May 16
May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). There are 229 days remaining. Events1204 - 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. 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. 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 - 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 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 influencial 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 addiction 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 theaters.
Births1490 - Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia (d. 1568)1611 - Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)1678 - Andreas Silbermann, organ builder (d. 1734)1718 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician (d. 1799)1827 - Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect1882 - Anne McCormick, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1954)1891 - Richard Tauber, tenor (d. 1948)1905 - Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982) 1912 - Studs Terkel, writer1913 - Woody Herman, American musician, band leader (d. 1987)1919 - Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987) 1919 - Gisela Uhlen, actress1928 - Billy Martin, baseball player, coach (d. 1989)1929 - Friedrich Nowottny, journalist1931 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician1936 - Karl Lehmann, German cardinal and theologian 1936 - Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor1950 - J. Georg Bednorz, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 19871953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor1955 - Olga Korbut, gymnast 1955 - Jack Morris, baseball pitcher 1955 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer 1955 - Debra Winger, actress1958 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)1965 - Krist Novoselic, musician, former bassist for Nirvana1966 - Janet Jackson, singer 1966 - Thurman Thomas, American football player1969 - Steve Lewis, American athlete1970 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player1973 - Tori Spelling, actress1989 - Jeff Barton, Canadian
Deaths1620 - William Adams, English navigator and Japanese samurai (b.1564)1703 - Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)1782 - Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)1891 - Ion C. Bratianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)1926 - Mehmed VI, last Ottoman sultan (b. 1861)1944 - George Ade, author (b. 1866)1955 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)1957 - Eliot Ness, federal agent (b. 1903)1984 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (b. 1949)1984 - Irwin Shaw, author (b. 1913)1985 - Margaret Hamilton, actress (b. 1902)1988 - Charles Keeping, illustrator (b. 1924)1990 - Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets (b. 1936)1990 - Sammy Davis, Jr, singer, actor, comedian (b. 1925)2003 - Mark McCormack, sports business pioneer, founder of IMG
Holidays and observancesIn the Irish Calendar - Feast of Saint Brendan the Navigator
External links BBC: On This Day
May 15 - May 17 - April 16 - June 16 -- listing of all days
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