May 2

"2 May" redirects here. For the Romanian village, see 2 Mai.

May 2 in recent years

2024 (Thursday)

2023 (Tuesday)

2022 (Monday)

2021 (Sunday)

2020 (Saturday)

2019 (Thursday)

2018 (Wednesday)

2017 (Tuesday)

2016 (Monday)

2015 (Saturday)

May 2 is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 243 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
• 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
• 1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
• 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
• 1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
• 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
• 1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
• 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
• 1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
• 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
• 1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
• 1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
• 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
• 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
• 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.
• 1879 – The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
• 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
• 1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.
• 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
• 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
• 1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
• 1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
• 1933 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
• 1941 – Following the coup d'état against Iraq Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
• 1945 – World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.
• 1945 – World War II: Italian Campaign: General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.
• 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
• 1945 – World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.
• 1952 – The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
• 1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• 1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. A North Vietnamese frogman had placed a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
• 1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
• 1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
• 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.
• 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
• 1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.
• 1989 – Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
• 1994 – A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
• 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
• 1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
• 1999 – Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
• 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
• 2004 – The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.
• 2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
• 2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
• 2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
• 2011 – The 41st Canadian federal election is held, in which the governing Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, increases their number of seats from a minority to a majority.
• 2012 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
• 2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.

Births

• 1360 – Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
• 1402 – Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1445)
• 1451 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1508)
• 1458 – Eleanor of Viseu (d. 1525)
• 1476 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (d. 1536)
• 1533 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (d. 1596)
• 1551 – William Camden, English historian and topographer (d. 1623)
• 1567 – Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (d. 1603)
• 1579 – Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shogun (d. 1632)
• 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German priest and scholar (d. 1680)
• 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
• 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French painter and architect (d. 1766)
• 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (d. 1782)
• 1707 – Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (d. 1747)
• 1729 – Catherine the Great of Russia (d. 1796)
• 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)
• 1740 – Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
• 1750 – John André, English soldier and spy (d. 1780)
• 1752 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (d. 1790)
• 1754 – Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
• 1772 – Novalis, German author and poet (d. 1801)
• 1773 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher and poet (d. 1845)
• 1797 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (d. 1864)
• 1802 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (d. 1870)
• 1806 – Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (d. 1876)
• 1810 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (d. 1874)
• 1815 – William Buell Richards, Canadian lawyer and judge, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1889)
• 1828 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist and photographer (d. 1915)
• 1830 – Otto Staudinger, German entomologist and author (d. 1900)
• 1843 – Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (d. 1929)
• 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author and playwright (d. 1927)
• 1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist, physician, and academic (d. 1936)
• 1860 – Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian zionist philosopher, journalist and author (d. 1904)
• 1865 – Clyde Fitch, American playwright (d. 1909)
• 1867 – Giuseppe Morello, Italian-American mobster (d. 1930)
• 1873 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (d. 1944)
• 1879 – James F. Byrnes, American stenographer and politician, 49th United States Secretary of State (d. 1972)
• 1880 – Bill Horr, American football player, discus thrower, and coach (d. 1955)
• 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 1970)
• 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (d. 1966)
• 1886 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (d. 1956)
• 1887 – Vernon Castle, English-American dancer (d. 1918)
• 1887 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
• 1889 – Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1959)
• 1890 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (d. 1965)
• 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918)
• 1894 – Joseph Henry Woodger, English biologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1981)
• 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American playwright and lyricist (d. 1943)
• 1897 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
• 1898 – Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (d. 1989)
• 1901 – Bob Wyatt, English cricketer (d. 1995)
• 1902 – Brian Aherne, English actor (d. 1986)
• 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (d. 1998)
• 1904 – Bill Brandt, German-English photographer and journalist (d. 1983)
• 1906 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (d. 1979)
• 1907 – Pinky Lee, American comedian and television host (d. 1993)
• 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
• 1912 – Axel Springer, German journalist and publisher, founded Axel Springer AG (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Pietro Frua, Italian coachbuilders and car designers (d. 1983)
• 1913 – Nigel Patrick, English actor and director (d. 1981)
• 1913 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (d. 1993)
• 1915 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1915 – Peggy Mount, English actress (d. 2001)
• 1917 – Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder
• 1917 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian journalist and activist (d. 2000)
• 1920 – Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian singer and sitar player (d. 1983)
• 1920 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, soldier, and pilot (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (d. 2007)
• 1922 – A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born American journalist and author (d. 2006)
• 1923 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (d. 2008)
• 1924 – Jamal Abro, Pakistani lawyer and author (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2015)
• 1924 – Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan
• 1925 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor (d. 2011)
• 1926 – Gérard D. Levesque, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1993)
• 1927 – Ray Barrett, Australian actor and singer (d. 2009)
• 1927 – Amos Kenan, Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright and novelist (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Hans Trass, Estonian ecologist and botanist (d. 2017)
• 1929 – Édouard Balladur, Turkish-French economist and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of France
• 1929 – James Dillion, American discus thrower (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
• 1930 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter and critic (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Marco Pannella, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2016)
• 1931 – Phil Bruns, American actor and stuntman (d. 2012)
• 1931 – Martha Grimes, American author and poet
• 1932 – Maury Allen, American journalist, actor, and author (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Bunk Gardner, American musician
• 1933 – Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
• 1935 – Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1935 – Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (d.1958)
• 1936 – Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress, director, and screenwriter
• 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, English singer and pianist
• 1936 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (d. 1972)
• 1937 – Klaus Enders, German motorcycle sidecar racer
• 1937 – Lorenzo Music, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
• 1939 – Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and engineer
• 1941 – Tony Adamowicz, American race car driver
• 1941 – Bruce Cameron, Scottish bishop
• 1941 – Clay Carroll, American baseball player
• 1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman
• 1944 – Robert G. W. Anderson, English chemist, historian, and curator
• 1945 – Randy Cain, American soul singer (d. 2009)
• 1945 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
• 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-American model, actress, and activist
• 1945 – Goldy McJohn, Canadian keyboard player
• 1946 – Peter L. Benson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2011)
• 1946 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1946 – David Suchet, English actor
• 1947 – James Dyson, English businessman, founded the Dyson Company
• 1947 – Lynda Myles, English screenwriter and producer
• 1948 – Larry Gatlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1949 – Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and author
• 1950 – Simon Gaskell, English chemist and academic
• 1950 – Duncan Gay, Australian businessman and politician
• 1950 – Lou Gramm, American singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Richard Ground, English lawyer and judge (d. 2014)
• 1951 – John Glascock, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
• 1952 – Chris Anderson, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1952 – Christine Baranski, American actress and singer
• 1952 – Isla St Clair, Scottish singer and actress
• 1953 – Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director
• 1954 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer and conductor
• 1954 – Dawn Primarolo, English politician
• 1954 – Stephen Venables, English mountaineer and author
• 1955 – Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
• 1956 – Régis Labeaume, Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City
• 1958 – Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese songwriter and producer
• 1958 – Stanislav Levý, Czech footballer and manager
• 1958 – David O'Leary, English-Irish footballer and manager
• 1959 – Alan Best, Canadian animator, director, and producer
• 1959 – Tony Wakeford, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1960 – Stephen Daldry, English director and producer
• 1961 – Steve James, English snooker player
• 1961 – Sophie Thibault, Canadian journalist
• 1961 – Phil Vickery, English chef and author
• 1962 – Elizabeth Berridge, American actress
• 1962 – Jimmy White, English snooker player
• 1965 – Félix José, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1966 – Uwe Freiler, German footballer
• 1966 – Margus Kolga, Estonian diplomat
• 1966 – Belinda Stronach, Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician
• 1967 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
• 1967 – Mika Brzezinski, American journalist and author
• 1967 – David Rocastle, English footballer (d. 2001)
• 1968 – Jeff Agoos, Swiss-American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster
• 1968 – Julia Hartley-Brewer, English broadcaster and columnist
• 1968 – Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress
• 1969 – Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer
• 1970 – Marco Walker, Swiss footballer and coach
• 1971 – Musashimaru Kōyō, Samoan-American sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna
• 1971 – Fatima Yusuf, Nigerian sprinter
• 1972 – Paul Adcock, English footballer
• 1972 – Ahti Heinla, Estonian programmer and businessman, co-developed Skype
• 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, American-Canadian wrestler, actor, and producer
• 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German director and screenwriter
• 1974 – Horacio Carbonari, Argentinian footballer and manager
• 1974 – Andy Johnson, English-Welsh footballer
• 1974 – Janek Meet, Estonian footballer
• 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model
• 1976 – Jeff Gutt, American singer-songwriter
• 1977 – Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
• 1977 – Jan Fitschen, German runner
• 1977 – Luke Hudson, American baseball player
• 1977 – Fredrik Malm, Swedish journalist and politician
• 1977 – Jenna von Oÿ, American actress and singer
• 1978 – Melvin Ely, American basketball player
• 1978 – Mike Weaver, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Ioannis Kanotidis, Greek footballer
• 1980 – Tim Borowski, German footballer
• 1980 – Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
• 1980 – Ellie Kemper, American actress, comedian and writer
• 1980 – Zat Knight, English footballer
• 1980 – Artūras Masiulis, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1980 – Troy Murphy, American basketball player
• 1980 – Lassaâd Ouertani, Tunisian footballer (d. 2013)
• 1980 – Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Robert Buckley, American actor
• 1981 – Chris Kirkland, English footballer
• 1981 – Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
• 1981 – Matt Murray, English footballer
• 1981 – Rina Satō, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1982 – Timothy Benjamin, Welsh sprinter
• 1982 – Johan Botha, South African cricketer
• 1983 – Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer
• 1983 – Tina Maze, Slovenian skier
• 1983 – Daniel Sordo, Spanish race car driver
• 1983 – Ove Vanebo, Norwegian politician
• 1984 – Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1984 – Thabo Sefolosha, Swiss basketball player
• 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter and actress
• 1985 – Kyle Busch, American race car driver
• 1985 – Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player
• 1985 – Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
• 1985 – David Nugent, English footballer
• 1987 – Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
• 1987 – Pat McAfee, American football player
• 1987 – Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Neftalí Feliz, Dominican baseball player
• 1988 – Stephen Henderson, Irish footballer
• 1989 – Jeanette Pohlen, American basketball player
• 1990 – Paul George, American basketball player
• 1991 – Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer
• 1992 – María Teresa Torró Flor, Spanish tennis player
• 1993 – Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist
• 2015 – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, British royal, and fourth in line to the British throne

Deaths

• 373 – Athanasius of Alexandria, Egyptian bishop and saint (b. 298)
• 649 – Marutha of Tikrit, Persian theologian of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b. 565)
• 821 – Liu Zong, general of the Tang Dynasty
• 907 – Boris I of Bulgaria
• 1219 – Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
• 1230 – William de Braose, English son of Reginald de Braose (b. 1197)
• 1293 – Meir of Rothenburg, German rabbi (b. c.1215)
• 1300 – Blanche of Artois (b. 1248)
• 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (b. 1396)
• 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452)
• 1564 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (b. 1500)
• 1627 – Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer and educator (b. 1560)
• 1667 – George Wither, English poet and author (b. 1588)
• 1683 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and mathematician (b. 1613)
• 1711 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (b. 1641)
• 1799 – Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (b. 1740)
• 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast (b. 1762)
• 1810 – Henry Jerome de Salis, English priest (b. 1740)
• 1819 – Mary Moser, English painter and academic (b. 1744)
• 1857 – Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810)
• 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer and educator (b. 1791)
• 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser, German-American businessman, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (b. 1805)
• 1880 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer, co-created Australian rules football (b. 1835)
• 1885 – Terézia Zakoucs, Hungarian-Slovene author (b. 1817)
• 1915 – Clara Immerwahr, German chemist (b. 1870)
• 1918 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1889)
• 1925 – Antun Branko Šimić, Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet (b. 1898)
• 1927 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (b. 1866)
• 1929 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879)
• 1941 – Penelope Delta, Greek author (b. 1874)
• 1945 – Martin Bormann, German politician (b. 1900)
• 1945 – Joe Corbett, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1875)
• 1947 – Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920)
• 1953 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (b. 1863)
• 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1908)
• 1963 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, peer, politician, poet, author and newspaper editor (b. 1884)
• 1964 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (b. 1879)
• 1969 – Franz von Papen, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
• 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
• 1974 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (b. 1878)
• 1979 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
• 1980 – Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (b. 1891)
• 1980 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908)
• 1983 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
• 1984 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (b. 1918)
• 1984 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Attilio Bettega, Italian race car driver (b. 1951)
• 1985 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Sergio Cresto, American race car driver (b. 1956)
• 1986 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
• 1989 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author (b. 1902)
• 1989 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
• 1990 – David Rappaport, English-American actor (b. 1951)
• 1991 – Ronald McKie, Australian journalist and author (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Wilbur Mills, American lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
• 1993 – André Moynet, French race car driver, pilot, and politician (b. 1921)
• 1994 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, American poet and author (b. 1903)
• 1995 – John Bunting, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (b. 1918)
• 1995 – Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
• 1997 – John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
• 1997 – Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher and academic (b. 1921)
• 1998 – hide, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1964)
• 1998 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
• 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
• 1999 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1903)
• 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
• 2002 – W. T. Tutte, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean journalist and politician, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Louis Rukeyser, American journalist and author (b. 1933)
• 2007 – Brad McGann, New Zealand director and screenwriter (b. 1964)
• 2008 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (b. 1940)
• 2008 – Izold Pustõlnik, Ukrainian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1938)
• 2009 – Marilyn French, American author and academic (b. 1929)
• 2009 – Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1951)
• 2009 – Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (b. 1935)
• 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (b. 1943)
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (b. 1957)
• 2012 – Fernando Lopes, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
• 2012 – Tufan Miñnullin, Russian playwright and politician (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician, Indonesian Minister of Health (b. 1955)
• 2012 – Akira Tonomura, Japanese physicist, author, and academic (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Ernie Field, English boxer (b. 1943)
• 2013 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1964)
• 2013 – Joseph P. McFadden, American bishop (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Dvora Omer, Israeli author and educator (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (b. 1980)
• 2013 – Charles Banks Wilson, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Žarko Petan, Slovenian director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
• 2015 – Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (b. 1915)
• 2015 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1945)
• 2015 – Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian-Lithuanian ballerina, choreographer, actress, and director (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Ruth Rendell, English author (b. 1930)
• 2016 – Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, activist, and Black Panther (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Athanasius of Alexandria (Western Christianity)
  • Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
  • Germanus of Normandy
  • Waldebert (Roman Catholic Church)
  • May 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá'í Faith) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March equinox)
• Anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising (Community of Madrid, Spain)
• Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo (Bhutan)
• Flag Day (Poland)
• Indonesia National Education Day
• Teachers' Day (Iran)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History