Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is shot and killed while reporting on an Israel Defense Forces raid on the Jenin Refugee Camp.
Myanmar civil war: Government troops killed 37 unarmed civilians in Mondaingbin.
Two car bombs by unknown perpetrators exploded in Reyhanlı, Turkey, resulting in 52 killed and 140 injured.
An earthquake registering Mw 5.1, the worst to hit the region for more than 50 years, struck near Lorca, Spain.
David Cameron took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed the country's first coalition government since the Second World War.
Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party after failing to strike a coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats.
India began the Pokhran-II nuclear-weapons test, its first since the Smiling Buddha test 24 years earlier.
Deep Blue (pictured) defeated Garry Kasparov in six games to become the first chess computer to win a match against a world champion.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, the first megamusical, opened at the New London Theatre.
Lubbock, Texas, was struck by a tornado that left 26 people dead.
African Americans rioted in Birmingham, Alabama, in response to two bombings, perceiving local police to be complicit with the perpetrators.
After a week-long standoff punctuated by military clashes, Japanese forces captured the city of Jinan, Shandong in China.
Glacier National Park was established in the U.S. state of Montana.
In response to a 28-percent wage cut, 4,000 Pullman Palace Car Company workers went on strike in Illinois, bringing rail traffic west of Chicago to a halt.
Bandits attacked a U.S. Army paymaster's escort in the Arizona Territory, stealing more than $28,000.
A land dispute between the Southern Pacific Railroad and settlers in Hanford, California, turned deadly when a gun battle broke out, leaving seven dead.
Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
HMS Beagle (pictured), the ship that would take Charles Darwin on his voyage, was launched.
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth departed westward from Sydney on an expedition to become the first confirmed Europeans to cross the Blue Mountains (depicted).
Spencer Perceval was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons, becoming the only British prime minister to be assassinated.
War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeated those of the Pragmatic Allies at the Battle of Fontenoy in the Austrian Netherlands in present-day Belgium.
A copy of the Diamond Sutra was printed in Tang-dynasty China, making it the world's oldest dated printed book.
Start/Middle of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.
The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is held in Malmö, Sweden. Nemo from Switzerland wins with their song "The Code", making them the contest's first non-binary winner.
The Burmese military executes at least 37 villagers during the Mon Taing Pin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar.
Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is killed while covering a raid in Jenin. Israel eventually admitted and apologized for the murder, after initial denials.
One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.
Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa, DRC, in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
The Istanbul Convention is signed in Istanbul, Turkey.
David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country's first coalition government since the Second World War.
An American soldier in Iraq opens fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, killing five other US soldiers and wounding three.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
Aeroflot Flight 6551 crashes in Semey, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan), killing all 63 aboard.
The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.
An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
Great Northern War: After losing the Battle of Helsinki to the Russians, the Swedish and Finnish troops burn the entire city, so that it would not remain intact in the hands of the Russians.
Louis IX of France and James I of Aragon sign the Treaty of Corbeil, renouncing claims of feudal overlordship in one another's territories and separating the House of Barcelona from the politics of France.
Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, is crowned Queen of England.
In the first coronation ceremony ever held for an English monarch, Edgar the Peaceful is crowned King of England, having ruled since 959 AD. His wife, Ælfthryth, is crowned queen, the first recorded coronation for a Queen of England.
A copy of the Diamond Sūtra is published, the earliest dated and printed book known.
Constantine the Great dedicates the much-expanded and rebuilt city of Byzantium, changing its name to New Rome and declaring it the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Konsta Helenius, Finnish ice hockey player
Fermín López, Spanish footballer
Yūki Tsunoda, Japanese racing driver
Wang Chuqin, Chinese table tennis player
Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress
Viktória Kužmová, Slovak tennis player
Coi Leray, American rapper and singer
Lana Condor, American actress
Adin Hill, Canadian ice hockey player
Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
Sachia Vickery, American tennis player
Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
Nene Macdonald, Papua New Guinean rugby league player
Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
Miguel Sanó, Dominican baseball player
Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
Pablo Sarabia, Spanish footballer
Bobi, Portuguese Rafeiro do Alentejo, oldest recorded dog (died 2023)
Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
Cam Newton, American football player
Jeremy Maclin, American football player
Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor
Abou Diaby, French footballer
Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
Beau Ryan, Australian rugby league player and television host
Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
Matt Leinart, American football player
Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (died 2014)
Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model
Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (died 2013)
Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
JP Karliak, American actor, voice actor and comedian
Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
Judy Ann Santos, Filipino actress
Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
Bobby Roode, Canadian professional wrestler
Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper and record producer/executive
Francisco Cordero, Dominican baseball player
![Ziad Jarrah, Lebanese terrorist, September 11 attacks (died 2001)[citation needed]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Ziad_Jarrah%2C_2001.jpg/330px-Ziad_Jarrah%2C_2001.jpg)
Ziad Jarrah, Lebanese terrorist, September 11 attacks (died 2001)[citation needed]
Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league player
Harold Ford Jr., American lawyer and politician
Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
Tim Blake Nelson, American actor
Bobby Witt, American baseball player
Natasha Richardson, English actress (died 2009)
Sayuri Kume, Japanese singer-songwriter
Mike Nesbitt, Northern Irish journalist and politician
James L. Dolan, American businessman
John Gregory, English footballer and manager
Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (died 2014)
Nirj Deva, British politician
Pam Ferris, Welsh actress
Butch Trucks, American drummer (died 2017)
Hilda Pérez Carvajal, Venezuelan biologist
Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
Eric Burdon, English musician
Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach (died 2024)
Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian Olympic and world champion foil fencer
Jim Jeffords, American lawyer and politician (died 2014)
Jack Twyman, American basketball player (died 2012)
Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic (died 2002)
Basil H. Losten, American Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarch (died 2024)
Gerhard Klingenberg, Austrian actor (died 2024)
Bernard Fox, British actor (died 2016)
Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (died 2007)
Edward J. King, American politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (died 2006)
Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021)
Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988)
Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002)
Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani author and screenwriter (died 1955)
Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (died 1985)
Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (died 1989)
Lise de Baissac, Mauritian SOE agent, war hero (died 2004)
Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (died 1964)
Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (died 1989)
Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (died 1993)
Rose Ausländer, poet and author (died 1988)
Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (died 1967)
Robert E. Gross, American businessman (died 1961)
Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer and academic (died 1955)
Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (died 1978)
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher and speaker (died 1986)
William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (died 1978)
Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (died 1991)
Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (died 1958)
Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (died 1984)
Paul Nash, British painter (died 1946)
Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (died 1989)
Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (died 1945)
Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (died 1964)
Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (died 1944)
Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (died 1963)
Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (died 1912)
Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (died 1943)
Archibald Warden, English tennis player (died 1943)
Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (died 1932)
Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (died 1918)
Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (died 1893)
Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese-American showmen, the original conjoined twins (died 1874)
José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (died 1867)
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (died 1840): 94
Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (died 1739)
Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (died 1637)
Susan Backlinie, American actress and stuntwoman (born 1946)
Colt Brennan, American quarterback (born 1983)
Norman Lloyd, American actor, producer and director (born 1914)
Jerry Stiller, American comedian, actor (born 1927)
Peggy Lipton, American actress, model, and singer (born 1946)
Thomas Silverstein, American murderer (born 1952)
Robert Traylor, American basketball player (born 1977)
Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (born 1904)
Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1926)
Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (born 1939)
Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (born 1915)
John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (born 1953)
Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (born 1913)
Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (born 1935)
Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (born 1908)
Horton Davies, Welsh minister and historian (born 1916)
Noel Redding, English bass player (born 1945)
Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (born 1912)
Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (born 1915)
Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (born 1952)
Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (born 1928)
Stratos Dionysiou, Greek Singer, composer and lyricist (born 1935)
Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (born 1912)
Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (born 1894)
Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (born 1900)
Zenna Henderson, American writer (born 1917)
Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897)
Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1945)
Dyre Vaa, Norwegian sculptor and painter (born 1903)
Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1914)
James E. Brewton, American painter (born 1930)
Janne Mustonen, Finnish politician (born 1901)
Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888): 169
John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (born 1874)
Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (born 1874)
Seán McCaughey, Irish Republican, died on hunger strike (born 1915)
George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (born 1858)
Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (born 1864)
Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1887)
James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (born 1878)
William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (born 1837)
George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (born 1861)
Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (born 1873): xix
Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (born 1850)
John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (born 1801)
Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (born 1816)
Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (born 1777)
Tom Cribb, English boxer (born 1781)
Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1762)
John Hart, American lawyer and politician (born 1711)
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1708)
Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (born 1552)
Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine Emperor, the second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (born 866)
Christian feast day: Anthimus of Rome
Christian feast day: Gangulphus of Burgundy
Christian feast day: Majolus of Cluny
Christian feast day: Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints