May 15

May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (136th in leap years). There are 230 days remaining.

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and Observances

Events

1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to discover 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).
1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1756 - Seven Years' War: The war begins when England declares war on France.
1795 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France enters Milan in triumph.
1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain.
1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular solar eclipse.
1851 - Rama IV is crowed King of Thailand.
1858 - third Royal Opera House officially opened in London.
1862 - President Abraham Lincoln 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 (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 Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
1930 - Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess (the flight was from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois).
1934 - The United States Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger.
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 - Joe DiMaggio starts his record-breaking 56-game home run hitting streak.
1942 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit.
1963 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James Webb told Congress the program was complete).
1970 - The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released in the United States
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 president.
1988 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdraw from Afghanistan.
1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.
1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female premier
1992 - The Genoa Expo '92 World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy

Births

1048 - Omar Khayyam, poet († 1123)
1567 - Claudio Monteverdi, composer († 1643)
1773 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, statesman († 1859)
1856 - L. Frank Baum, author († 1919)
1859 - Pierre Curie, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1903 († 1906)
1862 - Arthur Schnitzler, dramatist and narrator († 1931)
1889 - Bessie Hillman, founder, Almalgamated Clothing Workers of America
1890 - Katherine Anne Porter, author († 1980)
1891 - Mikhail Bulgakov, writer († 1940)
1898 - Arletty, model, actress († 1992)
1902 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois († 1976)
1905 - Joseph Cotten, actor († 1994)
1909 - James Mason, actor († 1984)
1911 - Max Frisch, author
1915 - Paul Samuelson, economist, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in economics
1918 - Eddy Arnold, singer
1926 - Peter Shaffer, playwright
1930 - Jasper Johns, painter
1931 - Ken Venturi, golfer
1934 - Alvin F. Poussaint, physicist, psychiatrist, educator
1936 - Paul Zindel, novelist, playwright
1936 - Anna Maria Alberghetti, actress
1937 - Trini L�pez, musician
1941 - K.T. Oslin, country musician
1945 – Duarte, Duke of Braganza and presumptive heir of the Portuguese crown
1948 - Brian Eno, musician, record producer
1951 - Jonathan Richman, musician
1953 - Mike Oldfield, composer
1959 - Khaosai Galaxy, boxer
1959 - Kaokor Galaxy, boxer
1965 - Lizi Rodriguez, psychologist and media psychotherapist
1967 - John Smoltz, baseball player
1969 - Emmitt Smith, American football player

Deaths

1634 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter
1782 - Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese prime minister
1886 - Emily Dickinson, poet
1937 - Phillip Snowden, British politician (b. 1864)
1948 - Father Edward Flanagan, priest, founder of Boys Town
1971 - Sir Tyrone Guthrie, director, producer, writer
1983 - Meyer Lansky, gangster
1986 - Theodore H. White, writer
1994 - Gilbert Roland, actor
1995 - Eric Porter, actor
1998 - Earl Manigault, basketball player
2003 - June Carter Cash, musician, singer, wife of Johnny Cash

Holidays and Observances

Paraguay - Independence Day
Roman Empire - Mercuralia in honor of Mercury held.

See Also:

May 14 - May 16 - April 15 - June 15 -- listing of all days

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