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May 15
May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). There are 230 days remaining.
Events
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1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe.
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1514 - Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest know version of that work.
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1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
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1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to discover Cape Cod.
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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).
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1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
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1756 - Seven Years' War: The war begins when England declares war on France.
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1795 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France enters Milan in triumph.
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1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
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1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
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1858 - The third Royal Opera House officially opens in London.
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1862 - President Abraham Lincoln of America signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed USDA).
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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.
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1869 - Woman's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
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1902 - In a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore reportedly becomes the first person to fly a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider).
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1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
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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 dissolved.
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1918 - Civil War in Finland ends.
- 1918 - The American Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
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1928 - Release of the animated short Plane Crazy, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
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1930 - Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess (the flight was from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois).
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1932 - The May 15 incident. In an attempted coup the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
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1934 - The United States Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger.
- 1934 - Karlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
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1940 - Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time in the United States.
- 1940 - World War II: German troops occupy Amsterdam and invade Northern France.
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1941 - Baseball player Joe DiMaggio starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
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1942 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
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1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
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1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
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1955 - Austrian Independence Treaty signed.
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1955 - First ascent of Makalu, the World's fifth highest mountain.
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1957 - Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
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1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
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1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
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1963 - Mercury program: America launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete).
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1970 - The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released in the United States.
- 1970 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests .
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1972 - In Laurel, Maryland a disturbed, out-of-work janitor named Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while Wallace is campaigning to be American President.
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1978 - Lagumot Harris, having only been elected President less than a month before, is replaced as the leader of the republic of Nauru. He is succeeded by Hammer DeRoburt.
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1988 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.
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1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
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1992 - The Genoa Expo '92 World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy.
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1993 - In Millstreet, Ireland, Niamh Kavanagh wins the thirty-ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "In Your Eyes".
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2003 - total lunar eclipse
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2004 - The largest prime number to be discovered, 224036583 − 1, is found by Josh Findley and the GIMPS collaborative effort.
Births
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1567 - Claudio Monteverdi, composer (d. 1643)
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1773 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, statesman (d. 1859)
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1817 - Debendranath Tagore, religious reformer (d. 1905)
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1856 - L. Frank Baum, author (d. 1919)
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1857 - Williamina Fleming, astronomer (d. 1911)
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1859 - Pierre Curie, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1903 (d. 1906)
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1862 - Arthur Schnitzler, dramatist and narrator (d. 1931)
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1889 - Bessie Hillman , founder, Almalgamated Clothing Workers of America
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1890 - Katherine Anne Porter, author (d. 1980)
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1891 - Mikhail Bulgakov, writer (d. 1940)
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1898 - Arletty, model, actress (d. 1992)
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1899 - Jean Etienne Valluy, French General (d. 1970)
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1902 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
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1905 - Joseph Cotten, actor (d. 1994)
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1909 - James Mason, actor (d. 1984)
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1911 - Max Frisch, author (d. 1991)
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1914 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa and mountaineer (d. 1986)
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1915 - Paul Samuelson, economist, recipient of the 1970 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
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1918 - Eddy Arnold, singer
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1922 - Setouchi Jakucho, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
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1923 - Richard Avedon, photographer (d. 2004)
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1923 - John Lanchbery, English ballet composer (d. 2003)
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1926 - Peter Shaffer, playwright
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1930 - Jasper Johns, painter
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1931 - Ken Venturi, golfer
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1934 - Alvin F. Poussaint , physicist, psychiatrist, educator
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1936 - Anna Maria Alberghetti , actress
- 1936 - Paul Zindel, novelist, playwright
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1937 - Madeline Albright, diplomat, United States Secretary of State (1997-2000)
- 1937 - Trini López, musician
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1941 - K.T. Oslin, country musician
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1945 - Lars Berhagen , Swedish singer/songwriter
- 1945 - Duarte, Duke of Braganza and presumptive heir of the Portuguese crown
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1948 - Brian Eno, musician, record producer
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1951 - Chazz Palminteri, actor
- 1951 - Jonathan Richman, musician
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1953 - George Brett, baseball star
- 1953 - Mike Oldfield, composer
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1955 - Melinda Culea, actress (The A-Team)
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1956 - Dan Patrick, sportscaster
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1959 - Andrew Eldritch, singer and songwriter of The Sisters of Mercy
- 1959 - Kaokor Galaxy, boxer
- 1959 - Khaosai Galaxy, boxer
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1967 - John Smoltz, baseball player
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1969 - Emmitt Smith, American football player
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1970 - Rod Smith, American football player
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1972 - David Charvet, actor
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1974 - Ahmet Zappa, musician
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1975 - Ray Lewis, American football player
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1978 - Amy Chow, Olympic gymnast
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1981 - Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress (The Sopranos)
Deaths
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1036 - Emperor Go-Ichijo of Japan (d. 1036)
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1470 - Charles VIII of Sweden
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1585 - Niwa Nagahide, Japanese retainer, samurai, and daimyo (b. 1535)
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1634 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
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1740 - Ephraim Chambers, English encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
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1782 - Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese prime minister (b. 1699)
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1886 - Emily Dickinson, poet (b. 1830)
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1937 - Phillip Snowden, British politician (b. 1864)
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1948 - Father Edward Flanagan , priest, founder of Boys Town
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1956 - Austin Osman Spare, magician (b. 1886)
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1967 - Edward Hopper, painter (b. 1882)
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1971 - Sir Tyrone Guthrie, director, producer, writer (b. 1900)
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1986 - Theodore H. White, writer (b. 1915)
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1994 - Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1904)
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1995 - Eric Porter , British actor (b. 1928)
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1996 - Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
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1998 - Earl Manigault , basketball player
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2003 - June Carter Cash, musician, singer, wife of Johnny Cash (b. 1929)
- 2003 - George Francis, British suspected mobster
- 2003 - Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist
Holidays and observances
External links
May 14 - May 16 - April 15 - June 15 -- listing of all days
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
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