May 11

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 Constantinople during a dedication ceremony.

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 white man to discover the Columbia River.

1812 - Prime Minster 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.

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 member of the Buenos Aires Convention, a copyright treaty.

1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards," 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 abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, living under the assumed name Ricardo Klement.

1960 - The first contraceptive pill is made available on the market.

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").

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.

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).

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 - 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 starts broadcasting. It lasted six years until the G4techTV Merger and it turned into a gaming channel.

2004 - The Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow kills nine people.