On this day in History - May 11

• 0330 - Byzantium is renamed renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
• 0824 - Pope_Eugene_II begins his Papacy.
• 0912 - Emperor Leo VI of the Byzantine Empire dies (b. 0866).
• 1304 - Mahmud Ghazan dies (b. 1271). Mongol ruler.
• 1310 - 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
• 1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies with 150 men in 4 caravels. He reached the coast of Honduras after 8 months and passed south to Panama (1503). He returned to Spain Nov 7, 1504, after suffering a shipwreck at Jamaica.
• 1571 - Niwa Nagashige was born (d. 1637). Japanese daimyo and retainer.
• 1610 - Matteo Ricci dies (b. 1552). Italian Jesuit missionary.
• 1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.
• 1672 - Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline dies (b. 1615). English royalist.
• 1708 - Jules Hardouin Mansart dies (b. 1646). French architect.
• 1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen was born (d. 1797). Officer and adventurer.
• 1722 - Petrus Camper was born (d. 1789). Dutch anatomist.
• 1723 - Jean Galbert de Campistron dies (b. 1656). French dramatist.
• 1733 - Victoire of France was born (d. 1799). Daughter of king Louis XV.
• 1742 - Francesco Stradivari (70), Italian violin maker, son of Antonius, died.
• 1745 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
• 1751 - The 1st US hospital was founded in Pennsylvania.
• 1752 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach was born (d. 1840). German anthropologist.
• 1763 - János Bacsanyi was born (d. 1845). Hungarian poet.
• 1777 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot dies (b. 1719). British governor of Madras.
• 1778 - William Pitt, the Elder dies (b. 1708). British Prime Minister (1756-61, 66-68).
• 1779 – John Hart, Delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1711)
• 1792 - Captain Robert Gray becomes the first white man to discover the Columbia River.
• 1799 - John Lowell was born (d. 1836). American philanthropist.
• 1801 - Henri Labrouste was born (d. 24 Jun 1875). French architect.
• 1811 - Chang and Eng Bunker were born. Famous conjoined twins
• 1811 - Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel was born (d. 1893). Member of the Swiss Federal Council.
• 1812 - British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (b. 1762) is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
• 1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, lead an expedition westwards from Sydney. Their route opens up inland Australia for continued expansion throughout the 19th century.
• 1814 - España: Fernando VII anula la Constitución de Cádiz y la legislación de las Cortes de Cádiz.
• 1817 - Fanny Cerrito was born (d. 1909). Italian ballet dancer.
• 1818 - Charles XIV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
• 1820 - Launch of HMS Beagle the ship that took young Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
• 1824 - Jean-Léon Gérôme was born (d. 1904). French painter and sculptor.
• 1824 - Los británicos se apoderan de Birmania.
• 1827 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was born (d. 1875). French sculptor and painter.
• 1835 - Kārlis Baumanis was born (d. 1905). Latvian composer.
• 1838 - Walter Goodman was born (d. 1912). British painter, illustrator and author.
• 1841 - Lt. Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound.
• 1848 - Tom Cribb dies (b. 1781). Bare-knuckle boxer.
• 1849 - Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier dies (b. 1777). French socialite.
• 1852 - Charles W. Fairbanks was born (d. 1918). United States Vice President.
• 1854 - Jack Blackham was born (d. 1932). Australian cricketer.
• 1857 - Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• 1858 - Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
• 1861 - Frederick Russell Burnham was born (d. 1947). Father of the international scouting movement.
• 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.
• 1869 - Francisco de Lacerda was born in S. Jorge Island, Azores (d. 18 Jul 1934). Portuguese composer and conductor.
• 1871 – Frank Schlesinger was born (d. 19439. American astronomer.
• 1871 - Stjepan Radic was born (d. 1928). Croatian politician.
• 1871 - John Herschel dies (b. 1792). British mathematician and astronomer.
• 1873 - Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz dies. Cuban revolutionary.
• 1875 - Harriet Quimby was born (d.1912). American aviator.
• 1881 - Al Cabrera was born (d. 1964). Spanish-born Cuban baseball player.
• 1881 – Jan van Gilse was born (d. 1944). Dutch composer and conductor.
• 1881 - Theodore von Kármán was born (d. 1963). Hungarian physicist.
• 1885 - "King" Joseph Oliver was born. Jazz cornetist and bandleader.
• 1887 - Paul Wittgenstein was born (d. 1961). Austrian-born pianist.
• 1887 - Jean Baptiste Boussingault dies (b. 1802). French chemist.
• 1888 - Irving Berlin was born (d. 1989). American composer.
• 1888 - Willis A. Lee was born. World War II U.S. naval admiral.
• 1889 - Augusto Casimiro dos Santos was born in S. Gonçalo, Amarante (d. 23 Sep 1967). Portuguese poet.
• 1890 - Woodall Rodgers was born (d. 1961). Mayor of Dallas, Texas.
• 1891 - The Otsu Scandal takes place.
• 1891 - A. E. Becquerel dies (b. 1820). French physicist.
• 1892 - Margaret Rutherford was born (d. 1972). English actress.
• 1894 - Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
• 1894 - Martha Graham was born (d. 1991). American dancer and choreographer.
• 1895 - Jiddu Krishnamurti was born (d. 1986). Indian philosopher.
• 1896 - Josip Štolcer-Slavenski was born (d. 1955). Croatian composer.
• 1897 - Kurt Gerron was born (d. 1944). German director.
• 1897 - Robert E. Gross was born (b. 1961). American businessman.
• 1899 - Paulino Masip was born (d. 1963). Spanish playwright.
• 1902 - Bidu Sayão [Balduína e Moreira] was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian opera singer.
• 1903 - Charlie Gehringer was born (d. 1993). Baseball Hall of Famer.
• 1904 - Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain (d. 1989). Spanish surrealist painter.
• 1905 - Augusto Rademaker (Almirante Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald) was born. Brazilian politician who was the 38th President of Brazil.
• 1907 - A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot.
• 1907 - Argemiro de Assis Brasil was born (d. 1982). Brazilian soldier.
• 1907 - Juan Oscar Ponferrada was born. Argentine painter.
• 1907 - Rip Sewell was born (d. 1989). American baseball player.
• 1907 – Rose Ausländer was born (d. 1988). German poet.
• 1909 - Ellis R Dungan was born (d. 2001). American born Indian film director.
• 1909 - Herbert Murrill was born (d. 1952). English composer.
• 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.
• 1911 - Os Estados Unidos reconhecem a República de Portugal.
• 1911 – Mitchell Sharp was born (d. 2004). Canadian politician.
• 1911 - Phil Silvers was born (d. 1985). American actor and comedian.
• 1912 - Foster Brooks was born (d. 2001). American actor and comedian.
• 1913 - Edgar Cardoso was born. Portuguese engineer well known for his work about bridges (d. 2000).
• 1913 - Robert Jungk was born (d. 1994). Austrian publicist.
• 1914 - Haroun Tazieff was born (d. 1998). French volcanologist.
• 1916 - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity was presented.
• 1916 - Camilo José Cela was born (d. 2002). Spanish writer. Winnner Premio del Príncipe Asturias de las Letras (1987), Nobel Prize in Literature -1989, Premio Cervantes -1995.
• 1916 - Karl Schwarzschild dies (b. 1873). German astronomer and physicist.
• 1916 – Max Reger dies (b. 1873). German composer.
• 1917 - Joaquim de Araújo dies in Sintra (b. 22 Jul 1858). Portuguese poet.
• 1918 - The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was officially established.
• 1918 - Richard Feynman was born (d. 15 Feb 1988). American theoretical physicist. His classic lectures were published in 1995 in the book “Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by its most Brilliant Teacher” by Addison -Wesley in 1995. In 1996 Feynman’s “Lost Lecture” was written by David L. and Judith R. Goodstein. In 1965, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for work in quantum electrodynamics.
• 1920 - William Dean Howells dies (b. 1837). American writer.
• 1921 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher was born. German politician.
• 1922 - Ameurfina Melencio Herrera was born. Filipino Supreme Court jurist.
• 1922 - Nestor Chylak was born (d. 1992). American baseball umpire.
• 1924 - Pulitzer Prize awarded to Robert Frost (New Hampshire).
• 1924 - Mercedes-Benz formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging the two companies.
• 1924 - Antony Hewish was born. British astrophysicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his discovery of pulsars (cosmic objects that emit extremely regular pulses of radio waves).
• 1924 - Eugene Dynkin was born. Russian mathematician.
• 1925 - Edward J. King was born (d. 2006). 66th Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1925 - Rubem Fonseca was born. Brazilian writer.
• 1927 - Louis B. Mayer formed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards".
• 1927 - Gene Savoy was born (d. 2007). American author, explorer, scholar and cleric.
• 1927 - Mort Sahl was born. Canadian comedian and political commentator.
• 1927 - Juan Gris dies (b. 13 Mar 1887). Spanish Cubist painter (considered the Third Musketeer of Cubism - the others are Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque).
• 1928 - The first analog TV service is inaugurated by WGY, Schenectady, New York.
• 1928 - Brother Andrew was born. Dutch missionary.
• 1928 - Marco Ferreri was born (d. 1997). Italian film director and screenwriter.
• 1928 - Yaacov Agam was born. Israeli sculptor.
• 1929 - Jozef Murgaš dies (b. 1864). Slovak inventor.
• 1930 - Bud Ekins was born (d. 2007). American stuntman.
• 1930 - Edsger Dijkstra was born (d. 2002). Dutch computer scientist.
• 1932 – Valentino Garavani was born. Italian designer.
• 1933 - Louis Farrakhan was born. American Black Muslim leader.
• 1933 - Criação da Academia Chilena de la Historia.
• 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.
• 1934 - Jim Jeffords was born. Former American politician.
• 1934 – Blaise Diagne dies (b. 1872). Senegalese politician.
• 1934 - Orest Khvolson dies (b. 1852). Russian physicist.
• 1935 - Doug McClure was born (d. 1995). American actor.
• 1935 - Francisco Umbral was born (d. 2007). Spanish novelist.
• 1936 - Portugal: Salazar assume a pasta da Guerra, cargo que só deixará em 1944. Para além de Presidente do Conselho (de 1932 a 1968), também é Ministro das Finanças (de 1928 a 1940).
• 1936 - Carla Bley was born. American musician and composer.
• 1937 - Afonso Costa dies in Lisbon (b. 6 Mar 1871). Portuguese politician.
• 1939 - Carlos Lyra was born. Brazilian musician.
• 1939 - Dante Tinga was born. Filipino Supreme Court jurist.
• 1939 - Evgenii Miller dies (b. 1867). Russian counter-revolutionary.
• 1940 - Juan Downey was born (d. 1993). Chilean video artist.
• 1941 - Eric Burdon was born. British singer (The Animals).
• 1941 - Graham Miles was born. English snooker player.
• 1942 - William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
• 1942 - Rachel Billington was born. British author.
• 1943 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1943 - Fernanda Lapa was born. Portuguese actress.
• 1943 - Nancy Greene was born. Canadian alpine skier.
• 1943 – Juliet Harmer was born. English actress.
• 1944 - World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
• 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
• 1946 - UMNO is created.
• 1946 - Robert Jarvik was born. American physicist and inventor.
• 1946 - Plume Latraverse was born. Quebec singer and musician.
• 1947 - Butch Trucks was born. American drummer (The Allman Brothers Band).
• 1948 - Nirj Deva was born. Sri Lankan-British politician.
• 1948 – Shigeru Izumiya was born. Japanese folk musician.
• 1949 - Siam officially changes its name to Thailand, a name in use since 1939.
• 1949 - Beth Mendes (Elizabeth Mendes de Oliveira) was born in São Paulo. Brazilian actress.
• 1949 - João Botelho was born. Portuguese film director / Nascia em Lamego, João Botelho. Realizador de cinema português [Conversa Acabada (1982) Um Adeus Português (1985) Tráfico (1998) Quem És Tu? (2000)... ].
• 1949 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
• 1949 - Israel joins the United Nations.
• 1950 - Dane Iorg was born. American baseball player.
• 1950 – Jeremy Paxman was born. British journalist and author.
• 1951 – Ed Stelmach was born. Premier of Alberta.
• 1952 - Carlos Daniel was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1952 – Frances Fisher was born. English-born actress.
• 1952 – Mike Lupica was born. American sports journalist.
• 1952 - Renaud Séchan was born. French composer.
• 1952 - Sandra Brea (Sandra Bréa Brito) was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress.
• 1952 - Shohreh Aghdashloo was born. Iranian actress.
• 1952 – Warren Littlefield was born. American television executive.
• 1953 - The Waco Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
• 1953 - Boyd Gaines was born. American actor.
• 1953 - Céline Lomez was born. Quebec singer and actress.
• 1953 - David Gest was born. American television producer.
• 1954 - John Gregory was born. English football manager.
• 1954 - Lubomir Stoykov was born. Bulgarian journalist and broadcaster.
• 1955 - John DeStefano, Jr. was born. American politician.
• 1955 - Gilbert Jessop dies (b. 1874). English cricketer, known as fastest-scoring batsman of all time.
• 1956 - Alex Lester was born. British broadcaster.
• 1956 - Theresa Burke was born. Canadian journalist.
• 1957 - Peter North was born. Canadian porn star.
• 1958 - Christian Brando was born (d. 2008). American actor and eldest child of Marlon Brando.
• 1958 – Dan Ireland was born. American film director.
• 1958 - Phil Smyth was born. Australian basketball player.
• 1958 - Walt Terrell was born. American baseball player.
• 1959 - Martha Quinn was born. American television personality.
• 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 [Searle's contraceptive pill, Enovid].
• 1960 - John D. Rockefeller, Jr. dies (b. 1874). American philanthropist.
• 1961 – Luis Felipe was born. Former leader of the Latin Kings.
• 1963 - Gunilla Carlsson was born. Swedish politician.
• 1963 - Masatoshi Hamada was born. Japanese comedian.
• 1963 – Natasha Richardson was born (d. 2009). English-born actress.
• 1963 – Roark Critchlow was born. Canadian actor.
• 1963 - Herbert Spencer Gasser dies (b. 5 Jul 1888). American physiologist, corecipient (with Joseph Erlanger) of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for fundamental discoveries concerning the functions of different kinds of nerve fibres.
• 1964 - Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.
• 1964 - Floyd Youmans was born. American professional baseball player
• 1964 - John Parrott was born. English snooker player.
• 1964 - Katie Wagner was born. American television reporter.
• 1964 – Tim Blake Nelson was born. American actor.
• 1965 - Greg Dulli was born. American musician.
• 1965 - Monsour del Rosario was born. Filipino martial artist and actor.
• 1966 - Henry "Dickie" Marrow is murdered in a violent racially-motivated crime in Oxford, N.C..
• 1966 – Alfred Wintle dies (b. 1897). British WW1 & WW2 soldier; author of "The Last Englishman".
• 1966 - Christoph Schneider was born. German drummer (Rammstein).
• 1966 - Nancy Hower was born. American actress, sceenwriter, director, and producer.
• 1967 - Andreas Papandreou is imprisoned in Athens by the Greek military junta.
• 1968 - The Toronto Transit Commission opens the largest expansion of its Bloor-Danforth Line, going to Scarborough in the east, and Etobicoke in the west end.
• 1968 – Jeffrey Donovan was born. American actor.
• 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 - Henry "Dickie" Marrow is murdered in a violent racially-motivated crime in Oxford, N.C..
• 1970 - The Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, killing 26.
• 1970 - The Beatles song "The Long and Winding Road" is released as a single in the United States. It becomes the group's last number one single in that country.
• 1970 - Glenn Hugill was born. British television presenter and producer.
• 1970 - Nicky Katt was born. American actor.
• 1970 - Johnny Hodges dies (b. 1906). American musician.
• 1971 - Sean Francis Lemass dies. Primeiro-ministro da Irlanda (1959-1966).
• 1972 - Anita Hegh was born. Australian actress.
• 1972 – Daniel Ornellas was born. Zimbabwean musician.
• 1973 - Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times dismissed.
• 1973 - James Haven was born. American actor.
• 1973 - Lex Barker dies (b. 1919). American actor.
• 1974 - Benoît Magimel was born. French actor.
• 1974 - Billy Kidman was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1974 - Darren Ward was born. Welsh footballer.
• 1974 - Kevin Brown was born. English-born Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1974 - Stanley Gene was born. Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer.
• 1975 – Coby Bell was born. American actor.
• 1975 - Francisco Cordero was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1976 - Alvar Aalto dies (b. 1898). Finish architect.
• 1976 - The last episode of the TV medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D. is aired.
• 1977 - Gonzalo Colsa was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1977 - Janne Ahonen was born. Finnish ski jumper.
• 1977 - Matthew Newton was born. Australian actor.
• 1977 - Pablo García was born. Uruguayan footballer.
• 1977 - Victor Matfield was born. South African rugby union footballer.
• 1978 - Laetitia Casta was born in Pont-Audemer. French supermodel and actress.
• 1978 - Perttu Kivilaakso was born. Finnish Cellist from the band Apocalyptica.
• 1979 - Erin Lang was born. Canadian musician.
• 1979 - Lester Flatt dies (b. 1914). American bluegrass musician.
• 1981 - The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Cats," based on TS Eliot poems, premiered in London.
• 1981 – Austin O'Brien was born. American actor.
• 1981 - Daniel Ortmeier was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - Lauren Jackson was born. Australian basketball player.
• 1981 - Bob Marley dies (b. 1945). Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician.
• 1981 - Odd Hassel dies (b. 1897). Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1982 - Andrew Walter was born. American football player.
• 1982 – Cory Monteith was born. Canadian actor.
• 1982 – Guji Lorenzana was born. Filipino singer and actor.
• 1982 - Jonathan Jackson was born. American actor.
• 1983 – Frédéric Xhonneux was born. Belgian decathlete.
• 1983 – Hanna Verboom was born. Dutch actress.
• 1983 - Holly Valance was born. Australian-born actress and singer.
• 1983 - Matt Leinart was born. American football player.
• 1984 - A transit of Earth from Mars takes place; no one is there to observe it.
• 1984 - Chile: el pueblo chileno sale a la calle para manifestarse contra la dictadura de Pinochet.
• 1984 - Andres Iniesta was born. Spanish football player.
• 1984 - Gerald Clayton was born. Dutch-American jazz pianist.
• 1985 - 56 spectators die when a flash fire strikes a football ground during a match in Bradford, England.
• 1985 – Matt Giraud was born. American singer.
• 1985 - Sifow was born. Japanese pop star and business woman.
• 1985 - Chester Gould dies (b. 1900). American cartoonist (Dick Tracy).
• 1986 - Abou Diaby was born. French footballer.
• 1986 – Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen was born. Dutch Professional Gamer.
• 1986 - Miguel Veloso was born. Portuguese footballer (Sporting Clube de Portugal).
• 1986 - Ronny was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1986 - Henry P. McIlhenny dies (b. 1910). American philanthropist.
• 1986 - Fritz Pollard dies (b. 1894). American football player.
• 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). The surgery is performed by Dr. Bruce Reitz, of Stanford University School of Medicine.
• 1987 - Corazon Aquino is elected president in the Philippines.
• 1987 - Justin King was born. American football player.
• 1987 - Louis Murphy was born. American college football player.
• 1987 - Monica Roşu was born. Romanian gymnast.
• 1988 – Jeremy Maclin was born. American football player.
• 1988 - Kim Philby dies (b. 1912). British spy.
• 1989 – Ace Hood was born. American rapper.
• 1989 - Giovanni dos Santos was born. Mexican footballer.
• 1992 - Carlos Herrera (90), drink inventor (Margarita), dies.
• 1990 - Instituto Cervantes is founded.
• 1990 – Stratos Dionysiou dies (b. 1935). Greek singer.
• 1991 - Em Angola, foi instituído o sistema político multipartidário.
• 1993 - 28th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks wins
• 1994 - Inter Milan wins 23rd UEFA Cup.
• 1994 – John Smith dies (b. 1938). Scotish Labour Member of Parliament.
• 1994 - Timothy Carey dies (b. 1928). American actor.
• 1995 - In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
• 1995 - Scientists confirmed that Ebola, one of the world's deadliest viruses, had broken out in Zaire. The outbreak, in the city of Kikwit, killed about 50, including three Italian nuns who had cared for victims.
• 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.
• 1996 - Ademir Marques de Menezes dies (b. 1922). Brazilian football player.
• 1996 - Nnamdi Azikiwe dies (b. 1904). President of Nigeria.
• 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.
• 1998 - An election is held in the Philippines where actor Joseph Estrada emerged as winner for President.
• 1998 - India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including a thermonuclear device.
• 1998 - A French mint produced the first coins of Europe's single currency, the euro.
• 1998 – Oreste Kirkop dies (b. 1923). Maltese tenor and actor.
• 1999 - O grupo chileno Enersis adquire 30% da companhia de geração de energia Endesa.
• 2000 - Effective date of Canada's first modern-day treaty - The Nisga'a Final Agreement
• 2000 - Last performance of the musical Cats in London's West End.
• 2000 - Paula Wessely dies (b. 1907). Austrian actress.
• 2000 – René Muñoz dies (b. 1938). Cuban actor, screenwriter of telenovelas and the cinema of Mexico.
• 2001 - Denise Quinones August of Puerto Rico won the Miss Universe contest held in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
• 2001 - Douglas Adams dies (b. 1952). English author.
• 2002 - Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveiled the Man With Two Hats monument in Ottawa (May 11, 2002) and Apeldoorn (May 2, 2000, symbolically linking both Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout the Second World War.
• 2002 - The New England Patriots open their brand new stadium, Gillette Stadium.
• 2002 - Joseph Bonanno dies in Tuscon, Az (b. 1905). Mafioso (aka Joey Bananas). His autobiography was titled “A Man of Honor.”
• 2002 - Renaude Lapointe dies (b. 1912). French Canadian journalist and senator.
• 2003 - Noel Redding dies (b. 1912). English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience).
• 2004 - The Bush administration ordered economic sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism. Food and medicine were excepted.
• 2004 - The Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow kills nine people.
• 2004 - John Whitehead dies (b. 1949). American singer (McFadden & Whitehead).
• 2004 - Mick Doyle dies. Irish international rugby player and coach
• 2005 - The eleventh edition of the International Trade Fair KOSOVA opens in Gjakova, Kosova.
• 2005 - Michalis Genitsaris dies (b. 1917). Greek rebetiko singer and composer.
• 2006 - Floyd Patterson dies (b. 1935). American boxer.
• 2006 - Frankie Thomas dies (b. 1921). American actor.
• 2006 - Yossi Banai dies (b. 1932). Israeli singer.
• 2007 - Pope Benedict XVI canonizes the first Brazilian-born saint, Frei Galvão.
• 2007 - Bernard Gordon dies (b. 1918). Blacklisted American author.
• 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II dies (b. 1913). Sovereign Ruler of Samoa.
• 2008 - Rui Costa, Portuguese footballer, plays his last match.
• 2008 - Dottie Rambo dies (b. 1934). American gospel singer.
• 2008 – John Rutsey dies (b. 1953). Canadian drummer, formerly for Canadian progressive rock band Rush.
• 2008 – Bruno Neves dies (b. 1981). Portuguese cyclist.
• Holiday of the City of Miskolc (since 1992).
• Statehood Day (Minnesota).