May 15

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May 15 in recent years

2009 (Friday)

May 15 is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 230 days remaining until the end of the year.

[edit] Events

1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1514 – Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
1525 – The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery, incest and witchcraft. She is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
1567 – Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1602 – Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1701 – The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1755 – Laredo, Texas is established by the Spaniards.
1756 – The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
1776 – American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1791 – Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
1792 – War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
1793 – Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights.
1796 – First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800 – George III survives two assassination attempts in one day.
1811 – Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817 – Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1836 – Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
1849 – Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
1858 – Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1869 – Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.
1891 – Rerum Novarum, the first document of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, is published by Pope Leo XIII.
1897 – The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1910 – The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone.
1911 – The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1914 – Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 – The Finnish Civil War ends.
1919 – The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job.
1919 – Greek invasion of İzmir. During the invasion, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks. The responsible are punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. Hasan Tahsin fires the first shot of the Turkish War of Independence.
1920 – Council of Lithuania adjourns as the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania meets for the first time in Kaunas.
1928 – Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy
1929 – A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1932 – The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
1934 – Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
1935 – The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
1936 – Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Cape Town
1940 – USS Sailfish (SS-192) recommissioned, originally the USS Squalus.
1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1940 – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1941 – Baseball player Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
1942 – World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1943 – Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
1945 – World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948 – Following the demise of the British Mandate of Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade the territory partitioned for the Arab state by the British Mandate of Palestine thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 – The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asks the French government for political asylum.
1955 – The Austrian Independence Treaty is signed.
1955 – The first ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
1957 – At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963 – Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1969 – People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday.
1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
1970 – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1972 – The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1972 – In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
1974 – Ma'alot massacre: In an Arab terrorist attack and hostage taking at an Israeli school, a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchidren.
1987 – The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
1988 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1990 – Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
1991 – Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
2002 – Real Madrid CF won the UEFA Champions League tournament for ninth time.
2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.

[edit] Births

1567 – (baptism) Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer (d. 1643)
1608 – René Goupil, French Catholic missionary (Canadian Martyrs) (d. 1642)
1720 – Maximilian Hell, Slovakian astronomer (d. 1792)
1749 – Levi Lincoln, Sr., American revolutionary, statesman, politician, and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1820)
1767 or 1770 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian entrepreneur and politician, and the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire (d. 1843)
1773 – Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (d. 1859)
1786 – General Dimitris Plapoutas, a Revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence (d. 1864)
1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian religious reformer (d. 1905)
1848 – Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (d. 1926)
1856 – L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
1856 – Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer and guide (d. 1917)
1857 – Williamina Fleming, British-born astronomer (d. 1911)
1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
1862 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian dramatist and narrator (d. 1931)
1890 – Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
1891 – Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian writer (d. 1940)
1891 – Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (d. 1971)
1892 – Jimmy Wilde, boxer (d. 1969)
1895 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (d. 1941)
1898 – Arletty, French model and actress (d. 1992)
1899 – Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
1901 – Xavier Herbert, Australian author (d. 1984)
1901 – Luis Monti, Argentine-Italian footballer (d. 1983)
1902 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
1903 – Maria Reiche, German-born mathematician and archaeologist (d. 1998)
1905 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
1905 – Abraham Zapruder, American businessman who unexpectedly filmed the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (d. 1970)
1907 – Sukhdev Thapar, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
1909 – James Mason, British actor (d. 1984)
1910 – Constance Cummings, British actress (d. 2005)
1911 – Max Frisch, Swiss author (d. 1991)
1911 – Herta Oberheuser, Nazi doctor (d. 1978)
1912 – Arthur Berger, American composer (d. 2003)
1914 – Turk Broda, ice hockey goaltender (d. 1972)
1914 – Tenzing Norgay, (adopted birthdate) Nepalese Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary to the top of Mount Everest (d. 1986)
1915 – Hilda Bernstein, British-born South African author, artist, and activist (d. 2006)
1915 – Mario Monicelli, Italian director and screenwriter
1915 – Paul Samuelson, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1915 – Gus Viseur, French button accordionist (d. 1974)
1916 – Vera Gebuhr, Danish actress
1918 – Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (d. 2008)
1918 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor
1922 – Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
1923 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (d. 2004)
1923 – John Lanchbery, British composer (d. 2003)
1923 – Johnny Walker, Indian actor (d. 2003)
1924 – Maria Koepcke, German ornithologist (d. 1971)
1926 – Anthony Shaffer, British playwright (d. 2001)
1926 – Peter Shaffer, British playwright
1930 – Jasper Johns, American painter
1931 – Ken Venturi, American golfer
1935 – Utah Phillips, American labor organizer and folk singer (d. 2008)
1936 – Anna Maria Alberghetti, Italian-born actress
1936 – Wavy Gravy, American clown and activist
1936 – Ralph Steadman, British cartoonist
1936 – Paul Zindel, American writer (d. 2003)
1937 – Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State
1937 – Trini López, American musician
1938 – Mireille Darc, French actress
1938 – Diane Nash, American 1960s Civil Rights Movement leader
1938 – Lenny Welch, American singer
1939 – Dorothy Shirley, British athlete
1940 – Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
1940 – Roger Ailes, American businessman
1940 – Don Nelson, American basketball coach, currently of the Golden State Warriors
1941 – K.T. Oslin, American musician
1942 – Jusuf Kalla, vice- president of Indonesia and Chairman of the Golkar Party.
1942 – Doug Lowe, 35th Premier of Tasmania
1944 – Ulrich Beck, German sociologist
1944 – Bill Alter, Missouri State Senator
1945 – Lasse Berghagen, Swedish singer
1945 – Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portuguese crown
1947 – Graeham Goble, Australian musician, singer/songwriter, and record producer (co-founding member of Little River Band)
1948 – Brian Eno, British musician and record producer
1948 – Kathleen Sebelius, American politician, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
1948 – Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher
1950 – Nicholas Hammond, American actor
1951 – Frank Wilczek, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1952 – Chazz Palminteri, American actor, writer and director
1953 – George Brett, American baseball player
1953 – Mike Oldfield, British composer
1954 – Robert P. Harrison, American thinker
1955 – Lee Horsley, American actor
1956 – Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
1957 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)
1957 – Kevin Von Erich, American professional wrestler
1958 – Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
1959 – Andrew Eldritch, British singer and songwriter (The Sisters of Mercy)
1959 – Kaokor Galaxy, Thai boxer
1959 – Luis Perez-Sala, Spanish racing driver
1960 – Rob Bowman, American film director
1960 – Rhonda Burchmore, Australian Entertainer
1961 – Katrin Cartlidge, British actress (d. 2002)
1961 – Melle Mel, American musician
1962 – Lisa Curry-Kenny, Australian Ironwoman
1965 – André Abujamra, Brazilian film score composer
1965 – Raí, Brazilian footballer
1966 – Pete Wiggs, British musician (Saint Etienne)
1967 – Madhuri Dixit, Indian actress
1967 – John Smoltz, baseball player
1968 – Cecilia Malmström, Swedish politician
1968 – Seth Putnam, American musician
1969 – Hideki Irabu, Japanese baseball player
1969 – Emmitt Smith, American football player
1969 – Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer
1970 – Martin Rossiter, British Musician
1970 – Frank de Boer, Dutch football player
1970 – Ronald de Boer, Dutch football player
1970 – Desmond Howard, American football player
1970 – Rod Smith, American football player
1971 – Phil Pfister, American strength athlete
1972 – David Charvet, French actor
1974 – Vassilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player
1974 – Ahmet Zappa, American musician
1974 – Shiney Ahuja, Indian actor
1975 – Peter Iwers, Swedish Musician
1975 – Ray Lewis, American football player
1976 – Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
1976 – Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
1976 – Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
1976 – Ryan Leaf, American football player
1976 – Tyler Walker, baseball player
1978 – Amy Chow, American gymnast
1978 – Dwayne DeRosario, Canadian footballer
1978 – Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
1978 – Edu, Brazilian footballer
1978 – David Krumholtz, American actor
1978 – Krissy Taylor, American model (d. 1995)
1980 – Josh Beckett, American baseball player
1980 – Rocky Marquette, American actor
1981 – Patrice Evra, French footballer
1981 – Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
1981 – Zara Phillips, British royal and eventer
1981 – Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
1982 – Alex Breckenridge, American actress
1982 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican athlete
1982 – Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
1982 – Tatsuya Fujiwara, Japanese actor
1982 – Jessica Sutta, American dancer, singer and actress (The Pussycat Dolls)
1982 – Chandan Khaira, Professional bhangra dancer
1983 – Devin Bronson, American guitarist (Avril Lavigne)
1984 – Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian racing driver
1985 – Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
1986 – Adam Moffat, British football player
1986 – Kyle Loza, American freestyle motocross rider
1987 – Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
1987 – Jennylyn Mercado, Filipina actress and singer
1987 – Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
1990 – Joe Mattock, English footballer
1995 – Ksenia Sitnik, Belarusian singer

[edit] Deaths

913 – Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz
1036 – Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (b. 1008)
1157 – Yury Dolgoruky, Russian prince
1174 – Nur ad-Din, ruler of Syria (b. 1118)
1381 – Eppelein von Gailingen, German robber baron
1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
1585 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1535)
1591 – Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsarevich (b. 1582)
1609 – Giovanni Croce, Italian composer (b. 1557)
1634 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
1698 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (b. 1642)
1699 – Edward Petre, British Jesuit and privy councilor (b. 1631)
1703 – Charles Perrault, French writer (b. 1628)
1714 – Roger Elliott, British general and Governor of Gibraltar
1740 – Ephraim Chambers, British encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
1760 – Alaungpaya, King of Burma (b. 1711)
1773 – Alban Butler, British Catholic priest and writer (b. 1710)
1782 – Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1699)
1845 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican Head of State (b. 1800)
1879 – Gottfried Semper, German architect (b. 1803)
1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
1924 – Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1852)
1935 – Kazimir Malevich, Polish/Ukrainian artist (b. 1878)
1937 – Phillip Snowden, British politician (b. 1864)
1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author and polemicist (b. 1902)
1945 – Charles Williams, British writer (b. 1886)
1948 – Edward Flanagan, American priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
1954 – William March, American writer (b. 1893)
1956 – Austin Osman Spare, British artist and magician (b. 1886)
1964 – Vladko Maček, Kingdom of Yugoslavia deputy prime minister (b. 1879)
1967 – Edward Hopper, American painter (b. 1882)
1971 – Tyrone Guthrie, British director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
1978 – Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1982 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
1984 – Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
1986 – Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
1986 – Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
1989 – Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
1991 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
1991 – Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian writer (b. c. 1900)
1991 – Ronald Lacey, British actor (b. 1935)
1992 – Jovy Marcelo, Filipino race car driver (b. 1965)
1993 – Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
1994 – Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1905)
1995 – Eric Porter, British actor (b. 1928)
1996 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
1998 – Earl "the Goat" Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
2003 – June Carter Cash, American musician and singer (b. 1929)
2003 – George Francis, British gangster (b. 1940)
2005 – Alan B. Gold, Quebec Chief Justice (b. 1917)
2007 – Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)
2007 – Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1955)
2008 – Alexander Courage, composer of original Star Trek theme (b. 1919)
2008 – Tommy Burns, British footballer (b. 1956)
2008 – Robert Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer, younger brother of Joey Dunlop (b. 1960)
2009 – Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Australian actor (b. 1923)
2009 – Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player (b. 1964)