On this day in History - May 21

427 adC - Nascimento de Platão. Filósofo.
0987 - King Louis V of France dies .
0996 - Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1471 - Albrecht Dürer, was born (†1528). German painter and graphic artist.
1471 - King Henry VI of England, dies (also date of death possibly 22 May) (b. 1421)
1527 - King Philip II of Spain, I of Portugal, was born (d. 1598).
1542 - Hernando de Soto, dies (b. c. 1496). Spanish explorer.
1639 - Tommaso Campanella, dies (b. 1568). Dominican theologian, philosopher and poet.
1647 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, dies (b. 1581). Dutch poet and historian.
1674 - John Sobieski is elected by the nobility to be the King of Poland.
1688 - Alexander Pope, was born (†1744). English poet.
1707 - Nacia Francisco Salzillo, escultor barroco español.
1724 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, dies (b. 1661). English statesman.
1740 - Nascimento de Gasparo Pacchiarotti. Soprano italiano.
1780 - Elizabeth Fry, was born (d. 1845). British social reformer and philanthropist.
1786 - Carl Wilhelm Scheele, dies (b. 1742). Swedish chemist.
1790 - Thomas Warton, dies (b. 1728). English poet.
1839 - Nascimento de Albert Glatigny (†16 Abr 1873). Poeta e dramaturgo francês.
1847 - Nascimento de Francisco Aguilar Barquero. Presidente da Costa Rica (1919-1920).
1851 - É descoberto ouro na Austrália.
1856 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
1834 - Charles Albert Gobat, was born. Swiss politician. Nobel Prize for Peace - 1902.
1843 - Louis Renault, was born. French jurist. Nobel Prize for Peace -1907.
1844 - Henri Rousseau, was born (†1910). French artist.
1851 - Léon Bourgeois, was born. French politician. Nobel Prize for Peace -1920.
1860 - Willem Einthoven, médico holandés, premio Nobel de Medicina en 1924.
1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson - Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
1871- French Government troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week" some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
1874 - Nascimento de Juan Manuel Ferrari . Escultor uruguaio.
1879 - War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique, Chile battle 2 Peruvian vessels, the Huáscar and the Independencia in the Naval battle of Iquique. The Huascar sinks one Chilean ship, while the other Chilean ship, the Covadonga, forces the Independencia to run aground.
1879 - Arturo Prat Chacón, dies. Chilean militar chileno. VER
1881 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal, England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
1894 - 22 year old French Anarchist Emile Henry is executed by guillotine.
1895 - Nascimento de Lázaro Cardenas. Presidente e ministro da defesa mexicano.
1897 - Arturo Prat, dies. Chilean naval officer
1895 - Franz von Suppé, dies (b. 1819). Croatian-Austrian composer.
1898 - Armand Hammer, was born (d. 1990). Physician, entrepreneur, oil magnate, and art collector.
1901 - Horace Heidt, was born (d. 1986). Band leader.
1901 - Sam Jaffe, was born (d. 2000). Producer.
1902 - Earl Averill, was born (d. 1983). Baseball Hall of Famer.
1902 - Marcel Lajos Breuer, was born (d. 1981). Architect.
1904 - Thomas "Fats" Waller, was born (d. 1943). American pianist and jazz composer.
1904 - Robert Montgomery, was born (d. 1981). American actor.
1904 - Fundação da FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) , organismo mundial que tutela e coordena o futebol.
1911 - Williamina Fleming, dies (b. 1857). Astronomer.
1911 - Morte de Bernardo Pinheiro Correia de Melo . Conde de Arnoso - Portugal (n. 27 de Maio de 1855).
1912- Monty Stratton, was born (d. 1982). Major League Baseball pitcher.
1916 - Harold Robbins, was born (d. 1997). Novelist.
1916 - Tinus Osendarp, was born (d. 2002). Dutch sprinter.
1917 - Raymond Burr, was born (d. 1993). Actor.
1921 - Andrei Sakharov, was born (†1989). Physicist and human rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace - 1989
1921 - Assassinato de Don Venustiano Carranza (México) .
1923 - Ara Parseghian,was born. American football coach
1924 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing."
1927 - Charles Lindbergh touchs down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1928 - Hideyo Noguchi dies. Japanese bacteriologist.
1928 - Morreu a actriz portuguesa Lucinda Simões.
1929 - Heinz Holliger, was born. Swiss oboe player
1930 - Malcolm Fraser, was born. 22nd Prime Minister of Australia
1932 - Gabriele Wohmann, was born. Author
1932 - Amelia Earhart, because of bad weather, lands in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1933 - Maurice André, was born. Trumpet
1934 - Oskaloosa, Iowa becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint each of its citizens.
1935 - Jane Addams, dies (b. 1860). Social worker. Nobel Prize for Peace - 1931.
1935 - Hisako Matsubara, was born. Japanese novelist.
1935 - As «sociedades secretas» existentes em Portugal são ilegalizadas, sendo a principal a Maçonaria.
- de 1939. Realiza-se em Lisboa o 1.º Congresso da Mocidade Portuguesa. O congresso terminará em 28 de Maio
1936 - Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon became one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
1939 - Realiza-se em Lisboa o 1.º Congresso da Mocidade Portuguesa. O congresso terminará em 28 de Maio
1941 - World War II: 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
1941 - Martin Carthy, was born. Singer and guitarist
1945 - Ernst Messerschmid, was born. Physicist and astronaut
1945 - American screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.
1947 - Tetsu Katayama assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro do Japão
1948 - Leo Sayer, was born. Musician, singer.
1948 - Sri Lanka torna-se membro da Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO
1951 - Al Franken, was born. Comedian
1952 - Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud), was born. American actor
1952 - John Garfield, dies (b. 1913). Actor.
1956 - Judge Reinhold, was born. Actor
1956 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
1957 - Renée Soutendijk, was born. Dutch actress
1958 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.
1958 - José Antonio Oría é eleito presidente da Academia Argentina de Letras.
1960 - Jeffrey Dahmer, was born (d. 1994). American serial killer.
1961 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
1964 - Morre James Franck, físico - químico germano-estadounidense, Prémio Nobel da Física - 1925.
1965 - Geoffrey de Havilland, dies (b. 1882). British aircraft designer.
1965 - Celebra-se pela primeira vez em Portugal o 'Dia do Bibliotecário'.
1965 - Em Portugal, foi extinta a Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, por decreto do Ministério da Educação.
1967 - Chris Benoit, was born. Professional wrestler
1970 - E. L. Grant Watson, dies (b. 1885). Author and biologist.
1972 - The Notorious B.I.G., was born (d. 1997). Musician.
1974 - Nascimento de Fernando Almeida (Fernando Almeida Soares), actor brasileiro, no Rio de Janeiro-RJ.
1978 - Briana Banks, was born. Actress.
1979 -- White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
1980 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back opens in theaters.
1981 - Max, was born. German singer
1981 - Pierre Mauroy becomes Prime Minister of France.
1984 - Phillip Gargiulo, was born. American Artist
1987 - Ashlie Brillault, was born. Actress
1988 - Sammy Davis, Sr., dies. US dancer, actor
1991 - Rajiv Gandhi, dies (b. 1944). Former prime minister of India.
1991 - Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
1998 - Inaugurada a Exposição Mundial de Lisboa (EXPO - 98).
1998 - At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kipland Kinkel, suspended for bringing a gun to school, shoots a semi-automatic rifle into a room filled with students, killing 2 wounding 25 others after killing his parents at home.
1998 - Reproductive rights: In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
2000 - A chartered British Aerospace Jetstream 31 crashes near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, killing 19.
2000 - Sir John Gielgud, dies (b. 1904). British actor.
2000 - Barbara Cartland, dies (b. 1901). Romance novel author.
2002 - Umberto Bindi dies. Italian composer.
2002 - Niki de Saint Phalle, dies (b. 1930). French artist.
2003 - Frank D. White, dies (b. 1933). Governor of Arkansas.
2003 - An earthquake hits northern Algeria, killing more than 2,000 people.
2004 - Sherpa Pemba Dorje climbs Mount Everest in 8 hours 10 minutes, breaking his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu's record from the previous year.
2004 - Stanislav Petrov is awarded the World Citizen Award for averting a potential World War III in 1983 .
2004 - A Espanha completa a retirada de seus soldados do Iraque.
Namibia - Casinga Day
Navy Day in Chile
Armed Forces Day in the United States (2005), third Saturday in May
Astrology: First day of sun sign Gemini
Dia da Cachaça (Brasil). Criado em Minas Gerais pela Lei N° 1.949/2001, corresponde ao início da safra de cana-de-açúcar nesse estado brasileiro.