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

• 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.
• 1514 – Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
• 1525 – The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
• 1602 – Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
• 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).
• 1701 – The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
• 1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
• 1756 – The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
• 1776 – American Revolution: Virginia convention instructs its delegates to propose a declaration of independence from Great Britain.
• 1795 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France enters Milan in triumph.
• 1836 – Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
• 1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
• 1858 – The third Royal Opera House officially opens in London.
• 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln of America signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed USDA).
• 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.
• 1869 – Woman's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
• 1902 – In a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore reportedly becomes the first person to fly a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider).
• 1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
• 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.
• 1918 – Civil War in Finland ends.
• 1918 – The US Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
• 1919 – The Winnipeg General Strike began. By 11 AM, virtually the entire working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.
• 1928 – Release of the animated short "Plane Crazy", featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
• 1930 – Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess, on a flight from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois.
• 1932 – The May 15 incident. In an attempted coup the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
• 1934 – The United States Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger.
• 1934  – Karlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
• 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.
• 1941 – Baseball player Joe DiMaggio starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
• 1942 – World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
• 1943 – Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
• 1948 – Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
• 1951 – Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czeslaw Milosz asks French government for polical asylum.
• 1955 – Austrian Independence Treaty signed.
• 1955 – First ascent of Makalu, the World's fifth highest mountain.
• 1957 – Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
• 1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• 1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
• 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).
• 1964 – The Smothers Brothers give their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• 1970 – The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released in the United States.
• 1970  – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
• 1970  – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
• 1972 – In Laurel, Maryland Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while Wallace is campaigning to be American President.
• 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.
• 1988 – Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• 1990 – Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
• 1991 – Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
• 1992 – The Genoa Expo '92 World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy.
• 2004 – The largest prime number to be discovered, 2^24036583 − 1, is found by Josh Findley and the GIMPS collaborative effort.

Births

• 1567 – Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer (d. 1643)
• 1773 – Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, statesman (d. 1859)
• 1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian religious reformer (d. 1905)
• 1856 – L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
• 1857 – Williamina Fleming, astronomer (d. 1911)
• 1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics (d. 1906)
• 1862 – Arthur Schnitzler, dramatist and narrator (d. 1931)
• 1889 – Bessie Hillman, American labor organizer
• 1890 – Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
• 1891 – Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian writer (d. 1940)
• 1892 – Jimmy Wilde, boxer (d. 1969)
• 1898 – Arletty, model and actress (d. 1992)
• 1899 – Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
• 1902 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
• 1905 – Joseph Cotten, actor (d. 1994)
• 1909 – James Mason, English actor (d. 1984)
• 1911 – Max Frisch, Swiss author (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa and mountaineer (d. 1986)
• 1915 – Paul Samuelson, economist
• 1918 – Eddy Arnold, singer
• 1922 – Setouchi Jakucho, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
• 1923 – Richard Avedon, photographer (d. 2004)
• 1923 – John Lanchbery, English composer (d. 2003)
• 1926 – Peter Shaffer, playwright, Equus, Amadeus
• 1926 – Anthony Shaffer, playwright, Sleuth; The Wicker Man
• 1930 – Jasper Johns, painter
• 1931 – Ken Venturi, golfer
• 1934 – Alvin F. Poussaint, physicist, psychiatrist, and educator
• 1936 – Anna Maria Alberghetti, actress
• 1936  – Hugh Romney, better known as Wavy Gravy
• 1936  – Paul Zindel, novelist, playwright
• 1937 – Madeline Albright, U.S. Secretary of State
• 1937  – Trini López, musician
• 1941 – K.T. Oslin, country musician
• 1945 – Lars Berhagen, Swedish singer and songwriter
• 1945  – Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza
• 1948 – Brian Eno, musician and record producer
• 1951 – Chazz Palminteri, actor
• 1951  – Jonathan Richman, musician
• 1951 – Frank Wilczek, physicist
• 1953 – George Brett, baseball player
• 1953  – Mike Oldfield, composer
• 1955 – Melinda Culea, actress
• 1956 – Dan Patrick, sportscaster
• 1958 – Ron Simmons, professional wrestler
• 1959 – Andrew Eldritch, singer and songwriter (The Sisters of Mercy)
• 1959  – Kaokor Galaxy, boxer
• 1959  – Khaosai Galaxy, boxer
• 1962 – Melle Mel, musician
• 1967 – John Smoltz, baseball player
• 1969 – Emmitt Smith, American football player
• 1970 – Rod Smith, American football player
• 1972 – David Charvet, actor
• 1974 – Ahmet Zappa, musician
• 1975 – Ray Lewis, American football player
• 1978 – Amy Chow, gymnast
• 1979 – Elisabeth Harnois, actress
• 1981 – Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress

Deaths

• 1036 – Emperor Go-Ichijo of Japan (d. 1036)
• 1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden
• 1585 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese retainer, samurai, and daimyo (b. 1535)
• 1634 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
• 1740 – Ephraim Chambers, English encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
• 1782 – Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1699)
• 1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
• 1937 – Phillip Snowden, British politician (b. 1864)
• 1948 – Father Edward Flanagan, priest, founder of Boys Town
• 1956 – Austin Osman Spare, magician (b. 1886)
• 1967 – Edward Hopper, painter (b. 1882)
• 1971 – Sir Tyrone Guthrie, director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
• 1986 – Theodore H. White, writer (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1904)
• 1995 – Eric Porter, British actor (b. 1928)
• 1996 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
• 1998 – Earl Manigault, basketball player
• 2003 – June Carter Cash, American musician and singer (b. 1929)
• 2003 – George Francis, British mobster
• 2003 – Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Denise
  • Saint Achillius
  • Dympna
  • Reticius
  • Jean-Baptiste de la Salle
• Paraguay – Independence Day. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, 14 May.
• Roman Empire – Mercuralia in honor of Mercury held.
• International day of families.
• International day of climate changes.
• International conscientious objectors' day
• Buddha's Birthday in Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea (2005)
• United States – Peace Officers Memorial Day
• Slovenia – Day of Slovenian armed forces

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 14 – May 16 – April 15 – June 15 — listing of all days