May 9

Events
Up to 1900
1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.
1671 - Thomas Blood attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels.
1763 - The Siege of Fort Detroit begins during Pontiac's War against British forces.
1864 - Second War of Schleswig: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.
1868 - Reno, Nevada, is founded.
1873 - The Long Depression begins with the Vienna stock market crash.
1877 - Mihai Kogalniceanu reads out the Declaration of Romania's independence.
1877 - A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Peru kills 2,541 people.
1887 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show begins in London.
1901 2000
1901 - Australia's first parliament opens in Melbourne.
1904 - The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 miles per hour (160.9 kilometers per hour) in speed.
1911 - The works of Gabriele D'Annunzio are placed by the Vatican in the Index of Forbidden Books.
1915 - World War I: The Second Battle of Artois takes place between French and German forces.
1918 - World War I: German troops repel the second British attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.
1926 - Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole, though this claim is later doubted.
1927 - Australia's parliament moves from Melbourne to the new capital city, Canberra.
1934 - In the United States, one of the worst Dust Bowl storms occurs, reaching Chicago on the same day and the East Coast the next day, completely destroying many livelihoods, especially in rural areas.
1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia.
1940 - World War II: A German submarine U-9 sinks the French coastal submarine Doris in Den Helder, Netherlands.
1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. The Enigma cryptography machine is on board, and is later used to break coded German messages.
1942 - World War II: Officers of the SS murder 588 people in the town of Zinkiv in western Ukraine.
1945 - World War II: The Channel Islands are liberated from German occupation by the British.
1946 - Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy abdicates the throne. Umberto II of Italy succeeds him. His reign only lasts a few weeks, as a majority in a June 2 referendum chooses to make Italy a republic.
1948 - Czechoslovakia's 9th May Constitution enters effect.
1949 - Rainier III becomes Prince of Monaco.
1950 - Robert Schuman proposes the creation of an organised Europe.
1950 - L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, is published.
1955 - West Germany joins NATO.
1956 - Yuko Maki climbs Manaslu in Nepal, the 8th highest mountain in the world.
1970 - 70,000 to 100,000 people protest against the Vietnam War in front of the White House.
1974 - Impeachment hearings begin against Richard Nixon.
1977 - The Hotel Polem in Amsterdam burns down, killing 33 and injuring 21.
1978 - Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is murdered by the Red Brigades.
1980 - In Florida, a Liberian freighter, MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, making a section of it collapse, killing 35 people.
1987 - A plane crash in Warsaw kills 183 people.
1988 - Canberra's Parliament House opens.
1992 - Armenia's army captures Shushi, marking a major turning point in the Karabakh War.
From 2001
2001 - Ghana: The Accra Stadium Disaster occurs. 129 people are killed.
2002 - A 38-day stand-off at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ends when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to different countries.
2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a parade, killing 43 people.
2004 - Chechnya's President Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in an attack.
2006 - German cannibal Armin Meiwes is sentenced to life in prison.
2011 - Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt suffers a serious accident during the Giro d'Italia race, dying of his injuries.
2012 - A Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashes into Mount Salak in West Java, Indonesia, killing 45 people.
2015 - Russia holds its biggest-ever Victory Day parade in Moscow.
2016 - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann announces his resignation.
2017 - Moon Jae-in is elected President of South Korea.
2017 - US President Donald Trump fires FBI director James Comey.
2018 - Mahathir Mohamad's opposition coalition wins Malaysia's general election. Mohamad previously served as the country's prime minister from 1981 to 2003.
2018 - The Patel Dam in Kenya's Nakaru County bursts in heavy rains, killing at least 48 people.
Births
Up to 1900
1147 - Minamoto no Yoritomo Japanese shogun (d. 1199)
1439 - Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
1540 - Maharana Pratap, Indian ruler (d. 1597)
1635 - Augustus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plon-Norburg (d. 1699)
1712 - William Pitcairn, Scottish physician and botanist (d. 1791)
1740 - Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)
1746 - Theodore Sedgwick, American politician (d. 1813)
1800 - John Brown, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
1810 - Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (d. 1883)
1814 - Adolf von Henselt, German pianist (d. 1889)
1823 - Frederick Weld, British colonial governor and 6th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
1830 - Harriet Lane, niece of James Buchanan, acting First Lady of the United States (d. 1903)
1831 - William Watson Goodwin, American classical scholar (d. 1912)
1837 - Adam Opel, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1895)
1837 - Ben Hall, Australian bushranger (d. 1865)
1843 - Anton von Werner, Prussian painter (d. 1915)
1845 - Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer and inventor (d. 1913)
1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish writer (d. 1937)
1866 - Leon Bakst, Russian painter (d. 1924)
1870 - Hans Baluschek, German artist (d. 1935)
1873 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
1874 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (d. 1939)
1882 - Henry J. Kaiser, industrialist (d. 1967)
1882 - George Barker, United States painter (d. 1965)
1882 - Edward Aloysius Mooney, American cardinal (d. 1958)
1883 - Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (d. 1955)
1886 - Francis Biddle, 58th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
1892 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
1895 - Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)
1895 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (d. 1961)
1895 - Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (d. 1989)
1896 - Richard Day, Canadian movie art director (d. 1972)
1901 1925
1904 - Gregory Bateson, English-American anthropologist, biologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
1906 - Eleanor Estes, American author (d. 1988)
1907 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)
1910 - Barbara Woodhouse, Irish-born animal trainer (d. 1988)
1912 - Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)
1914 - Hank Snow, Canadian-born country musician (d. 1999)
1914 - Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian musician and conductor (d. 2005)
1918 - Mike Wallace, American journalist (d. 2012)
1918 - Orville Freeman, American politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2003)
1920 - Richard Adams, British writer (d. 2016)
1920 - William Tenn, writer (d. 2010)
1921 - Daniel Berrigan, American Jesuit priest, activist and poet (d. 2016)
1921 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter with White Rose in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
1924 - Bulat Okudzhava, Russian poet, writer, novelist and musician (d. 1997)
1926 1950
1927 - Wim Thoelke, show master (d. 1995)
1927 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist (d. 2019)
1928 - Colin Chapman, engineer, founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
1928 - Pancho Gonzalez, American tennis player (d. 1995)
1928 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater (d. 2012)
1928 - Ralph Goings, American artist (d. 2016)
1929 - Kay Dotrice, English actress (d. 2007)
1930 - Joan Sims, English actress (d. 2001)
1932 - Geraldine McEwan, English actress (d. 2015)
1932 - Javier Ambrois, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1975)
1934 - Alan Bennett, English writer and playwright
1935 - Roger Hargreaves, English writer (The Mr. Men) (d. 1988)
1935 - Nokie Edwards, American guitarist and actor (d. 2018)
1936 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
1936 - Albert Finney, English actor (d. 2019)
1937 - Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect
1938 - Charles Simic, Yugoslavian-born poet
1939 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
1940 - James L. Brooks, American producer and writer
1942 - John Ashcroft, former United States Attorney General
1943 - Vince Cable, British politician
1943 - Colin Pillinger, British planetary scientist (d. 2014)
1943 - Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (d. 2009)
1944 - Richie Furay, American musician ("Poco", "Buffalo Springfield")
1944 - Petra Roth, former Mayor of Frankfurt am Main
1945 - Jupp Heynckes, German footballer
1945 - Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian writer and journalist (d. 2015)
1945 - Steve Katz, American guitarist, songwriter and producer
1946 - Candice Bergen, American actress
1946 - Drafi Deutscher, German musician (d. 2006)
1947 - Michael Levitt, South African-born biophysicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner
1948 - Hans Georg Bock, German mathematician
1949 - Billy Joel, American musician
1949 - Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, President of Niger (d. 1999)
1950 - Tom Petersson, American bass guitar player (Cheap Trick)
1950 - Marcheline Bertrand, American actress (d. 2007)
1950 - Luciano Spinosi, Italian footballer
1950 - Matthew Kelly, British actor and television presenter
1951 1975
1951 - Alley Mills, American actress
1954 - Nicholas Crane, English geographer and journalist
1954 - Marc Sinden, English actor, director and producer
1955 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
1955 - Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (d. 1991)
1957 - Fulvio Cullovati, Italian footballer
1959 - Janos Ader, President of Hungary
1960 - Tony Gwynn, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1962 - John Corbett, American actor
1962 - Gary Hume, English artist
1962 - Dave Gahan, English singer-songwriter and musician
1962 - Paul Heaton, English singer-songwriter and musician
1964 - Kevin Saunderson, American music producer and DJ
1964 - David Gahan, Singer for Depeche Mode
1965 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Marie-Jose Perec, French athlete
1968 - Masahiko Harada, Japanese ski jumper
1968 - Ruth Kelly, British politician
1969 - Amber, Dutch-German singer, songwriter and producer
1969 - Hudson Leick, American actress
1970 - David Cawthorne Haines, Scottish aid worker (d. 2014)
1970 - Ghostface Killah, American rapper
1970 - Doug Christie, American basketball player
1971 - Paul McGuigan, British musician (Oasis)
1971 - Don Hutchison, English-Scottish footballer
1972 - Dana Perino, American journalist and politician, 27th White House Press Secretary
1975 - Tamia, Canadian singer-songwriter, producer and actress
1975 - Clint Diamantopoulos, Canadian actor
From 1976
1977 - Marek Jankulovski, Czech footballer
1978 - Leandro Cufre, Argentine footballer
1979 - Rosario Dawson, American actress
1979 - Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
1980 - Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer
1980 - Sara Widen, Swedish opera singer (d. 2014)
1981 - Evangelos Tsiolis, Greek footballer
1982 - Kim Jung-woo, South Korean footballer
1982 - Rachel Boston, American actress
1983 - Ryuhei Matsuda, Japanese actor
1983 - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish rower
1983 - Gilles Muller, Luxembourgish tennis player
1983 - Leandro Rinaudo, Italian footballer
1984 - Prince Fielder, American baseball player
1985 - Audrina Patridge, American actress and television personality
1986 - Grace Gummer, American actress
1989 - Ellen White, English footballer
1991 - Stasia Rage, Latvian figure skater
1992 - Chris Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor
1993 - Ryosuke Yamada, Japanese actor, singer and dancer
1993 - Laura Muir, Scottish athlete
1997 - Zane Huett, American actor
2016 - Alfie Evans, British infant in parental rights case (d. 2018)
Deaths
Up to 1900
1280 - King Magnus VI of Norway (b. 1238)
1315 - Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)
1707 - Dietrich Buxtehude, German composer (b. 1637)
1745 - Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1663)
1760 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)
1791 - Francis Hopkinson, American judge and politician (b. 1737)
1805 - Friedrich Schiller, German writer (b. 1759)
1836 - Caleb P. Bennett, Governor of Delaware (b. 1758)
1850 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (b. 1778)
1850 - Garlieb Merkel, Baltic German writer and activist (b. 1769)
1861 - Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (b. 1805)
1864 - John Sedgwick, American general (b. 1813)
1889 - William S. Harney, American general (b. 1800)
1901 2000
1909 - Margarete Steiff, German founder of the Steiff toy company (b. 1847)
1915 - Tony Wilding, New Zealand tennis player (b. 1883)
1915 - Francois Faber, Luxembourg-French cyclist (b. 1887)
1931 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist (b. 1852)
1942 - Jozef Cebula, Polish priest (b. 1902)
1949 - Prince Louis II of Monaco (b. 1870)
1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist and engineer (b. 1883)
1955 - Kate Booth, English Salvation Army officer (b. 1858)
1957 - Enzo Pinza, Italian opera singer (b. 1892)
1959 - Bhaurao Patil, Indian educator and social activist (b. 1887)
1964 - Rico Lebrun, Italian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1900)
1965 - Leopold Figl, Austrian politician (b. 1902)
1968 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright and costume designer (b. 1893)
1968 - Harold Gray, American cartoonist (b. 1894)
1970 - Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)
1976 - Ulrike Meinhof, member of the Red Army Faction (b. 1934)
1978 - Giuseppe Impastato, Italian political activist (b. 1948)
1978 - Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
1986 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountain climber (b. 1914)
1987 - Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian politician (b. 1909)
1989 - Keith Whitley, American singer, guitarist and producer (b. 1955)
1997 - Marco Ferreri, Italian movie director (b. 1928)
1997 - Rawya Ateya, Egyptian politician (b. 1926)
1998 - Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)
From 2001
2001 - Nikos Sampson, 2nd President of Cyprus (b. 1935)
2001 - James E. Myers, American songwriter and producer (b. 1919)
2003 - Russell B. Long, American politician (b. 1918)
2004 - Akhmad Kadyrov, President of Chechnya (b. 1951)
2009 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (b. 1930)
2010 - Acharya Mahapragya, Indian religious leader (Jainism) (b. 1920)
2010 - Lena Horne, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
2011 - Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (b. 1984)
2011 - Lidia Gueiler Tejada, former acting President of Bolivia (b. 1921)
2012 - Vidal Sassoon, British hairdresser (b. 1928)
2012 - Geoffrey Henry, former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands (b. 1940)
2013 - George M. Leader, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1918)
2013 - Andrew Simpson, British sailor (b. 1976)
2013 - Ottavio Missoni, Italian fashion designer and hurdler (b. 1921)
2013 - Alfredo Landa, Spanish actor (b. 1933)
2014 - Harlan Mathews, American politician (b. 1926)
2014 - Joe Wilder, American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer (b. 1922)
2014 - Jules Mutebusi, Congolese militant (b. 1960)
2014 - Jorge Zavala, Ecuadorean politician (b. 1921)
2014 - Mel Patton, American sprinter (b. 1924)
2015 - Michael MacKellar, Australian politician (b. 1938)
2015 - Lo Wing-lok, Hong Kong politician (b. 1954)
2015 - Igor Gorynin, Russian metallurgist (b. 1926)
2015 - Kenan Evren, 7th President of Turkey (b. 1917)
2015 - Johnny Gimble, American country musician (b. 1926)
2015 - Odo Marquard, German philosopher (b. 1928)
2015 - Ragne Tangen, Norwegian television presenter (b. 1927)
2015 - Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (b. 1921)
2016 - Gareth Gwenlan, British television producer (b. 1937)
2016 - Walther Leisler Kiep, German politician (b. 1926)
2016 - Karl Maramorosch, American virologist and plant pathologist (b. 1915)
2016 - John Warr, English cricketer (b. 1927)
2017 - Christopher Boykin, American entertainer and musician (b. 1972)
2017 - Robert Miles, Italian musician and record producer (b. 1969)
2017 - Arthur Moulin, French politician (b. 1924)
2017 - Michael Parks, American actor (b. 1940)
2017 - Qian Qichen, Chinese diplomat (b. 1928)
2017 - Wilburn K. Ross, American World War II veteran (b. 1922)
2017 - Edward Lunn Young, American politician (b. 1920)
2018 - Poldine Carlo, American author (b. 1920)
2018 - Delphine Gibson, American supercentenarian (b. 1903)
2018 - Mustafa Nurul Islam, Bangladeshi academic (b. 1927)
2018 - Per Kirkeby, Danish artist (b. 1938)
2018 - Scott Hutchison, Scottish singer and musician (Frightened Rabbit) (b. 1981)
2019 - Abul Khayr Alonto, Filipino politician, lawyer and businessman (b. 1945)
2019 - Sergey Dorenko, Russian journalist and news presenter (b. 1959)
2019 - Jim Hawkes, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
2019 - Arif Malikov, Soviet-Azerbaijani composer (b. 1933)
2019 - Alvin Sargent, American screenwriter (b. 1927)
2019 - Freddie Starr, English comedian (b. 1943)
2019 - Yuan Boahua, Chinese politician (b. 1916)
Holidays
Victory and Peace Day in Armenia, the capture of Shushi in the Karabakh War and the end of Great Patriotic War.
Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany (former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)
Independence Day (Romania)
Liberation Day (Channel Islands)
May 09