May 16
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). There are 229 days until the end of the year.
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[edit] Events
- 1204 - Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
- 1527 - The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes a republic.
- 1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
- 1568 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
- 1605 - Paul V becomes Pope.
- 1770 - 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
- 1777 - Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
- 1843 - The first major wagon train heading for the Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.
- 1866 - The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel (coin).
- 1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
- 1868 - President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1910 - The U.S. Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
- 1918 - The Sedition Act is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense.
- 1919 - United States Navy 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 as a saint.
- 1929 - In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
- 1938 - A fire at the Terminal Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 35 people.
- 1943 - The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
- 1943 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Squadron on German dams.
- 1948 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
- 1960 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
- 1966 - Two extremely influential rock albums are released on the same day: Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
- 1969 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
- 1975 - India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state held a referendum where popular vote was in favour of merging with India.
- 1975 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1988 - A report by American Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
- 1992 - STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.
- 2002 - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones opens in cinemas.
- 2005 - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith premieres in London.
- 2005 - Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.
- 2005 - Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console is shown at a press conference (E3).
[edit] Births
- 1490 - Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia (died 1568)
- 1611 - Pope Innocent XI (died 1689)
- 1678 - Andreas Silbermann, organ builder (died 1734)
- 1718 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician (died 1799)
- 1827 - Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (died 1921)
- 1882 - Anne McCormick, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner (died 1954)
- 1891 - Richard Tauber, tenor (died 1948)
- 1905 - Henry Fonda, American actor (died 1982)
- 1912 - Studs Terkel, writer
- 1913 - Woody Herman, American musician, band leader (died 1987)
- 1919 - Liberace, American pianist (died 1987)
- 1919 - Gisela Uhlen, actress
- 1928 - Billy Martin, baseball player, coach (died 1989)
- 1929 - Friedrich Nowottny, journalist
- 1931 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
- 1936 - Karl Lehmann, German cardinal and theologian
- 1936 - Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor
- 1946 - Robert Fripp, guitarist
- 1950 - J. Georg Bednorz, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1987
- 1953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
- 1955 - Olga Korbut, gymnast
- 1955 - Jack Morris, baseball pitcher
- 1955 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- 1955 - Debra Winger, actress
- 1958 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
- 1963 - Rosie Perez, actress
- 1965 - Krist Novoselic, musician, former bassist for Nirvana
- 1966 - Janet Jackson, singer
- 1966 - Thurman Thomas, American football player
- 1969 - Steve Lewis, American athlete
- 1969 - Tucker Carlson, print and television commentator
- 1970 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player
- 1973 - Tori Spelling, actress
[edit] Deaths
- 1620 - William Adams, English navigator and Japanese samurai (born 1564)
- 1703 - Charles Perrault, French author (born 1628)
- 1782 - Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (born 1736)
- 1891 - Ion C. Bratianu, Romanian statesman (born 1821)
- 1926 - Mehmed VI, last Ottoman sultan (born 1861)
- 1944 - George Ade, author (born 1866)
- 1953 - Django Reinhardt, jazz musician (born 1910)
- 1955 - James Agee, American writer (born 1909)
- 1957 - Eliot Ness, federal agent (born 1903)
- 1984 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (born 1949)
- 1984 - Irwin Shaw, author (born 1913)
- 1985 - Margaret Hamilton, actress (born 1902)
- 1988 - Charles Keeping, illustrator (born 1924)
- 1990 - Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets (born 1936)
- 1990 - Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, actor, comedian (born 1925)
- 2003 - Mark McCormack, sports business pioneer, founder of IMG (born 1930)
[edit] Holidays and observances
- In the Irish Calendar - Feast of Saint Brendan the Navigator
- The feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Ubaldus
- Saint Honoré
- John of Ponuk or John Nepomucene (1330 - 1393)
- Adrew Bobola
- Simon Stock
- Pentecost (also known as Whit Monday) in Western Christianity (2005)
- Adelaide Cup day - South Australia (2005)
