May 11
May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (132nd in leap years). There are 234 days remaining.
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2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances |
Events
- 330 - Byzantium is renamed Constantinople during a dedication ceremony.
- 1745 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
- 1792 - Captain Robert Gray becomes the first white man to discover the Columbia River.
- 1812 - Prime Minster Spencer Perceval is assassinated by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the British House of Commons .
- 1857 - Indian Mutiny: Indian rebel seize Delhi from the British.
- 1858 - Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
- 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.
- 1894 - Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a "wildcat" (without Union approval) strike in Illinois.
- 1910 - An act of the United States Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
- 1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards," is founded.
- 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.
- 1943 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- 1949 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
- 1960 - In Buenos Aires four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was using the assumed name "Ricardo Klement."
- 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).
- 1995 - In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
- 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.
- 1997 - IBM's Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer defeats Garry Kasparov 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).
Births
- 1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, officer and adventurer († 1797)
- 1752 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist
- 1801 - Henri Labrouste, architect († 1875)
- 1887 - Paul Wittgenstein, pianist († 1961)
- 1888 - Irving Berlin, composer († 1989)
- 1892 - Margaret Rutherford, actress († 1972)
- 1894 - Martha Graham, dancer, choreographer († 1991)
- 1895 - Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher († 1986)
- 1896 - Mari Sandoz, writer († 1966)
- 1904 - Salvador Dalí, surrealist painter: The Persistence of Memory († 1989)
- 1907 - Rose Ausänder, poet († 1988)
- 1911 - Phil Silvers, actor, comedian († 1985)
- 1913 - Robert Jungk, publicist and futurologist († 1994)
- 1916 - Camilo José Cela, writer. Nobel Prize in Literature († 2002)
- 1918 - Richard Feynman, physicist († 1988)
- 1921 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, politician
- 1928 - Mort Sahl, comedian, political commentator
- 1933 - Louis Farrakhan, Black Muslim leader
- 1940 - Juan Downey, video artist († 1993)
- 1946 - Robert Jarvik, physicist, inventor
- 1950 - Jeremy Paxman, British journalist and author
- 1952 - Renaud Séchan, French composer
- 1952 - Frances Farmer, actress
- 1952 - Mike Lupica, sports journalist
- 1963 - Natasha Richardson, actress
Deaths
- 1812 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of Great Britain (assassination)
- 1848 - Tom Cribb, bare-knuckle boxer
- 1916 - Max Reger, composer
- 1973 - Lex Barker, actor
- 1976 - Alvar Aalto, architect
- 1987 - Peter Tosh, musician
- 1981 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician (* 1945)
- 1988 - Kim Philby, spy
- 2001 - Douglas Adams, science fiction author
Holidays and observances
- Roman Empire - Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)
See Also:
May 10 - May 12 - April 11 - June 11 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
