May 16 - Definition and Overview

May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). There are 229 days remaining.

Events

• 1204 - 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.
• 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.

Births

• 1490 - 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 architect
• 1882 - Anne McCormick, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1954)
• 1891 - Richard Tauber, tenor (d. 1948)
• 1905 - Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1912 - Studs Terkel, writer
• 1913 - Woody Herman, American musician, band leader (d. 1987)
• 1919 - Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)
• 1919 - Gisela Uhlen, actress
• 1928 - Billy Martin, baseball player, coach (d. 1989)
• 1929 - Friedrich Nowottny, journalist
• 1931 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
• 1936 - Karl Lehmann, German cardinal and theologian
• 1936 - Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor
• 1950 - J. Georg Bednorz, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1987
• 1953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
• 1955 - Olga Korbut, gymnast
• 1955 - Jack Morris, baseball pitcher
• 1955 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
• 1955 - Debra Winger, actress
• 1958 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
• 1965 - Krist Novoselic, musician, former bassist for Nirvana
• 1966 - Janet Jackson, singer
• 1966 - Thurman Thomas, American football player
• 1969 - Steve Lewis, American athlete
• 1970 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player
• 1973 - Tori Spelling, actress

Deaths

• 1620 - William Adams, English navigator and Japanese samurai (b.1564)
• 1703 - Charles Perrault, author (b. 1628)
• 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 observances

• In the Irish Calendar - Feast of Saint Brendan the Navigator

May 15 - May 17 - April 16 - June 16 -- listing of all days