May 11

Events
Up to 1900
330 - Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
868 - A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest-known dated printed book.
1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.
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 - Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
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 documented Caucasian to visit the Columbia River.
1812 - British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot and killed by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
1813 - In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory B. Laxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westward from Sydney.
1818 - Charles XIV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1820 - The HMS Beagle has its official launch. Later, one of its most famous passengers would be Charles Darwin.
1846 - President of the United States James K. Polk asks for a declaration of war against Mexico, starting the Mexican-American War.
1857 - Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels 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.
1867 - Luxembourg gains its independence.
1880 - Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough tragedy, a gun battle in California.
1892 - Johan Petter Johansson of Sweden is granted a patent for the Monkey wrench.
1894 - Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
1901 2000
1907 - 32 Shriners are killed when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot in California.
1910 - An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
1911 - The United States becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.
1918 - The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is created.
1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
1928 - The first analog TV service is inaugurated by WGY, Schenectady, New York.
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.
1942 - William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
1943 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
1944 - World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
1949 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
1949 - Israel joins the United Nations.
1953 - The Waco Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
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.
1967 - Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and socialist, is imprisoned in Athens by the Greek military junta.
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.
1973 - Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times dismissed.
1974 - An earthquake in Sichuan and Yunnan in China kills 20,000 people.
1976 - The last episode of the TV medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D. is aired.
1983 - Aberdeen F.C. defeats Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1984 - A transit of Earth from Mars takes place; no one is there to observe it.
1985 - 56 spectators die when a flash fire strikes a football ground during a match in Bradford, England.
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 - On what was until that point the deadliest day on Mt. Everest, 8 climbers are killed in a snowstorm.
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 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.
2000 - India announces that it's reached the population of 1 billion.
From 2001
2003 - Rafael Palmeiro becomes the 19th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
2004 - The Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow kills nine people.
2005 - The eleventh edition of the International Trade Fair KOSOVA opens in Gjakova, Kosovo.
2010 - David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
2011 - Two earthquakes in southern Spain kill at least 10 people.
2013 - Over 40 people are killed in a bomb attack in Turkey's Hatay province, near the Syrian border.
2013 - A parliamentary election is held in Pakistan, with a record voter turnout. This leads to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returning as Prime Minister on June 5.
2013 - Wigan Athletic F.C. wins its first FA Cup after a surprise win over Manchester City in the final, as the first surprise result in the final for a number of years.
2015 - Pablo Picasso's Women of Algiers becomes the most expensive painting to sell at auction, being bought for $179.3 million.
2016 - Italy legalizes same-sex civil partnerships.
2016 - A series of bomb attacks in Baghdad kills around 90 people.
2016 - President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff is impeached.
Births
Up to 1900
478 - Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor (d. 565)
1366 - Anne of Bohemia, Queen Consort of Richard II of England (d. 1394)
1568 - Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg (d. 1630)
1571 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyo and retainer (d. 1637)
1715 - Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1739)
1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Munchhausen, officer and adventurer (d. 1797)
1722 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (d. 1789)
1733 - Princess Victoire of France (d. 1799)
1752 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
1763 - Janos Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (d. 1845)
1801 - Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
1811 - Chang and Eng Bunker, famous Siamese twins (d. 1874)
1811 - Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1951)
1815 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, British statesman (d. 1891)
1817 - Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballet dancer (d. 1909)
1827 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
1835 - Karlis Baumanis, Latvian composer and poet (d. 1905)
1852 - Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th Vice President of the United States (d. 1918)
1854 - Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
1855 - Anatoly Lyadov, Russian composer (d. 1914)
1862 - Franklin S. Billings, Governor of Vermont (d. 1935)
1871 - Stjepan Radic, Croatian politician (d. 1928)
1874 - Einar Jonsson, Icelandic sculptor (d. 1954)
1875 - Harriet Quimby, American pilot (d. 1912)
1881 - Al Cabrera, Spanish-born Cuban baseball player (d. 1964)
1881 - Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
1885 - Joe "King" Oliver, American cornet player and bandleader (d. 1938)
1887 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d. 1961)
1888 - Irving Berlin, Russian-American composer (d. 1989)
1890 - Woodall Rodgers, American attorney, businessman and politician (d. 1961)
1891 - Henry Morgenthau, American politician (d. 1967)
1892 - Margaret Rutherford, English actress (d. 1972)
1894 - Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
1895 - Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (d. 1986)
1896 - Josip Stolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer (d. 1955)
1897 - Kurt Gerron German movie director (d. 1944)
1897 - George Murdock, American anthropologist (d. 1985)
1899 - Paulino Masip, Spanish playwright (d. 1963)
1900 - Pridi Phanomyong, Prime Minister of Siam (d. 1983)
1901 1950
1903 - Charlie Gehringer, American Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1993)
1904 - Salvador Dali, Spanish painter (d. 1989)
1907 - Rose Auslander, German poet (d. 1988)
1907 - Rip Sewell, American baseball player (d. 1989)
1911 - Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
1912 - Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani short story writer of the Urdu language (d. 1955)
1912 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
1913 - Robert Jungk, Austrian publicist (d. 1994)
1914 - Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist and geologist (d. 1998)
1916 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer (d. 2002)
1918 - Richard Feynman, American physicist (d. 1988)
1921 - Hildegard Hamm-Brucher, German politician (d. 2016)
1924 - Antony Hewish, British radio astronomer
1924 - Eugene Dynkin, Russian-born American mathematician (d. 2014)
1924 - Jackie Milburn, English footballer (d. 1988)
1925 - Max Morlock, German footballer (d. 1994)
1925 - Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
1927 - Mort Sahl, Canadian comedian and political commentator
1927 - Bernard Fox, Welsh-American actor (d. 2016)
1927 - Gene Savoy, American explorer, author and scholar (d. 2007)
1928 - Marco Ferreri, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1930 - Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (d. 2002)
1930 - William P. Carey, American investment banker and philanthropist (d. 2012)
1932 - Mustafa Tlass, Syrian military officer and politician (d. 2017)
1932 - John Vasconcellos, American politician (d. 2014)
1932 - Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
1933 - Louis Farrakhan, American Black Muslim leader
1934 - Jim Jeffords, American politician, United States Senator from Vermont (d. 2014)
1935 - Dick Leitsch, American LGBT rights activist (d. 2018)
1936 - Tony Barrow, British press officer (d. 2016)
1936 - Carla Bley, American musician and composer
1939 - Frank Quilici, American baseball player (d. 2018)
1940 - Juan Downey, Chilean video artist (d. 1993)
1941 - Graham Miles, English snooker player
1941 - Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer
1943 - Les Chadwick, English musician (Gerry and the Pacemakers)
1945 - Floyd Adams, Jr., American politician (d. 2014)
1946 - Robert Jarvik, American physicist and inventor
1947 - Butch Trucks, American musician
1948 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese folk musician
1950 - Jeremy Paxman, British journalist and writer
1950 - John F. Kelly, 28th White House Chief of Staff
1950 - Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)
1951 1975
1951 - Ed Stelmach, Canadian politician, former Premier of Alberta
1951 - Johnny Doyle, Scottish footballer (d. 1981)
1952 - Renaud Sechan, French composer
1952 - Mike Lupica, sports journalist
1952 - Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
1952 - Frances Fisher, British-American actress
1953 - Boyd Gaines, actor
1953 - David Gest, American television producer (d. 2016)
1956 - Theresa Burke, Canadian journalist
1956 - Alex Lester, British broadcaster
1957 - Peter North, Canadian pornographic actor, director, producer and dancer
1958 - Peter Antonie, Australian rower
1959 - Silvio Barbato, Italian-Brazilian opera conductor and composer (d. 2009)
1959 - Martha Quinn, American television personality
1960 - Jurgen Schult, German athlete
1963 - Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish politician
1963 - Masatoshi Hamada, Japanese comedian
1963 - Natasha Richardson, English actress (d. 2009)
1964 - John Parrott, English snooker player
1965 - Stefano Domenicali, Italian Formula One team principal
1966 - Christoph Schneider, German drummer (Rammstein)
1966 - Nancy Hower, American actress, sceenwriter, director, and producer
1968 - Jeffrey Donovan, American actor
1968 - Ana Jara, Peruvian lawyer and politician, former Prime Minister of Peru
1973 - James Haven, American actor
1973 - Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese marathon runner
1974 - DJ Zany, Dutch DJ
1975 - Coby Bell, American actor and producer
From 1976
1977 - Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
1977 - Victor Matfield, South African rugby player
1978 - Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
1978 - Perttu Kivilaakso, Finnish cellist and composer (Apocalyptica)
1979 - Gonzalo Colsa, Spanish footballer
1979 - Tim Baillie, Scottish slalom canoeist
1980 - Bjorgolfur Hideaki Takefusa, Icelandic footballer
1980 - Ernest Vardanean, Armenian-Moldovan political scientist and journalist
1981 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
1982 - Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and musician (d. 2013)
1982 - Jonathan Jackson, actor
1983 - Matt Leinart, American football player
1983 - Holly Valance, Australian actress and singer
1983 - Steven Sotloff, American journalist (d. 2014)
1984 - Andres Iniesta, Spanish footballer
1984 - Arttu Lappi, Finnish ski jumper
1986 - Abou Diaby, French footballer
1988 - Ace Hood, American rapper
1988 - Marcel Kittel, German cyclist
1988 - Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 - Severin Freund, German ski jumper
1989 - Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
1989 - Prince Royce, American singer and songwriter
1989 - Cam Newton, American football player
1991 - Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh, Iranian footballer
1992 - Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
1993 - Jirapong Meenapra, Thai sprinter
1993 - Maurice Harkless, American basketball player
1994 - Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian long-distance runner
1995 - Yassi Pressman, Filipina actress and dancer
1999 - Sabrina Carpenter, American actress and singer
1999 - Madison Lintz, American actress
Deaths
Up to 1975
912 - Leo VI, Byzantine Emperor (b. 866)
1304 - Mahmud Ghazan, Mongol ruler (b. 1271)
1610 - Matteo Ricci, Italian missionary (b. 1552)
1642 - Safi of Persia (b. 1611)
1686 - Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)
1760 - Alaungpaya, Burmese ruler (b. 1714)
1778 - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1708)
1812 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762).
1848 - Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
1849 - Otto Nicolai, German composer (b. 1810)
1871 - John Herschel, British mathematician and astronomer (b. 1792)
1883 - Julie Drouet, French actress (b. 1806)
1887 - Ion Keith-Falconer, Scottish missionary (b. 1856)
1889 - John Cadbury, English businessman (b. 1801)
1891 - A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1820)
1915 - Arthur Hussey, American golfer (b. 1882)
1916 - Max Reger, German pianist, composer and conductor (b. 1873)
1916 - Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873)
1927 - Juan Gris, Spanish Cubist painter (b. 1887)
1929 - Jozef Murgas, Slovakian inventor, architect, botanist, painter, patriot and priest (b. 1864)
1934 - Blaise Diagne, Senegalese politician (b. 1872)
1937 - Afonso Costa, Portuguese politician (b. 1871)
1952 - Alessio Ascalesi, Italian cardinal (b. 1872)
1955 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
1956 - Walter Sydney Adams, American astronomer (b. 1876)
1960 - John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1874)
1962 - Hans Luther, Chancellor of Germany in the Weimar Republic (b. 1879)
1963 - Herbert Gasser, American doctor, won the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1888)
1966 - Henry S. Caulfield, 31st Governor of Missouri (b. 1873)
1971 - Sean Lamass, Irish Taoiseach (b. 1902)
1973 - Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
1976 2010
1976 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
1981 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist (b. 1897)
1981 - Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae musician (b. 1945)
1984 - Toni Turek, German footballer (b. 1919)
1986 - Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (b. 1953)
1988 - Kim Philby, British agent and spy (b. 1912)
1994 - Timothy Carey, American actor (b. 1928)
1996 - Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (b. 1949)
1996 - Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
1996 - Nnamdi Azikiwe, first President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
1996 - Rob Hall, New Zealand mountaineer (b. 1961)
1998 - Ernst Ising, German mathematician (b. 1900)
2000 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
2001 - Douglas Adams, English writer (b. 1952)
2002 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian mob boss (b. 1905)
2002 - Bill Peet, American screenwriter and animator (b. 1915)
2003 - Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1945)
2006 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer (b. 1935)
2007 - Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan Head of State (b. 1913)
2008 - Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist (b. 1981)
From 2011
2011 - Maurice Goldhaber, physicist (b. 1911)
2014 - Francisco Sobrino, Mexican-Spanish sculptor (b. 1932)
2014 - Barbara Knudson, American actress (b. 1927)
2014 - Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby league player (b. 1939)
2015 - Jef Geeraerts, Belgian author (b. 1930)
2015 - Stan Cornyn, American record label executive (b. 1933)
2015 - John Hewie, South African-Scottish footballer (b. 1927)
2015 - John Watts, Grenadian politician (b. 1921)
2016 - Motiur Rahman Nizami, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1943)
2016 - Peter Behrens, German musician (b. 1947)
2016 - Tony Cozier, Barbadian cricket writer and commentator (b. 1940)
2016 - Katherine Dunn, American writer (b. 1945)
2016 - Michael Ratner, American lawyer (b. 1943)
2016 - Joe Temperley, Scottish saxophonist (b. 1929)
2017 - Gabriel Chiramel, Indian Roman Catholic priest, educator, zoologist and author (b. 1914)
2017 - Mark Colvin, British-born Australian journalist and radio presenter (b. 1952)
2017 - Clelio Darida, Italian politician, former Mayor of Rome (b. 1927)
2018 - Mikhail Alperin, Ukrainian-Norwegian jazz pianist (b. 1956)
2018 - Gerard Genette, French literary theorist (b. 1930)
2018 - Hugo Guerra, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1966)
2018 - Peter Mayer, British-American publisher (b. 1936)
2018 - Bengt Nilsson, Swedish high jumper (b. 1934)
2018 - Ulla Sallert, Swedish actress (b. 1923)
2019 - Gianni De Michelis, Italian politician (b. 1940)
2019 - Silver King, Mexican wrestler and actor (b. 1968)
2019 - Peggy Lipton, American actress and model (b. 1946)
2019 - Pua Magasiva, New Zealand actor (b. 1980)
2019 - Jon Gittens, English footballer (b. 1964)
2019 - Robert D. Maxwell, American colonel (b. 1920)
2019 - Thomas Silverstein, American murderer (b. 1952)
Observances
National Technology Day (India)
Statehood Day (Minnesota)
Days of the year