May 16
is the 136th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). There are 229 days remaining.
*
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
Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
*
1811 -
Peninsular War - Allies (Spain, Portugal & Britain) defeat French at the
Battle of Albuera.
*
1836 -
Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13-year-old cousin
Virginia.
*
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.
*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.
*
1874 - A
flood on the
Mill River in
Massachusetts destroyed much of four villages and killed 139 people.
*
1877 -
May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
*
1910 - The
U.S. Congress authorizes the creation of the
United States Bureau of Mines.
*
1918 - The
Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the
U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense.
*
1919 -
US 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 -
Holocaust: The
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
*1943 -
World War II: The
Dambuster Raids by
No. 617 Squadron RAF 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.
*1960 -
Theodore Maiman operates the first
optical laser, at
Hughes Research Laboratories in
Malibu, California.
*
1965 -
Campbell Soup Company introduces
SpaghettiO's under its
Franco-American brand.
*
1966 - The
Communist Party of China issued the "
May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the
Cultural Revolution.
*
1969 -
Venera program:
Venera 5, a
Soviet spaceprobe, lands on
Venus.
*
1972 - Decimal currency introduced in Malta. The Pound sterling is henceforth divided into 100 cents.
*
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
United States'
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.
*
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.
*
2005 -
Sony officially unveiled its
PlayStation 3 game console during an
E3 conference.
*
2006 - A large
magnitude 7.4
earthquake occurs near
New Zealand.
*
1490 - Duke
Albert of Prussia (d.
1568)
*
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)
*
1801 -
William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, bought
Alaska at 2 ¢/acre (d.
1872)
*
1827 -
Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (d.
1921)
*
1845 -
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1916)
*
1891 -
Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (d.
1948)
*
1898 -
Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (d.
1980)
*
1905 -
Henry Fonda, American actor (d.
1982)
*
1906 -
Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d.
1988)
*
1906 -
Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d.
1996)
*
1910 -
Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (d.
1975)
* 1910 -
Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (d.
1972)
*
1912 -
Studs Terkel, American writer
*
1913 -
Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d.
1987)
*
1917 -
Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (d.
1986)
* 1917 -
James C. Murray, American poltician (d.
1999)
*
1919 -
Liberace, American pianist (d.
1987)
*
1920 -
Martine Carol, French actress (d.
1967)
*
1923 -
Merton Miller, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1927 -
Nílton Santos, Brazilian football player
*
1928 -
Billy Martin, baseball player and coach (d.
1989)
*
1929 -
Adrienne Rich, American writer
*
1930 -
Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d.
1998)
*
1930 -
Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (d.
2000)
*
1931 -
Natwar Singh, Indian politician
*
1936 -
Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor
*
1936 -
Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal
*
1944 -
Billy Cobham, American virtuoso drummer
*
1945 -
Nicky Chinn, songwriter (
The Sweet,
Suzi Quatro)
*
1946 -
Robert Fripp, English guitarist (
King Crimson)
*
1946 -
Roger Earl, British rock drummer (
Savoy Brown,
Foghat)
*
1948 -
Judy Finnegan, British TV presenter,
Richard & Judy*
1950 -
J. Georg Bednorz, German physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1950 -
Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician
*
1953 -
Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
*
1955 -
Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
*
1955 -
Jack Morris, baseball player
*
1955 -
Hazel O'Connor, British singer
*
1955 -
Debra Winger, American actress
*
1961 -
Charles Wright, American professional wrestler known as "The Godfather"
*
1963 -
Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
*
1963 -
Rosie Perez, American actress
*
1965 -
Krist Novoselic, American bassist (
Nirvana)
*
1966 -
Janet Jackson, American singer
*
1966 -
Scott Reeves, American actor and singer
*
1966 -
Thurman Thomas, American football player
*
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 -
David Boreanaz, American actor
*
1973 -
Tori Spelling, American actress
*
1974 -
Laura Pausini, Italian pop singer
*
1977 -
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Canadian hockey player
*
1978 -
Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer
*
1983 -
Kyle Wellwood, Canadian hockey player
*
1985 -
Anja Mittag, German footballer
* 1985 -
Corey Perry, Canadian hockey player
*
1987 -
Scott Peters, Australian cricketer
*
583 -
Saint Brendan, Irish navigator (b.
484)
*
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.
1598)
*
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)
*
1891 -
Ion C. Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b.
1821)
*
1926 -
Mehmed VI, last
Ottoman Sultan (b.
1861)
*
1944 -
George Ade, American author (b.
1866)
*
1947 -
Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist and
Nobel laureate (b.
1861)
*
1953 -
Django Reinhardt, Belgian musician (b.
1910)
*
1955 -
James Agee, American writer (b.
1909)
*
1957 -
Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b.
1903)
*
1959 -
Elisha Scott, footballer (b.
1894)
*
1979 -
A. Philip Randolph, American activist (b.
1889)
*
1984 -
Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b.
1949)
* 1984 -
Irwin Shaw, American author (b.
1913)
*
1985 -
Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b.
1902)
*
1988 -
Charles Keeping, British illustrator (b.
1924)
*
1990 -
Sammy Davis, Jr., American entertainer (b.
1925)
* 1990 -
Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b.
1936)
*
2002 -
Big Dick Dudley, Professional wrestler
*
2003 -
Mark McCormack, American businessman(b.
1930)
*
2006 -
Dan Ross, American football player (b.
1957)
*
Adelaide Cup day -
South Australia (
2005).
*
Teacher's Day in
Malaysia.
* National Sea Monkey Day
saints in the
Roman Catholic Church:
*
Saint Brendan the
Navigator - also in the
Irish Calendar.
*
Saint Honoré of Amiens*
Saint John Nepomuk or
John Nepomucene (
1330 -
1393)
*
Saint Andrew Bobola*
Saint Simon Stock*
Saint Ubaldus"May 16" is also the title of a
punk rock song by
Lagwagon from their album
Let's Talk About Feelings.
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMay 15 -
May 17 -
April 16 -
June 16 –
listing of all days
