      • Venerius of Milan
      • May 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Dave Brubeck Day
    • Death of Milan Rastislav Štefánik Day (Slovakia)
    • Greenery Day (Japan)
    • International Firefighters’ Day
    • May Fourth Movement commemorations:
      • Literary Day (Republic of China)
      • Youth Day (China)
    • Remembrance Day for Martyrs and Disabled (Afghanistan)
    • Remembrance of the Dead (Netherlands)
    • Restoration of Independence day (Latvia)
    • Star Wars Day (International observance)
    • World Give Day
    • World Naked Gardening Day
    • Youth Day (Fiji)

  • May 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
    • 1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.
    • 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
    • 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
    • 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war.
    • 1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
    • 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
    • 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
    • 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
    • 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
    • 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
    • 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
    • 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
    • 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.
    • 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.
    • 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
    • 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
    • 1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
    • 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
    • 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
    • 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
    • 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
    • 1921 – The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
    • 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.
    • 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
    • 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
    • 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
    • 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
    • 1951 – London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
    • 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
    • 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
    • 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
    • 1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
    • 1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
    • 1960 – The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
    • 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the “Birmingham campaign” protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.
    • 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989
    • 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
    • 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
    • 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
    • 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
    • 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
    • 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side resulted into the kargil war.
    • 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
    • 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
    • 2002 – An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashes into a bank in Jalandhar, killing eight and injuring 17.
    • 2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
    • 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
    • 2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire ripped through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

    Births on May 3

    • 490 – K’an Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 565)
    • 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (d. 641)
    • 1238 – Emilia Bicchieri, Italian saint (d. 1314)
    • 1276 – Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (d. 1319)
    • 1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
    • 1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (d. 1495)
    • 1446 – Margaret of York (d. 1503)
    • 1461 – Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal (d. 1521)
    • 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 1527)
    • 1479 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)
    • 1481 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
    • 1536 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)
    • 1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
    • 1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, designed the Pillnitz Castle (d. 1736)
    • 1678 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (d. 1747)
    • 1695 – Henri Pitot, French physicist and engineer, invented the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
    • 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (d. 1774)
    • 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
    • 1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
    • 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (d. 1838)
    • 1783 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. 1858)
    • 1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
    • 1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
    • 1844 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
    • 1849 – Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and photographer (d. 1914)
    • 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
    • 1854 – George Gore, American baseball player and manager (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (d.1931)
    • 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Andy Bowen, American boxer (d. 1894)
    • 1867 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
    • 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
    • 1871 – Emmett Dalton, American criminal (d. 1937)
    • 1873 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1945)
    • 1874 – François Coty, French businessman and publisher, founded Coty, Inc. (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer and academic (d. 1954)
    • 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1925)
    • 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (d. 1950)
    • 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
    • 1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
    • 1889 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
    • 1889 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (d. 1972)
    • 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet and critic (d. 1969)
    • 1891 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball pitcher (d. 1963)
    • 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
    • 1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian-American economist and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (d. 1975)
    • 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
    • 1896 – Karl Allmenröder, German soldier and pilot (d. 1917)
    • 1896 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 1974)
    • 1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright (d. 1990)
    • 1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Solicitor General of Canada (d. 1989)
    • 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and activist (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
    • 1905 – Edmund Black, American hammer thrower (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball pitcher and coach (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist and author (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
    • 1912 – May Sarton, American poet, novelist and memoirist (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
    • 1914 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French journalist, author, and poet (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer, founded Stampede Wrestling (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Richard Lippold, American sculptor and academic (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Betty Comden, American screenwriter and librettist (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer and manager (d. 2003)
    • 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American soldier and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
    • 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Ralph Hall, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, German-Israeli author and poet (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver, founded Tyrrell Racing (d. 2001)
    • 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Matt Baldwin, Canadian curler and engineer
    • 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1928 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Denise Lor, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – David Harrison, English chemist and academic
    • 1931 – Vasily Rudenkov, Belarusian hammer thrower (d. 1982)
    • 1931 – Sait Maden, Turkish translator, poet, painter and graphic designer (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (d. 2017)
    • 1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer and sportscaster (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor
    • 1935 – Ron Popeil, American businessman, founded the Ronco Company
    • 1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian author and academic
    • 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
    • 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
    • 1938 – Napoleon XIV, American singer, songwriter and record producer
    • 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1941 – Alexander Harley, English general
    • 1941 – Edward Malloy, American priest and academic
    • 1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist and sportscaster
    • 1942 – Butch Otter, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Yukio Hashi, Japanese singer and actor
    • 1943 – Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Vicente Saldivar, Mexican boxer (d. 1985)
    • 1944 – Peter Doyle, English bishop
    • 1944 – Pete Staples, English bass player
    • 1945 – Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper and coach
    • 1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1946 – Norm Chow, American football player and coach
    • 1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
    • 1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
    • 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
    • 1948 – Denis Cosgrove, British-American academic and geographer (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
    • 1949 – Liam Donaldson, English physician and academic
    • 1949 – Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, English academic and politician
    • 1949 – Ron Wyden, American academic and politician
    • 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Dag Arnesen, Norwegian pianist and composer
    • 1951 – Alan Clayson, English singer-songwriter and journalist
    • 1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1951 – Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
    • 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian author and publicist
    • 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American pastor and politician
    • 1952 – Caitlin Clarke, American actress (d. 2004)
    • 1952 – Joseph W. Tobin, American cardinal
    • 1953 – Bruce Hall, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1953 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer-songwriter
    • 1954 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1955 – Stephen D. M. Brown, British geneticist
    • 1955 – Colin Deans, Scottish rugby player
    • 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
    • 1955 – Seishirō Nishida, Japanese actor
    • 1956 – Marc Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1957 – Rod Langway, Taiwanese-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1958 – Bill Sienkiewicz, American author and illustrator
    • 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-English comedian, writer, and broadcaster
    • 1959 – David Ball, English keyboard player and producer
    • 1959 – Uma Bharti, Indian activist and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
    • 1959 – Ben Elton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English sprinter and educator
    • 1961 – Steve McClaren, English footballer and manager
    • 1961 – David Vitter, American lawyer and politician
    • 1961 – Leyla Zana, Kurdish activist and politician
    • 1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
    • 1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-Scottish journalist and academic
    • 1964 – Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
    • 1965 – Ignatius Aphrem II, Syrian patriarch
    • 1965 – Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director, writer, cinematographer
    • 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
    • 1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
    • 1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
    • 1967 – Daniel Anderson, Australian rugby league coach and manager
    • 1967 – Kenneth Joel Hotz, Canadian producer, writer, director, actor, and comedian
    • 1968 – Viliami Ofahengaue, Tongan-Australian rugby player
    • 1971 – Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
    • 1972 – Stephen Barclay, English lawyer and politician
    • 1973 – Jamie Baulch, Welsh sprinter and television host
    • 1975 – Willie Geist, American television journalist and host
    • 1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
    • 1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Chris Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1977 – Eric Church, American country music singer-songwriter
    • 1977 – Ryan Dempster, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player and coach
    • 1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Ben Olsen, American soccer player and coach
    • 1978 – Christian Annan, Ghanaian-Hong Kong footballer
    • 1978 – Paul Banks, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
    • 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
    • 1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
    • 1979 – Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
    • 1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
    • 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
    • 1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
    • 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Jérôme Clavier, French pole vaulter
    • 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kadri Lehtla, Estonian biathlete
    • 1985 – Miko Mälberg, Estonian swimmer
    • 1986 – Moon Byung-woo, South Korean footballer
    • 1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
    • 1988 – Ben Revere, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Paddy Holohan, Irish mixed martial artist
    • 1989 – Jesse Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1990 – Brooks Koepka, American golfer
    • 1991 – Samuel Seo, South Korean musician
    • 1992 – Aaron Whitchurch, Australian rugby league player
    • 1995 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (d. 2016)
    • 1996 – Mary Cain, American runner
    • 1996 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian football player
    • 1996 – Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1997 – Desiigner, American rapper
    • 1997 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player
    • 1997 – Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player

    Deaths on May 3

    • 678 – Tōchi, Japanese princess
    • 738 – Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)
    • 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
    • 1270 – Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
    • 1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
    • 1330 – Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1282)
    • 1410 – Antipope Alexander V
    • 1481 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (b. 1432)
    • 1501 – John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (b. 1463)
    • 1524 – Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (b. 1481)
    • 1534 – Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (b. 1481)
    • 1589 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1528)
    • 1606 – Henry Garnet, English priest and author (b. 1555)
    • 1621 – Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (b. 1541)
    • 1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
    • 1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
    • 1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1644)
    • 1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (b. 1662)
    • 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and author (b. 1680)
    • 1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (b. 1692)
    • 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
    • 1763 – George Psalmanazar, French-English author (b. 1679)
    • 1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1712)
    • 1779 – John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1714)
    • 1793 – Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (b. 1720)
    • 1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
    • 1856 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
    • 1856 – Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (b. 1788)
    • 1882 – Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (b. 1806)
    • 1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (b. 1871)
    • 1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (b. 1858)
    • 1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (b. 1878)
    • 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (b. 1879)
    • 1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (b. 1863)
    • 1919 – Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (b. 1854)
    • 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
    • 1925 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (b. 1841)
    • 1932 – Charles Fort, American journalist and author (b. 1874)
    • 1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (b. 1863)
    • 1939 – Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (b. 1873)
    • 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
    • 1943 – Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
    • 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (b. 1876)
    • 1949 – Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1888)
    • 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
    • 1970 – Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 1972 – Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (b. 1898)
    • 1972 – Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
    • 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
    • 1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 1987 – Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (b. 1933)
    • 1988 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1908)
    • 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
    • 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1933)
    • 1992 – George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (b. 1902)
    • 1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
    • 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
    • 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
    • 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1927)
    • 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
    • 1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1967)
    • 1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (b. 1901)
    • 2000 – John Joseph O’Connor, American cardinal (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (b. 1932)
    • 2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (b. 1932)
    • 2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (b. 1932)
    • 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
    • 2009 – Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Peter O’Donnell, English soldier and author (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
    • 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (b. 1936)
    • 2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Joe Astroth, American baseball player (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (b. 1909)
    • 2013 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (b. 1960)
    • 2013 – Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (b. 1958)
    • 2014 – Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (b. 1986)
    • 2015 – Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (b. 1915)
    • 2016 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (b. 1937)
    • 2016 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
    • 2017 – Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (b. 1942)

    Holidays and observances on May 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Antonia and Alexander
      • Juvenal of Narni
      • Moura (Coptic Church)
      • Philip and James the Lesser
      • Pope Alexander I
      • Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church)
      • The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland
      • Theodosius of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
    • Constitution Day (Poland)
    • Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances:
      • Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
      • Roodmas, or Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church)
    • Sun Day (International)
    • World Press Freedom Day