May 11

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MMXI

May 11 in recent years

2011 (Wednesday)

2010 (Tuesday)

2009 (Monday)

2008 (Sunday)

2007 (Friday)

2006 (Thursday)

2005 (Wednesday)

2004 (Tuesday)

2003 (Sunday)

2002 (Saturday)

May 11 is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 234 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 330 – Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
• 912 – Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1310 – In France, fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake as heretics.
• 1502 – Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.
• 1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.
• 1745 – War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy – French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
• 1792 – Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented white person to sail into the Columbia River.
• 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
• 1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westwards from Sydney. Their route opens up inland Australia for continued expansion throughout the 19th century.
• 1820 – Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
• 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican-American War
• 1857 – Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• 1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
• 1867 – Luxembourg gains its independence.
• 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California
• 1891 – The Ōtsu incident: Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Imperial Russia (later Nicholas II) suffers a critical head injury during a sword attack by Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzō. He is rescued by Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
• 1894 – Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
• 1907 – 32 Shriners are killed when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot in Lompoc, California.
• 1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
• 1918 – The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.
• 1924 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
• 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
• 1942 – William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
• 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1944 – World War II: The Allies begin a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
• 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of her crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
• 1946 – UMNO is created.
• 1949 – Siam officially changes its name to Thailand for the second time. The name had been in use since 1939 but was reverted in 1945.
• 1949 – Israel joins the United Nations.
• 1953 – The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: an F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
• 1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.
• 1967 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and socialist politician, is imprisoned in Athens by the Greek military junta.
• 1968 – The Toronto Transit Commission opens the largest expansion of its Bloor–Danforth line, going to Scarborough in the East, and Etobicoke in the West.
• 1970 – The Lubbock Tornado, a F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $250 million in damage.
• 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed.
• 1983 – Aberdeen F.C. defeat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• 1985 – Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.
• 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• 1987 – In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place. The surgery is performed by Dr. Bruce Reitz of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
• 1995 – In New York City more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
• 1996 – After the aircraft's departure from Miami, Florida, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.
• 1996 – The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.
• 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
• 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran to include a thermonuclear device.
• 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.

Births

• 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (d. 1637)
• 1720 – Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German adventurer (d. 1797)
• 1722 – Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (d. 1789)
• 1733 – Victoire of France, daughter of king Louis XV of France (d. 1799)
• 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
• 1763 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet (d. 1845)
• 1771 – Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek naval commander in the Greek War of Independence (d. 1825)
• 1799 – John Lowell, American philanthropist (d. 1836)
• 1801 – Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
• 1811 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai/American conjoined twins (d. 1874)
• 1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1893)
• 1817 – Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballet dancer (d. 1909)
• 1824 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (d. 1904)
• 1827 – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
• 1835 – Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (d. 1905)
• 1838 – Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author (d. 1912)
• 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
• 1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
• 1861 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American inspiration and "father" of the international scouting movement (d. 1947)
• 1870 – Otto von Friesen, Swedish runologist and linguist (d. 1942)
• 1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer (d. 1943)
• 1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-born Cuban baseball player (d. 1964)
• 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian physicist (d. 1963)
• 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
• 1888 – Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
• 1888 – Willis A. Lee, World War II U.S. naval admiral (d. 1945)
• 1890 – Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1961)
• 1892 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (d. 1972)
• 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
• 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer (d. 1978)
• 1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer (d. 1955)
• 1897 – Kurt Gerron, German director (d. 1944)
• 1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
• 1899 – Paulino Masip, Spanish playwright (d. 1963)
• 1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Rose Ausländer, German poet (d. 1988)
• 1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Ellis R. Dungan, American born Indian film director (d. 2001)
• 1909 – Herbert Murrill, English composer (d. 1952)
• 1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (d. 2004)
• 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
• 1912 – Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
• 1913 – Robert Jungk, Austrian publicist (d. 1994)
• 1914 – Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
• 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
• 1922 – Nestor Chylak, American baseball umpire (d. 1992)
• 1922 – Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 1924 – Eugene Dynkin, Russian mathematician
• 1924 – Antony Hewish, English radio astronomer, Nobel laureate
• 1925 – Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Mort Sahl, Canadian comedian and political commentator
• 1927 – Bernard Fox, English actor
• 1927 – Gene Savoy, American author, explorer, scholar and cleric (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor
• 1928 – Brother Andrew, Dutch missionary
• 1928 – Marco Ferreri, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
• 1930 – Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Bud Ekins, American stuntman (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Valentino Garavani (Valentino), Italian designer
• 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American Nation of Islam leader
• 1934 – Jim Jeffords, former American politician
• 1935 – Doug McClure, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish novelist (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Carla Bley, American musician and composer
• 1939 – Carlos Lyra, Brazilian musician
• 1939 – Dante Tinga, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 1940 – Juan Downey, Chilean video artist (d. 1993)
• 1941 – Eric Burdon, British singer (The Animals)
• 1941 – Graham Miles, English snooker player
• 1942 – Rachel Billington, British author
• 1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian alpine skier
• 1943 – Juliet Harmer, English actress
• 1946 – Robert Jarvik, American physician and inventor
• 1946 – Plume Latraverse, Quebec singer and musician
• 1947 – Butch Trucks, American drummer (The Allman Brothers Band)
• 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-British politician
• 1948 – Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese folk musician
• 1950 – Dane Iorg, American baseball player
• 1950 – Jeremy Paxman, British journalist and author
• 1951 – Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, Canada
• 1952 – Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
• 1952 – Frances Fisher, English-born actress
• 1952 – Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
• 1952 – Renaud, French composer
• 1952 – Warren Littlefield, American television executive
• 1953 – David Gest, American television producer
• 1953 – Céline Lomez, Quebec singer and actress
• 1954 – John Gregory, English football manager
• 1954 – Lubomir Stoykov, Bulgarian journalist and broadcaster
• 1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician
• 1956 – Theresa Burke, Canadian journalist
• 1956 – Alex Lester, British broadcaster
• 1957 – Peter North, Canadian pornographic actor
• 1958 – Christian Brando, American actor; son of Marlon Brando (d. 2008)
• 1958 – Dan Ireland, American film director
• 1958 – Phil Smyth, Australian basketball player
• 1958 – Walt Terrell, American baseball player
• 1959 – Martha Quinn, American television personality
• 1961 – Luis Felipe, Cuban gangster
• 1963 – Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish politician
• 1963 – Masatoshi Hamada, Japanese comedian
• 1963 – Natasha Richardson, English/American actress (d. 2009)
• 1963 – Roark Critchlow, Canadian actor
• 1964 – Tim Blake Nelson, American actor
• 1964 – John Parrott, English snooker player
• 1964 – Katie Wagner, American television reporter
• 1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
• 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player
• 1965 – Stefano Domenicali, Italian Formula One team principal (Ferrari)
• 1965 – Greg Dulli, American musician
• 1965 – Monsour del Rosario, Filipino martial artist and actor
• 1966 – Christoph Schneider, German drummer (Rammstein)
• 1968 – Jeffrey Donovan, American actor
• 1970 – Nicky Katt, American actor
• 1970 – Glenn Hugill, British television presenter and producer
• 1970 – Harold Ford Jr., Political commentator and former U.S. Congressman
• 1972 – Anita Hegh, Australian actress
• 1972 – Daniel Ornellas, Zimbabwean musician
• 1974 – Kevin Brown, English-born Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
• 1974 – Billy Kidman, American professional wrestler
• 1974 – Benoît Magimel, French actor
• 1974 – Darren Ward, Welsh footballer
• 1975 – Coby Bell, American actor
• 1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican baseball player
• 1977 – Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
• 1977 – Gonzalo Colsa, Spanish footballer
• 1977 – Pablo García, Uruguayan footballer
• 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby union footballer
• 1978 – Laetitia Casta, French supermodel and actress
• 1978 – Perttu Kivilaakso, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)
• 1979 – Erin Lang, Canadian musician
• 1981 – Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
• 1981 – Daniel Ortmeier, American baseball player
• 1981 – Dusán Mukics, Slovene journalist and reporter in Hungary
• 1981 – Austin O'Brien, American actor
• 1982 – Jonathan Jackson, American actor
• 1982 – Andrew Walter, American football player
• 1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor
• 1982 – Guji Lorenzana, Filipino singer and actor
• 1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
• 1983 – Daizee Haze, American professional wrestler
• 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian-born actress and singer
• 1983 – Hanna Verboom, Dutch actress
• 1983 – Frédéric Xhonneux, Belgian decathlete
• 1984 – John Bowie, American football player
• 1984 – Gerald Clayton, Dutch/American jazz pianist
• 1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish football player
• 1985 – Matt Giraud, American singer
• 1985 – sifow, Japanese singer and businesswoman
• 1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
• 1986 – Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Manuel Schenkhuizen, Dutch gamer
• 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
• 1987 – Justin King, American football player
• 1987 – Louis Murphy, American football player
• 1987 – Monica Roşu, Romanian gymnast
• 1988 – Ace Hood, American rapper
• 1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
• 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian-born hockey player
• 1989 – Gianluigi Bianco, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
• 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
• 1990 – Daniel Jason Torres, American politician
• 1994 – David Alvarez, Canadian dancer and actor

Deaths

• 912 – Leo VI, Byzantine Emperor (b. 866)
• 1304 – Mahmud Ghazan, Mongol ruler (b. 1271)
• 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1552)
• 1672 – Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, Scottish royalist (b. 1615)
• 1708 – Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
• 1723 – Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (b. 1656)
• 1760 – Alaungpaya, Founder of Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (b. 1714)
• 1777 – George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)
• 1778 – William Pitt, the Elder, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
• 1779 – John Hart, delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1711)
• 1812 – Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
• 1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
• 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French socialite (b. 1777)
• 1871 – John Herschel, British mathematician and astronomer (b. 1792)
• 1887 – Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist (b. 1802)
• 1891 – A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1820)
• 1916 – Max Reger, German composer (b. 1873)
• 1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873)
• 1920 – William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
• 1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish cubist artist (b. 1887)
• 1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak inventor (b. 1864)
• 1934 – Blaise Diagne, Sengalese politician (b. 1872)
• 1934 – Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist (b. 1852)
• 1939 – Evgenii Miller, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1867)
• 1940 – Chujiro Hayashi, Japanese Reiki Master (b. 1880)
• 1955 – Gilbert Laird Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
• 1960 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1874)
• 1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
• 1966 – Alfred Wintle, British WW1 & WW2 soldier; author of "The Last Englishman" (b. 1897)
• 1970 – Johnny Hodges, American musician (b. 1906)
• 1973 – Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1976 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
• 1979 – Lester Flatt, American bluegrass musician (b. 1914)
• 1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1897)
• 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
• 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
• 1986 – Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist (b. 1910)
• 1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player (b. 1894)
• 1988 – Kim Philby, British spy (b. 1912)
• 1990 – Stratos Dionysiou, Greek singer (b. 1935)
• 1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor (b. 1928)
• 1996 – Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
• 1996 – Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
• 1998 – Oreste Kirkop, Maltese tenor and actor (b. 1923)
• 1999 – Giorgos Kappis, Greek actor (b. 1929)
• 2000 – René Muñoz, Cuban actor, screenwriter of telenovelas (b. 1938)
• 2000 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
• 2001 – Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
• 2002 – Renaude Lapointe, French Canadian journalist and senator (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Noel Redding, English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Mick Doyle, Irish rugby union footballer and coach (b. 1941)
• 2004 – John Whitehead, American singer (McFadden & Whitehead) (b. 1949)
• 2005 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer and composer (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer (b. 1935)
• 2006 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Yossi Banai, Israeli singer (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan Head of State (O le Ao o le Malo) (b. 1913)
• 2007 – Bernard Gordon, blacklisted American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
• 2008 – Dottie Rambo, American gospel singer (b. 1934)
• 2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (Rush) (b. 1953)
• 2008 – Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist (b. 1981)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Anthimus of Rome
  • Anthony de Sant'Ana Galvão
  • Cyril and Methodius (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Francis of Girolama
  • Gangulphus of Burgundy
  • Majolus of Cluny
  • Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints
  • Odilo of Cluny
  • May 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest date on which Whit Monday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the day after Pentecost. (Christianity)
• Holiday of the City of Miskolc (Miskolc)
• Nisga'a Day, celebration of the effective date of the Nisga'a Final Agreement. (Nisga'a Nation)
• One of the three days of the Feast of the Lemures. (Roman Empire)
• National Technology Day (India)
• Statehood Day (Minnesota)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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