May 11

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

Events

• 330 - Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
• 1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.
• 1745 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy – At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
• 1792 - Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented Caucasian to visit the Columbia River.
• 1812 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
• 1818 - Charles XIV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
• 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.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Yellow Tavern – Confederate General JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
• 1867 - Luxembourg gains its independence.
• 1894 - Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
• 1910 - An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
• 1911 - The United States becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
• 1928 - The first analog TV service is inaugurated by WGY, Schenectady, New York.
• 1934 - Dust Bowl: A strong two-day dust storm removes massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst dust storms of the Dust Bowl in North America.
• 1942 - William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
• 1943 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1944 - World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
• 1949 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
• 1949 - Israel joins the United Nations.
• 1953 - The Waco Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
• 1960 - In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, living under the assumed name Ricardo Klement.
• 1960 - The first contraceptive pill is made available on the market.
• 1964 - Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.
• 1969 - Vietnam War: Operation Apache Snow – Near the Laos border, American and South Vietnamese forces fight North Vietnamese troops for Ap Bia Mountain (aka Hill 937 or "Hamburger Hill").
• 1970 - The Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, killing 26.
• 1973 - Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed.
• 1976 - The last episode of the TV medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D. is aired.
• 1981 - Death of Reggae legend Bob Marley.
• 1984 - A transit of Earth from Mars takes place; no one is there to observe it.
• 1985 - 56 spectators die when a flash fire strikes a football ground during a match in Bradford, England.
• 1987 - Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• 1987 - The first heart-lung transplant takes place (Baltimore, Maryland).
• 1992 - An election is held in the Philippines where General Fidel Ramos emerged as winner for President.
• 1995 - In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
• 1996 - After taking-off from Miami, 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.
• 1997 - IBM's Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player.
• 1998 - An election is held in the Philippines where actor Joseph Estrada emerged as winner for President.
• 1998 - Nuclear testing: In the Rajasthan Desert, India conducts its first underground nuclear tests violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and inflaming its rival neighbor Pakistan (who already has nuclear weapons).
• 1998 - ZDTV, "the official technology television network", begins broadcasting. It lasts six years before merging with G4 to become G4techTV, a gaming channel.
• 2003 - Rafael Palmeiro becomes the 19th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
• 2003 - Benvenuto Cellini's Saliera is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
• 2004 - The Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow kills nine people.

Births

• 1571 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (d. 1637)
• 1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (d. 1797)
• 1722 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (d. 1789)
• 1752 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
• 1763 - János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (d. 1845)
• 1801 - Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
• 1827 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
• 1871 - Stjepan Radic, Croatian politician (d. 1928)
• 1881 - Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian physicist (d. 1963)
• 1887 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d. 1961)
• 1888 - Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
• 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 - Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (d. 1986)
• 1896 - Josip Štolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer (d. 1955)
• 1897 - Kurt Gerron German director (d. 1944)
• 1903 - Charlie Gehringer, baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1904 - Salvador Dalí, Catalan painter (d. 1989)
• 1907 - Rose Ausänder, German poet (d. 1988)
• 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)
• 1916 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
• 1918 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
• 1921 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
• 1924 - Antony Hewish, English radio astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• 1927 - Mort Sahl, Canadian comedian and political commentator
• 1928 - Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor
• 1930 - Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (d. 2002)
• 1933 - Louis Farrakhan, American Black Muslim leader
• 1938 - Carla Bley, American musician and composer
• 1940 - Juan Downey, Chilean video artist (d. 1993)
• 1941 - Graham Miles, English snooker player
• 1946 - Robert Jarvik, American physicist and inventor
• 1948 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese folk musician
• 1950 - Jeremy Paxman, British journalist and author
• 1952 - Renaud Séchan, French composer
• 1952 - Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
• 1952 - Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
• 1952 - Frances Fisher, English-born actress
• 1954 - Lubomir Stoykov, Bulgarian journalist and broadcaster
• 1955 - John DeStefano, Jr., American politician
• 1956 - Theresa Burke, Canadian journalist
• 1956 - Alex Lester, British broadcaster
• 1959 - Martha Quinn, American television personality
• 1963 - Natasha Richardson, English-born actress
• 1964 - John Parrott, English snooker player
• 1965 - Greg Dulli, American musician
• 1966 - Christoph Schneider, German drummer (Rammstein)
• 1972 - Anita Hegh, Australian actress
• 1977 - Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
• 1981 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
• 1981 - Neil Tapinos, South African Top Radio Newscaster
• 1982 - Jonathan Jackson, American actor
• 1983 - Matt Leinart, American football player
• 1983 - Holly Valance, New Zealand-born actress and singer
• 1991 - Omar Reyes, I will be put on this list in the future! Watch you'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEE FUKERS! THAT INCLUDES THE GUY MONITERING THIS SHIT!

p.s. LED ZEPPELIN IS THE GREATEST ROCKBAND OF ALL TIME NIGAAZ!

Deaths

• 912 - Leo VI, Byzantine Emperor (b. 866)
• 1304 - Mahmud Ghazan, Persian ruler (b. 1271)
• 1610 - Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1552)
• 1672 - Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, English royalist (b. 1615)
• 1708 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
• 1723 - Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (b. 1656)
• 1777 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)
• 1778 - William Pitt, the Elder, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
• 1812 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (assassinated) (b. 1762)
• 1871 - John Herschel, British mathematician and astronomer (b. 1792)
• 1848 - Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
• 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)
• 1934 - Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist (b. 1852)
• 1955 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
• 1960 - John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1874)
• 1963 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1970 - Johnny Hodges, American musician (b. 1906)
• 1973 - Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1976 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
• 1981 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• 1981 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
• 1985 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
• 1986 - Fritz Pollard, American football player (b. 1894)
• 1988 - Kim Philby, British spy (b. 1912)
• 1996 - Ademir, Brazilian football player (b. 1922)
• 2001 - Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
• 2002 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
• 2003 - Noel Redding, English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Mamertus
  • Gengou Gangulphus
  • Majolus of Cluny
  • Gauthier of Esterp
  • John Rochester
  • James Walworth
  • Francis of Girolamo
• Roman Empire - Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)
• Holiday of the City of Miskolc (since 1992)
• Mother's Day (certain countries) – 2003, 2008, 2014
• Yom Hazikaron (Fallen Soldiers Remembrance Day) in Israel (2005)
• National School Nurse Day (U.S.)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• ThisDayThatYear.com on May 11
• Today in History: May 11

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