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.
1777 - Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
1811 - Peninsular War - Allies (Spain, Portugal & Britain) defeat French at the Battle of Albuera.
1836 - Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.
1843 - The first major wagon train heading for the Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.
1866 - The U.S. 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.
1874 - A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroyed much of four villages and killed 139 people.
1877 - May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
1910 - The U.S. Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
1918 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. 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.
1938 - A fire at the Terminal Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, kills 35 people.
1943 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
1943 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by No. 617 Squadron RAF 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.
1960 - Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1965 - Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiO's under its Franco-American brand.
1966 - The Communist Party of China issued the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1969 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
1972 - Decimal currency introduced in Malta. The Pound sterling is henceforth divided into 100 cents.
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 United States' 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.
2003 - In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
2005 - Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.
2005 - Sony officially unveiled its PlayStation 3 game console during an E3 conference.
2006 - A large magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs near New Zealand.

Births

1490 - Duke Albert of Prussia (d. 1568)
1578 - Everard Digby, English conspirator (d. 1606)
1611 - Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
1710 - William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (d. 1782)
1718 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (d. 1799)
1763 - Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist (d. 1829)
1801 - William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, bought Alaska at 2 ¢/acre (d. 1872)
1827 - Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (d. 1921)
1845 - Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1916)
1891 - Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (d. 1948)
1898 - Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (d. 1980)
1905 - Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
1906 - Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d. 1988)
1906 - Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d. 1996)
1910 - Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (d. 1975)
1910 - Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (d. 1972)
1912 - Studs Terkel, American writer
1913 - Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d. 1987)
1917 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (d. 1986)
1919 - Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)
1920 - Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
1923 - Merton Miller, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1927 - Nílton Santos, Brazilian football player
1928 - Billy Martin, baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
1929 - Adrienne Rich, American writer
1930 - Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d. 1998)
1930 - Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (d. 2000)
1931 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
1936 - Roy Hudd, British radio and television actor
1936 - Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal
1944 - Billy Cobham, American virtuoso drummer
1945 - Nicky Chinn, songwriter (The Sweet, Suzi Quatro)
1946 - Robert Fripp, English guitarist (King Crimson)
1946 - Roger Earl, British rock drummer (Savoy Brown, Foghat)
1948 - Judy Finnegan, British TV presenter, Richard & Judy
1950 - J. Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 - Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician
1953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
1955 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
1955 - Jack Morris, baseball player
1955 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
1955 - Debra Winger, American actress
1961 - Charles Wright, American professional wrestler known as "The Godfather"
1963 - Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
1963 - Rosie Perez, American actress
1965 - Krist Novoselic, American bassist (Nirvana)
1966 - Janet Jackson, American singer
1966 - Scott Reeves, American actor and singer
1966 - Thurman Thomas, American football player
1969 - Tucker Carlson, American television commentator
1969 - Tracey Gold, American actress
1969 - Steve Lewis, American athlete
1970 - Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
1970 - Danielle Spencer, Australian singer and actress
1971 - David Boreanaz, American actor
1973 - Tori Spelling, American actress
1974 - Laura Pausini, Italian pop singer
1977 - Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Canadian hockey player
1978 - Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer
1983 - Kyle Wellwood, Canadian hockey player
1985 - Anja Mittag, German footballer
1985 - Corey Perry, Canadian hockey player
1987 - Scott Peters, Australian cricketer

Deaths

583 - Saint Brendan, Irish navigator (b. 484)
1620 - William Adams, English navigator (b. 1564)
1657 - Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
1667 - Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English statesman (b. 1607)
1669 - Pietro da Cortona, Italian architect (b. 1598)
1691 - Jacob Leisler, American colonist (b. 1640)
1703 - Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)
1778 - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat (b. 1718)
1782 - Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)
1790 - Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (b. 1720)
1891 - Ion C. Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)
1926 - Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)
1944 - George Ade, American author (b. 1866)
1947 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist and Nobel laureate (b. 1861)
1953 - Django Reinhardt, Belgian musician (b. 1910)
1955 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
1957 - Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)
1959 - Elisha Scott, footballer (b. 1894)
1984 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)
1984 - Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)
1985 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
1988 - Charles Keeping, British illustrator (b. 1924)
1990 - Sammy Davis, Jr., American entertainer (b. 1925)
1990 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b. 1936)
2002 - Big Dick Dudley, Professional wrestler
2003 - Mark McCormack, American businessman(b. 1930)
2006 - Dan Ross, American football player (b. 1957)

Holidays and observances

Adelaide Cup day - South Australia (2005).
Teacher's Day in Malaysia.

Liturgical feast days

saints in the Roman Catholic Church:

Saint Brendan the Navigator - also in the Irish Calendar.
Saint Honoré of Amiens
Saint John Nepomuk or John Nepomucene (1330 - 1393)
Saint Andrew Bobola
Saint Simon Stock
Saint Ubaldus

Song

"May 16" is also the title of a punk/rock song by Lagwagon from their album Let's Talk About Feelings.

External links

May 15 - May 17 - April 16 - June 16 – listing of all days

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