May 7

May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (128th in leap years). There are 238 days remaining.

Events

• 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
• 1429 – Joan of Arc leads a French attack on English bridgeheads on the south side of the Loire River.
• 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
• 1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed in a huge fire (in the 18th century, it is replaced with the current Royal Palace).
• 1763 – Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
• 1824 – Ludwig van Beethoven, completely deaf, conducts the debut of his Ninth Symphony in Vienna.
• 1832 – Greece was recognised independent by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
• 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
• 1847 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
• 1896 – Herman Webster Mudgett, the first recognized serial killer in United States history, is hanged in Philadelphia.
• 1915 – World War I: a German U-boat sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people.
• 1920 – Polish-Bolshevik War: Polish-Ukrainian troops captured Kyiv during the Kiev Offensive.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrive in Spain to assist Franco's forces.
• 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
• 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
• 1947 – Kraft Television Theater debuts, running for the next 11 years.
• 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
• 1952 – The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
• 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
• 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
• 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay rise.
• 1992 – Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage.
• 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast-food murder in Canada.
• 1998 – Apple Computer unveils the iMac.
• 1998  – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
• 1999 – A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US$25 million.
• 1999  – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
• 1999  – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
• 2002 – A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea killing 112 people.

Births

• 1530 – Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, Huguenot general (d. 1569)
• 1812 – Robert Browning, English poet and husband to Elizabeth Barrett Browning (d. 1889)
• 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German composer (d. 1897)
• 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
• 1857 – William A. MacCorkle, Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
• 1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer (d. 1941)
• 1885 – George 'Gabby' Hayes, actor (d. 1969)
• 1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1982)
• 1892  – Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
• 1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
• 1908 – Max Grundig, industrialist (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Edwin H. Land, American inventor (d. 1991)
• 1911 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese film director
• 1919 – Eva Peron, wife of Argentine President Juan Peron (d. 1952)
• 1922 – Darren McGavin, actor
• 1923 – Anne Baxter, actress (d. 1985)
• 1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, screenwriter
• 1930 – Totie Fields, comedienne (d. 1978)
• 1931 – Teresa Brewer, singer
• 1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football star (d. 2002)
• 1939 – Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1939  – Jimmy Ruffin, singer
• 1940 – Angela Carter, novelist and journalist (d. 1992)
• 1942 – Gerhard Polt, German cabaretist
• 1943 – Harvey Andrews, singer and songwriter
• 1946 – Thelma Houston, singer
• 1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, drummer (Grateful Dead)
• 1950 – Randall 'Tex' Cobb, boxer and actor
• 1950  – Tim Russert, American television host (Meet the Press)
• 1951 – Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
• 1954 – Amy Heckerling, director
• 1956 – Anne Dudley, musician
• 1956  – Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1957 – Sinjin Smith, volleyball player
• 1965 – Owen Hart, professional wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1968 – Traci Lords, actress
• 1969 – Eagle Eye Cherry, musician

Deaths

• 973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 912)
• 1539 – Guru Nanak Dev, founder of the Sikh religion (b. 1469)
• 1667 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (b. 1616)
• 1718 – Mary of Modena, queen of James II of England (b. 1658)
• 1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (b. 1750)
• 1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (b. 1774)
• 1868 – Henry Peter Brougham, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1778)
• 1896 – H. H. Holmes, serial killer (b. 1861)
• 1942 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (b. 1863)
• 1951 – Warner Baxter, actor (b. 1889)
• 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, musician
• 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., actor (b. 1909)
• 2004 – Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances

• Russia – Radio Day (see Alexander Popov)

Recorded this date

• 1941 – "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (w. Mack Gordon, m. Harry Warden) Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• ThisDayThatYear.com on May 7

May 6 – May 8 – April 7 – June 7 — listing of all days