May 11th

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 (Virginia)]] 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)
• 1896 - Josip Stolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer († 1955)
• 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)

May 10 - May 12 - April 11 - June 11 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By