16 May
May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). There are 229 days remaining.
Events
- 1204 - Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
- 1527 - The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes a republic.
- 1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
- 1568 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
- 1605 - Paul V becomes Pope.
- 1770 - 14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
- 1866 - The United States Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
- 1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
- 1868 - President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1910 - The United States Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
- 1918 - The Sedition Act is passed by the United States Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense.
- 1919 - US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
- 1920 - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.
- 1929 - In Hollywood, California the first Academy Awards are handed out.
- 1943 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends.
- 1943 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Squadron on German dams.
- 1948 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
- 1960 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
- 1969 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
- 1975 - India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state held a referendum where popular vote was in favour of merging with India.
- 1975 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1988 - A report by American Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
- 1992 - STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.
- 2002 - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones opens in theaters.
Births
- 1490 - Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia (d. 1568)
- 1611 - Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
- 1678 - Andreas Silbermann, organ builder (d. 1734)
- 1718 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician (d. 1799)
- 1882 - Anne McCormick, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1954)
- 1892 - Richard Tauber, tenor (d. 1948)
- 1905 - Henry Fonda, actor (d. 1982)
- 1912 - Studs Terkel, writer
- 1913 - Woody Herman, musician, band leader (d. 1987)
- 1919 - Liberace, pianist (d. 1987)
- 1919 - Gisela Uhlen, actress
- 1928 - Billy Martin, baseball player, coach (d. 1989)
- 1929 - Friedrich Nowottny, journalist
- 1931 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
- 1936 - Karl Lehmann, German cardinal and theologian
- 1936 - Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor
- 1950 - J. Georg Bednorz, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1987
- 1953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
- 1955 - Olga Korbut, gymnast
- 1955 - Jack Morris, baseball pitcher
- 1955 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- 1955 - Debra Winger, actress
- 1958 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
- 1966 - Janet Jackson, singer
- 1966 - Krist Novoselic, musician, former bassist for Nirvana
- 1969 - Steve Lewis, American athlete
- 1970 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player
- 1973 - Tori Spelling, actress
Deaths
- 1620 - William Adams, English navigator and Japanese samurai (b.1564)
- 1703 - Charles Perrault, author (b. 1628)
- 1891 - Ion C. Bratianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)
- 1926 - Mehmed VI, last Ottoman sultan (b. 1861)
- 1944 - George Ade, author (b. 1866)
- 1957 - Eliot Ness, federal agent (b. 1903)
- 1984 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (b. 1949)
- 1984 - Irwin Shaw, author (b. 1913)
- 1985 - Margaret Hamilton, actress (b. 1902)
- 1990 - Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets (b. 1936)
- 1990 - Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, actor, comedian (b. 1925)
Holidays and observances
May 15 - May 17 - April 16 - June 16 -- listing of all days
