- May 16
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<< May 2011 >> Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 MMXI May 16 in recent years 2011 (Monday) 2010 (Sunday) 2009 (Saturday) 2008 (Friday) 2007 (Wednesday) 2006 (Tuesday) 2005 (Monday) 2004 (Sunday) 2003 (Friday) 2002 (Thursday) May 16 is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 229 days remaining until the end of the year.
Contents
Events
- 218 – Julia Maesa, aunt of the assassinated Caracalla, is banished to her home in Syria by the self-proclaimed emperor Macrinus and declares her 14-year old grandson Elagabalus, emperor of Rome.
- 1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
- 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.
- 1770 – 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.
- 1822 – Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
- 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
- 1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
- 1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
- 1877 – May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
- 1891 – The International Electro-Technical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world's first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electrical current (the most common form today).
- 1914 – The first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final is played. Brooklyn Field Club defeats Brooklyn Celtic 2-1.
- 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
- 1919 – A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 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, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
- 1943 – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
- 1948 – Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel.
- 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.
- 1953 – American journalist William N. Oatis is released after serving 22 months of a ten-year prison sentence for espionage in Czechslovakia.
- 1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical 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 spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
- 1974 – Josip Broz Tito is re-elected president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he is elected for life.
- 1975 – India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favor of merging with India.
- 1975 – Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1983 – Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.
- 1986 – The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
- 1988 – A report by United States' Surgeon General 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 addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
- 2003 – In Casablanca, 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.
Births
- 1578 – Everard Digby, English conspirator (d. 1606)
- 1611 – Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
- 1710 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (d. 1782)
- 1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (d. 1799)
- 1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist (d. 1829)
- 1788 – Friedrich Rückert, German Poet, Translator and Orientalist (d. 1866)
- 1801 – William H. Seward, American politician and diplomat (d. 1872)
- 1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (d. 1894)
- 1824 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)
- 1827 – Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (d. 1921)
- 1831 – David E. Hughes, British inventor and musician (d. 1900)
- 1845 – Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1916)
- 1861 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (d. 1896)
- 1888 – Royal Raymond Rife, American inventor (d. 1971)
- 1891 – Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (d. 1948)
- 1897 – Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist (d. 1994)
- 1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (d. 1980)
- 1898 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (d. 1956)
- 1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1906 – Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (d. 2001)
- 1906 – Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d. 1996)
- 1909 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (d. 1960)
- 1910 – Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (d. 1975)
- 1910 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (d. 1972)
- 1912 – Studs Terkel, American writer (d. 2008)
- 1913 – Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d. 1987)
- 1914 – Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
- 1916 – Adriana Caselotti, American actress (d. 1997)
- 1916 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli politician (d. 2009)
- 1916 – Fred Hargesheimer, American World War II pilot (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (d. 1986)
- 1917 – James C. Murray, American politician (d. 1999)
- 1917 – George Gaynes, American actor
- 1918 – Wilf Mannion, English former footballer (d. 2000)
- 1919 – Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)
- 1919 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish scientist (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
- 1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor
- 1921 – S. Neil Fujita, American graphic designer (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Merton Miller, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Victoria Fromkin, American linguist (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist
- 1925 – Bobbejaan Schoepen, Belgian entertainer (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Ronald Podrow, British peace activist (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1928 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
- 1929 – John Conyers, American politician
- 1929 – Claude Morin, French Canadian politician
- 1929 – Adrienne Rich, American writer
- 1930 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d. 1998)
- 1930 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (d. 2000)
- 1931 – Jack Dodson, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1931 – Denise Filiatrault, French Canadian actress and director
- 1931 – Tinky Winky, Teletubby
- 1931 – Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American politician
- 1931 – Hana Brady, Polish Holocaust victim (d. 1944)
- 1936 – Roy Hudd, English radio and television actor
- 1936 – Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal
- 1937 – Yvonne Craig, American actress
- 1943 – Dan Coats, American politician, junior senator of Indiana
- 1943 – Marko Kravos, Slovenian poet
- 1944 – Billy Cobham, American drummer
- 1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor
- 1945 – Nicky Chinn, English songwriter (Sweet, Suzi Quatro)
- 1945 – Alan Flusser, American clothing designer
- 1946 – Robert Fripp, English guitarist (King Crimson)
- 1946 – Roger Earl, English rock drummer (Savoy Brown, Foghat)
- 1947 – Bob Edwards, American newscaster
- 1947 – Bill Smitrovich, American actor
- 1948 – Katia Dandoulaki, Greek actress
- 1948 – Judy Finnegan, English TV presenter (Richard & Judy)
- 1948 – Adrian Legg, English guitarist
- 1948 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor
- 1949 – Rick Reuschel, American baseball player
- 1950 – J. Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1950 – Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician (d. 2004)
- 1951 – Po, Teletubby
- 1951 – Jonathan Richman, American Protopunk singer and musician (The Modern Lovers)
- 1952 – James Herndon, American media psychologist
- 1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
- 1953 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna
- 1954 – Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut
- 1955 – Olga Korbut, Belarussian gymnast
- 1955 – Jack Morris, American baseball player
- 1955 – Hazel O'Connor, English singer
- 1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer
- 1955 – Debra Winger, American actress
- 1958 – Glenn Gregory, British musician (Heaven 17)
- 1958 – Gitane Demone, American Goth singer
- 1959 – Mare Winningham, American actress
- 1960 – Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician
- 1961 – Kevin McDonald, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1961 – Charles Wright, American professional wrestler
- 1963 – Jon Coffelt, American artist
- 1963 – Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
- 1964 – John Salley, American basketball player
- 1964 – Boyd Tinsley, American musician (Dave Matthews Band)
- 1964 – Edit Berces, Hungarian marathon runner
- 1965 – Krist Novoselic, American musician and author
- 1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer
- 1966 – Scott Reeves, American actor and singer
- 1966 – Thurman Thomas, American football player
- 1967 – Doug Brocail, American baseball player
- 1968 – Ralph Tresvant, American singer (New Edition)
- 1968 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
- 1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor
- 1969 – Tucker Carlson, American television commentator
- 1969 – Tracey Gold, American actress
- 1969 – Steve Lewis, American athlete
- 1970 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
- 1970 – Danielle Spencer, Australian singer and actress
- 1971 – Rachel Goswell, English singer and songwriter (Slowdive, Mojave 3)
- 1972 – Derek Mears, American actor
- 1972 – Khary Payton, American actor
- 1972 – Christian Califano, French rugby player
- 1973 – Jason Acuña, American television personality
- 1973 – Special Ed, American rapper
- 1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress
- 1974 – Laura Pausini, Italian pop singer
- 1974 – Sonny Sandoval, American singer (P.O.D.)
- 1974 – Adam Richman, American actor and television personality
- 1975 – Tony Kakko, Finnish singer (Sonata Arctica)
- 1975 – Tonéx, American singer
- 1976 – Brian Langtry, American lacrosse player
- 1976 – Dirk Nannes, Dutch-born Australian cricketer
- 1977 – Dolcenera, Italian singer
- 1977 – Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
- 1977 – Emiliana Torrini Icelandic singer and songwriter
- 1978 – David Ford, English singer and songwriter
- 1978 – Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer
- 1979 – McKenzie Lee, English pornographic actress
- 1980 – Mikel Alonso, Spanish footballer
- 1980 – Melanie Lofton, American journalist
- 1980 – Michael Ryan, American ice hockey player
- 1981 – Taavi Rähn, Estonian footballer
- 1981 – Jim Sturgess, English actor
- 1982 – Billy Crawford, Filipino singer and musician
- 1982 – Joo Ji Hoon, Korean actor and model
- 1982 – Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player
- 1982 – Hanna Mariën, Belgian athlete
- 1983 – Nancy Ajram, Lebanese singer
- 1983 – Daniel Kerr, Australian football player (AFL)
- 1983 – Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Dario Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Jensen Lewis, American baseball player
- 1984 – Mickie Knuckles, American professional wrestler
- 1984 – Rick Rypien, Canadian hockey player (d. 2011)
- 1985 – Café, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Stanislav Ianevski, Bulgarian actor
- 1985 – Anja Mittag, German footballer
- 1985 – Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Okura Tadayoshi, Japanese singer (Kanjani Eight)
- 1986 – Megan Fox, American actress
- 1986 – Andy Keogh, Irish footballer
- 1987 – Tom Onslow-Cole, British racing driver
- 1990 – Thomas Sangster, English actor
- 1990 – Darko Sarovic, Serbian sprinter
- 1991 – Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player
- 1992 – Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Lee Ji-eun, Korean singer also known as IU
- 1994 – Miles Heizer, American actor
- 1998 – Ariel Waller, Canadian actress
Deaths
- 583 – Saint Brendan, Irish navigator (b. 484)
- 1265 – Saint Simon Stock, English saint (b. 1165)
- 1569 – Dirk Willems, Dutch Anabaptist
- 1620 – William Adams, English navigator (b. 1564)
- 1657 – Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
- 1667 – Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English statesman (b. 1607)
- 1669 – Pietro da Cortona, Italian architect (b. 1596)
- 1691 – Jacob Leisler, American colonist (b. 1640)
- 1703 – Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)
- 1778 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat (b. 1718)
- 1782 – Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)
- 1790 – Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (b. 1720)
- 1830 – Joseph Fourier, French scientist (b. 1768)
- 1882 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1799)
- 1891 – Ion Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)
- 1913 – Louis Perrier, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1849)
- 1920 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (b. 1824)
- 1926 – Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)
- 1943 – Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist (b. 1865)
- 1944 – George Ade, American author (b. 1866)
- 1947 – Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1861)
- 1953 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian musician (b. 1910)
- 1954 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (b. 1893)
- 1955 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- 1956 – H. B. Reese, American confectioner, founder of Reese's (b. 1876)
- 1957 – Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)
- 1959 – Elisha Scott, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1894)
- 1961 – George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)
- 1969 – Robert R., American AIDS victim (b. 1954)
- 1975 – Al Helfer, American radio sportscaster (b. 1911)
- 1979 – A. Philip Randolph, American civil rights activist and labor union leader (b. 1889)
- 1981 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist and arranger (b. 1922)
- 1984 – Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)
- 1984 – Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
- 1988 – Charles Keeping, English illustrator (b. 1924)
- 1988 – George Pyrounakis, Greek religious figure (b. 1910)
- 1990 – Sammy Davis, Jr., American entertainer (b. 1925)
- 1990 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b. 1936)
- 1992 – Chalino Sánchez, Mexican musician (b. 1960)
- 1993 – Marv Johnson, American R&B and soul singer (b. 1938)
- 1996 – Jeremy Michael Boorda, American admiral (b. 1939)
- 1997 – Elbridge Durbrow, American diplomat (b. 1903)
- 2000 – Bodacious the Bull, rodeo bull (b. 1988)
- 2001 – Brian Pendleton, English musician (The Pretty Things) (b. 1944)
- 2002 – Alec Campbell, Australian soldier (b. 1899)
- 2002 – Big Dick Dudley, American professional wrestler (b. 1968)
- 2003 – Mark McCormack, American businessman (b. 1930)
- 2008 – David Mitton, British television director (b. 1939)
- 2008 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker (b. 1913)
- 2010 – Ronnie James Dio, American heavy metal vocalist (b. 1942)
- 2010 – Hank Jones, American jazz pianist (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Bob Davis, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
- 2011 – Bill Skiles, American comic (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1932)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Mass Graves Day (Iraq)
- Middlesex Day (Middlesex)
- National Day, declared by Salva Kiir Mayardit (Southern Sudan)
- Teachers' Day (Malaysia)
External links
Months and days of the year January February March April May June July August September October November December Related dates Categories:- Days of the year
- May
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